BatRep Oct 23, 2021 - Cryx vs Protectorate

We decided to mix things up this weekend & played a new scenario: Brawlmachine scenario 3: Ignition 2. The flag embedded in the rectangular zone made for an interesting change of how we deployed & that turned out to be the deciding factor in the end.

Cryx (me):

Wraith Witch Denegrha +

Slayer, Defiler, & Ripjaw

Hellslinger Phantom, Soul Trapper, Necrosurgeon with Stitch Thralls, min unit of Mechanithralls with 2 Brute Thralls & a Skarlock Commander.

Protectorate of Menoth (Donna):

Grand Scrutator Severius +

Indictor & Revenger

Exemplar Warder Elias Gade, Reclaimer Gatekeeper, Vassal Mechanik, Deliverer Sunburst Crew, & full unit of Temple Flameguard. 

I was first player & deployed with Deneghra & her battlegroup to the far-left, the Soul Trapper & Hellslinger Phantom to the far-right, and the Necrosurgeon & Mechanithrall units in the center. Donna deployed in a tight formation with Severius & his battlegroup to the far-right (from my vantage point) along with the Mechanik in support, the Sunburst Crew in the center flanked by the Temple Flameguard & Reclaimer to their left, and finally with Elias Gade in the forest thanks to his Advance Deployment ability. She named my Slayer as Gade's initial Prey target

My main goal in this game was to work for a scenario win. To that end, my initial strategies were:

1. To eliminate Gade as early as possible between spells channeled through my Defiler (both offense & de-buff) & charging the Slayer in.

2. Scoring the rectangular zone with my jacks. This worked perfectly to combo with strategy 1 above.

3. Harass anyone she brought up the middle with a swarm of McThralls, using the Necrosurgeon in support to grab up corpses as they fall, & then use her Resurrectionist special ability to bring destroyed thralls back into play.

4. Scoring the circular zone with my units. Again, this worked perfectly to combo with strategy 3 above.

5. Score the far-right flag with Hellslinger Phantom shooting at anyone who is coming in to contest, while keeping the Soul Trapper nearby to move onto the flag if the Phantom gets taken out.

6. Be more aggressive in keeping Denny near the action early on, but keeping a couple focus on her to ward off any early assassination attempts.

7. NOT FORGET TO POP HER FEAT IN THE EARLY ROUNDS!!!!

One thing I've come to appreciate is that Deneghra's feat is NOT something to hold onto for "just the perfect moment". Rather, it's important to use it early to make sure that my fragile Cryx troops survive into rounds 3 & 4 to have a chance of competing.

I did something different this game for the sake of the blog, but got side tracked because of it. I tend to write the batreps up a day (or 3) after we play & do my best to remember all the details. I wanted to start recording them to have a static-cam video to watch when I type up the blog. That's great for the sake of not forgetting anything or getting something wrong...but I was so busy with the phone that was recording & forgot to take as many pics as I'd normally like. This was mainly because I would start / stop the video recording with each round to get smaller videos to go through & fussing with it made me forget to snap more pics early on. Lesson learned.

Giving the Press Forward order, the Skarlock Commander ran his unit into the gap between the tower & the building that sat on either side of the circular zone. They spread out as much as possible while still staying within the Skarlock's command range.

It was important to keep them out of a cluster in expectation of the Sunburst Crew's eventual bombardments. A 16" range on a 4" AOE attack at POW 15 with continuous fire? The Sunburst can easily be a one-shot death sentence for squishy DEF 12 Mechanithralls.

The Necrosurgeon ran her Stitch Thralls up in support, staying just behind the stone tower on the left. The Hellslinger Phantom & Soul Trapper ran up just behind the building. They kept right on their eventual path to the flag, while keeping in mind the Revenger's threat range to channel Severius' fiery offensive spells.

* Donna starting to move Severius' army in to face Deneghra's swarm of thralls *

Everything in my plan was hinged on moving the battlegroup into position. If Deneghra & crew are out of position and get hit too easily too early, nothing the units or solos would do would matter in the scoring later on.

The Ripjaw & Defiler ran up to the right of the large boulder, just breaking the edge of the rectangular zone. They could have gone a few inches further, but wanted to stay outside of Gade's crossbow range. If he was going to shoot them next turn, he'd have to move forward & forfeit the aiming bonus. The Slayer ran up just behind the boulder. Being labeled "Prey" meant he needed the cover bonus to help ward off the +2 Gade would get on attack & damage rolls. Deneghra moved up just behind her bone jacks.

With that everything was set for my plan. I knew that Donna was going to get off at least a handful of ranged attacks in her first turn. I just had to make it hard for her to do too much damage so that I could set the stage for a critical round 2.

To kick off her first turn, Donna moved the Sunburst Crew up 4" and took aim at the lead Mechanithrall. The shot missed and deviated 2" up & to the left. The 2 McThralls caught in the AOE were killed from the blast damage, sending their corpses to the Necrosurgeon nearby.

