"The Long & Arduous Grind..." - Brawlmachine Batrep Dec 27, 2021: Protectorate vs Skorne

I was able to get the last of my Skorne painted up in early December. We played a few games during the month for me to learn the differences between Warmachine / focus and Hordes / fury. This game was our 3rd play using a Hordes faction. As I type this, I'm in the process of painting up Donna's new Circle Orboros army.

Scenario & Terrain

We rolled a d6 to choose the scenario & played Brawlmachine Scenario 4: Singularity. A rectangular zone overlapped a circular zone in the center of the battlefield. There was a flag to either side; offset towards each army's deployment zone.

For our terrain layout, we used a random terrain generator. A forest was just off-center in the middle of the zones with a rubble pile (1/2 obstacle, 1/2 obstruction) to the left of it & a stone tower to the right; both towards the Protectorate deployment zone.

To the left in front of the Protectorate side was a stone wall. To the right of it, there was another forest. A building was angled between the right flag & the overlapping zones. To the right of it was another stone wall and to the far-left in front of the Skorne deployment zone was a large boulder.

Lists & Deployment

I won the starting roll & chose to go second. With her Sunburst's 20" threat range, I prefer to have her go first. When she's second player and my army has already advanced to close the distance, it allows her to move into range to get off a shot in the first round that can be devastating to whatever infantry I have deployed. Avoiding that was key to any chance I have of not falling behind early on.

Protectorate of Menoth (Donna) - No theme: Grand Scrutator Severius with an Indictor, Revenger, & Vigilant, Deliverer Arms Master, Exemplar Warder Elias Gade, Sunburst Deliverer Crew, and a full unit of Exemplar Bastions.

Skorne (Me) - "Masters of War": Beast Master Xekaar with a Titan Gladiator, Cyclops Raider, Cyclops Savage, Razor Worm, & Aradus Scarab, Extoller Novitiate, Hakaar the Destroyer, Ancestral Guardian (req option), Mortitheurge Willbreaker, and a full unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers.

Protectorate deployed in a line formation offset to the left side of the battlefield. From left to right: Exemplar Bastions behind the stone wall, Arms Master, Sunburst Crew, Indictor, Severius, Revenger, & Vigilant. Gade was advanced deployed in front of the Bastions next to the stone wall.

Skorne deployed as 2 offset, tight formations. The main formation was to the left inside the large boulder. From left to right it was the Raider, Xekaar, the Savage, Scarab, & Gladiator in the front with the Paingiver Beast Handlers spread out behind them & the Mortitheurge Willbreaker in the middle. The other formation was to the right behind the near stone wall and included Hakaar, the Novitiate, & Ancestral Guardian with the Razor worm advanced deployed in front of them & dug-in.

Gade named the Cyclops Raider as his initial prey.

* Xekaar rallying his warbeasts for battle *

Protectorate Turn 1

The Bastions ran ahead to get things started. They stayed in a tight line formation; going just ahead of the stone wall. The Vigilant & Revenger then each spent their lone focus to run straight ahead; both flanked opposite sides of the stone tower. The Indictor followed suit & ran towards the zones.

With no targets in range of the Sunburst, the Arms Master ran towards the far-side flag. The Sunburst Crew ran forward to close the distance.

Gade also moved towards the far-side flag, as Severius walked into the safety behind the Sunburst Crew. From there, he cast "Defender's Ward" (+2 DEF, +2 ARM) on the Bastions.

* Exemplar Warder Elias Gade leading his Bastions into the fray *

Skorne Turn 1

The Razor Worm slithered up in front of the building & cast its animus, "Spiny Growth", for 1 fury (+2 ARM, if hit by a melee attack from a non-warrior model, the attacker immediately suffers d3 damage). It riled for another fury & then used the special ability "Dig In" (gains cover, does not suffer blast damage, does not block LOS). 

Next, the Ancestral Guardian & Hakaar both ran up to the right of the building, just behind the near-side flag. The Novitiate ran ahead of them to go B2B with the flag.

Xekaar then sent his warbeasts running to close the distance with the Lawgiver's forces. First, the Scarab was forced to run up to the circular zone. The Cyclops Savage was forced to run ahead of it; toeing the edge of the rectangular zone. The Titan Gladiator then ran straight towards the forest while the Cyclops Raider ran up to be a few inches behind the Savage.

