In one corner, we have Dawnlord Vyros and his Tier Four "Dawn's Talon" list from No Quarter 35. Lined up against him we have Midas (who has no fancy titles whatsoever because Lord Carver had dibs on them all). I've covered Midas before here in an Analysis post.
We'll be using VASSAL to display this battle. Feel free to click on any picture to make it larger (including this one, although I'm not sure what the point would be).
Round One! Fight!
Dawnlord Vyros
The List
Dawnlord Vyros (pVyros) (50+6)
Griffon
Griffon
Manticore
Phoenix
Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Dawnguard Invictor Officer and Standard
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard
Houseguard Halberdiers
Arcanist
Dawnguard Destor Thane
He loses access to the Banshee, Daemon, Sphinx, Discordia and Hypnos. He can still pick up the Hyperion (and it's not a bad choice with him normally), but it's too expensive for his tier requirements.
At tier one (gained by just following the rules above) he increases the field allowance of non-Character Dawnguard units and solos by 1.
At tier two (gained by taking two or more heavy 'jacks) the point cost of heavy 'jacks in his battlegroup are reduced by 1. That's making that Manticore cost only 7 points and the Phoenix 9. Both of those warjacks are great at those reduced costs.
At tier three (which needs two or more units) for every two units in the army, one heavy warjack in Vyros' battlegroup gains Advance Move.
At tier four (requires at least 4 warjacks, hence the double Griffons) each warjack in his battlegroup is automatically allocated 1 focus point at the start of your first Control Phase. Vyros can then allocate some more to them if he wants (but you're limited by the normal 3 focus limit).
The Destor Thane is a solo capable of operating on a flank by himself and he can take and hold objectives, depending on the scenario. The Arcanist will hang around the 'jacks, which will in turn hang around behind the infantry to throw out ranged attacks.
Vyros will make sure Inviolable Resolve (+2 ARM and Fearless) goes on whichever unit needs it at the time (probably the Sentinels) and pop out Mobility on a turn when the Phoenix or Manticore needs the speed boost. Stranglehold can be used (probably arc'd through the Phoenix) to hold up a tasty target (the tastiest being something like a non-reach heavy versus reach Sentinels).
Midas (50+5)
This is a quick and easy VASSAL map. There are two hills that could potentially dominate the action. There are two brown mud pits which are just there as difficult ground. There's a rockpile that's an obstacle and a nearby wall. Two small forests round out the variety of the map.
Supply and Demand was the scenario randomly chosen. In S&D, Kill Box is in effect.
A 12"-diameter circle sits in the middle of the board. Two objectives are placed nearby. The objectives closest to each player are considered friendly Faction models. At the end of each player's turn, starting with the second player's second turn, scoring takes place:
The objectives are DEF 5, ARM 15, have 15 damage boxes, are Immobile, and when a friendly caster dominates an objective, models beginning their activation within 2" of the objective can run or charge without spending focus or being forced. Enemy warcasters/warlocks CANNOT dominate the zone while the enemy objective is within their control area.
Having the Invictors parked on that hill to defend the objective would be nice. They can use Extended Fire to throw out some massive ranged threat and have Combined Arms + Combined Ranged to make mincemeat out of Midas if he gets too close, even if he does have the Boneswarm's animus up. They're going to be operating independently of Vyros and the rest of the army, because a lot of the rest of the stuff is going over to the right side.
I don't want to call the Griffons throw-away pieces but they definitely aren't the heavy lifters in this army list. They get placed centrally behind the Sentinels. They can move up to support as extra melee threat and potentially help out the Invictors with the benefit that unit gets from Flank.
The Halberdiers set up behind the rock and the plan for them is to slowly but surely move up into the zone and contest it. Vyros will be nearby and they are to act as a roadblock to keep him safe. With Shield Wall they'll be DEF 13 and ARM 18, which is a good match-up against the Brigands (who only get Combined Range when used with Lord Carver).
The Phoenix will be closer to the middle of the board, on Vyros' left, to provide arc node benefits and Halo Cannon firepower. The Manticore goes over to the right to take on the objective and Brigands (who probably won't do much in return to the heavy 'jack). He can also, if the need arises, throw out Covering Fire towards the middle of the board to slow down the Slaughterhousers or the Bone Grinders. The Manticore will be able to use Advance Move but the Phoenix is happier being slightly behind the lines.
That leaves the Arcanist who goes near the Manticore to provide Power Booster and the Destor Thane. The Thane versus Rorsh and Brine is a bad match, although with his speed and the Multi-Fire Lance Cannon he could get lucky and take out the mini-warlock... Vyros compromises by putting him between the Sentinels and Invictors (which, like most compromises, is probably not the best choice).
Midas Advanced Move
Math time!
Road Hogs are base SPD 5. They can increase this by using their Full Boar ability:
Full Boar - This model can be forced during its activation to gain +2 SPD and Pathfinder for one turn but suffers d3 damage points.
The Bone Grinders have the ability to cast the animus of one friendly destroyed warbeast as a spell without spending fury as a special action. That free dead War Hog is giving them the option of casting Massacre:
Massacre - Target friendly model can charge without being forced. When the affected model destroys an enemy model with a charge attack, after the attack is resolved it can advance up to 1" and make an additional melee attack. Massacre lasts for one turn.
And, of course, the spray on the Road Hog is a 10"er with the Assault ability.
So if the Road Hog starts 7" from the board edge, Advance Moves 5" more, he is 12" in and thus 26" from the enemy line. A Full Boar charge (at no fury thanks to Massacre) gives him 10" of movement with a 10" spray after.
Therefore... there's no way to spray the enemy on turn one of this game. Just another reason going second would have been nice for Midas. Instead, the Road Hogs advance and accept that they'll have to wait a turn before hitting the enemy.
Dawnlord Vyros Advanced Move
Pretty simple stuff. The Manticore moves up on the right. There's no hurry here, since we need the Arcanist close by for the free focus.
And with that, we are ready to begin.
Note: All references to left and right are referenced from the diagrams, not from any player perspective.
Midas Turn One
Looking at Midas's spell list, there's no friendly upkeeps that he wants to throw out and nothing else to cast other than the Boneswam's animus:
Swarm: Cost 2, RNG SELF: This model has Concealment. Living enemy models suffer -2 to attack rolls while within 2" of this model. Swarm lasts for one round.
With that in mind, both Razor Boars are forced to run, with the one on the left side of the map angling over closer to the middle, making it harder for the Invictors to just snipe it early.
Brine is forced to run 10". Rorsh dumps a fury and runs up behind Brine.
The Brigands use the Heroic Call prayer and run. Heroic Call grants Fearless and Tough for one round and Prayers can be done each turn at any time during activation (thus allowing the prayer + run).
Both Bone Grinder units move up near the Road Hogs and use the Bone Magic ability to cast Massacre. While the Road Hogs won't be in range to hit anything with sprays this turn, they'll be closer to the enemy for next turn and still be out of range of the Sentinels for this turn.
Targ runs up to sneak in behind the right Bone Grinder unit. He wants to be able to be positioned to run next turn, extending Midas' control area and allowing the Road Hogs to still be forced. The leftmost Road Hog charges an arbitrary model across the table, angling closer to the right side of the map. The other Road Hog charges something as well. Both charges fail and there's no need to measure for the sprays.
Midas casts the Swarm animus on himself. Those Invictors across the board from him are a threat, but not an immediate one. He needs to get further up the board to keep those Road Hogs in range to be forced (Targ can only do so much, after all). He charges the enemy objective to hustle up the board 8", camping 4 fury. The Boneswarm charges the same objective.
Lastly, the Slaughterhousers run, but they don't put a lot of effort into it because they are relatively fragile and the plan is still to let them act as the reserve striking force. The end of Midas' turn leave the board looking like this:
Dawnlord Vyros Turn One
The plan hasn't really changed. Vyros knew the Road Hogs were going to get in positions to spray a lot of dudes, so we make the Sentinels those dudes that get targeted. Some are going to die, but hopefully enough are left to make retaliation an option. The Invictors won't be in range this turn, but they need to be prepared and in place for next turn. Either they or the Destor Thane can put ranged pressure on either Midas himself or the support staff. It would be nice to hurt some Slaughterhousers next turn, but they can probably wait until turn three.
Because of his tier benefit, every 'jack gets one point of focus for free at the start of the turn. There's really no need to allocate more.
The Halberdiers activate first and walk up, executing the Shield Wall order. There's no reason for them to hurry any faster and they'd just get in the way if they did.
The Sentinels activate next. They need to maintain Defensive Line positions and they also need to keep the Officer safe so Vengeance doesn't go away. They run, keeping those two things in mind and also considering Vyros' Inviolable Resolve only has a range of 6" (which won't be a problem with the Phoenix arcing the spell, but it's still something that factors in).
The Destor Thane activates next. Brine isn't the fastest warbeast in the world and he lacks reach. The Destor Thane can position himself to threaten Rorsh or Midas without fear of getting charged if he's careful. Too aggressive and he's pig food though. He runs up and places himself on the hill, making the Road Hogs decide between spraying him or the Sentinels.
The Invictors move up into place behind the Destor Thane. They want to be able to take shots on Rorsh/Brine, Midas, or the Road Hogs next turn. It's hard to move them up too much without making them a target to be sprayed. It is interesting to note that while sprays ignore concealment, cover, Stealth, and intervening models, they do not ignore elevation bonuses. Elevated targets gain +2 DEF against ranged and magic attack rolls. Of course it will be simple for the Road Hog to just step onto the hill to remove that bonus, but it's something to consider.
