Warmachine Batrep: Morghoul2 vs Vyros

Chad and I played a quick 15-point Kill Box game over lunch today.

To get in more games per week, many of us have been playing Wednesday and Friday lunch games. I seem to have developed a reputation for bringing this list:

Ravyn, Eternal Light
* Chimera
Mage Hunter Strike Force (full+UA)
* Soulless Escort
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin

So Chad called me out and said that was an unreasonable list at 15 points. Too much stealth and too much speed for most lists to deal with. Fair enough. He also said he was bringing a special "assassination list," whatever that means. Still, I worried over it and decided that based on his emails and extensive Cryx army that he'd be bringing something like a pGoreshade list, taking advantage of his ability to summon six points of bane thralls, which in a 15 point list is game-changing. That, or Terminus. Either way, I decided to change everything and run something new:

Dawnlord Vyros
* Banshee
* Phoenix
Arcanist

The theory was to create an all-reach, high-armor deathstar. Against Terminus there would be no souls. Against pGoreshare they should be able to rely on their armor. It would require the sin of proxying, but Chad's a forgiving sort. Well, let's give it a swing. What did Chad bring?


Lord Assassin Morghoul
* Titan Gladiator
* Titan Gladiator
Bloodrunners

Well, that's not at all what I was thinking.

We decided to play the Kill Box scenario. We didn't want to add the time of setting up and managing a complex scenario, but caster-kill can drag on at 15 points when there is an entire backfield to retreat into. Chad suggested that Kill Box was an excellent base set which would technically be a scenario and would help the game play more quickly.

I won the roll and because of Chad's list's speed, I asked him to set up first. He setup Morghoul dead center, flanked by his Gladiators. I setup slightly right, behind a small forest knowing that Vyros' Birds Eye ability and Mobility spell would allow me to completely ignore it, while being relatively safe from Skorne charges.

Turn 1 (Skorne)


Chad deployed the Bloodrunners very spread out directly in front of me and ran them forward. Morghoul moved behind the centerpiece.

Turn 1 (Retribution)


At this point, the plan is to play distance with the Skorne. I'm much faster (6+2 speed versus his 4), so I should be able to get the charges off on him. I'm just picking off bloodrunners and waiting for them to get closer.

Vyros cast Mobility on himself (+2 speed and pathfinder to entire battlegroup), +2 armor on Banshee, who would be facing the heavier hits, and Heroic Avenger (?) on Phoenix so that he could charge if/when I lost Banshee or the Arcanist. Everyone moved up to the forest's edge. Phoenix fired his halo cannon into the bloodrunners, killing the leader. Everything else was out of range.

End of Turn 1

Turn 2 (Skorne)


The titan gladiators run again. Morghoul scoots up behind his big buddy. The bloodrunners break hard for the center of the board to block charge lanes from the banshee into the gladiators. The new leader moves into cover, perhaps so I don't break the group's cohesion with another halo cannon shot.

Turn 2 (Retribution)


Now I lose the game. I didn't know Banshee's stats solidly and thought his Force Cannon had a ten-inch range. Shouldn't be a problem, right? Those gladiators are speed four, plus two for Rush (?), plus three for charge, plus one-half for range. Nine and a half inches. I can eyeball that, right? How hard could it be? He moves up, but I decide the grey titan is a bit too close and I scoot Banshee backwards and to the left. Now I must be out of charge range from that grey one. My setup is perfect. Banshee takes his shot and knocks down the red titan. Phoenix drops another halo cannon shot into the grey titan and two bloodrunners standing in front of him, killing one.

Well, I screwed it all up. Banshee is too close. And he made a charge lane between himself and the forest. And Morghoul gets a two-inch placement power during his pre-turn. So it's all about to come tumbling down.

End of Turn 2

Turn 3 (Skorne)


Chad teleports Morghoul two inches to his left, making him clear of the red titan and opening a charge lane.