The Beast Handlers ran forward; spreading out among the beasts while staying in formation. Two of them went B2B with the Gladiator. The other 4 split into groups of 2 near the Raider & Scarab, with 1 being B2B & the other an inch away from each beast.

The Mortitheurge Willbreaker walked up behind their formation & cast "Flesh Hardening" (continuous effects expire & gain Tough for 1 round) onto the Beast Handlers.

Lastly, Xekaar walked up into the middle of his army to survey the battlefield. Taking note of the 6 fury on his beasts, he discarded all of his fury, as he was out of range to cast any spells on the Protectorate forces. He then used his Reposition ability to advance 5" forward, ending up ahead of his troops, but still safely behind the forest.

* Honoring the Hoksune Warrior Code, the forces of Skorne rush into combat *

Protectorate Turn 2

Severius upkept "Defender's Ward" & kept the rest of his focus. Gade then walked up B2B with the far-side flag & let loose with both Crossbows; taking the Cyclops Savage in his sights. Both shots found their mark; doing 4 damage to spiral 1 and 1 damage to spiral 2 respectively.

Outside of charge range for any enemies, the Vigilant & Revenger chose to run in opposite directions; one for defensive reasons, the other offensive. The Vigilant was able to get within an inch of the Razor Worm to negate its ability to charge it. The Revenger on the other hand ran to the left of the central forest to get within range for Severius to cast spells to attack Xekaar's front line.

The Indictor ran up behind the forest in the middle of the overlapping zones and the Bastions ran to surround Gade in support. The Arms Master walked up as far as he could while still keeping the Sunburst in his command range. He then used his special action to grant them "High Angle Fire" (intervening models do not block LOS except those within 1" of the target).

Taking advantage of this, the Sunburst Crew Gunner launched a volley of fire at the center Paingiver Beast Handler. The shot missed & deviated 3" to left; catching the Cyclops Raider & 3 Beast Handlers. The damage rolls were enough to destroy 3 Beast Handlers, who all failed their Tough checks. The Raider, though now on fire, managed to avoid injury from the blast thanks to a weak damage roll.

Severius again moved up behind the Sunburst Crew. From there, he channeled several spells through the Revenger. 

First, he cast "Vision" onto the Revenger (ignore 1 damage roll, then Vision expires). Next, he cast "Ashes to Ashes" onto the Cyclops Savage; catching the Scarab & Paingiver Beast Handler leader in the blast. The Savage survived unharmed, while the Scarab took 4 damage to spiral 4 and the Beast Handler leader was killed. With only 2 troops remaining in the unit, the one nearest the Scarab took command.

Finally, Severius channeled "Immolation" to attack the Savage. Hitting him for 2 damage to spiral 1, it crippled his mind in the flames.

Skorne Turn 2

The fire on the Cyclops Raider didn't expire & burned away 2 health from his spiral 4. Xekaar then leeched fury from all of his beasts to get back up to 6 & cleared them all to avoid risk of frenzying.

The Beast Handlers moved B2B with the Cyclops Raider. Using their special ability, "Medicate", they healed the Cyclops of all the damage he'd suffered.

Mortitheurge Willbreaker moved up to get the Bastions in range & attempted to cast "Influence" on the lead troop. Rolling double 1s, he failed to take control of the Protectorate halberdier; dishonoring both his Master Xekaar & his house in the process.

Steadying himself to aim, the Raider fired a shot at the same Exemplar Bastion. Needing a 5, he rolled double 2s and missed. The day would be long for Xekaar if things continued along this path.

The Titan Gladiator casted his animus, "Rush", to grant himself +2" of movement & Pathfinder. He then charged the Vigilant without being forced thanks to a Paingiver Beast Handler's "Prodding" ability. He swung a War Gauntlet down & missed as the Vigilant swiftly dodged it. He tried in vain to land his 2 follow-up attacks, but neither were able to do any damage.

The Cyclops Savage was forced to charge the right-most Bastion; being sure to stay out of melee range of any of his comrades to avoid their "Defensive Strike" ability. The one he charged struck true with a "Defensive Strike" & did a whopping 11 damage to spiral 2; crippling the Savage's body. Even with boosting the attack roll, he failed to connect & chose not to buy any additional attacks in his weakened state.

