"Head Butts & Hijinks!" - Batrep Oct 30, 2021: Cryx vs Protectorate
Cryx (me): Wraith Witch Deneghra + Slayer / Defiler / Ripjaw / Stalker, Hellslinger Phantom, Soul Trapper, Necrosurgeon with Stitch Thralls, & a min unit of Mechnithralls with a Skarlock Commander + 2 Brute Thralls.
Protectorate (Donna): Grand Scrutator Severius + Indictor / Revenger / Vigilant, Vassal Mechanik, Reclaimer Gatekeeper, Exemplar Warder Elias Gade, Deliverer Sunburst Crew, & a full unit of Temple Flameguard.
Set-Up & Deployment
I won the starting roll & decided to go first. I wanted to take advantage of my Stalker's advance deployment & try to get him in on the action as early as possible.
I deployed Deneghra on the left side of the battlefield with the Defiler, Ripjaw, & Hellslinger Phantom to either side of ther. Stalker was to the far-left & forward of the rest of the army. The Slayer was to the center-right with the Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls next to him. The Soul Trapper was just to their right with the Mechanithrall unit was in front of them headed for the circular zone. The Stalker & Mechanithrall unit used Advance Deployment.
* Deneghra with her Defiler & the Hellslinger Phantom *
Donna deployed more to my right, keeping her units tight in formation as she likes to do with this list. Severius gives everyone in his control range +1 to both attack & damage rolls. So, she likes to do her best to keep everyone within range whenever possible.
Elias Gade was the furtherst-left & ahead of everyone else (Advance Deployment). The Deliverer Sunburst Crew, Vassal Mechanik, & Vigilant on the left side of the far-side flag. The Revenger was on the right of the flag with Severius & the Indictor to his side. Rounding out the Protectorate forces was the Temple Flameguard & Reclaimer Gatekeeper to the right of the stone tower. She named my Stalker as Gade's initial "Prey".
Round 1: It's like shooting Thralls in a barrel...
Cryx turn 1
Issuing the "Press Forward" order, the Skarlock Commander sent his shambling thralls deep into the circular zone. The wall in the center meant that I wasn't going to have to worry about the Flameguard charging in later on & I hoped that the forest would give enough of them protection from the Sunburst. That wasn't guaranteed though. So, I spread them out as much as I could while keeping them in formation. I wanted to limit how many of them might get caught in the Sunburst's 4" AOE if she was able to move into position to get a shot off.
The Necrosurgeon moved up just behind the Mechanithralls, spreading her Stitch Thralls out into a band of corpse-grabbing satellites. Hellslinger Phantom ran up to go B2B with the near-side flag. The Slayer ran up to the opposite side of the flag a few inches short of the forest.
* The Cryxian forces move into position *
The Defiler & Ripjaw both ran up behind the large boulder to either side of it. The Stalker walked up just behind the near-side stone wall. He then used his "Bounding Leap" ability, paying 1 focus to jump 5" into the left side of the rectangular zone. Deneghra finished the turn out by running up between her bone jacks behind the boulder.
Protectorate turn 1
Examplar Warder Elias Gade moved up behind the low side of the rubble pile. Donna wanted to be able to take shots at the Stalker, being sure to keep the rubble between them to avoid a charge. Thankfully for me, this meant Gade was outside of Severius' control range & lost the "Eye of Menoth" bonus to his attack & damage rolls for the time being.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep me safe. The first crossbow shot hit. It did a whopping 10 damage on dice -1; crippling both his left arm & movement in one shot. With his base DEF reduced to 5 vs Gade's effective RAT 9, the second shot hit on anything but double 1s. She rolled 4 to hit & the damage roll knocked out another 6 boxes starting in column 6; leaving him with only 2 boxes left unmarked. His right arm & his cortex were both hanging on with a single box each remaining.
* Elias Gade taking aim at the Stalker *
The Sunburst Crew moved up to the right & turned to set their sights on the only Mechanithrall they could. Needing a 6 & rolling that exactly, they hit him dead on & caught 3 others in the blast. The POW 15 Sunburst was more than his ARM 12 could handle & the main target died instantly without a damage roll required. Of his 3 buddies caught in the AOE, 2 of them died while the 3rd survived, though he was now on fire. The Necrosurgeon collected their corpses as they were destroyed.
