Battle report from Saturday

OKay, I haven't done any sort of documentation on my battles before. And, I did not bother to take along a camera to record what I was certain would be another couple of losses - albeit fun ones. So, no pics, sorry. These battles were all under the Journeyman league rules.

Game #1

I got in a straight-up battlebox game - Gorten v. pKreoss. The board was basically symmetrical, with a small hill in the middle, two houses on opposite corners, and walls on the other two. First turn, we both advance - he starts casting Defender's Ward, and I put up Strength of Granite and Solid Ground.

I score the first damage, when the gunbunnies open up on his two light jacks, but neither is crippled by the exchange. He counters by setting one of the gunbunnies on fire, which winds up burning for the rest of the game, but never doing any damage. I feat, move his jacks around, and the driller destroyers the Crusader, while the gunbunnies finish off the Repenter. He uses the arc node on his Revenger to light another gunbunny with Immolation, but doing little else to it. For reasons of time (other players had arrived, and he wanted to play them too), he decided to call it - pKreoss and a badly damaged revenger against three gunbunnies and a driller, with my turn coming up, and in a mangled metal game, meant that I needed to roll really badly not to win the game as soon as I went.

Game #2

Same terrain set up as before. This time, it was a 15-pt Gorten versus a 15-pt Legion list. He was running the Legion battlepack, plus the Strider Deathstalker. With 15 pts, I was able to take the Gorten battlebox, plus Thor, and a minimum unit of the High Shield Gun Corps. (Gotta love the fact that the Gorten box is only 8 pts.)

Again, we both advance, and I always seem to forget how fast some of the Legion stuff can be. He did forget to use the advance deploy on the Deathstalker, fortunately for me. I use the same spells as before, although in retrospect, I probably could have dropped the Solid Ground.

First blood went to me, as the gunbunnies took out two of the shredders. Unfortunately, I did not put up Rock Wall, and on the next turn, pLylyth feats, putting Parasite on the Driller, and putting some hurt on Gorten. The remaining Shredders take to chewing up my High Shields (who, foolishly, forgot to use Shield Wall), and putting the stop to the gunbunnies. A Carnivean comes out of nowhere, and it's helly and good-bye, Mr. Driller. The Deathstalker comes up the flank, and Thor is dead, with more damage on Gorten.

It's not looking good for my stunty little caster at this point. Looking at the board, if I cannot win on my next turn, I am dead, because a Carnivean is going to eat Gorten (which is how my last game against Legion ended, actually.) I keep all the focus on myself, move up, and feat, dragging everything toward my table edge. Unfortunately, while this moves the Carnivean past me (and facing the wrong way, so I at least won't eat a charge next turn), it does not bring pLylyth into base with me. But she is in range of the gun, so I boost to hit and damage, but not quite killing her. Close, so close. But one gunbunny is not in melee with anything, so I take the aiming bonus, and score a lucky hit, killing her. Luck had a lot to do with the victory there - it was a "go big, or go home" moment, and, if the dice had not gone my way, I probably would have lost on my next turn.

Game #3

Different table, with the houses being replaced with stone columns, and a large hill with some obstructing terrain on it in the center. I was running the same list as before; hew was running the Skorne battlepack, plus a minimum unit of Beast Handlers and a Void Spirit. Now, think back to my list, and think about how few offensive spells and magic weapons I have. If you think that Void Spirit is going to be a problem for me, you have that right.

Both of us spent the first couple of turns moving up, with me casting my upkeeps and him sweeping around with that pesky Void Spirit. I scored first blood, putting some hurt on one of the Cyclops, but nothing that could not be healed. And, in exchange for the small amount of damage I put on the Cyclops, I wound up with a Void Spirit in the middle of the High Shield Corps, where it killed one outright, and another with Eruption of Ash. The Cyclops shut down the gunbunnies, and the Gladiator pretty much crushes one, and finishes off another.

I feat, move some things around, and try to kill stuff in return, but without much luck, thanks to pMorghul's feat. Thor manages to kill the Void Spirit, mainly by firing his spray into melee, and frankly, killing one of my own High Shield is worth the Void Spirit. But the turn ends with me well down on forces, and pMorghul mostly unhurt.

I don't recall the exact sequence of events for the next couple of turns, but the end result was that the driller was wounded, but not gone, and the gladiator had slammed Gorten out of the killbox, but naturally followed up. So Gorten starts out in base with the gladiator, and out of the killbox. Thor tunes up the Driller, and it kills off the one Cyclops that pMorghul can use for transfers. Gorten moves around the Gladiator, and back into the killbox, triggering a free strike, but putting him in a position where he can take two shots at pMorghul. Both are boosted, both hit, both damage rolls are boosted, and with no beast that can take damage, pMorghul dies.

It should be noted that the Skorne player, by all rights, should have been able to crush Gorten with the gladiator. Too many 3d6 damage rolls that failed to break 7, and I think there was at least one triple 1's for damage. On average rolls from my opponent, I would have lost. And, without some lucky rolls on my part, he would have won.