Warmachine Battle Report - Retribution vs. Cryx - 50 pts (Rematch)
The last batrep between Brenden and Jamar/Kaelyssa and Goreshade1 was a close and hardfought game, but it was discovered shortly after the fact that Brenden's Ret list was 9 points over. For this reason it seemed only fair that Jamar get another crack at it, with both players having legal lists, thus this rematch occurred. As changes were allowed/required on Brenden's end, so to was Jamar allowed to alter his list and this time decided to use Goreshade1's Seekers in Darkness theme force. Jamar's list:
- Goreshade1 + Deathwalker
- Leviathan
- Stalker
- Stalker
- Stalker
- Stalker
- Stalker
- Max. Bane Thralls + UA
- Min. Bane Thralls
- Pistol Wraith
- Pistol Wraith
- Machine Wraith
Brenden's list:
- Kaelyssa
- Phoenix
- Banshee
- Max. Mage Hunter Strike Force + UA
- Max. Sentinels + UA
- Battle Mages
- Aiyanna & Holt
- Arcanist
- Arcanist
- Eiryss2
- Wishnailer
Deployment: Jamar won the roll off and chose to go first. In order from the top of the pic to the bottom, he deployed: Stalker, Stalker, Stalker, min Bane Thralls, Pistol Wraith, Goreshade, Deathwalker, Leviathan, Tartarus, Machine Wraith, Pistol Wraith, max Bane Thralls, Stalker and the last Stalker. From top to bottom Brenden deployed: Eiryss, Strike Force, Battle Mages, Phoenix, Arcanist, Aiyanna & Holt, Arcanist, Wishnailer, Banshee, Sentinels and Kaelyssa.
Since it was a rematch, the scenario was Incoming again, with the grind balls being the objectives. Jamar's list went to tier 2, which gave the Stalkers advanced deployment and gave Tartarus and the Bane Thralls advance move.
Cryx turn 1: Goreshade started off by giving a focus to three of the Stalkers, 1 to the Leviathan and keeping 3. The Banes and Wraiths all ran up, with Goreshade advancing and casting Shadowmancer (battlegroup models gain Stealth and Dark Shroud). The two Stalkers to Goreshade's left that received focus ran behind the forest, with the focusless one advancing into the friendly zone. The Stalker with focus on the right ran to toe into the enemy zone, with the other moving onto the hill and the Leviathan ran up.
Cryx on the advance.
Retribution turn 1: First off the Kaelyssa kept all 7 focus and the Arcanists both advanced and used Power Booster to give a focus to both heavies. The Phoenix then advanced and drifted a shot at a Bane Thrall and destroyed it with boosted blast damage. The Strike Force advanced, with one of the two on point just short of being within Tartarus' Stealth range. The Banshee and Sentinels ran and Aiyanna & Holt advanced base-to-base and used Ayisla's Veil to grant them Stealth for a round. Kaelyssa advanced, cast Phantom Hunter (allowing her to ignore concealment, cover and intervening models), used her feat (friendly faction models in her CTRL gain Stealth and can't be charged) and blew Tartarus away with two shots with boosted damage. Everything else just advanced a bit or repositioned.
Ret starts strong by offing Tartarus, post haste.
A Cryx perspective.
A Ret perspective.
Cryx turn 2: With very little to do this turn, Jamar's plan was to jam as best he could. Goreshade gave 1 focus to all but the furthest forward Stalker and kept 3. Three Stalkers on the left (along with the Machine Wraith) ran to mob the Strike Force and the two on the right went to play with the Sentinels. Both Bane units ran and the Leviathan and Pistol Wraiths advanced. The Deathwalker ran into it's friendly zone and Goreshade cast Shadowmancer again and failed a charge the Deathwalker, toeing into the same zone.
With no one to shoot or charge, Cryx runs. (sorry for the blurry pic)
In the thick of it.
Retribution turn 2: Kaelyssa gave the Banshee 3 focus and Wishnailer upkept Phantom Hunter for free. An Arcanist advanced and Power Boosted the Phoenix and the Phoenix killed the Machine Wraith with the sword and a Bane with the fist. Most of the Battle Mages backed up out of the way of the Strike Force and the two in melee whiffed all their attacks on the offending Stalker. The Strike Force shuffled around a bit, with three on each Stalker and two on Banes. One Stalker took 12 damage, the second took 7 damage and the third took 8, several having crippled arms. The other two killed a Bane each. The Banshee moved very little and, using all 3 focus, killed 2 Banes (2 whiffs and 1 successful tough check), while the other Arcanist charged a Bane and brained it with his wrench. The Sentinels "charged", with one on the Bane Officer (killing it) and the rest on the Stalkers (ALL missing). Kaelyssa advanced and killed a Pistol Wraith at range and camped two. Aiyanna and Holt advanced, Aiyanna used Lurynsar's Touch to give Holt magic weapons and Holt took out the other Pistol Wraith. Lastly, Eiryss walked into the midst of the Stalkers around the Strike Force to deny them focus allocation next turn and Wishnailer advanced next to the objective to help block LoS to Kaelyssa. Though Cryx lost a lot of stuff it would rather still have, at the end of the turn Goreshade was dominating his zone, netting Jamar the first control point.
Cryx gets further picked apart, but scores the first CP.
Eiryss watches impassively as Stalkers lose arms left and right.
Cryx turn 3: Goreshade gave 3 focus to the Leviathan and 1 to the Stalker in the enemy zone. First off a Stalker killed two Sentinels in the zone and a Bane from the minimum unit killed a Strike Force member. Goreshade advanced and used his feat (summoning a minimum unit of Bane Thralls within 3" of himself) and cast Shadowmancer. The Deathwalker moved towards the Strike Force to lower DEF and the other unit of Bane Thralls and another Stalker killed all the Sentinels in the zone. The Leviathan advanced and shot the enemy objective, doing 7 damage with the first shot, 6 with the second and missing the third with snake eyes, leaving it with only 2 boxes. The newly spawned Bane unit then charged, with one making it to the enemy objective and easily finishing it off, scoring Jamar his second control point. At the end of the turn he scored another point for continuing to dominate his zone with Goreshade and 2 more for controlling the enemy zone with Stalkers, pulling out the win.
Cryx goes all in for CPs.
Closer.
Closer still.
Aftermath: An interesting turn-around, as it looked pretty bleak for Cryx the first couple of turns. Tartarus, all 3 Wratihs and a bunch of Banes (including the Officer) went down, more than half the Stalkers got crippled (and effectively disrupted) and Kaelyssa's feat really blunted the Cryx offensive. I know it wasn't Jamar's strategy to rope-a-dope his way to a CP win and thus can't give him credit for having a master plan, but I can give him credit for adapting well mid game and (accurately) determining that it was likey too late for an attrition based victory. He did have a little luck on his side, as the two Stalkers who ultimately capped the enemy zone were missed by every sentinel (9's aren't that rare), but he likely wouldn't have scrapped both with 2 hits. On the other hand, Brenden probably got a bit more bloodthirsty/attrition oriented than best served him, losing sight of the scenario and, more importantly, that this was one in which 4 points can be scored in one turn. Regardless, the Goreshade vs Kaelyssa/Jamar vs Brenden score is one a piece, so there may be a tie breaker; time will tell.