Warmachine Battle Report - Menoth vs. Mercenaries - 35 pts

This report is from a recent battle with Jamar's Highborn Covenant Mercenaries going up against John Johnson's pink Protectorate of Menoth in a 35 point game. Jamar's List:

• Ashlynn d'Elyse
• Mule
• Nomad
• Vanguard
• Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + UA
• Max. Horgenhold Forge Guard
• The Piper of Ord
• Gorman Di Wulfe
• Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios (PEiryss)

John's List:

• Vindictus
• Templar
• Crusader
• Revenger
• Min. Exemplar Errants + UA
• Min. Exemplar Errants + UA
• Min. Choir
• Errant Seneshal
• Hierophant
• Vassal of Menoth

Deployment: John won the roll and elected to go first. From top to bottom he placed: Errants, Choir, Revenger (with a missing Halbred tip), Vindictus, Hierophant. Errant Seneshal, more Errants, Crusader and the Templar. From top to bottom, Jamar deployed: the Piper, Nomad, Forge Guard, Vanguard, Ashlynn, Mule, Gorman, Gun Mages and Eiryss. As he was playing a Highborn Covenant list, his all had Advance Deploy.

As John was playing Vindictus' themed force up to Tier 2 his army had pathfinder for the first round and received an Errant UA free of cost. One slight mix up caught after the fact was the addition of a Vassal of Menoth to the list, as Vindictus' themed force actually only allows Vassal Mechaniks, but mistakes happen and it was dismissed as his list was already 1 point under.

Menoth turn 1: Each jack received one focus. The Choir put Passage (can't be targeted by non-magical ranged attacks) on the jacks and Vindictus cast Defender's Ward on the central Errant unit. Everything else ran, the Seneshal running behind the wall by the house and the Vassal hugging the Crusader.

Mercs turn 1: The Nomad and Vanguard each received one focus. Eiryss advanced and shot an Errant, Call To Sacrifice not being used. The Gun Mages advanced and fired Long Shots at the lead Errant behind the boxes, but were either out of range or missed. The Piper gave the Forge Guard Dirge of Mists (+1 DEF and Terror) and ran. Ashlynn cast Quicken (+2 SPD and +2 DEF from ranged and magic attacks) on the Forge Guard and walked towards the forest, then the Forge Guard ran up behind the wall. The Mule sat still and shot, but was out of range and the AOE deviation hit nothing. Gorman advanced and dropped a smoke cloud to help hide Ashlynn and the Vanguard ran close to her.

A Menoth perspective.

A Mercenary perspective.

Menoth turn 2: Vindictus upkept Defender's Ward and gave each jack a focus. The Hierophant advanced and used Harmonious Exaltation on Vindictus (as it will continue to do every turn of the game), allowing him to cast one spell this turn for one less focus. Vindictus then advanced, cast True Path (+2 movement and Pathfinder to friendly warrior models) and used his feat (when a friendly faction model in V's CTRL area is damaged by an enemy attack, after it's resolved the attacker takes one point of damage), followed by the Choir advancing and again using Passage on the jacks. The central Errant unit advanced, moving several forward (within Stealth ignoring range) with the intention to have several attempts at shooting Gorman, however the first one rolled fairly well, hitting and killing Gorman with one shot. The second one shot at a Gun Mage and missed, with the rest shooting at and hitting the Forge Guard, but none wounding. The Errants by the house grouped themselves similarly, so as to have several attempts at shooting the Piper dead, but again hit and killed him with the first attempt. The rest shot at the Forge Guard, all shots hitting, but only killing 2. The Seneshal shot also ineffectually. The jacks ran up, the Revenger behind the central Errants, the Crusader by the wall and the Templar towards the opposing forest. Lastly, the Vassal advanced and used Enliven on the Crusader.

