Warmachine Battle Report - Retribution vs. Cryx - 50 pts

Time for another battle report, this time pitting Brenden's Retribution against Jamar's Cryx. Brenden's list:

• Kaelyssa
• Banshee
• Phoenix
• Hydra
• Max. Mage Hunter Strikeforce + UA
• Max. Sentinels + UA
• Aiyanna & Holt
• Arcanist x 2
• Eiryss2
• Skeryth Issyen
• Wishnailer

Jamar's list: 

• Goreshade1 + Deathwalker
• Leviathan
• Seether
• Stalker x 2
• Cankerworm
• Max. Bane Thralls + UA
• Max. Bane Knights
• Bane Lord Tartarus

Deployment: Brenden won the roll off and opted to go/deploy first. From the top of the pic down he deployed: Mage Hunter Strike Force, Skeryth, Arcanist, Hydra, Aiyanna & Holt, Wishnailer, Kaelyssa, Banshee, Arcanist, Phoenix, Sentinels and Eiryss. From top to bottom Jamar deployed: Bane Knights, Tartarus, Bane Thralls, Leviathan, Goreshade, Deathwalker, Cankerworm, Seether and both Stalkers.

Though not entirely parallel in placement, the terrain was fairly symmetrical. The scenario for this game was Incoming, with the objectives being Artillery Emplacements and all the standard scoring rules applying.

Retribution turn 1: Kaelyssa kept all 7 focus. First off, each Arcanist advanced and used Power Booster to give the Hydra and the Phoenix each 1 focus. Kaelyssa then cast Phantom Hunter (target battlegroup model ignores LoS, concealment and cover when making attacks) on the Hyrda and, for no real reason, cast Banishing Ward (can't be targeted by spells) on the Sentinels and Arcane Reckoning (when the target is missed by a magic attack, the attacker is hit by the attack) on the Strike Force, then advanced to the wall. The Banshee advanced and everything else ran, with Eiryss toeing into the forest near the friendly zone.

The elves trot out.

Cryx turn 1: Goreshade gave the Leviathan 2 focus and gave each of the Stalkers 1, with the Seether making his own gravy. The Bane Thralls run into the zone, toward the Strike force and the Knights (the only thing that can't get Stealth in this list) run both back and more to the center. The Leviathan tries to pop a shot off at Skeryth, but is short and all the other jacks run, with one Stalker running to engage Eiryss. Lastly, Cankerworm advances and Goreshade casts Shadowmancer (his battlegroup gains Stealth and Dark Shroud) and also advances.

Cryx does the Bane shuffle.

The Stalker shows off his new hat to the clearly unimpressed elf.

Retribution turn 2: Kaelyssa upkept her spells and gave 1 to the Phoenix, which advanced and killed a Bane Thrall with a deviated shot. The Strike Force advanced further into the zone and destroyed 2 more Thralls (2 toughed) and Skeryth attempted to charge Tartarus, but was just short. Wishnailer used Arcane Secrets on Kaelyssa (for the next spell roll an extra die on attack and damage rolls and drop the lowest) and she arced Rift (Pow 13, 4" AOE that leaves rough terrain for 1 round) through the Phoenix, killing one more Thrall and used her feat (friendly faction models in CTRL gain Stealth and can't be charged). The Arcanists Power Boosted focus to the Hydra and the Banshee, who then walked and ran respectively. Aiyanna and Holt ran behind the building and Eiryss, staying in melee with the Stalker, moved over to try to get the Seether in Technological Interference range (warjacks with 5" of her can't be allocated focus) and hit/disrupted the Stalker, but did no damage. The Sentinels just ran.

Retribution gets first blood (or whatever Banes have inside them).

Skeryth comes up short.

A somewhat sidelong view.

Cryx turn 2: Goreshade gave 3 focus to the Leviathan and 1 to the Cankerworm. Jamar started off by brain-farting and trying to shoot at the Phoenix with the Leviathan, forgetting about Stealth. Next a few Bane Thralls charged Skeryth, dehorseing him and cut out a lane for Tartarus who charged and Cursed the Strike Force, killing 3 and thus making 3 Bane Thralls. Hugging the wall, Goreshade again cast Shadowmancer and the Deathwalker then advanced within 5" of Eiryss to give her -2 DEF via her Breath Taker ability. The Seether walked up and crushed Eiryss, freeing the Stalker to advance into the zone and kill 2 Sentinels. The other Stalker tried the same thing, but, due to poor dice, failed to damage with both attacks. In a similar vein, the Cankerworm only managed to kill 1 Sentinel out of it's three attacks and the Bane Knights again ran towards the enemy zone. Jamar remembered after the fact that, with Dark Shroud, the Stalker and Cankerworm should have killed 3 more Sentinels, but by the time he caught it the game state was not reversible.

Thralls on the left and jacks on the right.

The Bane factory busily churning them out. 

Two Sentinels saved by Jamar's cerebral flatulence.