The Scarab ran straight ahead through the forest. Due to the rough terrain slowing it down, it was only able to just pop out the other side. Coming up short of engaging the Revenger in hopes of nullifying its arc node, it could only hope to serve as a distraction to Severius' front line.

The Razor Worm was forced to run around the Gladiator, into the gap between the central forest & stone tower. Giving up the chance to attack the Vigilant, it instead chose to block the Indictor's only charge lane to the Gladiator.

The Ancestral Guardian then charged the Vigilant. Piercing into the light warjack's armor, she did 7 damage to column 1; crippling its left arm Shield Fist. Inspired by the turn of good favor, the Extoller Novitiate moved around to the front of the flag & used his special ability, "Stones' Wrath", to grant +2 STR to Hakaar.

Next, Hakaar charged the Vigilant and struck down with his Great Sword to do 7 damage to column 5. With his second attack, he buried the blade deep into the Vigilant to do 8 damage to column 6. Both of the jack's arms were now crippled along with its movement.

While Xekaar's beasts struggled against Menoth's forces, the Exalted easily displayed why they had been chosen to hold such an esteemed position among the Skorne houses.

* Swarming the Vigilant as the Razor Worm blocks the Indictor *

Xekaar moved up to get all of his beasts back in his control range. From there, he cast "Psycho Surgery" (heal d3+1 to all beasts in his control range) to heal the Scarab for 2 & the Savage for 3; repairing his body to no longer be crippled. He then popped his feat, "Whispers of Torment", to cause enemies in his control range to suffer -3 STR, MAT, RAT, & THR for 1 round.

With both armies being within the overlapping zones & the Vigilant contesting the near-side flag, the only point scored was by Gade for the far-side flag. 

Protectorate 1 - Skorne 0

Protectorate Turn 3

Severius allocated 1 focus to each of his jacks & upkept both "Defender's Ward" & "Vision". 

The Exemplar Bastion leader gave the "Press Forward" order to charge his unit the enemy's line. The 3 lead Bastions charged the Mortitheurge Willbreaker  (1) & the Cyclops Raider (2). One of the two furthest away charged the Cyclops Savage, while the last who was out of range simply ran up to get close to the action.

As they charged, the Bastion who was previously engaged by the Savage suffered a free strike. Taking 6 damage, the unit used their "Sanguine Bond" ability to spread the damage across all 5 warriors. This was well worth the risk, as it stopped the Raider from being able to shoot & closed in on the ever-dangerous Mortitheurge Willbreaker.

Needing a 9 thanks to the limiting effect of "Whispers of Torment", the 2 attacking the Raider failed to hit. The Willbreaker & Savage were spared any damage as their attackers also missed. 

* Exemplar Bastions struggle to land a blow thanks to Xekaar's feat *

Gade took aim at the Cyclops Savage & just barely managed to hit on 1 of 2 shots. The Savage took 2 damage to spiral 4 as the arrow struck into his shoulder.

The Revenger turned to face the Savage & swung his Halberd down toward the beast. Despite boosting, he missed. A follow-up attack with is Repulsor Shield managed to find its mark, but was unable to crack the Cyclops' armor. The blow did succeed in pushing the Savage back 1". 

The Arms Master walked up B2B with the far-side flag & used his special ability to grant the Sunburst Crew "Artillerist" (+2 RAT, can reroll direction and/or distance of deviation if missed). The Sunburst Gunner then stood still to take aim at the Scarab, but rolling double 1s, was unable to hit. Rolling a 6 for direction, the Gunner rerolled, only to get a 6 a second time. The shot deviated 5" to catch Xekaar & light him on fire, but the damage roll from the blast was unable to injure him.

With both of its arms crippled now, the Vigilant boosted its first Shield Fist attack on Hakaar. Boosting the damage roll, it was unable to hurt him; rolling 6 on dice -6. Despite rolling only 1 die on its second initial attack, the Vigilant hit once more, but was unable to injure him with no focus left to boost the damage roll.

The Indictor then turned its attention to the Razor Worm, boosted an attack with its Banisher, & hit it for 10 damage to spiral 3; crippling the beast's body. Needing an 8 to hit with its Shield, the heavy warjack boosted, but rolled triple 2s to miss its second initial attack.