The bloodrunner in front of the grey titan activates and charges between banshee and the forest at my arcanist. He's molecules out of melee range with the arcanist. The others spread out around, trying to find good charge lanes for next turn.

Morghoul activates his feat and makes a ten-inch charge into the banshee. Smack, smack, and the second hit is with Morghoul's fan and causes Blindness. /facepalm. This is exceptionally important because banshee's weapons cause grievous wounds, which prevent damage transfers. Blindness drops his defense and MAT by four, making him pretty much useless.

The red titan activates, stands up, and uses his pathfinder ability to charge Banshee over the slope, but Chad's placed Morghoul too far over, and the titan can't get into melee range. The grey titan then charges -- he's also within 9.5 inches. I'm hearing Emperor Palpatine hiss, "And now, his failure is complete." Banshee is down to about six boxes. Chad sits on the last two fury.

Bottom of Turn 3

Turn 3 (Retribution)

Argh. This is over. I'll spend a couple minutes going through all the possibilities, including killing Banshee and charging Phoenix through his wreckage into Morghoul. The truth of the matter is that even if I get everything I want and roll all sixes, Vyros simply cannot outrun Morghoul or hide well enough (due to the placement effect) to survive next turn. So it ends now, one way or the other.

Arcanist repaired six boxes on the banshee, but he was sitting at MAT 2 with the blindness against defense nineteen Morghoul. I decided not to bother.

Retribution's best move appears to be sending Vyros in with full focus to whack on DEF 19 Morghoul, using Phoenix's auto-hit Combustion ability as a last-ditch shot. Vyros has an excellent MAT 8 and gets +2 MAT and an extra die of damage when he's flanking with a friendly myrmidon. So he needs nine on three dice to hit and then he's rolling 14 + 4d6 for damage against armor thirteen. First roll is 6, 6, 4, 3 -- one point shy of killing Morghoul outright. For one second I thought I had the game... but then he assigned the damage to a titan. And the walls fell down. Second swing was fourteen points over his armor... and that went to the other titan. Third swing was out of focus and it failed. Phoenix ran in and did eight points with fire... and setting Morghoul on fire. Still a chance! I end my turn. At the top of his turn he rolls, and the fire goes out.

Checkmate. Retribution concedes the game.

End of Turn 3

All losers get to armchair quarterback in their battle report. That's just how the world works. Here are some other things I could have tried on turn three. There were a few tools I didn't even try: Vyros' feat, banshee's entire activation, and phoenix's melee attack. So, what could I have done with these extra tools? How about this:

Plan B

Okay, here's Plan B. Vyros allocates one focus to phoenix, then he activates and pops feat. He advances around the bloodrunner (same as before) and burns all his focus attacking Morghoul. Next, banshee activates and takes his two swings at bloodrunners. If either hit, it would be a dead bloodrunner and focus for phoenix. Phoenix advances into the nook between the banshee and gladiator, combusts (auto-killing the bloodrunners for any remaining focus) and swings at Morghoul with whatever he has. That might have worked, assuming phoenix's could roll twelve on three dice to hit. It's a long shot, but it might have won the game.

Plan C

Here's a more conservative approach. Plan C's intent is to kill a heavy warbeast and prevent all charges to Vyros for the next turn. Morghul with less fury is still going to seriously abuse a warjack, but the game will continue. This time, we allocate three focus to phoenix. Arcanist activates and concentrates power into banshee. Banshee then makes some swings against the grey titan. He needs eight on two dice, so he might get a hit in. Second, phoenix activates and advances into the grey titan. He combusts, auto-killing one bloodrunner and making room for Vyros' move. Phoenix unloads his focus into the grey titan. Vyros then charges into the nook between phoenix, banshee, and the arcanist. I position him carefully so that he's out of Morghul's melee range. Vyros then has the choice to swing three focus against either the titan or Morghoul.

Well, that's probably enough for one night. Let me know if you see any other end game plans. I'll be thinking about them, too.