Warmachine Batrep: Strakhov vs Ravyn

Maz and I played thirty-five points Capture the Flag last night, our first scenario game, ever. Maz's list was:

Kommander Strakhov
* Berserker
* Torch
* War dog
Kayazy Assassins (full+Underboss)
Man-o-war Demolition Corps (full)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

And mine was:

Ravyn, Eternal Light
* Discordia
Houseguard Halberdiers (min+UA)
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (full+UA)
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
House Shyeel Magister

Setup
We rolled up a random Steamroller 2011 scenario and got Distant/Capture-the-Flag. I won the roll-off and opted for Maz to go first.

Turn 1 (Khador)
Maz charged across the board, leaving Strakhov and War dog behind a short wall. Strakhov cast Superiority on Torch.

Turn 1 (Retribution)
After looking at the setup, here's my battle plan (see image below).

Left side: Don't care. The man-o-wars are badly out of position behind a large building. As long as I stay out of Strakhov's control radius, they'll take three turns to get to me.

Center: Turns 1 and 2: Set a trap for Torch using eEiryss, the mage hunters, and one unit of stormfall archers. Expect to break his flamethrower or, barring that, let him come in and shoot at eEiryss (he needs an 11 to hit her), then pummel him with stationary mage hunters and archers. Then before the man-o-wars arrive turn three they're moving right.

Right side: I expect Berzerker and the assassins to head for Ravyn and entourage. The assassins will hit turn two and Berzerker turn three. I hope to have two rounds of stormfall AoEs and one turn of Discordia's ten-inch spray attack before they do. Whatever's left should be killable with reach/combined melee attacks, Ravyn's Vortex, and Discordia. At least that's the plan. Those assassins really worry me. Oh, and Discordia will keep everyone safe from the mortar team using her 3" kinetic barrier.

At this point I'm thinking Ravyn will save her feat for an assassination attempt on turn five.

So, what happened? Eiryss stripped Torch's Superiority and disrupted him, but shooting didn't do enough damage. He can't charge. Here's hoping he moves up and takes the Eiryss bait. Archers killed only two assassins. Bit sad there. On the other hand, Khador is entirely out of charge range and all the Retribution shooting is positioned to strike turn two.

End of Turn 1

Turn 2 (Khador)
Maz's movement here puzzles me. Strakhov comes over the fence with war dog, but only about three inches. Retribution likes this, as he needs to get close to feat. Then two of the men-o-war go the long way around the building. Finally, the assassins run towards the mage hunters, blocking charge lanes for his 'jacks and leaving them open for a (counter?) charge from the halberdiers. Retribution performs secret happy dance, but keeps it all inside.

Torch gets Superiority again, takes the bait, advances and flames Eiryss... and rolls that 11. Sigh. Pull Eiryss. Battle plan just changed. Without Eiryss, Strakhov will have Occultation (Steath) on himself the entire game, countering Ravyn's feat. Now I may have to go for points, and her feat will be used soon to deal with those 'jacks.

Joe sings songs of Toughness to the mortar crew, who miss.

Turn 2 (Retribution)
I'm thinking, "No plan survives contact with the enemy". With permanent stealth on Strakhov now, I'll need those mage hunters alive, so they break right and lump some crummy shots into Torch, who remains standing with about six boxes left. Only the flamethrower arm is destroyed. The mid-field archers set two (three?) man-o-wars on fire. They drop another starfall shot on Berzerker trying to get those two assassins, but the back one is just out of the template. Curses! Halberdiers charge and activate mini-feat. They'll need their +2 and CMA to hit those assassins. Once they're out of the way Discordia sprays through three more that were on the right side there by the halberdiers and into Underboss. He Toughs, but the archers take him down with AoEs.

In preparation for turn three, the halberdiers use Reform to get within charge range of the mortar team. The magister moves up, expecting to push Berzerker back or whip-snap Discordia forward. Ravyn moves in, still paying upkeep for Vortex.

End of Turn 2

Turn 3 (Khador)
Fire takes its toll. One of the men-o-war burns up (I think) plus an assassin. Strakhov again stays put, which is fantastic. Stay right there in the open, please, Strakhov. Assassins charge... toward the mage hunters? What? Okay. They kill one and tie up two. Berzerker charges to Discordia, rolls badly, and does one box. Mortar team kills an archer. Strakhov drops an AoE/rough terrain spell on the halberdiers, killing one. Men-o-war continue advancing -- still not in range!

Turn 3 (Retribution)
Okay, here we go. Let's kill us some 'jacks. Berzerker is toe-to-toe with Discordia and Torch is standing between nine mage hunters and four archers. And the mortar team is in range. First some melee Tetris and then time to feat. This gets complicated. If you were there, this is the point where I shouted, "Aha! I know what to do!"

Hang on, this gets complicated. Discordia is base-to-base with Berzerker, but I may need to charge. So the magister moves around Discordia, counter-clockwise and gets two beat-back hits against Berzerker, moving him back two inches into that "V" of halberdiers. Next, Ravyn charges the assassins that have engaged the halberdiers. She kills one, takes a free ranged shot at war dog, killing him, then advances two inches into another assassin, kills him, then takes a shot at a man-o-war, injuring him, and ending her movement with Berzerker in melee reach. Then she casts Locomotion to move Discordia back an inch so she can charge. Whew.

