"Timing Is Everything" - Brawlmachine Batrep Nov 20, 2021: Cryx vs Protectorate
Brawlmachine Scenario 3: Ignition 2
While my batreps have been "silent" for the past few weeks, Donna & I have been getting at least 1-2 games in each week. We've just been busy between the holidays & traveling out of town for a seminar / Donna's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt promotion, I put my blog on hold for a little bit.
I plan to catch up over the next week, as well as making progress towards doing 1-2 video batreps to go along with 1-2 written batreps each month.
So, with that out of the way, here's a batrep for one of our games last month.
We rolled a d6 to choose which scenario to play & used a web-based random terrain generator to get the layout for the terrain.
This scenario has 2 flags centered across from the players on either side from left to right. The flag on the left side is centered in a rectangular zone. The right flag is about 4" to the right of a circular zone that sits in the center of the table.
There was a stone wall and a large boulder to the far-side of the circular zone. A building sat between the 2 zones, overlapping each of them by a few inches. There was a forest on the right side of the circular zone & a stone tower about 6" to the right of it. A rubble pile (1 side obstacle / 1 side obstruction) was on the edge of the rectangular zone. Lastly, a stone wall was about 8" away from the zones, centered between them laterally, with another forest about 16" to the right of it.
I won the starting roll & chose to go second.
Lists & Deployment:
Cryx (me): Wraith Witch Deneghra + Slayer, Stalker, & Ripjaw, Darragh Wrathe, Hellslinger Phantom, Soul Trapper, a min unit of Mechanithralls with Skarlock Commander & a Brute Thrall.
Protectorate (Donna): Grand Scrutator Severius + Indictor, Revenger, & Vigilant, Exemplar Warder Elias Gade, Deliverer Arms Master, Reclaimer Gatekeeper, Vassal Mechanik, Deliverer Sunburst Crew, & a full unit Temple Flameguard.
Deneghra deployed her rear forces spread into 3 groups of 2. To the far-left was Hellslinger Phantom & Darragh Wrathe to the outside of the stone wall nearby. Deneghra & her trusty Slayer were in the center with Ripjaw & the Soul Trapper near the forest to the right. The Stalker advance deployed in front of Hellslinger & Darragh, while the Skarlock Commander deployed his thralls in a line formation ahead of Deneghra.
Severius' main force was in a tight line formation to the right side of the battlefield. From left to right: Mechanik, Revenger, Vigilant, Severius, Deliverer Arms Master, Sunburst Crew, Indictor, Flameguard, & Reclaimer. Gade was advanced deployed in front of the Flameguard, just to the right of the large boulder. He named the Mechanithrall unit as his initial "Prey" target.
Protectorate 1:
Commanding from the front, the Flameguard leader issued the "Shield Wall" order (+3" movement, +4 ARM). His troops followed behind him; racing forward to cover as much ground as possible while preparing for the undead hordes staring them down across the battlefield. They advanced in groups of 2, staying B2B, to either side of the large boulder.
* Temple Flameguard establishing a defensive line *
Gade followed up by moving ahead; taking cover on the side of the stone tower. Next, the Indictor & Sunburst crew ran up to the stone wall beside the Flameguard, while the Reclaimer moved behind the 2 Flameguard furthest to the right.
Looking to establish a presence in the rectangular zone, the Revenger & Vigilant ran forward with the Vassal Mechanik trailing just behind them. Severius then walked up behind the stone wall & cast "Defender's Ward" (+2 DEF, +2 ARM) onto the Revenger. Lastly, the Arms Master walked up behind the wall next to the Sunburst Crew.
Cryx turn 1:
The trio to the left activated first with Stalker leading the way, running up behind the corner of the building while toeing the right edge of the rectangular zone. Hellslinger Phantom ran straight ahead keeping in line with the Stalker, but on the opposite side of the zone. Finally, Darragh spurred his steed into action & ran roughly 8" to the left of the zone.
* Keeping their distance to protect against the Sunburst's AOE attack *
Being mindful of the Sunburst's range 16 AOE 4 attack, the Skarlock Commander chose to walk his thralls into & around the outside of the circular zone. They spread out as much as they could while staying within their leader's command range. The Skarlock Commander then cast "Dark Fire" to engulf Gade in the flames of the Dragonfather. Needing a 6 to hit, he rolled a 10. The damage roll to follow hit him for 4, leaving him with only 1 box left.