Severius moved close enough to get the Scarab in range to attack with spells. Casting "Immolation", he did 5 damage to spiral 1 at straight dice. He chose to keep his last focus to fend off damage in case the Savage or Razor Worm charged him next turn.

With the scoring positions unchanged from last round, Protectorate went up 2 - 0, scoring the far-side flag once again.

Protectorate 2 - Skorne 0

Skorne Turn 3

The fire on Xekaar expired, but the Raider's continued to burn. The Cyclops suffered 1 damage to spiral 1 because of it.

After leeching back to his max fury, Xekaar had to do threshold checks on the Scarab & Razor Worm, as each was left with 1 fury on them. The Scarab failed its check & frenzied; charging the Cyclops Savage as a result. The lesser beast hit the Savage for 1 damage to spiral 5. The Worm also failed its threshold check & attacked the Indictor. At dice -9, the Worm managed to do 2 damage to column 3.

Xekaar moved back slightly to get all of his beasts in range & cast "Psycho Surgery". In total he healed the Razor Worm of 4 damage and healed 3 damage each from both the Scarab & Cyclops Savage. He used his remaining 3 fury to cast "Mortality" (-2 DEF & ARM, lose Tough) on the Exemplar Bastions; negating the bonus of Severius' "Defender's Ward" on them. He then repo'ed 5" to move out of charge range of the Bastions.

The Paingiver Beast Handlers moved up behind the forest inside the zones; managing to stay out of the Bastions' melee range to avoid their "Defensive Strike" ability. Now in range of the Savage, the Beast Handler leader "Enraged" the Cyclops to grant it +2 STR.

Mortitheurge Willbreaker cast "Influence" on the Bastion in the center. Taking command of the halberdier, he forced the Weapon Master to strike his brother for a devastating 14 damage. Not wanting to lose the warrior who was struck, the unit used "Sanguine Bond" to spread it amongst themselves; with 3 of their brethren falling to the blade.

Cyclops Savage turned his Falchion blade to the nearest Bastion. Boosting the damage roll at dice -3, he did 3 damage to destroy him. He was forced to buy another attack on the last Bastion; this time doing 11 damage to completely eliminate the unit.

The Cyclops Raider cast his animus, "Far Sight", on himself to get +4" range. This allowed him to take a Heavy Reiver shot at Gade...that flew off target and struck the ground as the Exemplar Warder laughed defiantly.

The Extoller Novitiate granted "Stones' Wrath" to the Ancestral Guardian, who then attacked the Vigilant; doing 4 damage to column 4 to destroy the troublesome warjack once and for all. 

Next, the Titan Gladiator cast his animus, "Rush", on himself. With the Indictor out of his LOS, he was unable to charge it. "Rush" did however allow the Gladiator to then turn & move unabated through the forest to engage the heavy warjack. Both initial attacks with his War Gauntlets hit the Indictor doing 1 damage to column 5 & 3 damage to column 2. Despite scoring another one final hit with his Tusks, the Gladiator was unable to do any more harm.

Too far away to successfully charge the Indictor, Hakaar instead chose to run to get as close as possible; hoping to set up an attack on Severius next round.

With neither flag contested, both sides scored 1 point. Protectorate maintained a 2 point lead as both zones were still contested.

Protectorate 3 - Skorne 1.

Protectorate Turn 4

Severius gave 2 focus each to the Revenger & Indictor. He then paid to upkeep "Vision", as "Defender's Ward" expired when the last Bastion was destroyed.

The Arms Master put "Artillerist" on the Sunburst Crew, who then moved to within range of the Cyclops Raider. The enflamed ballista scored a direct hit & also caught the Mortitheurge Willbreaker in the AOE. At straight dice, the Raider took 3 damage to spiral 5, while the Willbreaker, now on fire, was unharmed from the blast damage roll.

Gade turned his attention to the Savage and with a single arrow, destroyed the Cyclops. Xekaar reaved the fury as the beast fell. With his second Crossbow shot, the Exemplar Warder fired on the Mortitheurge Willbreaker and did 8 damage to kill him.