Retribution turn 3: The Sentinels damaged Cankerworm and a Stalker with Vengeance attacks and Kaelyssa put 3 on the Banshee, 2 on the Phoenix and upkept Phantom Hunter and Banishing Ward. The Sentinels then activated and, with some great to hit rolls, took out both Stalkers and did some more damage to Cankerworm. The now on foot Skeryth turned 90 degrees to kill Tartarus and the Phoenix killed a couple Banes, freeing up some Strike Force to advance and kill a Bane grunt plus the standard. Spending 1 focus, the Banshee then wrecked the Cankerworm. The Hydra advanced and shot a Bane and the Arcanists ran into places to be of use the following turn. Aiyanna & Holt stealthed and Kaelyssa and Wishnailer stayed put.

The Bane start getting picked off.

Cryx turn 3: Goreshade gave 2 focus to the Leviathan and kept the rest. First off the Bane Knights charged, two missing the same Strike Force trooper, one (fortunately) missing a Sentinel and three on the Banshee, doing significant damage and crippling the smaller sword arm. The Leviathan shot the Phoenix for some damage and the Bane Thralls charged, putting some hurt on the Phoenix and killing Skeryth. The Seether trampled a Sentinel (not killing it) and, due to the rough terrain of a wreck marker, came up juust shy of clawing a couple Sentinels. Lastly, Goreshade, camping 5, ran into the forest near the enemy zone, followed by the Deathwalker.

The Banshee takes some hits.

Retribution turn 4: Kaelyssa gave 3 to the Banshee and 3 to the Phoenix and upkept Phantom Hunter. The Strike Force killed 2 Thralls in melee and shot a third and the Phoenix advanced and destroyed the enemy objective. Holt shot one Thrall and one Knight and the Banshee killed several Knights. The Hydra shot a Thrall (leaving just the officer) and the Arcanist behind it Power Boostered a focus back on it. Two Sentinels attacked Goreshade, but missed and the rest scrapped the Seether. Kaelyssa and Wishnailer stayed behind the wall and continued gossiping about Goreshade.

The Sentinels sally forth.

Cryx turn 4: First off, the Bane Knights' Vengeance attacks killed 2 Sentinels and Goreshade kept all his focus. They then activated and killed 3 more Sentinels, who passed their CMD check. The Leviathan shot the Phoenix for a bit more damage and then the Bane Thrall officer charged and finished it off. Goreshade charged a Strike Force member (who failed their CMD check), killed it and then feated to bring in a minimum unit of Bane Thralls. The new Banes charged the Hydra and Aiyanna & Holt, damaging the Hydra and missing A&H.

Fresh recruits! (or as fresh as they get in Cryx)

Retribution turn 5: Sentinels Vengeance killed 2 Bane Knights and Kaelyssa kept all the focus, as the cortex was out on the Hyrda and the Banshee was too far away to really do anything. The Strike Force rallied, with one dying to a free strike when choosing to move out of melee. An Arcanist repaired the disabled arm and cortex on the Hydra and the other Arcanist advanced and tried to Power Booster, but was just short. The Hydra made its initial punches, destroying one Thrall and Holt killed the 2 Thralls in his face. Kaelyssa then cast Phantom Hunter on herself and shot 2 of the Thralls in the zone, but missed the third (hitting the Hydra for no damage). Wishnailer ran in front of Kaelyssa and the Banshee advanced and killed the second to last Bane Knight.

Cryx turn 5: The last Knight killed a Sentinel with its Vengeance and Goreshade gave 2 focus to the Leviathan. The Knight then activated, killing another Sentinel and the last feat generated Bane Thrall smacked the Hydra. The Leviathan then slammed the Hydra, but only sent it 2", killing a Strike Force grunt and an Arcanist (3" would've got Holt, 4" would've also got Aiyanna and 6" would've also got Wishnailer). The Bane officer killed a Sentinel and Goreshade charged the last Sentinel contesting the zone, killed him and scored 3 control points.

Goreshade gets all up in that zone. 

Retribution turn 6: Allocated 3 to the Banshee and 3 to the Hydra (which spent 1 to shake off knock down) and upkept Phantom Hunter. The Strike Force shot at the Leviathan doing a decent amount of damage. He then remembered Aiyanna & Holt, who Harmed and shot it for more damage. The Arcanist gave the Hydra Concentrated Power (+2 STR) and the Hydra finished off the Leviathan and the nearby Bane. Kaelyssa advanced into the enemy zone and the Banshee and Sentinel both did a bit of damage to Goreshade. More importantly they contested that zone, denying Jamar from winning on CPs and allowing Brenden to do so this turn.

Kaelyssa moves into the now clear enemy zone.

Aftermath: Off the bat this was a somewhat interesting match as Goreshade1 is widely believed to be one of the, if not the, worst Cryx caster, but the army Jamar brought was almost entirely Stealthed, one of Retributions biggest banes (npi). Jamar having the Knights perform a tactical rearrangement/flee from the scary elf guns clearly cost him some tempo and set him back a bit on that side of the board, but they later proved to be needed at their new location when the jacks (unsurprisingly) didn't hold up. While Jamar's dice weren't exactly hot, they weren't completely abysmal either and his repeated brain farts certainly didn't help him. Having 3 less Sentinels to contend with as well as getting the Leviathan into a better position for following turns would both have noticeably helped. Nonetheless, in the end he came closer than expected to pulling out a scenario win and, had he not forgot some key stuff in those two instances, could easily have swung the game his way.