Both Griffons run up behind the Sentinels, giving the infantry some back up. The Manticore swings to the right, outside of the rock formation. The Arcanist runs along in his wake, preparing to Power Boost next turn if needed but staying far enough back that the Brigands may not be able to target him.
The Phoenix moves up to prepare for next turn. At the start of the turn, there was some thought about the combination of Mobility (+2 SPD and Pathfinder for Vyros' battlegroup) and the 10" gun of the Phoenix, but it was estimated that the right Road Hog would have been just out of range.
Vyros is up last. He moves up the field slightly. He spends two to cast Inviolable Reserve on the Sentinels. He then casts Hallowed Avenger on the right Griffon.
Hallowed Avenger: COST 2, RNG 6, Upkeep: When an enemy attack destroys or removes from play one or more friendly Faction models within 5" of target warjack in this model's battlegroup, after the attack is resolved the affected warjack can charge an enemy model, then Hallowed Avenger expires.
This probably won't come into play right away, but it's important to note that the charge can be against any enemy model, not just the one that killed the friendly Faction model.
Midas Turn Two
Many options this turn, but no matter what happens it has to count. If some of the Retribution infantry isn't eliminated, they just have too much hitting power (weapon master, combined range, multi-fire) to deal with.
First things first: Midas grabs fury from the Boneswarm and the closest Razor Boar. The far Razor Boar needs to test for frenzy with a miniscule Threshold value of 6. The roll turns out to be a 5, so it manages to pass the test. The idea was that the Razor Boar, if it failed, would charge the enemy... but the Road Hogs moved far enough forward that the right Road Hog would have been the victim of that charge instead.
To get it out of the way, the left Razor Boar runs forward towards the Destor Thane and Invictors. It won't be much of a speed bump but at least it's there.
Brine isn't going to make the enemy lines without taking some damage. It's going to come down to how much Retribution wants to allocate to him. He runs up, trying to get closer. Rorsh shuffles over, making sure he keeps Brine within his 6" control area, and uses the Dig In special action to give himself cover.
The left Bone Grinders move up, forming a line that will hopefully block line of sight to Brine (at least until one or more of them dies to the inevitable ranged combat). The leader throws Massacre out on the closest Road Hog.
The right Bone Grinders pretty much do the same thing. They block line of sight to the slaughterhousers instead of Midas, but the idea of screening and casting Massacre is still the same. Here is the state of the game board at this point:
You can see Midas's control area. He's not far enough up the field to keep the Road Hogs in his control area if they charge all the way in. If Targ runs up to provide extra range for control, it will only be based on his 7" CMD and he'll be a sitting duck... which means Midas won't be able to yank fury off those Road Hogs. There's also the Kill Box artifice to worry about.
The safe way to play this is going to be to move back around behind those Bone Grinders and utilize Targ to help with forcing this turn. Most likely both Road Hogs will die horribly, as will Targ. DEF 12, ARM 19 Sentinels will be a tough nut to crack and there's not too many that can be placed under sprays.
Even with the feat, that seems like a losing proposition: two heavy warbeasts for a handful of infantry? Not good enough.
Instead, a high risk, high reward strategy is chosen, and it begins with the activation of the Slaughterhousers.
One Slaughterhouser runs out in front of everyone else while his buddies hang back near friendly lines, pressed in behind the Road Hogs. Now for the risky part. Midas activates and charges that Slaughterhouser.
Because of the Back Strike bonus, Midas is an effective MAT 8 versus DEF 12. The Slaughterhouser doesn't need to die for this plan to work, so it would have been smarter to run him up and turn slightly to keep Midas in his front arc, denying that bonus. But we didn't and Midas does manage to hit. With P+S 13 boosted because of the charge, the Slaughterhouser dies... or does he? A tough roll keeps him in the game, but knocked over.
Midas then casts Calamity on the Sentinels. It costs 3 to cast and Midas boosts to hit to ensure it works. It does and Midas is down to 2 Fury. He camps the rest.
Calamity: COST 3, RNG 8, Upkeep, Offensive: Friendly models gain +2 to attack and damage rolls against target enemy model/unit.
The right Razor Boar turns and runs, engaging the Manticore.
To take advantage of the debuff on the Sentinels, the Brigands activate, moving forward to get as many Sentinels within range of their guns as possible. They get the Heroic Call prayer again (Fearless + Tough) and the shooting begins.
Note: The Razor Boar on the right is actually at "2", not "1", and shouldn't be overlapping the Manticore's base like that.
RAT 5 combined with Calamity is effective RAT 7 and POW 14 guns. Not too many of them are going to be in range because they couldn't move up _that_ far. Needing a 5 to hit, the rolls for the Brigands in range with targets were:
Note: Since Full Boar was used, the Road Hog should actually be showing "1" for Fury.
The Road Hog was on the hill so there would be no elevation benefit. The Road Hog is RAT 5. The Thane is DEF 13/ARM 17 while the Invictors are DEF 12/ARM 15 (they could have been ARM 17 in Defensive Line formations but that would have made them even more tempting for the sprays).
Another Note: At this point I took a break for the evening in typing this stuff up. Windows decided it needed to do an "important" update and rebooted on me overnight. I hadn't saved the game in VASSAL. The entire game was lost and I had to try to re-create the game state. Thanks, Microsoft!
The Road Hog boosts to hit the Destor Thane and hits. He boosts damage and the Thane takes 9, barely holding on. He'll be on fire though so there's still a chance he might not survive until his next activation.
The Road Hog then boosts to hit on one more of the Invictors, using up his maximum amount of fury. He hits with the one boosted and three non-boosted attack rolls and at the end of the attack, all four Invictors are dead.
The second Road Hog activates and uses Full Boar to grant himself the extra movement. He charges one of the Sentinels, trying to lock them up and prevent a charge next turn.
The Assault spray covers the charge target and his two friends behind him. It also potentially hits the objective. The Sentinels will be DEF 12/ARM 19 because of Defensive Line and Inviolable Resolve, but they are hurting because of Calamity. The Road Hog boosts to hit on all three Sentinels and hits each time. He needs 6 or more on the damage roll to kill the Sentinels and gets (6,3), (6,6), and (2,6). The objective is also hit, but the scenario states the damaged until the second player's second turn. It won't be hurt right now, but it's on fire.
The original charge target of the Road Hog is gone, but he's still allowed to swing against one of the others in his melee range. He misses, however, ending his streak of good luck. The Sentinels do not need to take a Command Check for Massive Casualties because they are Fearless due to Inviolable Resolve.
The Boneswarm is last to activate and it just runs up to protect Midas. At the end of the turn, the board looks like this (except the Boneswarm has 1 fury on it):
Dawnlord Vyros Turn Two
Neither of the fires goes out. The objective takes 6 damage and the Destor Thane finishes burning to death. That's a big loss for Vyros this turn as he was still in a great position to do some damage this turn.
The rest of the Maintenance Phase sees the Sentinels take their Vengeance moves and attacks. The two that were in melee with the Road Hog shuffle around, lamenting the loss of their brothers, before both attacking and hitting. P+S 12 Weapon Masters, even without the charging benefit, put 4 and 2 damage on the Road Hog. The Road Hog has almost lost his Movement. The other Dawnguard Sentinels move to set up charges this turn.
Vyros gets back his 6 focus and uses 1 to upkeep Inviolable Resolve. There's no reason to upkeep Hallowed Avenger (and every reason to regret not using it to prevent one of those Hogs from going wild). Two focus goes to the right Griffon and two to the Phoenix. The left Griffon is just going to have to deal without and the Manticore will get his free point from the Arcanist. Vyros is going to pop his feat this turn so that should help throw more focus onto his battlegroup as well.
Feat: Perfect Execution - While in Vyros' control area this turn, when a friendly Faction model destroys an enemy model with an attack, allocate 1 focus point to a warjack in Vyros' battlegroup in his control area.
The Halberdiers are activated first. They run up to the Brigands, using Reach to lock up as many in melee as possible.
Vyros then activates. He casts Mobility first for 2.
Mobility: COST 2, RNG SELF, AOE CNTL: Models in this model's battlegroup current in its control area gain +2 SPD and Pathfinder for one turn.
He then has to move up to avoid killbox. Even though the Halberdiers locked up some of the Brigands, Vyros is going to feel more comfortable towards the middle of the board. He really wants to still keep the Manticore in his control area, so he hangs back as far as he can while avoiding killbox and keeping the Manticore within 12".
The right Griffon activates next, executing a charge against the back of the closest Road Hog. The Griffon is MAT 6 and Powerful Charge with the halberd brings it up to MAT 8. Back strike bonuses further bump that up to a 10. The Halberd initial attack hits easily. P+S 13 goes up against ARM 18 and the attack does 13 damage thanks to triple 6s! Mind and Body are both gone.
The Shield attack is next. It's only an effective MAT 8 (no powerful charge benefit) but hits anyway. P+S 9 bounces off the Road Hog. The remaining point of focus is used to buy another attack with the Halberd. It hits and does 3 more damage, leaving the Road Hog with 3 boxes remaining.
The left Griffon goes next. The idea is that he'll get lucky with his halberd and possibly take out the Road Hog, freeing up the Sentinels to go do other things. It's somewhat of a long shot since it needs 7s to hit, and then a 6+ (or a 10+ with the shield) to damage. Both attacks miss with rolls of (2,3) and (1,4). So much for that plan.