Severius cast "Defender's Ward" on the Indictor to bring it to ARM 23. He then spent his last 2 focus to cast "Immolation" on Hakaar. The spell hit, but at ARM 18, the Exalted warrior suffered no damage. Severius ended his activation popping his feat, "Divine Might", to reduce Xekaar's FURY by -2 and block enemies from casting and channeling spells for 1 round while within his control range.

The Revenger charged the Cyclops Raider with its Halberd and did 10 damage to spiral 4 to cripple his spirit. Hitting with its Repulsor Shield next, the Raider was left with a single health unmarked. The Revenger bought another attack with the Halberd and did enough damage to destroy the Cyclops. Xekaar reaved the fury once more. With the Raider destroyed, Gade named Xekaar as his new Prey.

* The Revenger charging in to destroy the Cyclops Raider *

Next, the Indictor attacked the Titan Gladiator. The first attack with its Banisher did 9 damage to spiral 1 to cripple the Gladiator's mind. Attacking with its Shield, the Indictor did another 5 damage to spiral 2. The heavy warjack then bought another Banisher attack and hit for 9 damage to spiral 6. Spending its last focus to buy another attack, the Indictor did another 4 damage to spiral 4. The Gladiator stood battered with both its mind & body crippled, but lived to fight on.

Both flags were scored once more as Protectorate kept its lead in place.

Protectorate 4 - Skorne 2

Skorne Turn 4

With his FURY now reduced to 4, Xekaar was at his max after reaving from both fallen Cyclops as they were destroyed last turn. Unable to leech the 2 fury on the Titan Gladiator, Xekaar had to risk the beast frenzying. Rolling a 4, the Gladiator easily passed his Threshold check, as the Beast Master let out a sigh of relief.

Both Beast Handlers moved around the forest to get close to the Gladiator. They were hoping to heal it with "Medicate", but being so far away, they had to run to get close enough and their activation ended right after.

The Scarab was forced to charge Gade and the damage roll managed to kill him outright; doing 7 damage. The charge also meant that the lesser beast was now contesting the far-side flag & slowing the scoring gap Severius was enjoying.

* In an unexpected turn of events, the Aradus Scarab destroyed the venerable Elias Gade *

After the Razor Worm failed to bite the Indictor, Hakaar hit with both Great Swords. The first blow did 2 damage to column 6, but the second failed to crack its ARM 23. Ancestral Guardian was just outside of charge range to attack the Indictor. She chose to run up to engage it; hoping to get a stab at it next round.

Xekaar charged the Revenger and hit, but "Vision" allowed the Protectorate jack to avoid damage. Xekaar's second initial Barbed Whip attack failed to hit; rolling double 1s. Buying another attack, Xekaar hit and boosted the damage roll. Rolling 17 on dice -7, he did 10 damage to column 3 to cripple the jack's arc node. After buying another attack, the boosted damage roll did 8 more damage to column 6.

With both his mind & body crippled, the Gladiator was forced to boost his first War Gauntlet attack against the Indictor. Forced once again to boost the damage roll, the Gladiator only managed to do 4 damage to column 4. Unable to boost anymore now that his fury was maxed out, neither the second War Gauntlet nor Tusks managed to hit.

Now that the Vigilant was gone & the Scarab was in range of the far-side flag, Skorne was finally able to cut into the lead. Scoring 1 point to Severius' 0, Xekaar narrowed the gap.

Protectorate 4 - Skorne 3

Protectorate Turn 5

Severius allocated 2 focus to each of his remaining jacks & paid to upkeep "Defender's Ward". 

The Arms Master walked up to get into melee range with the Scarab while maintaining B2B contact with the flag. He stabbed into him with his sword to do 4 damage to spiral 6. One of the Sunburst Crew Grunts walked up to the Scarab, while the Gunner steadied himself to aim. The Grunt attacking the Scarab plunged his sword into the beast's carapace and did enough damage to destroy it. Xekaar reaved the fury as the Scarab died.

The Sunburst Gunner fired a shot at Xekaar and scored a direct hit. Looking to suffer 2 damage from the Sunburst, Xekaar chose to take the hit & keep his sole fury in order to ward off potential bigger hits to come from the Revenger. Both the warlock & jack were now on fire, but fortunately for Severius, the Revenger wasn't hurt by the blast damage roll.