Ripjaw & Soul Trapper then ran up a few inches shy of the flag on the right, while the Slayer ran towards the building to support the Stalker's position.
Deneghra walked up 7" behind her thralls and channeled "Venom" through the Ripjaw to attack Gade. The spell hit & the 2 damage dealt was enough to kill the Exemplar Warder outright.
Protectorate turn 2:
Severius paid to upkeep "Defender's Ward", but chose not to allocate focus to any of his jacks. The Indictor then kicked things off by running into the circular zone, setting up for an inevitable showdown with the Slayer.
* The massive Indictor storms forward into the fray *
Wanting to maximize the damage from their ballista, the Sunburst Crew moved up 4" to get the lead Mechanithrall in range. Thanks to RAT boosts from their Arms Master & Severius, they hit easily; catching the Slayer & another Mechanithrall in the blast. The main thrall hit died outright in the POW 16 fiery blast. Though he was now set on fire, the Slayer suffered no immediate damage. The second Mechanithrall caught in the AOE wasn't so lucky; crying out incoherently as he burst into flame, falling limp in the center of the battlefield.
The majority of the Temple Flameguard ran into the circular zone, taking cover behind the forest. Two of them were within charge range of the Ripjaw & rushed forward for a combined melee attack. They just barely hit; needing a 5 and rolling a 4 & a 1. At dice -1, they did 11 damage to column 6; crippling the Bone Saw attached to his head.
* Ripjaw suffering a devastating blow from a dual Flameguard charge *
Out of range to charge Darragh Wrathe, the Revenger chose to run to close the gap to take away the potential to suffer charges in the next turn. He made sure to stay just outside of Darragh's melee range so that he could still take advantage of his arc node. Vigilant then walked up into the rectangular zone to establish a presence there, as he was unable to attack Hellslinger Phantom due to him being Incorporeal.
The Reclaimer moved up to the safety stone tower, as the Mechanik moved up closer to the flag in the rectangular zone & the Arms Master ran up to toe in the circular zone.
Next, Severius moved up in front of the stone wall & channeled "Immolation" through the Revenger onto Hellslinger Phantom. Needing a 7, he chose to boost & hit easily rolling 14. Choosing to boost the damage roll also, the spell easily destroyed the ghostly gunslinger; consuming him with Menoth's holy flames.
Recognizing the threat of Deneghra's feat still looming, Severius choose to camp his remaining focus. The potential for the Stalker to gain Incorporeal & charge through the building weighed heavy on his mind.
Cryx turn 2:
The fire on the Slayer didn't expire & he suffered 1 damage to column 4 as a result. Deneghra used her "Wraith Walker" ability to go Incorporeal in her Control Phase. She chose not to allocate any focus to her jacks; something she would soon come to regret.
Skarlock Commander issued the "Press Forward" order to charge his unit into the leading edge of the Protectorate force. The Brute Thrall charged the Indictor & did 1 damage to column 2. Her second non-charge melee attack hit for another 1 damage to column 6. Skarlock Commander stabbed at the forward-most Flameguard with his Fell Spear, but missed. Thankfully, one of his Mechanithralls struck true with a crushing Steam Fist punch to destroy the Protectorate spearman. His commander greedily collected the soul.
Soul Trapper moved up to the right flag. Ripjaw walked up to the Flameguard that attacked him & boosted his crippled Bone Saw to get back up to 2 dice. Unfortunately, he rolled a 6 to fall 2 short of the 8 he needed to hit. With no more focus, he was unable to buy additional attacks & stood there helpless before his foes.
Stalker moved just enough to get an angle on the Revenger. He then spent his only focus to use his "Bounding Leap" ability to jump into position to get a back strike. With the back strike bonus & his Eviscerator's "Blessed" advantage nullifying "Defender's Ward", he hit easily & did 7 damage to column 6. His second initial attack also hit, but failed to crack armor. Again, the lack of extra focus to boost the damage roll or buy another attack came back to haunt the Cryxian bonejacks.
