Warmachine Battle Report - Mercs vs. Mercs - 25 pts

Back with another BatRep; a 25 point game pitting Beau's Highborn Covenant against Jamar's Searforge Commission. Spoiler alert: Mercs win! Beau's List:

• Drake MacBain
• Nomad
• Freebooter
• Buccaneer
• Max. Nyss Hunters
• Gudrun the Wanderer
• Ogrun Bokor

Jamar's List:

• Durgen Madhammer
• Wroughthammer Rockram
• Grundback Gunner
• Grundback Blaster
• Max. Horgenhold Forge Guard
• Brun & Lug

Deployment: Beau won the roll and opted to go first. From left to right he placed: Nyss Hunters, Nomad, MacBain, Freebooter, Buccaneer, with Gudrun and his Bokur AD'd.

For Jamar's left to right pan we have: Lug, Brun, Horgenhold Forge Guard, Wroughthammer Rockram, Madhammer, Grundback Gunner, Grundback Blaster.

Highborn turn 1: Each jack was given a focus and ran forward. MacBain cast Countermeasure (preventing enemy models within 5" of the target from making ranged attacks) on the Nyss and advanced. The Nyss, Gudrun and his Bokur then ran forward, the solos taking cover behind the central rocky outcropping.

Searforge turn 1: Durgen allocated 2 focus to the Rockram and one to the Gunner. Brun advanced and shot a fully boosted blunderbuss at Gudrun, but missed and cast Stonehold (enemy models roll one less damage die against it and it can't be knocked down) on himself. The Horgenhold ran forward in a spread formation (using the buddy system for Defensive Line) and the Rockram assaulted Gudrun and missed with a boosted shot. Durgen advanced slightly and fired a Carpet Bomb shot at a Nyss, the three AOEs scattering poorly, hitting a Nyss, two Forge Guard and the Bokur, damaging nothing. He finished by casting Inhospitable Ground (making his CTRL area difficult terrain for enemy models). Lug ran over to be base-to-base with Brun and thus benefit from the KD immunity of Stonehold. The Gunner missed a fully boosted shot at the Bokur and the Blaster unsupriseingly missed an unboosted shot at a Nyss.

A Highborn perspective.

A Searforge perspective.

Highborn turn 2: Countermeasure was upkept and the Buccaneer received one focus. Gudrun advanced into the Horgenhold and killed 3 with Berserk. Due to Inhospitable Ground the Bokur was only able to reach a single Forge Guard, which it promptly dispatched. The Nyss Hunters received the charge order (only 3 actually charging, the rest running), 2 charging the Blaster, disabling all but it's movement, and one charging a Forge Guard, slaying him. The Buccaneer assaulted the Rockram, but actually missed the DEF 9 jack with it's net. The heavies advanced into the edge of the Inhospitable Ground and MacBain advanced, shot a Forge Guard with his hand cannon and used his feat, making 6 Nyss (Celena included, of course), Gudrun and the Bokur auto-tough (the nuts being the feat markers). Lastly he cast Fail Safe (+2 ARM and doesn't suffer disabled systems) on the Nomad.

Searforge turn 2: Brun upkept Stonehold, the Rockram received 2 focus and the Gunner received one. The Gunner shot the Buccaneer with a fully boosted shot for 6 damage, followed by the Rockram which shot it for 13 damage, taking out both arms. Madhammer then cast Primed (+2 to attack & damage rolls, but -2 ARM and if killed they explode in a 3" AOE, doing POW 14 to everything in the area) on the remaining Horgenhold, used his feat (boosted AOE ranged attack rolls and an additional die on blast damage) and fired a Carpet Bomb at the Nyss. The AOEs killed 4 Nyss, knocked down two of the temporarily unkillable one and didn't damage his Blaster. The Forge Guard then charged, one charging the Bokur (crit slamming him and doing 7 damage), one charging a Nyss (crit slamming it into two other unkillable Nyss, knocking them all down), one charging Gudrun (killing him for the first time) and the last one charging the Buccaneer (scrapping it). Brun advanced and Lug moved b2b with him again. Lastly, the Blaster moved up to be in the way.