Issuing the Press Forward order, the Temple Flameguard leader ran his unit forward just beyond the left stone wall. They were spread out from the middle of the rectangular zone to the edge of the circular zone. This was the first mistake Donna made when it came to scoring this game. She's had a habit of using her Flameguard to protect Gade in the past couple of games. However, with him moving towards a flag in the rectangular zone, this put the Flameguard out of position to score the circular zone.

Elias Gade then moved out of forest & took a shot at the Slayer. This worked against her in 2 ways. On top of the Slayer getting the cover bonus from the large boulder. It also moved Gade outside of Severius' control range, where he lost the "Eye of Menoth" +1 to attack & damage rolls the caster provides. At dice - 8 to hit, Gade managed to connect on 1 of his 2 crossbow shots; doing 1 damage to column 2 of the heavy jack.

Next, she ran the Indictor just to the outside of the large rubble pile, heading towards the circular zone. The Mechanik moved up just behind him. The Revenger ran straight forward towards my solos & the Reclaimer moved up to support the Flameguard. 

She finished her turn by moving Severius to the left of the Sunburst Crew. From there, he used the Revenger as an arc node to cast "Defender's Ward" to give the Indictor +2 DEF / +2 ARM. The already formidable ARM 19 jack was now sitting at effective ARM 23 between the spell & his shield. Finally, she had Severius cast "Vision" on the Revenger to give him a 1-shot damage protection insurance policy.

As round 2 started, Deneghra used her Wraith Walker ability to go incorporeal & allocated 2 focus to the Ripjaw, keeping the rest for protection & to cast a very important spell this turn. With that, the stage was set for what would turn out to be a pivotal turn of the game. 

Most of the Mechanithralls were just out of charge range for any of Menoth's faithful. A single Brute Thrall charged in to kill off the closest Temple Flameguard. The Reclaimer collected his soul as the trooper was destroyed.

The rest of the unit ran in to close the distance and prevent any of the Flameguard or the Indictor from being able to charge on their next turn. Most importantly, all of the Mechanithrall unit was in the circular zone now. The Necrosurgeon & Stich Thralls walked into the circular zone. Sitting safely behind the McThrall unit, the Necrosurgeon used her Resurrectionist special action; spending 2 corpses to bring 2 Mechanithralls back into the fray.

Hellslinger Phantom walked up B2B to the flag & took the Revenger in his sights. Using "Incendiary" as his Wraithstorm Pistol's attack type, he hit on both shots. The Revenger exhausted the "Vision" upkeep spell to prevent any damage from the first shot, but was still set on fire. There's something so pleasing as a Cryx player to be able to burn Menoth jacks on the battlefield. The 2nd shot did 4 damage to column 1 on dice -7.

It was at this point that it hit me that Hellslinger Phantom was in relatively no significant danger. With only the Revenger threatening the incorporeal Phantom meant the only chance of him being hurt would be from spells channeled through the jack. Of her 2 jacks, only the Indictor has a weapon that does magical damage. 

Realizing that the Soul Trapper wouldn't be needed as a back-up to score the flag, I opted to have him run back behind the building towards the mob of Flameguard & McThralls on the left. He'd be better suited possibly grabbing some souls from that ruckus than wasting his time backing up Hellslinger Phantom. 

* Slayer striking Exemplar Warder Elias Gade down with his Death Claw *

The Ripjaw then charged into the Flameguard leader. I opted not to boost the charge attack damage & at dice - 8 regretted it immediately. Rolling a 6, the Flameguard deftly dodged the attack. Spending his last 2 focus, the Ripjaw bought another attack & boosted it. His bone saw's "Powerful Attack" ability allowing him to boost both the attack & damage rolls for a single focus.

He hit easily this time & the damage was enough to kill him. Another member of the unit took up command & the Reclaimer collected the fallen leader’s soul.

The Defiler walked up into the zone, but the way the Flameguard were spread out, he was only able to catch 1 under his Sludge Cannon's 8" spray template. Needing an 8 to hit, he boosted the attack & rolled a 3, a 2, & a 1 on 3d6; failing miserably.

Deneghra then moved up to get Gade into range & cast "Damnation", which allows her jacks to charge  / slam him without needing to spend a focus, as well as giving them +2" to charge / slam power attacks and a few other nice benefits. This was critical in my plan to use the Slayer like a giant wrecking ball into the Exemplar champion.

At dice - 5, she boosted the magical attack to ensure it hit, as everything I had planned depended on this spell’s success. In the polar opposite of the Defiler's miserably-failed boosted attack roll, Denny hit easily; rolling a 4, a 3, & a 6. Lastly, she popped her feat & rolled a 3 (5 rounded up & divided by 2) on d3. This granted incorporeal to the Slayer, Ripjaw, Skarlock Commander, both Brute Thralls, & the Soul Trapper.