Wanting to clear the Vigilant from the rectangular zone, the Slayer walked up & spent his sole focus to attempt a Power Attack Throw. Though he was engulfed in flames, he succeeded on both the attack & strength test rolls; choosing to throw Vigilant at the Revenger. He failed the attack roll against the Revenger. The throw deviated & traveled 2", leaving the Vigilant still just inside the zone and missing out on the chance to get the collateral damage hit on the Revenger. The Vigilant was now knocked down, but remained unscathed after the weak damage roll that followed.
Because he was outside of the Revenger's halberd range, Darragh Wrathe was able to charge the Vigilant without fear of a free strike. He hit automatically since the jack was knocked down, but even with the boosted damage roll, he only managed to do 1 damage to column 4.
* Despite scoring several solid hits, the Cryxian forces did little damage *
Seeing how poorly her army's offense was turning out this round, Deneghra opted to forfeit her Incoporeal state to charge one of the Flameguard engaging Ripjaw. She boosted to hit & killed him with a single blow from her enchanted Eclipse; grabbing his soul in the process. She then bought a 2nd boosted attack to kill the Flameguard leader. As she collected his soul, one of the veteran spearmen assumed command of what remained of the Flameguard.
She then spent 2 focus to cast "Shadow Step" to move 3" to the right; alleviating the chance of any future charge attacks if the remaining Flameguard chose to avenge their fallen brethren. As she lamented how her minions failed to vanquish their enemies, Deneghra lost sight of the grander goal & forgot to cast her feat.
No one scored, as both zones were contested and the Reclaimer hiding behind the stone tower was just inside 4" of the flag Soul Trapper was contacting.
Cryx 0 - Protectorate 0
Protectorate turn 3:
Severius allocated 2 focus each to his Revenger & Vigilant. He then paid to upkeep "Defender's Ward" on the Revenger.
The Sunburst Crew used their movement to aim at the Ripjaw. They hit & caught Deneghra in the AOE. At dice +2, the massive flaming arrow wiped out what was left of the hell jack's damage boxes. The blast damage to Deneghra would have hit her for 4 damage, but she spent 1 focus to reinforce her powerfield & nullify it.
Being mindful not to block any charge lanes for the Flameguard, the Arms Master moved over just beside the Indictor & threw a Fire Bomb at a Mechanithrall centered in his unit's formation. It landed directly on the thrall's head & caught another Mechanithrall, Brute Thrall, & Skarlock Commander. Both Mechanithralls were killed in the blast. The Brute Thrall suffered a single damage & Skarlock Commander was unharmed, but both of them were now on fire.
The Indictor boosted to attack the Brute Thrall & just barely hit. The heavy warjack's Banisher came crashing down into the lumbering thrall, who stood no chance against the powerful dice +4 attack.
With only 3 members left of the Mechanithrall unit, the Temple Flameguard saw the opportunity to clear the zone & possibly score it themselves. One of them was able to get into the back arc of the right-most thrall & kill him, while the other 6 swarmed Skarlock Commander & the other Mechanithrall for 2 separate combined melee attacks. The 4 spearmen charging the Skarlock Commander annihilated him with a crushing dice +3 attack & the 2 attacking the last Mechanithrall also struck true to kill him.
* The Flameguard charge in, looking to dominate the circular zone *
The Revenger turned to face the Stalker & boosted an attack with his Halberd. Needing an 8 to hit, he rolled a 6, as the gangly Stalker dodged the blade. Boosting again to attack with his Repulsor Shield, the Protectorate jack rolled a 7 for another miss. Spending his last focus to buy another Halberd attack, the Revenger rolled a 3 and the Cryxian bone jack deftly dodged once again.
The Vigilant forfeit his movement to shake the knockdown & attacked Darragh Wrathe. Fearing a repeat of the Revenger's bad fortune, he spent a focus to boost his 1st Shield Fist attack. It hit & he spent another focus to boost the damage to hit Darragh for 9. His 2nd initial attack hit & did just enough damage to destroy his steed; leaving the sorcerer dismounted, but still in the fight.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to score the flag with both the Slayer & Darragh nearby, the Mechanik risked his own safety to move B2B with the Revenger. He then repaired 3 damage (rolling 2 on d3+1) on the light warjack.