Highborn turn 3: MacBain upkept Countermeasure and Fail Safe and allocated 2 focus to the Nomad and 1 to the Freebooter. The Nyss stood back up and repositioned, not wanting to detonate any dwarves. The Bokur stood up and advanced and Gudrun stood up and killed a Forge Guard who exploded, taking 4 damage from the blast. MacBain advanced and shot the Forge Guard that destroyed the Buccaneer, the Horgenhold failing their command check. The Nomad charged the Rockram, doing 10 damage, but taking nothing out and the Freebooter ran into a flanking/counter charging position.

Searforge turn 3: The Rockram was given 3 focus, the Gunner 1 focus and Madhammer kept 1, Madhammer upkeeping Primed and Brun upkeeping Stonehold. The Horgenhold rallied, staying where they were. The Gunner went first by shooting Gudrun and removing him for good. Next Brun ran to engage the Nomad and Lug walked over and (benefiting from Flank with Brun) going all out with fury bought attacks (and head-butting with Grab & Smash), left the Nomad with 1 box. Madhammer then walked a bit into the forest and finished it off with a case cracker (armor piercing) shot. The Rockram charged the Freebooter, the first 3 attacks doing  very minimal damage and the fourth doing 11 damage, but only crippling it's movement. Lastly, the crippled Blaster advanced and attempted to bash the Bokur and missed.

Highborn turn 4: MacBain upkept Countermeasure and gave 1 focus to the Freebooter. The Freebooter attacked the Rockram, doing almost 3 columns of damage and with Grab & Smash did an unboosted two-handed throw, hitting Madhammer with the hurled Rockram and knocking them both down, but doing no damage to either. The Nyss got the charge order, though most ran. The 2 that charged charged Forge Guard, the first killing the dwarf and dying by the explosion and the second doing the same, only the blast also destroyed the Bokur and the crippled Blaster. The rest ran, with one running to engage Brun so that MacBain would benefit from the Gang Fighter bonus. MacBain then charged in, though managed to miss his first 2 attacks (needing 5's, rolling 4's), the third and fourth killing Brun (who couldn't transfer damage for a couple reasons) and thus Lug, leaving him with no focus.

Searforge turn 4: 3 focus were allocated to the Rockram, 1 to the Gunner and Madhammer kept 2, both Madhammer and the Rockram shaking off knock down. The Gunner missed a boosted shot at MacBain and Madhammer fired a Carpet Bomb at him, missing, two of the blasts scattering to no where and one boosted blast hitting for 5 damage. Then the Rockram fired, rolling a 5, a 6 and a 1, leaving MacBain with one health.

Highborn turn 5: MacBain gave 1 focus to the Freebooter and upkept Countermeasure. The Freebooter advanced to the Rockram, hitting iwth everything, doing no damage with the initial attacks, but doing another two-handed throw, boosting the throw at Madhammer, hitting and again doing no damage to either target. MacBain shot the knocked down Madhammer, doing 7 damage and healed 1 point of damage. The remaining Nyss ran to encircle the enemy models so as to prevent them from shooting with Countermeasure.

Searforge turn 5: Madhammer keep all his focus and didn't shake knock down. He got up, advanced and targeted the in-cover MacBain with Powderkeg (spell, POW 14, 5" AOE), missed, but still hit him with the blast, needed a 12 on the boosted damage roll to kill him outright and rolled a 13 and MacBain failed his tough roll.

Aftermath: In the early game it seemed Jamar was missing a lot of shots, his Forge Guard were falling a bit too quickly and that he might have a tough time recovering from the unkillable models on MacBain's feat, but the attrition slowly turned around (though in the end it was of course quite close). Had he not rolled a good AOE deviation and a slightly above average damage roll for Powder Keg, MacBain would easily have sealed the deal; another close finish.