The combination of the Slayer being incorporeal & Gade suffering from "Damnation" allowed the heavy warjack to charge 10" directly through the boulder & strike down with his right Death Claw. The blow was too much for Gade to withstand & the damage removed him from the table in a single devastating blow. Of course, the Slayer lost his incorporeal state when he made the melee attack, but the ensuing gamble for his safety was all part of the plan.

At the start of Donna's 2nd turn, she rolled a 1 for the Fire continuous effect on the Indictor to expire without hurting him. She then took aim with the Sunburst on 1 of the Mechanithralls. The shot missed & deviated enough to catch one of his buddies, who was burned away. Fortunately, he was just within range of the Necrosurgeon so that she could collect his corpse.

Next, she moved her Flameguard into position to attack the Defiler & Mechanithralls. Several of them joined together for a combined melee attack on a McThrall. The attack hit & did enough damage to kill him without a damage roll; sending his corpse to the Necrosurgeon. Three other Flameguard attacked members of my army in single attacks.

One moved in to attack the Slayer, hit on double 4s at dice -6, setting him on fire, & doing 3 damage to column 4 with the damage roll that followed. Another attacked the Defiler by himself, but failed to hit. Lastly, the 3rd solo Flameguard member missed his attack roll against a Mechanithrall. 

The Reclaimer ran up to be B2B with the flag inside the rectangular zone. 

The Indictor then charged the nearest Brute Thrall & using his Banisher's magical attack damage, hit for 5 damage. At this point, Donna realized her mistake of targeting the incorporeal Hellslinger Phantom with her Revenger. Shifting gears, she charged the jack into a Mechanithrall to kill him. This also got the arc node into range to cast some attacks later in her turn. The Mechanik charged a Mechanithrall,hit, & killed him; a rare instance of his Multi-Tool doing some work beyond repairing a jack.

* Donna explaining how Severius was about to rain down fire on the Cryxian scourge *

She ended her turn moving Severius a bit closer in order to get into range for his offensive spells. First, she cast "Ashes to Ashes" on the one Brute Thrall that was in range. She hit with a total of 5 on dice -4, catching both Brute Thralls & the Skarlock Commander. The resulting damage rolls destroyed 1 Brute Thrall & the Skarlock Commander, while leaving the other Brute Thrall barely standing with 2 boxes left unmarked.

Severius then channeled "Immolation" on Deneghra through the Revenger. It was dice -8 and as she was getting ready to roll, Donna said, "I should probably boost it...nah...never mind"....and then proceeded to miss, rolling 7. She then decided to change it up & cast "Immolation" on the injured Brute Thrall. She hit this time, rolling 6 on dice - 4, & the damage roll was more than enough to destroy her. Finally, Severius popped his feat, reducing Deneghra's FOCUS stat to 5 for a round & preventing her from casting spells while in his control range.

As the round ended, I scored 1 point for Hellslinger Phantom on the right flag. Donna scored 1 point for the Reclaimer on the left flag. She had no jacks in the rectangular zone & no units in the circular zone, but she did have models in position to contest me scoring either zone. Tied 1 - 1, we moved on to round 3 where it hit us both just how out of position she was and how well I was set up to score; something neither of us had quite realized until that point.

Round 3 was relatively short & could have been much shorter had I realized how the scoring opportunities were laid out at this point. Denny allocated to the Slayer & Ripjaw, keeping 2 on her to reinforce her power field. The Slayer moved to slash at the Reclaimer on the flag. His tusks never came into play, as 2 boosted attacks from his Death Claws sent the Reclaimer on to meet his maker. 

The Ripjaw then boosted his attack & damage rolls to easily destroy the Flameguard that was engaged with him. Hellslinger Phantom then used 2 "Incendiary" blasts from his Wraithstorm Pistols to set both Protectorate jacks on fire. The shots hit with no problem thanks to the back strike bonus. Neither shot did much damage, but the fun was in setting fire to the Lawgiver's forces. There’s so much joy in the irony of it all.

* Have I mentioned how satisfying it is to light Protectorate jacks on fire? *

That was when I started doing the math to realize that I could potentially score 4 points this turn with Donna being out of position to score any. The zones & right flag were covered. I just needed to get either Deneghra or the Soul Trapper to the left flag. The Soul Trapper was just out of range even if he ran, but with Deneghra was able to run & easily make it to B2B contact with the flag. 

She did this & I ended my turn without activating either unit or the Soul Trapper. I scored 4 points to Donna's 0: left flag - Deneghra, rectangular zone - Slayer / Defiler / Ripjaw, circular zone - McThralls / Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls, and right flag - Hellslinger Phantom. Going up 5 - 1, Denny took the victory in honor of the Dragonfather.

* Deneghra standing victorious, surrounded by her battlegroup *