Severius then moved into the circular zone behind the Indictor. This allowed him to get Deneghra into his control range, where he cast his feat "Divine Might" to reduce her FOCUS by 2 & limit her ability to cast spells.
* The elder Protectorate warcaster nestled safely behind his forces *
Placing his own safety above his ability to contest the right flag, the Reclaimer chose to run into the circular zone; placing the forest between himself & Deneghra. With that, the Flameguard scored the circular zone, while Soul Trapper scored his flag.
Cryx 1 - Protectorate 1
Cryx turn 3:
The fires on both Deneghra & the Slayer continued to burn. While the Slayer's ARM was strong enough to protect it during the damage roll, the Wraith Witch did not escape harm so easily. She would have taken 4 damage after the roll, but thankfully had a single focus left to spend to avoid it.
This was almost all of the good fortune the Cryxian warcaster would enjoy this turn. Only able to replenish back up to 5 focus thanks to Severius' feat, she was able to convert the 2 souls she'd previously collected to get back to 7 focus.
Unfortunately, with her FOCUS reduced to 5, it meant her control range was now restricted to 10", which put both the Slayer & Stalker well outside of her control. With both jacks engaged in fierce close combat, the inability to gain focus would be disastrous this round. Severius' feat also blocked her from casting spells as long as she was within his control range. Additionally, there was nowhere she could move to get free of "Divine Might" that would leave her in range to cast any of her offensive spells.
Unable to charge or use power attacks without focus, the Stalker tried to make the most out of his activation. He was able to move into the Vigilant's back arc without moving outside of Revenger's melee range & LOS; saving him any risk of free strikes. His first Eviscerator attack did 3 damage to column 4. The 2nd strike did an additional 3 damage to column 3.
Darragh then turned to charge & swung his Necroscythe down into the Revenger's back. Thanks to "Defender's Ward", the warjack only suffered a single damage to column 4.
The Slayer then moved over to attempt a Death Claw combo strike in the Revenger's back arc. It just barely hit, but at dice +3, it was strong enough to do 11 damage to column 5. Combined with previous damage the Revenger had suffered, this one destructive punch was able to cripple both of its arms.
* The chaos erupting outside the rectangular zone *
Wanting to both close the distance to her jacks & deal as much damage as possible, Deneghra charged into the middle of the Flameguard formation. The spearman she charged fell to her blade & she collected his soul. She bought attacks to slay 2 more of his kinsmen; collecting their souls in the process.
Each side scored another point: Soul Trapper - right flag, Temple Flameguard - circular zone. With 2 jacks still at least sitting on the edge of the rectangular zone, neither side was able to score it.
Cryx 2 - Protectorate 2
Protectorate turn 4:
Severius kept 3 focus for himself & allocated the rest divided among his jacks, as well as paying upkeep on "Defender's Ward".
What was left of the Flameguard moved in to attack Deneghra. Unfortunately, even with their combined melee attack boost, they were unable to hit the DEF 16 warcaster.
The Arms Master put "Artillerist" on the Sunburst Crew, who followed up by firing on the Soul Trapper. The shot burned the slithering thrall away in a fiery explosion of Menoth's wrath. With the flag now cleared, the Reclaimer ran to get B2B with it.
The Indictor then charged Deneghra. Needing an 8, he boosted & hit on a roll of 12. As the Banisher struck into her for 17 damage, the Wraith Witch spent a focus to ward off 5 of it. The remaining 12 damage was a crushing blow, but she managed to stay in the fight with just 4 health left. He tried to finish her off, but his shield failed to find its target.
Next, Severius moved to get Deneghra into range and cast "Immolation". Boosting to hit, the spell was a success & would have done 7 damage were it not for the last focus she was camping. Taking 2 damage, the beaten warcaster was barely hanging on by a thread.
* Standing her ground, Deneghra barely survives the onslaught *
Still braving the chaotic battle surrounding him, the Vassal Mechanik worked feverously to repair the damaged Revenger. He managed to remove another 4 damage & reactivate both of the previously-crippled arms.
The Vigilant turned to face the Stalker. Needing an 8 to hit, he boosted and the Shield Fist did 9 damage to column 5 and crippled the bone jack's right arm. He boosted his 2nd initial melee attack and did an additional 2 damage to cripple the Stalker's left arm as well.