Mercs turn 2: Ashlynn did not upkeep Quicken and gave 3 focus to the Nomad. The Forge Guard advanced over the wall and killed 5 Errants, with 5 of them dying in turn from Vindictus' feat. Ashlynn then walked towards the crates and cast Quicken on the Nomad. The Nomad then advanced and was just out of reach range on the Crusader (Jamar forgot the Enliven) and instead beat on the Revenger, doing about 2 columns worth of damage, but crippling no systems. As it's back was already against the wall it couldn't be pushed. The Gun Mages then advanced and did a 6-man Arcane Inferno on the middle, foward Errant, hitting and killing the target as well as 2 of the 3 in the blast. Eiryss advanced and killed another with a Death Bolt. The Vanguard walked in front of Ashlynn and the Mule aimed and fired at the central Errants, but missed and deviated to nowhere significant.

Menoth turn 3: Vindictus didn't upkeep Defender's Ward and gave 2 focus to the Crusader, 1 to the Templar and kept 3. The Errants by the house charged the remaing Forge Guard, one killing his charge target and then killing another via a Quick Work granted shot and another Errant finishing off the last one, using his Quick Work shot to harmlessly ping the Vanguard. It was decided before hand that if non-reach models are on either side of the wall and are base-to-base with it they can attack one another over it, thus the Seneshal charged the Nomad, but rolled snake eyes. The Choir then sang the Battle hymn on the jacks and the Hierophant again used HE on Vindictus. The Crusader walked over to the Nomad and wrecked it with one fist attack and 3 mace attacks and the now unengaged Revenger advanced towards the Gun Mages. Vindictus cast Sacrificial Lamb (sacrificing a Choir member) to essentially give the Templar another focus and then channeled Rift through the Revenger onto the Gun Mages, killing 3 and doing 1 point of damage to the UA. The remaining central Errants advanced, shot at the Gun Mages, but missed . The Templar charged out of V's CTRL area to attack Eiryss with the Flail, boosted the hit, crushed her, used Beat Back to move 1" & change facing slightly and killed another Gun Mage with it's shield, forcing a command test which they passed. Lastly, the Vassal walked up a bit and Enlivened the Revenger.

Mercs turn 3: Ashlynn didn't upkeep Quicken and gave 3 to the Mule. The Vanguard just advanced towards the Errants. Ashlynn advanced, cast Quicken on the Mule, used her feat (long story short, for one round friendly attacks are more accurate and enemy attacks are less accurate) and shot a Choir member. The Gun Mages then shot the remaining two Choir as well as the central Errant Officer, but another grunt took it for him with Call To Sacrifice. The Mule then charged the Crusader, doing about 3 columns worth of damage and crippling its fist.

Menoth turn 4: Vindictus allocated 2 focus to the Crusader and 2 to the Revenger. The Hierophant HE'd Vinny and the remnants of the central Errants charged the remnants of the Gun Mages. The Errant attacking the UA hit even under Ashlynn's feat and took him out, but unsuprisingly missed with the Quick Work shot. The Seneshal charged the Vanguard and missed, but the other Errant unit charged the Vanguard and one hit, doing 8 damage. Vindictus then Sac Lambed (saccing the standard from the central Errants) and cast Defender's Ward on himself and backed up a bit. The Crusader walked to the Mule and after a sound beating (and some good rolls) brought it down to 2 boxes, then the Vassal advanced base-to-base with the Crusader and used Ancillary Attack on it to swing once more at the Mule, scrapping it. Next the Revenger charged the Vanguard, but missed all it's attacks due to the feat and the Templar advanced back into Vindictus' CTRL area.

Mercs turn 4: Ashlynn kept all her focus. A Gun Mage advanced into the path of the Templar and shot it with a Thunderbolt to push it back (away from the house) 2", the other ineffectually attacking the armed Errant in melee. The Vanguard missed the Seneshal with it's pole arm, then hit with its shield, but did no damage. Ashlynn then walked over to engage the Revenger and the Crusader, using her initial sword on the Crusader, gun on the Revenger and then casting Flashing Blade 3 times, wrecking the Revenger and taking out all but the mace arm and movement on the Crusader, sitting on 3 focus.