Taking advantage of the updated rules for the "Shield Wall" order, Donna activated the Temple Flameguard next. The leader issued the order sending the unit forward a total of 9", going B2B in pairs, & getting the +4 ARM bonus.
She activated her jacks next, sending her Indictor running up next to the stone tower by the circular zone. The Vigilant ran to the outside of the rectangular zone & the Revenger ran up just past the far-side flag. The Mechanik ran up B2B with the flag on the side of the Indictor. Her plan was to camp him on the flag pulling double duty: he'd be in position to score later on & would be centrally-located if he was needed to move up to repair any jacks injured once the combat kicked off.
* The Deliverer Sunburst Crew taking aim *
Severius used the Revenger to cast "Ashes to Ashes" on the nearest Mechanithrall. It hit & she rolled a 3 on d3 to see who else would be caught, but only 1 Brute Thrall was within 3" of the thrall hit. The resulting damage rolls killed the Mechanithrall outright, sending his corpse to the Necrosurgeon, & knocked out 6 of the Brute Thrall's 8 damage boxes. She followed up by casting "Defender's Ward" (+2 DEF / +2 ARM) on the Vigilant & "Vision" (ignore 1 damage roll, then it expires) on the Indictor.
In a bit of unintentional foreshadowing, I mentioned that I thought it was wasted on the Indictor & would have been better suited for the Mechanik. Donna replied that she felt comfortable with him all the way back on the flag with the jacks moving ahead to protect him & ended her turn.
Round 2: Tug of war to dominate the center
Cryx turn 2
I started my turn rolling a 5 when checking to see if the fire would expire on my Mechanithrall. At POW 12 to his ARM 12, we didn't bother rolling for damage. He was just outside of range for the Necrosurgeon or any of the Stitch Thralls to get his corpse. Deneghra then allocated 2 focus to the Stalker & kept the rest for herself.
The Necrosurgeon moved up towards the middle of the Mechanithrall formation & moved her Stitch Thralls up. She kept them spread out while all being inside the circular zone. She then used her "Resurrectionist" special ability to bring 3 corpses back into the unit.
With most of his unit outside of charge range for any enemies or behind the stone wall in the circular zone, the Skarlock Commander issued the "Press Forward" order to send himself & the majority of his unit running to close the distance with members of the Temple Flameguard. A Brute Thrall & 1 Mechanithrall were in range to charge the Indictor & did just that. Needing a 4 to hit, the Brute rolled 6, but no damage roll was done as Donna used "Vision" to nullify the chance of the boosted damage roll cracking his armor. She then hit with her second Steam Fist, but at dice -7 for damage, she rolled exactly 7. The Mechanithrall used his special action Steam Fist Combo Strike, but rolled miserably & missed. The Indictor stood unscathed.
The terrain placement was really having an effect on my ability to close the distance with attacks this round. It was an interesting puzzle that hadn't presented itself to this level in any of our previous games. So, a lot of my movements were more defensively minded; just looking to get as close to her models as possible so they couldn't charge me next turn.
With that in mind, the Slayer ran to the far edge of the rectangular zone, coming with a couple inches of the Vigilant.
Hellslinger Phantom moved up off of the flag & used his Wraithstorm Pistol's "Incendiary" attack type to take one shot each at both the Vigilant & Revenger. Both shots hit, but the damage rolls were not enough to hurt them. The only saving grace was that the Protectorate jacks were now on fire.
The Stalker moved just to the outside of the rubble pile & then used his "Bounding Leap" ability to jump, landing dead center in Gade's back arc. His first attack was with his functional right-arm Eviscerator. Thanks to the back strike bonus, he only needed a 3 to hit & struck down on the Exemplar Warder rolling 8. At dice -4 for damage, he rolled 5 & did a paltry 1 damage. With his left-arm Eviscerator crippled from Gade's attacks in round 1, Stalker spent his last 2 focus: boosting the attack roll to hit & then boosting again the damage roll to do 2 more damage, leaving Gade with 2 unmarked boxes.