The Sentinels will activate next. The two of them on the right Road Hog plan to finish up with clean up duty pretty easily, while the Officer, the Sentinel next to him, and the Sentinel on the far right go after Road Hog number two.
The two Sentinels on the severely wounded Road Hog do indeed kill it, but it's a close thing as the first attacker rolled (2,1,3) for his damage and bounced off. His partner rolled (4,4,3) which did enough. Midas chose not to reeve the fury. Because of Vyros' feat, one focus is allocated to the Manticore. Midas gains a Bone Token because of his Butchery ability:
Butchery - When a living warbeast is destroyed or removed from play while within this model's control area, place one bone token on this model. Once per turn during this model's activation, you can remove up to three bone tokens from it. This model gains 1 fury point for each bone token removed.
The two Sentinels plus their officer swing away on the other Road Hog, hitting each time, and doing 6, 11, and 13 damage. That's one dead pig. Midas does not reeve the fury this time either. Vyros allocates another focus point to the Manticore via his feat and Midas collects a second bone token.
Speaking of the Manticore, it activates next, "wasting" it's time with the Razor Boar. It boosts it's first Saber Fist attack. MAT 6 versus DEF 13. It hits and the damage is going to be dice + 1. 10 gets through, which hurts a beast that only starts with 14 damage boxes. The second fist attack is also boosted to hit. It also connects and that finishes off the little pig. A focus is allocated to the Phoenix, although Vyros' isn't sure what he'll use it for.
The Invictors and the Phoenix are left to act. The Phoenix goes first and moves up, trying to get an angle to get a Halo Cannon shot off on Midas. It gets the angle it needs and boosts the attack roll. The roll of (5,6,6) not only hits, it causes Critical Fire. Damage gets boosted and Midas chooses not to transfer the 4 damage that gets in.
The 3" AOE catches the Boneswarm and the knocked down Slaughterhouser. The damage roll for the Slaughterhouser is boosted, but still bounces off. The Boneswarm is looking at an ARM of 18 thanks to those three corpse tokens it started with and it ends up unharmed as well. Both the Slaughterhouser and the Boneswarm are on fire, however.
The Invictors are last to act. One of them moves up to engage Brine, to attempt to prevent him from running amuck (moving in such a way to avoid a possible trample move as well).
The lone Invictor on the left chooses not to take his melee initial attack on Brine. Brine has Pain Response:
Pain Response: While damaged, this model can charge or make power attacks without being forced.
The amount of potential damage the Invictor can do without charging is small and there's no reason to give Brine "free" fury next turn if some damage does sneak in.
The rest of the Invictors plan to do some CRAs against Midas. The officer calls for Extended Fire, the once-per-game ability that allows the Invictors to get +4 RNG to their sword cannons. The Invictors also benefit from Granted: Combined Arms which allows CRAs that miss to be rerolled. The officer and one Invictor will do a CRA, and three more Invictors will do the same. The Invictor on the left (near the Razor Boar) won't have any kind of line of sight to Midas so he'll end up having to shoot the Razor Boar or the Boneswarm.
The officer and Invictor fire first with an effective RAT of 9. It hits. POW will be 14, which is dice - 2. 5 damage gets in, which Midas transfers to the Razor Boar. His Mind is lost. The second attack will have a RAT of 9 as well. It hits and with dice -1 does 7 damage. Midas transfers that as well to the Razor Boar, which still lives.
Note: It is at this point that I realize VASSAL has the Razor Boar's damage grid wrong. Hopefully they'll fix that.
The last Invictor needs to make a unique decision. Killing the Razor Boar may actually help Midas because of the additional flexibility it gives him when he feats (which he'll assuredly do next turn). The feat will still heal the beast up, but it won't allow him to place it (which is where the flexibility comes in). He ignores the 'beast, finds a line of sight to the knocked down Slaughterhouser, hits, and forces another Tough roll, which is failed. At least he won't burn to death next turn!
Oh, and the Arcanist just stayed where he was. No reason to move around at this point.
Midas Turn Three
That was a pretty solid comeback from Vyros, but it was to be expected. Even small amounts of Weapon Masters with Vengeance can put a whooping on things. The Phoenix causing continuous fire was unlucky, but it could have been worse.
And speaking of fire, continuous effects are checked before fury is recovered, so Midas is going to have to suck up whatever damage the fire might do. With no transfers, he takes 4 when it doesn't go out. Double 6s on the damage roll for the Boneswarm means that warbeast takes 4 as well.
Midas grabs the fury from the Boneswarm and the surviving Razor Boar, putting him at 2. He cuts himself for 4 to fill up to 6 and then converts the two bone tokens to 2 more. It's make-or-break time and he's got 8 fury to cause some havoc. He'll make it 7 by upkeeping Calamity.
The Slaughterhousers will go first. They need to clear that Sentinel out of the way and possibly put some damage on the Phoenix and a Griffon. Three of them charge targets while two others stay back out of the way to avoid clogging things up. One of them does 5 damage to the Phoenix (hitting his shields). 7 damage gets in on the Griffon, tearing down it's energy shield and putting 1 damage to it's left side. The most important attack, that against the Sentinel, hits and kills.
Rorsh activates next. He's not the best melee combatant in the world, but he needs to eliminate that Invictor so Brine can go nuts in a proper fashion. He charges and boosts his to-hit roll. MAT 7 with three dice easily hits DEF 12. P+S 11 and a good roll end the life of that Invictor and now Brine is unengaged, but there still doesn't seem to be super effective place for him to go just yet.
The Boneswarm activates, declaring a charge against the Sentinel Officer. MAT 8 (thanks Calamity) versus DEF 12. He hits and it's P+S 12 with three dice and Calamity's +2 to damage versus ARM 19. 4 damage gets through, leaving the Officer with 1 health remaining. The 'swarm buys another attack and misses by throwing a (2,1). Another attack is purchased. It hits, but doesn't do enough damage. The Officer lives, for now.
The left Bone Grinder unit activates, moves, and chooses to Craft Talisman:
Craft Talisman (*Action) - Target a friendly warlock within 3" of a model in this unit that is in formation. If the warlock is in range, when he casts a spell and is its point of origin, the spell gains +2 RNG. Spells with RNG SELF, SP, or CTRL are not affected. Craft Talisman lasts for one turn.
Midas activates. He first casts Battle Lust on the Brigands, thanks to the Talisman giving him the RNG he needed.
Battle Lust: COST 3, RNG 6: Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit gains Fearless and gains an additional die on melee damage rolls for one round.
He has 4 fury left. He moves up next to the Slaughterhouser leader and pops his feat.
Pet Cemetary: Midas spends any number of fury points when this feat is used. Return each destroyed warbeast from Midas' battlegroup to play within 3" of him with one unmarked damage box in each aspect. For each fury point spent, remove 1 damage point from each model in Midas' battlegroup that is within his control area. Returned warbeasts gain Undead. Returned warbeasts cannot be forced this turn. Returned warbeasts that were destroyed this turn cannot activate the turn they are returned.
He wants to camp some fury so he puts 2 into the feat. This allows him also to heal that remaining Razor Boar 2 boxes (enough to get back a Mind and Body box) and he heals himself back up 2 as well.
After placing the War Hog, two Road Hogs, and the Razor Boar, the board looks like this:
Both Road Hogs are in place to sit and aim at large groups of Retribution troops. The Razor Boar is placed so that it can move up and engage something on that left side of the board. The War Hog is just going to move up the middle, take some swings, and see what happens. None of the warbeasts will have enough health to survive any kind of retaliation next turn, but by that time maybe the Slaughterhousers, Bone Grinders, and Brigands will be free of distractions.
Midas ends his turn by throwing a Curse out on the Phoenix and camps 2 fury.
The left Razor Boar activates and moves to engage the Invictor on the far left, trying to clear a better charge path for Brine. Boosting to hit and boosting damage eliminates that elf and Brine has a slightly better lane. But before he does so, the left Road Hog aims and sprays.
Note: That Razor Boar should be showing 2 fury.
The Road Hog is a RAT 7 when aiming and can't be forced because of the feat. He'll needs 5s to hit and 4s for damage against everyone except the officer. The Officer and one Invictor survive the spray but they were both hit so they are both on fire.
The Razor Boar that was brought back can't charge (he can't be forced) so he just moves up to the Sentinel he can see. Calamity is still in effect so he hits easily. He's an effective P+S 12 (P+S 10 natural and Calamity) versus ARM 19 (ARM 15 natural, +2 Defensive Line, +2 Inviolable Resolve) so he bounces off when he rolls a (1,2,2).
The other Road Hog activates. He repeats the aim + spray trick.
The Halberdiers are DEF 13/ARM 14. The Road Hog needs 6s to hit and 3s to kill. He takes out 4 of the 5, missing the one that survived. He also clips a Brigand with the spray template. The poor Farrow dies to friendly fire. The Halberdiers succeed at their Command check, but the idea of jamming up to stop the Brigands isn't looking too hot.
Speaking of jamming, the War Hog moves up and tries to engage as much as he can. If only he had Reach...
But he doesn't. So he settles for taking a War Cleaver attack on the Sentinel to start with. Calamity keeps paying off and that's a dead Sentinel. He throws his Gore attack on the left Griffon. He hits, but doesn't crit (he has crit: knockdown on the gore) and only 1 damage gets past ARM, thanks to the physical shield he carries. The second War Cleaver hits but does only 2 damage, absorbed by the energy shield.