The Revenger then attacked Xekaar with its Halberd & missed. Attacking with its Repulsor Shield next, the jack hit Xekaar for 4 damage; which was transferred to the Razor Worm. Buying and boosting another Halberd attack, the Revenger stabbed and missed as the warlock swiftly dodged.

Severius cast "Ashes to Ashes" to attack the Razor Worm & caught both Ancestral Guardian & Hakaar in the flames. The Worm took 3 damage to spiral 3, but both Exalted solos remained unharmed thanks to their nigh impenetrable ARM 18.

The Indictor then turned its blade on the Titan Gladiator and boosted the damage roll to finally destroy it. Attacking the Razor Worm with its Shield, the jack landed another blow to leave it with only 2 boxes left unmarked. Buying another Banisher attack, the Worm was destroyed. Turning its attention to Hakaar, the Indictor bought another Banisher attack & did 5 damage at straight dice.

* Despite being surrounded, the Indictor managed to destroy 2 beasts & severely wound an Exalted solo *

With both flags now uncontested once more, each side scored a single point.

Protectorate 5 - Skorne 4

Skorne Turn 5

Xekaar suffered 2 damage, as the fire did not expire. Afterwards, Xekaar replenished his fury using his Spirit Bond with his fallen beasts.

Seeing no way to overtake the score, Xekaar saw his only chance of victory to send Hakaar charging into Severius with his Great Swords. Knowing the risk of a free strike from the Indictor was there, Hakaar raised his blades with the Protectorate warcaster in his sights.

Unfortunately, the Indictor's Banisher swung true & cut Hakaar down where he stood. As he fell, so did Xekaar's only hope of winning. Defeated & dishonored, the Beast Master conceded the battle to Severius.

* Hakaar risking a free strike & falling to the Indictor's blade *

Both sides scored their respective flags one last time to give Protectorate the win.

Protectorate 6 - Skorne 5

After Action Review

I know that I definitely made some tactical mistakes, but this was the first play with Skorne that I felt like I had a decent handle on how to use them. That I made it to the end of the 5th round attests to that. My first few plays with Skorne saw me losing miserably in the 3rd round, as I wasn't yet sure what the best order of operations was; especially as it related to my support solos & units.

Donna did very well to sacrifice her Vigilant as a road block the way she did. At 8 points, it more than paid for itself, as it held up some of my strongest models for several turns; stalling them out from getting in to attack her more valuable models. Keeping the Titan Gladiator, Hakaar, & the Ancestral Guardian tied up away from the main battle, it allowed her Indictor to move into the one open space on the right side of the battlefield to protect the Sunburst Crew & Severius.

This was also the first time she took advantage of the Arms Master's ability to give the Sunburst "High Angle Fire", which proved to be a massive turning point early on. Losing 2/3 of my Beast Handlers so early negated my ability to heal my beasts to keep them in the fight longer and heal crippled body / mind / spirit to keep them hitting as hard as possible.

I definitely need to get better at managing fury. I had plans on how to keep things in check with my Beast Handlers, but again with them being wiped out so early, I was left more than once with beasts facing threshold checks.

Her Exemplar Bastions have proven to be a royal pain for both my Cryx & Skorne over the last month. I'm thankful that I've * sort of * found an answer to them in being able to turn them on each other using the Mortitheurge Willbreaker. If he can get even one hit on them, having a Weapon Master attack his fellow Bastion can really help me to make headway against them.

Another mistake I made was to keep my last 2 Beast Handlers on the left in support of the Cyclops Savage. I should have sent them running up to the Titan Gladiator earlier so they could help keep him in the fight longer. With 3 initial attacks at P+S 16 / 16 / 15 and ARM 19, the Gladiator is a lot more important in the long run. I think I just got too much of a one track mind as far as the Savage was concerned since he was so close to Gade and the Revenger; 2 targets I try to eliminate as soon as possible if I can.

For all the good she does with them, Donna also mishandled the Bastions at least once. She really wanted to keep the one closest to the Willbreaker in play & chose to send his damage from the "Influence" attack spreading out to wipe out 3 other members of the unit. She could have just let him take the full hit & kept the unit strength high, but valued his position & lost 3/5 of the unit because of it. That was a big misplay that thankfully didn't come back to bite her as bad as it could have.