* The Revenger corroded & burning in the aftermath of the Cryxian onslaught *
Next, the Defiler moved around the back of the boulder to walk up & toe-in on the right edge of rectangular zone. He took aim at the Revenger with his Sludge Cannon with the Mechanik being caught in the spray behind him. The Revenge was hit & corroded, but the damage roll wasn't enough to hurt him. The Mechnik was hit & killed. Her Reclaimer was just outside of his range to collect the soul.
Ripjaw ran around from behind the boulder into the middle of the rectangular zone, lining himself up for a possible future charge into the Deliverer Sunburst Crew.
*The Protectorate forces pulled in just before the Hellmouth struck *
Protectorate turn 2
Donna checked the continuous effects on her Revenger. The fire expired, but the corrosion ate away 1 damage to column 6. She then allocated 1 focus to each of her jacks. As she was getting ready to activate Gade, I realized that I didn't have Deneghra pop her feat, leaving the majority of my models dangerously close to Severius' army & exposed to whatever carnage they were going to bring this round. I just knew this mental mishap was going to cost me the game in the long run.
Gade turned to face the Stalker at his back to stab at the limber bone jack. With the Stalker's movement system crippled, the first bayonet hit on anything but double 1s & destroyed the jack who's last 2 boxes were no match for a "Weapon Master" strike amplified by bonuses from Gade's "Prey" & Severius' "Eye of Menoth". Gade named my Slayer as his new "Prey".
The weakened Sunburst Crew chose not to move in order to gain the +2 aiming bonus. The gunner targeted the nearest Brute Thrall. Needing a 4 to hit, She rolled 7 & caught the Brute, a nearby Mechanithrall, & her own Indictor. The direct hit destroyed the Brute Thrall outright. The blast damage also eliminated the Mechanithrall. The Indictor was lit on fire, but suffered no damage.
Severius activated next to cast "Death Sentence" on my Slayer through the Revenger's arc node. Needing 5 to hit, she rolled 8 & the spell was successful; granting Donna's army the ability to re-roll each attack once on my hell jack. The old man of Menoth then channeled "Immolation" on my Skarlock Commander through the Revenger. At straight dice, the damage roll of 7 took the thrall commander out in a single fiery blast. The Mechanithrall most central to the unit's formation took up the mantle of leader.
The Revenger then charged the Slayer with his halberd, taking advantage of its "Powerful Charge" ability granting +2 to the attack roll. The Defiler's position blocked the charge lane from granting a back strike bonus, but it hit easily, needing a 4 & rolling 9. The attack did 6 damage to column 1.
Missing the next attack with its Repulsor Shield, the Revenger took advantage of the "Death Sentence" spell to re-roll & hit on the 2nd try. The shield didn't damage the Slayer, but it pushed him back 1" with its "Repel" ability. This was critical as it moved it away so that the Revenger could still be used to channel spells while keeping the Slayer within the 2" range of the halberd. Donna spent the Revenger's last focus to buy another attack with the halberd to do 3 damage to the column 6.
* The Revenger charged in to batter the Slayer *
Next, the Vigilant charged into the Slayer. Needing a 6 to hit, Donna rolled double 5s to send the first spiked Shield Fist slamming down to do 6 damage, crippling my jack's left arm Death Claw. She hit on the punch from the 2nd Shield Fist & the damage knocked out the last 2 boxes in column 3. Spending its last focus, the Vigilant bought another attack which hit easily since the last attack crippled the Slayer's movement, knocking its base DEF to 5. My battered heavy jack finally got some favor his way, as the attack only did 1 damage to column 4.
The Indictor walked up to head butt a Brute Thrall, knocking her down, & doing 7 damage to leave her with a single box left. Paying a focus to buy another attack with its Banisher, the Indictor auto-hit & the P+S was high enough that no damage roll was needed to finish her off. A Stitch Thrall was within range to grab her corpse as the Brute Thrall fell.