Brigands with Bad Blood on them can put out some damage (as can anything with Bad Blood on it, really). They use the Heroic Call prayer again and charge various targets.
So actually the jam technique worked a lot better than initially thought because the brigands didn't want to take unnecessary free strikes. A better plan would have been to have the Bone Grinders snipe that back Halberdier to get him out of the way, possibly allowing more Brigands to hit the Phoenix.
The first attack is against the Manticore. It hits and is going to be P+S 10 with four dice against ARM 18. Only 2 damage gets in with a slightly below average roll. A similar attack takes place against the Phoenix, which does 4 damage, taking out the remaining energy shield.
One Brigand gets to attack the Halberdier leader. It was a charge so Set Defense comes into play, which means that the attack will need a 10 to hit. A (5,3) is rolled and the leader survives.
Three Brigands are up against the other remaining Halberdier. Only one of them was a full charge. The others couldn't move the 3" it takes to be considered a charge. The one needing a 10 misses, but one of the two others connects and rolls high enough on damage to take the elf out.
The other unit of Bone Grinders move up. They could take a Arcane Bolt attack at something but everyone seems to be engaged. Targ also moves up, although he's still partially stuck behind Brigands and the objective. Brine is last to go and he just riles for one and tries to move to get ready for next turn.
Dawnlord Vyros Turn Three
Not a good turn at all. It turns out that placed Road Hogs that can aim on the turn they come back from the dead are pretty good at taking out infantry. There was really no way around it though. It's possible the Invictors might have been better in Defensive Line formation, but probably not.
Two Invictors and the objective are on fire. The fires on the Invictors manage to go out but the objective burns and takes 3 more damage. It's down to 6 remaining health.
Things aren't as bad for Vyros as they appear. All of his 'jacks are still healthy, while the enemy's 'beasts are sitting on 5 health left for the most part. The Sentinels are going to fix that little problem with Vengeance attacks right now. That's what you get for not taking out the Officer, little pigs.
The Sentinel fighting the War Hog does 9 damage to it. That's one down. The Boneswarm needs to die next. The Officer swings and does 5 damage. With those corpse tokens giving him +3 ARM, the Boneswarm is surprisingly hard to take out. However, the second Sentinel does better with 8 damage and leaves the 'swarm with 4 boxes remaining. If the Retribution can take out the Razor Boar and the Boneswarm with other units, those two Sentinels can be applied directly to Midas' face. To facilitate this, Vyros gives 3 focus to the left Griffon, 2 to the right Griffon, and 1 to the Phoenix, dropping Inviolable Reserve and leaving himself with 0 focus.
The Invictors activate first. They are tasked with removing that Razor Boar.
The first Invictor misses (and makes them think they should have went with the Griffon to potentially get the Flank bonus), but the second doesn't. It easily does the 5 damage necessary to remove the Razor Boar from the table (again). Midas collects a bone token.
The left Griffon goes next and moves up enough to get the Boneswarm within reach of it's Halberd. He swings away, needing a 7 to hit. It's risky throwing out an attack unboosted, but he still manages to hit. He does boost the damage, however. 5 damage gets past the Boneswarm's ARM and it "dies". Midas reeves the fury and takes another bone token. Midas is now sitting on 5 fury instead of 2.
The Phoenix activates next. He wants to take out the left Slaughterhouser, freeing the lane for the other Sentinel to also charge Midas. The Griffon could take the Slaghterhouser out, but he would rather try to get rid of the Road Hog behind and remove a transfer target from the equation. He swings at that Slaghterhouser, playing the odds and NOT boosting to hit. It does hit and that's a dead Slaughterhouser as the tough roll is failed. Since it didn't spend the focus on the initial attack, the Phoenix buys another against the other Slaughterhouser. It also hits and another tough roll is failed.
The right Griffon turns and charges the right Road Hog.
He is MAT 8 on the charge thanks to Powerful Charge. He hits, but only rolls (1,3,3) for damage, which means the Road Hog only takes 2. Still, that's 2 less boxes to transfer to. The Griffon buys another attack but misses by rolling double 2s.
Rather than goof around with peripheral stuff, it's time for the main event. The Sentinels activate and charge Midas.
The normal Sentinels are MAT 7 while the officer is MAT 8. They're all P+S 12 with 4 dice because of Weapon Master and charging. Midas is DEF 14, ARM 16 and is sitting on 5 potential transfers, but only 2 eligible targets since that other Razor Boar is full up on Fury.
The first attack comes up (4,6). It's dice minus 4 for damage. (5,4,6,6) comes up and it's game over. Even after transferring, Midas still takes enough to kill him. SPLAT.
Post Game Analysis
At first glance, Midas' feat seems amazing. Returning all dead warbeasts to the table? Yes, please. However, unless you use that opportunity to really cripple your enemy, those warbeasts aren't going to help you defensively.
I honestly don't know what Midas should have done differently. He did move up and play risky on his third turn and maybe he should have played the attrition game more. The Brigands and Slaughterhousers were still at full strength and the initial plan was for them to do the real work after the 'beasts were dead. Targ could have been a factor (granting ancillary sprays) but he was never positioned right.
On the flip side, Vyros never took big risks. He played the attrition game right and piece traded exceptionally well, with the exception being the Destor Thane. The 'jacks held up (partially due to some low damage rolls against them) and had an impact when necessary.
If you have any comments or catch something we screwed up, let us know. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Battle Report!
Griffon
Manticore
Phoenix
Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Dawnguard Invictor Officer and Standard
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard
Houseguard Halberdiers
Arcanist
Dawnguard Destor Thane
The Analysis
You can't really talk about this list without talking about the Tier's benefits and restrictions. He's restricted to taking non-character Retribution warjacks with the Field Dependent trait. He can take small-based Dawnguard units and Houseguard units. For solos, he can take the Arcanist, Dawnguard solos, or Houseguard solos. The battle engine is a no-no.He loses access to the Banshee, Daemon, Sphinx, Discordia and Hypnos. He can still pick up the Hyperion (and it's not a bad choice with him normally), but it's too expensive for his tier requirements.
At tier one (gained by just following the rules above) he increases the field allowance of non-Character Dawnguard units and solos by 1.
At tier two (gained by taking two or more heavy 'jacks) the point cost of heavy 'jacks in his battlegroup are reduced by 1. That's making that Manticore cost only 7 points and the Phoenix 9. Both of those warjacks are great at those reduced costs.
At tier three (which needs two or more units) for every two units in the army, one heavy warjack in Vyros' battlegroup gains Advance Move.
At tier four (requires at least 4 warjacks, hence the double Griffons) each warjack in his battlegroup is automatically allocated 1 focus point at the start of your first Control Phase. Vyros can then allocate some more to them if he wants (but you're limited by the normal 3 focus limit).
The Plan
So what's the plan here? Get some Weapon Master Sentinels up in the opponent's face. Use Defensive Line to get to ARM 17 with the Sentinels and anything that still manages to die grants Vengeance. Invictors can take on hard to hit or high ARM targets at range with Combined Ranged Attack. The Halberdiers can act as a reserve to keep Vyros safe, using Shield Wall and Set Defense to provide their defensive abilities.The Destor Thane is a solo capable of operating on a flank by himself and he can take and hold objectives, depending on the scenario. The Arcanist will hang around the 'jacks, which will in turn hang around behind the infantry to throw out ranged attacks.
Vyros will make sure Inviolable Resolve (+2 ARM and Fearless) goes on whichever unit needs it at the time (probably the Sentinels) and pop out Mobility on a turn when the Phoenix or Manticore needs the speed boost. Stranglehold can be used (probably arc'd through the Phoenix) to hold up a tasty target (the tastiest being something like a non-reach heavy versus reach Sentinels).
Midas (just Midas)
The List
Midas (50+5)
Targ
Boneswarm
Road Hog
Road Hog
Razor Boar
Razor Boar
Rorsh & Brine
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Farrow Brigands (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Farrow Slaughterhousers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Off-Board: War Hog
This is a Tier Four (Butcher's Block) list for Midas. He's restricted to Minion Farrow non-character warbeasts, Farrow units, Farrow solos and Rorsh & Brine. You lose out on some non-Farrow solos but life goes on.
At tier one, Farrow Bone Grinders become FA U and you can take Boneswarm warbeasts from the Gators.
At tier two (army includes one or more Bone Grinder units), for each Bone Grinder unit in the army, one warbeast in Midas' battlegroup gains Advance Move. What Vyros can do, Midas can do (although not really any better).
At tier three (which requires one or more units of Slaughterhousers), one Boneswarm warbeast begins the game with three corpse tokens for each Slaughterhouser unit.
And lastly, at tier four, Midas has to take four or more warbeasts. By doing so, he gets to add one free non-character Farrow warbeast to his army. However, the warbeast starts the game destroyed. The reason for this is Midas' feat and the interaction with Bone Grinders, as you'll see in the game.
The Brigands go and act as a tar pit someplace, thanks to Tough and Dig In. The Slaughterhousers hang out behind the rest, trying to be safe (which won't happen if your opponent's aware of what they can do) until they can put a BIG hurting on something.
Then, when your opponent has killed your warbeasts and is starting to get cocky, you pop the feat, bring warbeasts back in very unexpected ways, and ideally win the game.