So now the halberdiers activate and charge. One's still base-to-base with an assassin, but there are five free. The one closes to the mortar team charges into rear arc and they perform a three-man and a two-man CMA (with free boosted damage from Vortex of Destruction). Bam, bam. Then Discordia charges (wasted, due to Ravyn's Vortex. Oops) and puts three 16+3d6 swings into Berzerker, who promptly dies.

Archers lob sniped Brutal Shots into the mortar team, who obligingly fail their Tough checks. The last shot drops starfire onto Joe, setting him ablaze.

In mid-field, the mage hunters finish off Torch, leaving the archers free to crack three of the men-o-war. At this point, the men-o-war and the assassins are now non-scoring due to being below half-strength.

It's a brutal feat turn, even for Ravyn (~24 points killed). Unfortunately, I made two serious mistakes. First, spending focus to get Discordia a charge she didn't need, and second, leaving a charge lane from the man-o-war by the flag into Ravyn. Oops. Well, I had a good feat turn, and I don't think he can kill Ravyn outright.

End of Turn 3

Turn 4 (Khador)
Joe burns to death during Maintenance.

Maz moves Strakhov up just enough to get Ravyn inside his control range. He feats and charges the man-o-war into her. Maz announces he's using a man-o-war ability called "Backswing" (?) to make two attacks on Ravyn. He knocks about eight boxes off her, about half. Not enough. One assassin kills a mage hunter, the other misses. That's it.

Turn 4 (Retribution)
Maz, ever the gentleman, wants to play it all the way through. The game's in the bag, but the table's messy. Now we're both just goofing through the rest of the game. The intensity level drops significantly.

Halberdiers CMA the man-o-war, leaving Ravyn free. Mage hunters and archers kill the last man-o-war. Two more charge in to perform a CMA on an assassin, which fails. D'oh. Archers run over to the Khador flag for an easy point. Ravyn moves into her blob so I don't have to think about charges. Haberdiers Reform into Strakhov so he either sits there, burns focus, or moves to contest and takes free strikes. Discordia moves into position for a charge on Strakhov. (Yes, it looks far. I'm out of Strakhov's charge range and I can use Ravyn's Locomotion spell to move him three inches closer.)

Score 1-0, Retribution

End of Turn 4

Turn 5 (Khador)
Strakhov uses focus to kill the halberdiers, then takes a full advance for killing something in melee (oops; didn't know about that one). He moves toward the flag to save the game. Assassins use Parry to run out of melee, back towards Strakhov.

Score 1-0, Retribution

Turn 5 (Retribution)
Archers try to shoot Strakhov, but they can't do it outside of feat turn. Discordia charges, rolls poorly and only does a few boxes of damage -- it was a turn too early, but we wanted to end the game. Halberdiers kill the last assassins, then reform towards Strakhov. Magister moves up so I can knock Strakhov out of melee (or away from the flag). Raven gets within running range. That's all I need: run+reach for her Vortex to work on Strakhov.

Score 1-0, Retribution

End of Turn 5

Turn 6 (Khador)
Backfield archers move to hold the Retribution flag. They're done for this game. Magister runs clockwise around Discordia to block a charge lane to Ravyn (who is coming in a second) and fails to do any damage (no surprise). Ravyn runs up to get Strakhov in her Vortex of Destruction. Halberdiers charge, CMA Strakhov, and hurt him. Then Discordia swings (boosted hit, free boosted damage). Second shot brings Strakhov down.

Game, Retribution.

End of Turn 6

What a great game. Learned a ton about facing Khador. Most importantly how to deal with Kayazy Assassins and Underboss. Second most importantly, how to properly spread fire between low-def-high-arm models (like men-o-war) and high-def-low-arm models (like assassins). And, of course, I renewed my respect for Mr. Murphy, who reminded me that, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Poor Eiryss.

MVP goes to Ravyn this time. Feel like I'm starting to get the hang of her amazing mix of melee/ranged combo powers. They're probably worth an entire article. If she kills a model in melee, she gets a free ranged attack that ignores rate-of-fire. If she kills a model with a ranged attack, she can advance two inches. Rinse, repeat. Throw in Vortex of Destruction, and you've got yourself an infantry tornado.

Having the magister along to control positioning was a pleasant surprise. This was my first experience using any of the Retribution battle mages, and I can see how useful they can be in a scenario or setting up an assassination lane. Expect to see them again.

As for my mistakes -- ah, "learning opportunities" -- there were plenty. I'm still playing way too slowly, and still spreading out my initial deployment far more than I should. It's so tempting. Must resist the urge. Synergy, synergy, synergy. Must watch charge lanes to my caster even more closely. And I must remember to see when a plain advance is better than a charge (star attacks, less focus, etc.).

Great game. Thank you, Maz. Thanks for playing scenarios. Let's do it again, soon.

[Edited to fix Backswing rules]