* The Indictor bearing down on a Brute Thrall with a powerful head butt *
The Temple Flameguard moved in to attack the Mechanithralls that were in range. Both combined melee attacks proved to be a massacre, hitting on anything but snake eyes, & the strong enough that no damage roll was needed in either attack. Both thralls were out of range for the Necrosurgeon or any of her Stitch Thralls to get their corpses.
Donna ended her turn with her Reclaimer running into base contact with the far-side flag. I scored 1 point for the near-side flag (Soul Trapper), another for the rectangular zone (Defiler / Slayer / Ripjaw), & one more for the circular zone (Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls). Donna scored 1 point for the far-side flag (Reclaimer).
Cryx 3 - Protectorate 1
Round 3: Things turn grim for the Dragonfather's faithful
Cryx turn 3
Deneghra used "Wraith Walker" to go incorporeal & allocated 2 focus each to the Slayer & the Ripjaw. Ideally, I would prefer to Ripjaw head butt the Vigilant so that the Slayer could follow up with a Death Claw combo attack. Unfortunately, the Slayer was blocking the Ripjaw from getting into range. So, I had the Slayer activate first to move slightly to the right & spend a focus to head butt, opening a lane for the Ripjaw to charge in later.
Needing a 7 to hit & having so much riding on this power attack, the Slayer boosted the attack roll & barely made it; rolling a 3 & a pair of 2s. Even with the damage roll getting boosted, no damage was done, but the Vigilant was knocked down as a result.
The Ripjaw charged in & used the "Powerful Attack" ability of his bone saw to pay 1 focus to boost both the attack & damage rolls. Rolling 4d6, the weak P+S 10 attack only did 2 damage to column 4. The bone jack then spent 2 focus to buy & boost another attack, which did no damage.
The Revenger was engaging the Defiler from its previous charge into the Slayer. I wanted to get a Sludge Cannon shot off, but didn't want to risk the free strikes from moving. So, I chose to activate Deneghra next to move up into position to cast "Curse of Shadows" on the Revenger. The spell was a success & the Revenger was now suffering from -2 ARM & unable to make free strikes. She ended her activation using her feat. Rolling 3 on d3, she was able to make 6 models in her control range incorporeal: Ripjaw, Slayer, Defiler, Necrosurgeon, & 2 Stitch Thralls.
Hellslinger Phantom used his "Gunslinger" ability to charge into range with the Vigilant to fire of an "Incendiary" shot, setting him on fire, & did 4 damage to column 4. The second non-charge shot also hit, but failed to do any additional damage.
The Soul Trapper stayed camping on the near-side flag, as the Defiler moved into position to shoot sludge at the Revenger with the Vigilant also getting covered by the spray. At this point, I realized that I'd wasted incorporeal on him, because while I wanted to activate him earlier, I put it off so that Deneghra could hit the Revenger with "Curse of Shadows". Both jacks were hit & suffered corrosion. It did 3 damage to column 5 on the Revenger, but at dice -13, the shot was too weak to damage the Vigilant no matter what me might have rolled.
The Necrosurgeon moved closer to the sole Mechanithrall still on the battlefield. She then used "Resurrectionist" to bring 2 troops back to his unit. The 2 newly-animated Mechanithralls weren't able to attack & their leader was behind the wall, preventing him from charging the Flameguard who was toeing-in on the circular zone. With that in mind, he bypassed giving any orders & just had the 2 new thralls walk up to block the edge of the zone from Flameguard members just outside of it. The leader himself walked up behind the nearest Flameguard to hit & do enough damage to destroy him; sending his corpse to the Necrosurgeon.
The turn ended with me scoring 2 points: rectangular zone (Slayer) & near-side flag (Soul Trapper). Donna scored 1 point for the far-side flag (Reclaimer).
Cryx 5 - Protectorate 2
Protectorate turn 3
None of the fire nor corrosion expired on her 3 jacks, but only the corrosion did any damage. The fire damage rolls weren't enough to crack the armor on the Vigilant or Indictor. The Vigilant & Revenger each suffered 1 damage due to corrosion to columns 4 & 6 respectively.
After paying to upkeep "Vision" & "Defender's Ward", Severius kept the rest of his focus.