Boneswarm
Road Hog
Road Hog
Razor Boar
Razor Boar
Rorsh & Brine
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Farrow Brigands (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Farrow Slaughterhousers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Off-Board: War Hog
The Analysis
I'm not trying to force anyone to go back and read the article on Midas, but you should go back and read the article on Midas.This is a Tier Four (Butcher's Block) list for Midas. He's restricted to Minion Farrow non-character warbeasts, Farrow units, Farrow solos and Rorsh & Brine. You lose out on some non-Farrow solos but life goes on.
At tier one, Farrow Bone Grinders become FA U and you can take Boneswarm warbeasts from the Gators.
At tier two (army includes one or more Bone Grinder units), for each Bone Grinder unit in the army, one warbeast in Midas' battlegroup gains Advance Move. What Vyros can do, Midas can do (although not really any better).
At tier three (which requires one or more units of Slaughterhousers), one Boneswarm warbeast begins the game with three corpse tokens for each Slaughterhouser unit.
And lastly, at tier four, Midas has to take four or more warbeasts. By doing so, he gets to add one free non-character Farrow warbeast to his army. However, the warbeast starts the game destroyed. The reason for this is Midas' feat and the interaction with Bone Grinders, as you'll see in the game.
The Plan
Midas usually has a relatively simple plan. You jam up the board with Razor Boars (letting them frenzy if need be). You utilize the crazy threat range of Road Hogs on turn one to get some 10" sprays WAY out there, potentially hurting your opponent's caster. You keep the Bone Grinders near the Road Hogs early to cast the War Hog's animus Massacre and then later to either Arcane Bolt enemy solos or do some damage in melee while under the influence of Midas' Curse, Battle Lust, and Calamity.The Brigands go and act as a tar pit someplace, thanks to Tough and Dig In. The Slaughterhousers hang out behind the rest, trying to be safe (which won't happen if your opponent's aware of what they can do) until they can put a BIG hurting on something.
Then, when your opponent has killed your warbeasts and is starting to get cocky, you pop the feat, bring warbeasts back in very unexpected ways, and ideally win the game.
The Map and Scenario
This is a quick and easy VASSAL map. There are two hills that could potentially dominate the action. There are two brown mud pits which are just there as difficult ground. There's a rockpile that's an obstacle and a nearby wall. Two small forests round out the variety of the map.
Supply and Demand was the scenario randomly chosen. In S&D, Kill Box is in effect.
A 12"-diameter circle sits in the middle of the board. Two objectives are placed nearby. The objectives closest to each player are considered friendly Faction models. At the end of each player's turn, starting with the second player's second turn, scoring takes place:
- Enemy Objective Destroyed - 1 CP
- Enemy Objective Dominated - 2 CP
- Zone Controlled - 1 CP
- Zone Dominated - 2 CP
The objectives are DEF 5, ARM 15, have 15 damage boxes, are Immobile, and when a friendly caster dominates an objective, models beginning their activation within 2" of the objective can run or charge without spending focus or being forced. Enemy warcasters/warlocks CANNOT dominate the zone while the enemy objective is within their control area.
Deployment
Dawnlord Vyros won the roll-off for turn 1. He chooses to go second and picks the bottom side of the board to be his side, since that objective was sitting on the hill (and would be slightly easier to defend).
Midas Deployment
Going first and setting up first is not what Midas really wanted to do. Going second and setting up second would have allowed him to position the Road Hogs for maximum sprayage (seems like a word) aimed at the enemy infantry hordes.
The Farrow Brigands will go near the hill. They plan to move up and dig in on the hill. Cover from the Dig In Special Action, the hill, and Tough should make them hard to dislodge and ideally they'll be able to sit there and provide covering fire for the friendly objective.
Midas goes near the trees. He doesn't have Pathfinder but he can move up next to the treeline and stick a foot in the trees when he needs the extra benefit from the forest. The Boneswarm is placed right next to him along with it's three free corpse tokens.
The two Road Hogs are centrally placed, with the Bone Grinders nearby to provide Massacre on turn one. They will get to Advance Move because of tier benefits. Targ is placed in the center because of Ancillary Attack (providing a second spray to a Road Hog) and Herding, which allows him to extend Midas' control area for the purposes of beast handling. Two Razor Boars are spread out to race up the board and act as distractions or threat vectors, depending on how seriously Vyros takes them.
Rorsh and Brine will take a flank, sneaking along the board edge near the trees. The Slaughterhousers pile in behind everything else.
Dawnlord Vyros Deployment
Performing a quick threat assessment, there's a lot to be afraid of on the other side of the table. It's going to work best if those enemy sprays target Dawnguard Sentinels under the effect of Defensive Line and Inviolable Resolve, so putting that unit in the middle of the table is probably the best option. Make them a tempting target instead of something less resilient. Plus they can obviously putting a hurting on the enemy with Reach and Weapon Master when the lines engage. Keep the Officer back some so we don't lose him to some lucky spray (and thus losing Granted: Vengeance).Midas Deployment
Going first and setting up first is not what Midas really wanted to do. Going second and setting up second would have allowed him to position the Road Hogs for maximum sprayage (seems like a word) aimed at the enemy infantry hordes.
The Farrow Brigands will go near the hill. They plan to move up and dig in on the hill. Cover from the Dig In Special Action, the hill, and Tough should make them hard to dislodge and ideally they'll be able to sit there and provide covering fire for the friendly objective.
Midas goes near the trees. He doesn't have Pathfinder but he can move up next to the treeline and stick a foot in the trees when he needs the extra benefit from the forest. The Boneswarm is placed right next to him along with it's three free corpse tokens.
The two Road Hogs are centrally placed, with the Bone Grinders nearby to provide Massacre on turn one. They will get to Advance Move because of tier benefits. Targ is placed in the center because of Ancillary Attack (providing a second spray to a Road Hog) and Herding, which allows him to extend Midas' control area for the purposes of beast handling. Two Razor Boars are spread out to race up the board and act as distractions or threat vectors, depending on how seriously Vyros takes them.
Rorsh and Brine will take a flank, sneaking along the board edge near the trees. The Slaughterhousers pile in behind everything else.
Dawnlord Vyros Deployment
Having the Invictors parked on that hill to defend the objective would be nice. They can use Extended Fire to throw out some massive ranged threat and have Combined Arms + Combined Ranged to make mincemeat out of Midas if he gets too close, even if he does have the Boneswarm's animus up. They're going to be operating independently of Vyros and the rest of the army, because a lot of the rest of the stuff is going over to the right side.
I don't want to call the Griffons throw-away pieces but they definitely aren't the heavy lifters in this army list. They get placed centrally behind the Sentinels. They can move up to support as extra melee threat and potentially help out the Invictors with the benefit that unit gets from Flank.
The Halberdiers set up behind the rock and the plan for them is to slowly but surely move up into the zone and contest it. Vyros will be nearby and they are to act as a roadblock to keep him safe. With Shield Wall they'll be DEF 13 and ARM 18, which is a good match-up against the Brigands (who only get Combined Range when used with Lord Carver).
The Phoenix will be closer to the middle of the board, on Vyros' left, to provide arc node benefits and Halo Cannon firepower. The Manticore goes over to the right to take on the objective and Brigands (who probably won't do much in return to the heavy 'jack). He can also, if the need arises, throw out Covering Fire towards the middle of the board to slow down the Slaughterhousers or the Bone Grinders. The Manticore will be able to use Advance Move but the Phoenix is happier being slightly behind the lines.
That leaves the Arcanist who goes near the Manticore to provide Power Booster and the Destor Thane. The Thane versus Rorsh and Brine is a bad match, although with his speed and the Multi-Fire Lance Cannon he could get lucky and take out the mini-warlock... Vyros compromises by putting him between the Sentinels and Invictors (which, like most compromises, is probably not the best choice).
Midas Advanced Move
Math time!
Road Hogs are base SPD 5. They can increase this by using their Full Boar ability:
Full Boar - This model can be forced during its activation to gain +2 SPD and Pathfinder for one turn but suffers d3 damage points.
The Bone Grinders have the ability to cast the animus of one friendly destroyed warbeast as a spell without spending fury as a special action. That free dead War Hog is giving them the option of casting Massacre:
Massacre - Target friendly model can charge without being forced. When the affected model destroys an enemy model with a charge attack, after the attack is resolved it can advance up to 1" and make an additional melee attack. Massacre lasts for one turn.
And, of course, the spray on the Road Hog is a 10"er with the Assault ability.
So if the Road Hog starts 7" from the board edge, Advance Moves 5" more, he is 12" in and thus 26" from the enemy line. A Full Boar charge (at no fury thanks to Massacre) gives him 10" of movement with a 10" spray after.
Therefore... there's no way to spray the enemy on turn one of this game. Just another reason going second would have been nice for Midas. Instead, the Road Hogs advance and accept that they'll have to wait a turn before hitting the enemy.
Dawnlord Vyros Advanced Move
Pretty simple stuff. The Manticore moves up on the right. There's no hurry here, since we need the Arcanist close by for the free focus.
And with that, we are ready to begin.
Note: All references to left and right are referenced from the diagrams, not from any player perspective.
Midas Turn One
Looking at Midas's spell list, there's no friendly upkeeps that he wants to throw out and nothing else to cast other than the Boneswam's animus:
Swarm: Cost 2, RNG SELF: This model has Concealment. Living enemy models suffer -2 to attack rolls while within 2" of this model. Swarm lasts for one round.
With that in mind, both Razor Boars are forced to run, with the one on the left side of the map angling over closer to the middle, making it harder for the Invictors to just snipe it early.
Brine is forced to run 10". Rorsh dumps a fury and runs up behind Brine.