The Revenger then turned to face Darragh & the Slayer. He stabbed his Halberd into the Cryxian sorcerer & killed him. He then boosted a Repulsor Shield attack on the Slayer & hit him for 7 damage to column 5.
Protectorate then took the lead, scoring both the right flag & circular zone, to go ahead by 2 points.
Cryx 2 - Protectorate 4
Cryx turn 4:
The fire on the Slayer expired, but Deneghra was not so fortunate. She spent one of her left over focus to avoid losing the 3 health the fire's damage roll would have hit her for. She then replenished her focus & converted the 3 souls she had to bring her up to 10.
The Slayer was still too far away, but the Stalker's extended control range allowed Deneghra's to allocate 2 focus to him now that "Divine Might" had expired. Realizing she needed to do something drastic to avoid losing on scenario, Deneghra concocted a do-or-die plan. She used her "Wraith Walker" ability to close our her control phase to initiate the first part of her gamble.
Thanks to her now being Incorporeal, she walked through the Flameguard to get outside of the Indictor's "Consecration" ability, which would otherwise nullify her ability to cast spells. Next, she cast "Hellmouth" on the central spearman & hit. The spell pulled everyone within 3" of the warrior hit towards him & the POW 12 attack was enough to kill all 4 Flameguard caught in the AOE. The Indictor's ARM 21 limited the damage it took; suffering only 1 hit to column 2.
Denegra then cast "Shadow Step" to move close enough to get the Slayer in her control range, where she popped her feat; giving Incorporeal to both of her remaining warjacks. This was important for the Slayer to avoid a free strike from the Revenger as both hell jacks turned their attention to removing the Vigilant from the rectangular zone.
* The Cryxian warjacks surround the Vigilant*
The Slayer then walked up behind the knocked down Vigilant. Both Death Claw attacks as well as a stab with his Tusks hit automatically, but between the 3 attacks, he only managed to do a total of 6 damage.
With the Vigilant knocked down, but still "alive" and contesting the rectangular zone, Protectorate scored another 2 points to take the victory: Severius - circular zone, Reclaimer - right flag.
Cryx 2 - Protectorate 6
After Action Review:
Jason's thoughts
I definitely waited too late to use Deneghra's feat. Initially, I thought that my Mechanithralls would be better protected inside the circular zone between hiding behind the forest & the limited options available to the Protectorate forces due to the bottleneck created by the building & forest. With that in mind, I wanted to hold her feat until things go really heated in the center, but once that happened, the battle was already turning against me & I got out of focus of my original plan.
I also thought that Hellslinger Phantom & Darragh Wrathe would be able to do more to tie up her jacks to allow the Stalker to score the rectangular zone, while using "Bounding Leap" to get back strike attacks to harass the Revenger & Vigilant. This would have allowed me to keep the Slayer in the center to work with the Mechanithralls to eliminate the the Flameguard early on. Instead, he was pulled over to help reinforce the Stalker after the Hellslinger Phantom died so early. This allowed the Flameguard to cross the centerline of the battlefield & do way more work than I'd expected from them.
With Deneghra being Incorporeal in the last round, I should have charged through the forest & tried to assassinate Severius for the win. Higher percentage chance of success than scrambling to try to stop the point bleeding, but I wasn't thinking things through clearly that evening in more than one way.
Donna's thoughts
This was the first game that I got to use my new Deliverer Arms Master. It was cool to get the extra +1 to the Sunburst's attack rolls, but I didn't appreciate his special abilities until the game was almost over.
My Vassal Mechanik was a real hero this game. He only cost 1 point, but him being able to heal the Revenger and get both of his crippled arms back to full operation was a game changer. That allowed the Revenger to keep his ARM up with the shield fixed and get some big hits with his Halberd.
I really wasn't expecting to win on points. With this Protectorate list against his Cryx, most of my wins are by attrition, with a few by assassination. Usually, I'm just trying to keep the scoring close enough not to lose, but things worked out perfectly this time for me to get the win. I think one of the biggest factors was popping my feat when I did. Knocking Denny's control range down to just 10" with her jacks just outside of that really hurt his chances to clear out the rectangular zone.
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