Gade activated first & moved just around the rubble pile to take magical crossbow shots at the Slayer. The first hit & did 3 damage. His second shot did 5 more damage, leaving the heavy hell jack with only 2 boxes remaining.
* Elias Gade nearly destroying the Slayer with dual crossbow shots *
Unable to hurt either incorporeal jack in front of him & losing sight of the Hellslinger Phantom, Donna chose to move the Vigilant into the rectangular zone. He forfeited his Combat Action to shake the knock down & then moved into the middle of the rectangular zone. He then turned to face Slayer's back. She later realized that she missed out on a chance to attack the Hellslinger Phantom.
The Revenger went next, charging to get into the Defiler's back arc. At straight dice for damage with the charge damage roll being boosted, she had a disastrous roll of a 3 & two 1s. The halberd did 5 damage to column 3. The angle needed to get to the Defiler's back arc meant that the Revenger ended his charge outside the range of his shield & had to forfeit attacking with it.
The Flameguard leader then issues the "Shield Wall" order to send his unit in to surround the Mechanithralls along with gaining +4 ARM. In addition, their move got all of them into the circular zone. They got off 3 separate combined melee attacks that all hit & all of them hit hard enough that no damage rolls were needed to completely eliminate my entire unit. The Necrosurgeon gained 3 more corpses, but without the no Mechanithralls on the battlefield, she wouldn't be able to reanimate any more of them.
* 2 of the 3 Mechanithralls swarmed by Temple Flameguard *
Unable to reach the Necrosurgeon, the Indictor chose to run through the 2 incorporeal Stitch Thralls to get into the circular zone & close the distance as much as possible with their leader.
As Donna leaned in the wheeled gaming chair to check LOS for her Sunburst, it slid out from under her. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt at all, but it freaked both of us out pretty bad when it happened. A second later, we were laughing at how insane it was.
Once she was back upright, she took a shot with the Sunburst at the Defiler, but it missed & deviated far enough away that no models were caught in the AOE blast. The Reclaimer stayed on the flag, while Severius moved so that Deneghra was just inside his control range. She chose to move him to the stone tower instead of the flag a few inches away; a choice that would play a major role in the end of the game.
Severius then cast "Ashes to Ashes" on the Slayer through the Revenger. The blast also caught Ripjaw. The damage hit the Slayer for 3 to destroy him & did 4 damage to the Ripjaw. Gade made the Ripjaw his new "Prey" after the Slayer was removed. He followed up casting "Ashes to Ashes" again, this time on a Stitch Thrall, but the attack failed to hit.
With both zones now contested, we each score 1 point for the flags we were on to close out the round.
Cryx 6 - Protectorate 3
Round 4: An opportunity arises...
Cryx turn 4
As round 4 started, I had to spend a minute thinking about how I was going to proceed. With my 2 remaining jacks hanging on by a thread, my Mechanithrall unit completely wiped out, & Deneghra's FOCUS reduced to 5, the chance of me surviving into round 5 was extremely low. I thought that I might be able to go for assassination, but since Severius' feat stopped Deneghra & her jacks from casting / channeling spells, that seemed unlikely as well. Unable to cast spells, I opted to load up my bone jacks with focus, as I studied the board to see what options I might have.
I turned the Ripjaw & had him charge into the Vigilant's back arc. My hope was to clear him from the zone so that I could score it. I boosted both the attack & damage rolls to hit for 6 damage to column 5; crippling Vigilant's right arm & cortex. Ripjaw bought another attack, but it didn't hit hard enough to win.
Right then, I realized that if I could eliminate the Reclaimer from the far-side flag, it would be just what I needed to steal the win right out from under her.
Taking advantage of "Curse of Shadows" preventing the Revenger from making a free strike, the Defiler turned & moved just inside the Revenger's back arc to get the Reclaimer in his sights. With my only chance at victory hanging in the balance & needing 8 to hit, I boosted the shot to hit & boosted the damage roll as well, to do 10 damage & destroy him outright.
* The Defiler preparing to eliminate the Reclaimer *
With that I ended my turn scoring 1 point for the Soul Trapper on the near-side flag & go up 7 - 3, taking the victory on scenario.
Cryx 7 - Protectorate 3
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