The Brigands use the Heroic Call prayer and run. Heroic Call grants Fearless and Tough for one round and Prayers can be done each turn at any time during activation (thus allowing the prayer + run).
Both Bone Grinder units move up near the Road Hogs and use the Bone Magic ability to cast Massacre. While the Road Hogs won't be in range to hit anything with sprays this turn, they'll be closer to the enemy for next turn and still be out of range of the Sentinels for this turn.
Targ runs up to sneak in behind the right Bone Grinder unit. He wants to be able to be positioned to run next turn, extending Midas' control area and allowing the Road Hogs to still be forced. The leftmost Road Hog charges an arbitrary model across the table, angling closer to the right side of the map. The other Road Hog charges something as well. Both charges fail and there's no need to measure for the sprays.
Midas casts the Swarm animus on himself. Those Invictors across the board from him are a threat, but not an immediate one. He needs to get further up the board to keep those Road Hogs in range to be forced (Targ can only do so much, after all). He charges the enemy objective to hustle up the board 8", camping 4 fury. The Boneswarm charges the same objective.
Lastly, the Slaughterhousers run, but they don't put a lot of effort into it because they are relatively fragile and the plan is still to let them act as the reserve striking force. The end of Midas' turn leave the board looking like this:
Dawnlord Vyros Turn One
The plan hasn't really changed. Vyros knew the Road Hogs were going to get in positions to spray a lot of dudes, so we make the Sentinels those dudes that get targeted. Some are going to die, but hopefully enough are left to make retaliation an option. The Invictors won't be in range this turn, but they need to be prepared and in place for next turn. Either they or the Destor Thane can put ranged pressure on either Midas himself or the support staff. It would be nice to hurt some Slaughterhousers next turn, but they can probably wait until turn three.
Because of his tier benefit, every 'jack gets one point of focus for free at the start of the turn. There's really no need to allocate more.
The Halberdiers activate first and walk up, executing the Shield Wall order. There's no reason for them to hurry any faster and they'd just get in the way if they did.
The Sentinels activate next. They need to maintain Defensive Line positions and they also need to keep the Officer safe so Vengeance doesn't go away. They run, keeping those two things in mind and also considering Vyros' Inviolable Resolve only has a range of 6" (which won't be a problem with the Phoenix arcing the spell, but it's still something that factors in).
The Destor Thane activates next. Brine isn't the fastest warbeast in the world and he lacks reach. The Destor Thane can position himself to threaten Rorsh or Midas without fear of getting charged if he's careful. Too aggressive and he's pig food though. He runs up and places himself on the hill, making the Road Hogs decide between spraying him or the Sentinels.
The Invictors move up into place behind the Destor Thane. They want to be able to take shots on Rorsh/Brine, Midas, or the Road Hogs next turn. It's hard to move them up too much without making them a target to be sprayed. It is interesting to note that while sprays ignore concealment, cover, Stealth, and intervening models, they do not ignore elevation bonuses. Elevated targets gain +2 DEF against ranged and magic attack rolls. Of course it will be simple for the Road Hog to just step onto the hill to remove that bonus, but it's something to consider.
Both Griffons run up behind the Sentinels, giving the infantry some back up. The Manticore swings to the right, outside of the rock formation. The Arcanist runs along in his wake, preparing to Power Boost next turn if needed but staying far enough back that the Brigands may not be able to target him.
The Phoenix moves up to prepare for next turn. At the start of the turn, there was some thought about the combination of Mobility (+2 SPD and Pathfinder for Vyros' battlegroup) and the 10" gun of the Phoenix, but it was estimated that the right Road Hog would have been just out of range.
Vyros is up last. He moves up the field slightly. He spends two to cast Inviolable Reserve on the Sentinels. He then casts Hallowed Avenger on the right Griffon.
Hallowed Avenger: COST 2, RNG 6, Upkeep: When an enemy attack destroys or removes from play one or more friendly Faction models within 5" of target warjack in this model's battlegroup, after the attack is resolved the affected warjack can charge an enemy model, then Hallowed Avenger expires.
This probably won't come into play right away, but it's important to note that the charge can be against any enemy model, not just the one that killed the friendly Faction model.
Midas Turn Two
Many options this turn, but no matter what happens it has to count. If some of the Retribution infantry isn't eliminated, they just have too much hitting power (weapon master, combined range, multi-fire) to deal with.
First things first: Midas grabs fury from the Boneswarm and the closest Razor Boar. The far Razor Boar needs to test for frenzy with a miniscule Threshold value of 6. The roll turns out to be a 5, so it manages to pass the test. The idea was that the Razor Boar, if it failed, would charge the enemy... but the Road Hogs moved far enough forward that the right Road Hog would have been the victim of that charge instead.
To get it out of the way, the left Razor Boar runs forward towards the Destor Thane and Invictors. It won't be much of a speed bump but at least it's there.
Brine isn't going to make the enemy lines without taking some damage. It's going to come down to how much Retribution wants to allocate to him. He runs up, trying to get closer. Rorsh shuffles over, making sure he keeps Brine within his 6" control area, and uses the Dig In special action to give himself cover.
The left Bone Grinders move up, forming a line that will hopefully block line of sight to Brine (at least until one or more of them dies to the inevitable ranged combat). The leader throws Massacre out on the closest Road Hog.
The right Bone Grinders pretty much do the same thing. They block line of sight to the slaughterhousers instead of Midas, but the idea of screening and casting Massacre is still the same. Here is the state of the game board at this point:
You can see Midas's control area. He's not far enough up the field to keep the Road Hogs in his control area if they charge all the way in. If Targ runs up to provide extra range for control, it will only be based on his 7" CMD and he'll be a sitting duck... which means Midas won't be able to yank fury off those Road Hogs. There's also the Kill Box artifice to worry about.
The safe way to play this is going to be to move back around behind those Bone Grinders and utilize Targ to help with forcing this turn. Most likely both Road Hogs will die horribly, as will Targ. DEF 12, ARM 19 Sentinels will be a tough nut to crack and there's not too many that can be placed under sprays.
Even with the feat, that seems like a losing proposition: two heavy warbeasts for a handful of infantry? Not good enough.
Instead, a high risk, high reward strategy is chosen, and it begins with the activation of the Slaughterhousers.
One Slaughterhouser runs out in front of everyone else while his buddies hang back near friendly lines, pressed in behind the Road Hogs. Now for the risky part. Midas activates and charges that Slaughterhouser.
Because of the Back Strike bonus, Midas is an effective MAT 8 versus DEF 12. The Slaughterhouser doesn't need to die for this plan to work, so it would have been smarter to run him up and turn slightly to keep Midas in his front arc, denying that bonus. But we didn't and Midas does manage to hit. With P+S 13 boosted because of the charge, the Slaughterhouser dies... or does he? A tough roll keeps him in the game, but knocked over.
Midas then casts Calamity on the Sentinels. It costs 3 to cast and Midas boosts to hit to ensure it works. It does and Midas is down to 2 Fury. He camps the rest.
Calamity: COST 3, RNG 8, Upkeep, Offensive: Friendly models gain +2 to attack and damage rolls against target enemy model/unit.
The right Razor Boar turns and runs, engaging the Manticore.
To take advantage of the debuff on the Sentinels, the Brigands activate, moving forward to get as many Sentinels within range of their guns as possible. They get the Heroic Call prayer again (Fearless + Tough) and the shooting begins.
Note: The Razor Boar on the right is actually at "2", not "1", and shouldn't be overlapping the Manticore's base like that.
RAT 5 combined with Calamity is effective RAT 7 and POW 14 guns. Not too many of them are going to be in range because they couldn't move up _that_ far. Needing a 5 to hit, the rolls for the Brigands in range with targets were:
- 5, 6 - hit, kill
- 3, 1 - miss
- 1, 1 - miss
- 2, 2 - miss
- 5, 6 - hit, kill
- 1, 1 - miss
- 1, 6 - hit, bounce
- 5, 5 - hit, dead
- 2, 1 - miss
2d6 needing a 5 or more is usually a pretty good bet (83.4% of the time), but here we see 4 out of 9, which is 44.4%. That seems terrible (if you're Midas) but in actuality, there was really only one potential target within range that survived.
Note: Vyros could have used Hallowed Avenger on the Griffon to charge something (maybe a Road Hog). He probably should have but decided instead to hold the Griffon back rather than just getting it trashed by a Hog. In hindsight, he probably should have charged and tried to engage BOTH Road Hogs. One would have been forced to kill the Griffon (if possible) before the other could have moved away to spray some elves.
Targ then runs up as far as he can. The Road Hogs are just about to come online. The board looks like this:
The left Road Hog needs to take out some of those Invictors and/or possibly hurt the Destor Thane because even with that Razor Boar out there, Midas is a sitting duck. That Road Hog activates and uses Full Boar to gain +2 SPD. He chooses to move up (and not charge, even with Massacre) in order to have more control over where he puts the spray template.
The 10" spray hits the Destor Thane and 4 Invictors.
The Road Hog was on the hill so there would be no elevation benefit. The Road Hog is RAT 5. The Thane is DEF 13/ARM 17 while the Invictors are DEF 12/ARM 15 (they could have been ARM 17 in Defensive Line formations but that would have made them even more tempting for the sprays).
Another Note: At this point I took a break for the evening in typing this stuff up. Windows decided it needed to do an "important" update and rebooted on me overnight. I hadn't saved the game in VASSAL. The entire game was lost and I had to try to re-create the game state. Thanks, Microsoft!