(forgot to take pictures for this turn)

Menoth turn 5: Vindictus upkept DW, and John forgot to allocate focus, though due to the Thunderbolt push from last turn the Templar wouldn't have been able to reach Ashlynn anyway . The Vassal tried to hit the intervening Gun Mage in the back with Arcane Bolt, but missed. The engaged Errant Officer walked out of combat to attack said Gun Mage, taking no damage from the free strike, but not hitting either. The Crusader moved to be as in the way as possible. The Seneshal walked over to attack Ashlynn, but missed and got hit by Ashlynn via Riposte, though a Errant from the nearby unit died in his place. The Templar advanced and actually hit the elusive Gun Mage with its Flail and Beat back to get a bit closer to the action. The Hierophant did HE and Vindictus moved a bit and cast DW on the Templar.

Mercs turn 5: Ashlynn sat on her focus and ran over to Vindictus, ignoring free strikes due to parry. The Vanguard hit the Seneshal, but the last model in the unit took it for him. The Gun Mage walked over and shot the Templar with Thunderbolt to push it 1".

Menoth turn 6: Vindictus upkept DW and gave the Templar 3 focus. The Hierophant did HE and walked to a soon-to-be blocking position. The Templar missed with it's first boosted attack roll, hit with the second, beating her back 1" (not enough to disengage her from Vindictus though) and did no damage. Then Vinny cast Defenders Ward on himself and ran behind the Templar, taking a weapon master free strike for 8 damage. The Vassal, Crusader, and remainging Errants ran or walked into blocking positions in the hopes of keeping Vindictus alive and the Seneshal failed to damage the Vanguard.

Mercs turn 6: Ashlynn cast Admonition on herself walked towards the house and shot a boosted hand cannon at Vindictus, but missed. The Vanguard finally killed the Seneshal and the Gun Mage shot the Vassal, but did no damage.

Menoth turn 7: Vindictus upkept DW and gave 1 focus to the Templar. The Hierophant did HE on Vindictus and Jamar chose to trigger Admonition with that and moved Ashlynn 3" closer to the Templar for some reason. After some exacting measurements involving no less than 5 end-to-end melee gauges, it was determined that Vindictus was able to walk just far enough to get in Ashlynn's back arc (be safe from Ripostes that turn) and also be able to avoid the free strike. He did so and attacked with both initial attacks, fully boosted, hitting with both and doing 5 damage with the first attack and another 5 with the second. He then cast Sacrificial Lamb (saccing the remaining Errant standard bearer) to give the Templar a third focus. The Templar then activated, advanced to Ashlynn, boosted the Flail...and missed, the Riposte only doing 1 damage. He then could buy another Flail attack and hope to roll and 11 to hit on two dice or to boost the shield attack roll; he chose the latter and hit, but did no damage. The remaining Errant officer walked over to attack, but missed and died to a Riposte. The Vassal gave the Templar another Flail attack, but he didn't roll 11+.

Mercs turn 7: Ashlynn turn about 90 degrees to her left and ran Vindictus through with one fully boosted sword attack.

Aftermath: While there were casualties on either side, for the half of the game it seemed in John's favor, what with Vindictus' feat killing half the Forge Guard, the quick elimination of the Merc solos and the Crusader taking out both the Nomad and Mule. Though Jamar was worried when he recalled that the Errants had Blessed crossbows (to ignore the Quicken DEF bonus) and Hunter (to ignore the cover), John still needed to roll 9's to kill the Forge Guard at range and thus the barrage of bolts wasn't that damaging. While the Templar was serving a purpose in holding down the right flank, and though all Eiryss did was kill a couple Errants, in the big picture, she kept it out of the meat of the fight for a couple important turns. Turn 3 Jamar sized up the remaining serious threats to be the jacks and wisely dispatched the Choir, then waded in with Ashlynn. At a certain point, as he's want to do, he camped focus and ran her over to Vindictus. In the end John had a decent chance to take out Ashlynn, but the Templar missing sealed it and Mercs won the day. As is often the case, warcasters with good damage output (MAT 8 weaponmaster) coupled with defensive prowess (DEF 17 and Admonition) make a significant difference in the outcome late in the game.