The Road Hog boosts to hit the Destor Thane and hits. He boosts damage and the Thane takes 9, barely holding on. He'll be on fire though so there's still a chance he might not survive until his next activation.
The Road Hog then boosts to hit on one more of the Invictors, using up his maximum amount of fury. He hits with the one boosted and three non-boosted attack rolls and at the end of the attack, all four Invictors are dead.
The second Road Hog activates and uses Full Boar to grant himself the extra movement. He charges one of the Sentinels, trying to lock them up and prevent a charge next turn.
The Assault spray covers the charge target and his two friends behind him. It also potentially hits the objective. The Sentinels will be DEF 12/ARM 19 because of Defensive Line and Inviolable Resolve, but they are hurting because of Calamity. The Road Hog boosts to hit on all three Sentinels and hits each time. He needs 6 or more on the damage roll to kill the Sentinels and gets (6,3), (6,6), and (2,6). The objective is also hit, but the scenario states the damaged until the second player's second turn. It won't be hurt right now, but it's on fire.
The original charge target of the Road Hog is gone, but he's still allowed to swing against one of the others in his melee range. He misses, however, ending his streak of good luck. The Sentinels do not need to take a Command Check for Massive Casualties because they are Fearless due to Inviolable Resolve.
The Boneswarm is last to activate and it just runs up to protect Midas. At the end of the turn, the board looks like this (except the Boneswarm has 1 fury on it):
Dawnlord Vyros Turn Two
Neither of the fires goes out. The objective takes 6 damage and the Destor Thane finishes burning to death. That's a big loss for Vyros this turn as he was still in a great position to do some damage this turn.
The rest of the Maintenance Phase sees the Sentinels take their Vengeance moves and attacks. The two that were in melee with the Road Hog shuffle around, lamenting the loss of their brothers, before both attacking and hitting. P+S 12 Weapon Masters, even without the charging benefit, put 4 and 2 damage on the Road Hog. The Road Hog has almost lost his Movement. The other Dawnguard Sentinels move to set up charges this turn.
Vyros gets back his 6 focus and uses 1 to upkeep Inviolable Resolve. There's no reason to upkeep Hallowed Avenger (and every reason to regret not using it to prevent one of those Hogs from going wild). Two focus goes to the right Griffon and two to the Phoenix. The left Griffon is just going to have to deal without and the Manticore will get his free point from the Arcanist. Vyros is going to pop his feat this turn so that should help throw more focus onto his battlegroup as well.
Feat: Perfect Execution - While in Vyros' control area this turn, when a friendly Faction model destroys an enemy model with an attack, allocate 1 focus point to a warjack in Vyros' battlegroup in his control area.
The Halberdiers are activated first. They run up to the Brigands, using Reach to lock up as many in melee as possible.
Vyros then activates. He casts Mobility first for 2.
Mobility: COST 2, RNG SELF, AOE CNTL: Models in this model's battlegroup current in its control area gain +2 SPD and Pathfinder for one turn.
He then has to move up to avoid killbox. Even though the Halberdiers locked up some of the Brigands, Vyros is going to feel more comfortable towards the middle of the board. He really wants to still keep the Manticore in his control area, so he hangs back as far as he can while avoiding killbox and keeping the Manticore within 12".
The right Griffon activates next, executing a charge against the back of the closest Road Hog. The Griffon is MAT 6 and Powerful Charge with the halberd brings it up to MAT 8. Back strike bonuses further bump that up to a 10. The Halberd initial attack hits easily. P+S 13 goes up against ARM 18 and the attack does 13 damage thanks to triple 6s! Mind and Body are both gone.
The Shield attack is next. It's only an effective MAT 8 (no powerful charge benefit) but hits anyway. P+S 9 bounces off the Road Hog. The remaining point of focus is used to buy another attack with the Halberd. It hits and does 3 more damage, leaving the Road Hog with 3 boxes remaining.
The left Griffon goes next. The idea is that he'll get lucky with his halberd and possibly take out the Road Hog, freeing up the Sentinels to go do other things. It's somewhat of a long shot since it needs 7s to hit, and then a 6+ (or a 10+ with the shield) to damage. Both attacks miss with rolls of (2,3) and (1,4). So much for that plan.
The Sentinels will activate next. The two of them on the right Road Hog plan to finish up with clean up duty pretty easily, while the Officer, the Sentinel next to him, and the Sentinel on the far right go after Road Hog number two.
The two Sentinels on the severely wounded Road Hog do indeed kill it, but it's a close thing as the first attacker rolled (2,1,3) for his damage and bounced off. His partner rolled (4,4,3) which did enough. Midas chose not to reeve the fury. Because of Vyros' feat, one focus is allocated to the Manticore. Midas gains a Bone Token because of his Butchery ability:
Butchery - When a living warbeast is destroyed or removed from play while within this model's control area, place one bone token on this model. Once per turn during this model's activation, you can remove up to three bone tokens from it. This model gains 1 fury point for each bone token removed.
The two Sentinels plus their officer swing away on the other Road Hog, hitting each time, and doing 6, 11, and 13 damage. That's one dead pig. Midas does not reeve the fury this time either. Vyros allocates another focus point to the Manticore via his feat and Midas collects a second bone token.
Speaking of the Manticore, it activates next, "wasting" it's time with the Razor Boar. It boosts it's first Saber Fist attack. MAT 6 versus DEF 13. It hits and the damage is going to be dice + 1. 10 gets through, which hurts a beast that only starts with 14 damage boxes. The second fist attack is also boosted to hit. It also connects and that finishes off the little pig. A focus is allocated to the Phoenix, although Vyros' isn't sure what he'll use it for.
The Invictors and the Phoenix are left to act. The Phoenix goes first and moves up, trying to get an angle to get a Halo Cannon shot off on Midas. It gets the angle it needs and boosts the attack roll. The roll of (5,6,6) not only hits, it causes Critical Fire. Damage gets boosted and Midas chooses not to transfer the 4 damage that gets in.
The 3" AOE catches the Boneswarm and the knocked down Slaughterhouser. The damage roll for the Slaughterhouser is boosted, but still bounces off. The Boneswarm is looking at an ARM of 18 thanks to those three corpse tokens it started with and it ends up unharmed as well. Both the Slaughterhouser and the Boneswarm are on fire, however.
The Invictors are last to act. One of them moves up to engage Brine, to attempt to prevent him from running amuck (moving in such a way to avoid a possible trample move as well).
The lone Invictor on the left chooses not to take his melee initial attack on Brine. Brine has Pain Response:
Pain Response: While damaged, this model can charge or make power attacks without being forced.
The amount of potential damage the Invictor can do without charging is small and there's no reason to give Brine "free" fury next turn if some damage does sneak in.
The rest of the Invictors plan to do some CRAs against Midas. The officer calls for Extended Fire, the once-per-game ability that allows the Invictors to get +4 RNG to their sword cannons. The Invictors also benefit from Granted: Combined Arms which allows CRAs that miss to be rerolled. The officer and one Invictor will do a CRA, and three more Invictors will do the same. The Invictor on the left (near the Razor Boar) won't have any kind of line of sight to Midas so he'll end up having to shoot the Razor Boar or the Boneswarm.
The officer and Invictor fire first with an effective RAT of 9. It hits. POW will be 14, which is dice - 2. 5 damage gets in, which Midas transfers to the Razor Boar. His Mind is lost. The second attack will have a RAT of 9 as well. It hits and with dice -1 does 7 damage. Midas transfers that as well to the Razor Boar, which still lives.
Note: It is at this point that I realize VASSAL has the Razor Boar's damage grid wrong. Hopefully they'll fix that.
The last Invictor needs to make a unique decision. Killing the Razor Boar may actually help Midas because of the additional flexibility it gives him when he feats (which he'll assuredly do next turn). The feat will still heal the beast up, but it won't allow him to place it (which is where the flexibility comes in). He ignores the 'beast, finds a line of sight to the knocked down Slaughterhouser, hits, and forces another Tough roll, which is failed. At least he won't burn to death next turn!
Oh, and the Arcanist just stayed where he was. No reason to move around at this point.
Midas Turn Three
That was a pretty solid comeback from Vyros, but it was to be expected. Even small amounts of Weapon Masters with Vengeance can put a whooping on things. The Phoenix causing continuous fire was unlucky, but it could have been worse.
And speaking of fire, continuous effects are checked before fury is recovered, so Midas is going to have to suck up whatever damage the fire might do. With no transfers, he takes 4 when it doesn't go out. Double 6s on the damage roll for the Boneswarm means that warbeast takes 4 as well.
Midas grabs the fury from the Boneswarm and the surviving Razor Boar, putting him at 2. He cuts himself for 4 to fill up to 6 and then converts the two bone tokens to 2 more. It's make-or-break time and he's got 8 fury to cause some havoc. He'll make it 7 by upkeeping Calamity.
The Slaughterhousers will go first. They need to clear that Sentinel out of the way and possibly put some damage on the Phoenix and a Griffon. Three of them charge targets while two others stay back out of the way to avoid clogging things up. One of them does 5 damage to the Phoenix (hitting his shields). 7 damage gets in on the Griffon, tearing down it's energy shield and putting 1 damage to it's left side. The most important attack, that against the Sentinel, hits and kills.
Rorsh activates next. He's not the best melee combatant in the world, but he needs to eliminate that Invictor so Brine can go nuts in a proper fashion. He charges and boosts his to-hit roll. MAT 7 with three dice easily hits DEF 12. P+S 11 and a good roll end the life of that Invictor and now Brine is unengaged, but there still doesn't seem to be super effective place for him to go just yet.
The Boneswarm activates, declaring a charge against the Sentinel Officer. MAT 8 (thanks Calamity) versus DEF 12. He hits and it's P+S 12 with three dice and Calamity's +2 to damage versus ARM 19. 4 damage gets through, leaving the Officer with 1 health remaining. The 'swarm buys another attack and misses by throwing a (2,1). Another attack is purchased. It hits, but doesn't do enough damage. The Officer lives, for now.
The left Bone Grinder unit activates, moves, and chooses to Craft Talisman:
Craft Talisman (*Action) - Target a friendly warlock within 3" of a model in this unit that is in formation. If the warlock is in range, when he casts a spell and is its point of origin, the spell gains +2 RNG. Spells with RNG SELF, SP, or CTRL are not affected. Craft Talisman lasts for one turn.
Midas activates. He first casts Battle Lust on the Brigands, thanks to the Talisman giving him the RNG he needed.
Battle Lust: COST 3, RNG 6: Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit gains Fearless and gains an additional die on melee damage rolls for one round.
He has 4 fury left. He moves up next to the Slaughterhouser leader and pops his feat.
Pet Cemetary: Midas spends any number of fury points when this feat is used. Return each destroyed warbeast from Midas' battlegroup to play within 3" of him with one unmarked damage box in each aspect. For each fury point spent, remove 1 damage point from each model in Midas' battlegroup that is within his control area. Returned warbeasts gain Undead. Returned warbeasts cannot be forced this turn. Returned warbeasts that were destroyed this turn cannot activate the turn they are returned.
He wants to camp some fury so he puts 2 into the feat. This allows him also to heal that remaining Razor Boar 2 boxes (enough to get back a Mind and Body box) and he heals himself back up 2 as well.
After placing the War Hog, two Road Hogs, and the Razor Boar, the board looks like this:
Both Road Hogs are in place to sit and aim at large groups of Retribution troops. The Razor Boar is placed so that it can move up and engage something on that left side of the board. The War Hog is just going to move up the middle, take some swings, and see what happens. None of the warbeasts will have enough health to survive any kind of retaliation next turn, but by that time maybe the Slaughterhousers, Bone Grinders, and Brigands will be free of distractions.
Midas ends his turn by throwing a Curse out on the Phoenix and camps 2 fury.
The left Razor Boar activates and moves to engage the Invictor on the far left, trying to clear a better charge path for Brine. Boosting to hit and boosting damage eliminates that elf and Brine has a slightly better lane. But before he does so, the left Road Hog aims and sprays.
Note: That Razor Boar should be showing 2 fury.
The Road Hog is a RAT 7 when aiming and can't be forced because of the feat. He'll needs 5s to hit and 4s for damage against everyone except the officer. The Officer and one Invictor survive the spray but they were both hit so they are both on fire.
The Razor Boar that was brought back can't charge (he can't be forced) so he just moves up to the Sentinel he can see. Calamity is still in effect so he hits easily. He's an effective P+S 12 (P+S 10 natural and Calamity) versus ARM 19 (ARM 15 natural, +2 Defensive Line, +2 Inviolable Resolve) so he bounces off when he rolls a (1,2,2).
The other Road Hog activates. He repeats the aim + spray trick.
The Halberdiers are DEF 13/ARM 14. The Road Hog needs 6s to hit and 3s to kill. He takes out 4 of the 5, missing the one that survived. He also clips a Brigand with the spray template. The poor Farrow dies to friendly fire. The Halberdiers succeed at their Command check, but the idea of jamming up to stop the Brigands isn't looking too hot.
Speaking of jamming, the War Hog moves up and tries to engage as much as he can. If only he had Reach...
But he doesn't. So he settles for taking a War Cleaver attack on the Sentinel to start with. Calamity keeps paying off and that's a dead Sentinel. He throws his Gore attack on the left Griffon. He hits, but doesn't crit (he has crit: knockdown on the gore) and only 1 damage gets past ARM, thanks to the physical shield he carries. The second War Cleaver hits but does only 2 damage, absorbed by the energy shield.
Brigands with Bad Blood on them can put out some damage (as can anything with Bad Blood on it, really). They use the Heroic Call prayer again and charge various targets.
So actually the jam technique worked a lot better than initially thought because the brigands didn't want to take unnecessary free strikes. A better plan would have been to have the Bone Grinders snipe that back Halberdier to get him out of the way, possibly allowing more Brigands to hit the Phoenix.
The first attack is against the Manticore. It hits and is going to be P+S 10 with four dice against ARM 18. Only 2 damage gets in with a slightly below average roll. A similar attack takes place against the Phoenix, which does 4 damage, taking out the remaining energy shield.
One Brigand gets to attack the Halberdier leader. It was a charge so Set Defense comes into play, which means that the attack will need a 10 to hit. A (5,3) is rolled and the leader survives.
Three Brigands are up against the other remaining Halberdier. Only one of them was a full charge. The others couldn't move the 3" it takes to be considered a charge. The one needing a 10 misses, but one of the two others connects and rolls high enough on damage to take the elf out.
The other unit of Bone Grinders move up. They could take a Arcane Bolt attack at something but everyone seems to be engaged. Targ also moves up, although he's still partially stuck behind Brigands and the objective. Brine is last to go and he just riles for one and tries to move to get ready for next turn.
Dawnlord Vyros Turn Three
Not a good turn at all. It turns out that placed Road Hogs that can aim on the turn they come back from the dead are pretty good at taking out infantry. There was really no way around it though. It's possible the Invictors might have been better in Defensive Line formation, but probably not.
Two Invictors and the objective are on fire. The fires on the Invictors manage to go out but the objective burns and takes 3 more damage. It's down to 6 remaining health.
Things aren't as bad for Vyros as they appear. All of his 'jacks are still healthy, while the enemy's 'beasts are sitting on 5 health left for the most part. The Sentinels are going to fix that little problem with Vengeance attacks right now. That's what you get for not taking out the Officer, little pigs.
The Sentinel fighting the War Hog does 9 damage to it. That's one down. The Boneswarm needs to die next. The Officer swings and does 5 damage. With those corpse tokens giving him +3 ARM, the Boneswarm is surprisingly hard to take out. However, the second Sentinel does better with 8 damage and leaves the 'swarm with 4 boxes remaining. If the Retribution can take out the Razor Boar and the Boneswarm with other units, those two Sentinels can be applied directly to Midas' face. To facilitate this, Vyros gives 3 focus to the left Griffon, 2 to the right Griffon, and 1 to the Phoenix, dropping Inviolable Reserve and leaving himself with 0 focus.
The Invictors activate first. They are tasked with removing that Razor Boar.
The first Invictor misses (and makes them think they should have went with the Griffon to potentially get the Flank bonus), but the second doesn't. It easily does the 5 damage necessary to remove the Razor Boar from the table (again). Midas collects a bone token.
The left Griffon goes next and moves up enough to get the Boneswarm within reach of it's Halberd. He swings away, needing a 7 to hit. It's risky throwing out an attack unboosted, but he still manages to hit. He does boost the damage, however. 5 damage gets past the Boneswarm's ARM and it "dies". Midas reeves the fury and takes another bone token. Midas is now sitting on 5 fury instead of 2.
The Phoenix activates next. He wants to take out the left Slaughterhouser, freeing the lane for the other Sentinel to also charge Midas. The Griffon could take the Slaghterhouser out, but he would rather try to get rid of the Road Hog behind and remove a transfer target from the equation. He swings at that Slaghterhouser, playing the odds and NOT boosting to hit. It does hit and that's a dead Slaughterhouser as the tough roll is failed. Since it didn't spend the focus on the initial attack, the Phoenix buys another against the other Slaughterhouser. It also hits and another tough roll is failed.
The right Griffon turns and charges the right Road Hog.
He is MAT 8 on the charge thanks to Powerful Charge. He hits, but only rolls (1,3,3) for damage, which means the Road Hog only takes 2. Still, that's 2 less boxes to transfer to. The Griffon buys another attack but misses by rolling double 2s.
Rather than goof around with peripheral stuff, it's time for the main event. The Sentinels activate and charge Midas.
The normal Sentinels are MAT 7 while the officer is MAT 8. They're all P+S 12 with 4 dice because of Weapon Master and charging. Midas is DEF 14, ARM 16 and is sitting on 5 potential transfers, but only 2 eligible targets since that other Razor Boar is full up on Fury.
The first attack comes up (4,6). It's dice minus 4 for damage. (5,4,6,6) comes up and it's game over. Even after transferring, Midas still takes enough to kill him. SPLAT.
Post Game Analysis
At first glance, Midas' feat seems amazing. Returning all dead warbeasts to the table? Yes, please. However, unless you use that opportunity to really cripple your enemy, those warbeasts aren't going to help you defensively.
I honestly don't know what Midas should have done differently. He did move up and play risky on his third turn and maybe he should have played the attrition game more. The Brigands and Slaughterhousers were still at full strength and the initial plan was for them to do the real work after the 'beasts were dead. Targ could have been a factor (granting ancillary sprays) but he was never positioned right.
On the flip side, Vyros never took big risks. He played the attrition game right and piece traded exceptionally well, with the exception being the Destor Thane. The 'jacks held up (partially due to some low damage rolls against them) and had an impact when necessary.
If you have any comments or catch something we screwed up, let us know. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Battle Report!
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