Hexeris' Feat vs Warpborn Skinwalkers: "Making A Silk Purse Out Of A Sow's Ear...Sort Of..."
Last week, I posted about my (illegal & broken) combo using Hexeris' feat "Dark Dominion" against Donna's Circle Orboros. Thankfully, 2 experienced players (Elizabeth Springer & Charles Thoss) caught a couple things I'd done wrong & helped me learn from my mistakes.
That led to deeper discussion as I was "thinking out loud" in the FB comments going over other things I might have done that would have been legal and paid off in a similar combo. Charles rightly pointed out that Warpborn Skinwalkers are a pain to deal with & can't take each other out with a single melee attack. That got the wheels spinning in my head: could I at least get something, however small, out of the feat to make it a chance for a fun combo?
Being a game designer, the challenge of solving puzzles is damn near an addiction for me. Failure can be fun if you find a way to learn & grow from it. So, I set out to figure out a way to get *something of value* out of Hexeris' feat, "Dark Dominion*".
If I could find a way to take out at least a few Skinwalkers, it'd be a "win" for me. Their high ARM against melee and ability to heal d3 wounds at the start of each activation make them a massive nuisance. This is compounded by the Alpha giving them "Gang*" and them triggering the War Wolf's "Sic 'Em*" out-of-activation charge.
* Dark Dominion (feat) - When a living or undead enemy warrior model is boxed by an attack while in Hexeris' control range, you can take control of the model. The model becomes an independent model and gains Undead. The model can immediately advance up to 3" and can make 1 basic melee attack. Then, remove the model from play. The model cannot be targeted by free strikes during this movement. Lasts 1 round.
* Gang (tactics ability) - Models in this unit gain Gang: When making a melee attack targeting an enemy model in the melee range of another model in this unit, gain +2 to melee attack & melee damage rolls.
* Sic 'Em (Wolf Sworn ability) - Once per turn, if this model is not in melee, when a friendly Wolf Sworn model hits an enemy model with an attack, immediately after the attack is resolved, this model can charge the model hit. This model's charge attack roll is boosted.
At the bottom of turn 2, Donna hit a great move having Lord Of The Feast (LotF) nail my Titan Gladiator with his Raven. She wasn't so much worried about doing a lot of damage to the Gladiator as much as wanting to take advantage of LotF's different weapon abilities. The Titan Gladiator's DEF 10 against LotF's RAT 7 with +2 for aiming made the Raven's attack an almost guarantee.
The Raven's "Shifter*" ability allowed LotF to be placed B2B with the Gladiator where the Wurmblade's "Blood Reaper*" ability could catch the Titan Gladiator, the Cyclops Savage, & 3 nearby Paingiver Beast Handlers.
Expecting her to go after my Beast Handlers at some point (she HATES their ability to heal my beasts), I had Hexeris cast "Death March*" on the unit in round 1. All of this was key to deciding when to pop Hexeris' feat and how to get the most out of it.
* Shifter (weapon ability) - After this attack hits an enemy model, immediately after the attack is resolved, place this model B2B with the enemy hit.
* Blood Reaper (weapon ability) - When this model makes an initial attack with this weapon, it makes one melee attack with this weapon against each model in its LOS that is in this weapon's melee range. These attacks are simultaneous.
* Death March (spell) - Target friendly Faction unit gains +2 MAT & Vengeance: During your Maintenance Phase, if one or more models in the unit were damaged by enemy attacks during the last round, each model in the unit can advance up to 3" and make one basic melee attack. Upkeep.
Of the 5 attacks she got with the Wurmblade's "Blood Reaper", 4 of them hit. The only missed attack was the middle Beast Handler. The damage done to the Savage & the Gladiator weren't significant (2-3 damage each), but it was enough to kill the 2 Beast Handlers hit. The good news for me was that this would trigger Vengeance at the start of my next turn. The bad news for me was that the Wurmblade's "Grievous Wounds*" ability would mean that my Beast Handlers couldn't heal my warbeasts for 1 round, but I wasn't too worried about that. I would get much more out of the unit with Vengeance.
* Grievous Wounds (weapon ability) - A model hit by this weapon loses Tough & cannot have damage removed from it for 1 round.
I knew the possibility of relying on a single "Dark Dominion" attack from one Skinwalker on another wouldn't be enough to trigger any kind of chain reaction. However, if I could set the stage to weaken the Skinwalkers somewhat before the first "Dark Dominion" attack began, I could hopefully destroy a couple of them before it was all said & done.
As her turn 2 progressed, she ran / charged her Skinwalkers & the War Wolf in with some attacking the Gladiator and others closing the distance to flank the Savage. This set the stage for me to try to take advantage of "Death March" & "Dark Dominion" together.
At the start of my turn 3, Vengeance triggered for the Beast Handlers in my Maintenance Phase. This allowed 2 of them to move to attack Skinwalker B, a third to move to attack LotF, and the fourth to attack the Rotterhorn. Thanks to the +2 MAT from "Death March", all 4 Beast Handler attacks hit. LotF was sitting at ARM 18 at this point due to the 2 corpses he collected from the Beast Handlers he'd killed last round. Thankfully, Paingiver Beast Handlers have "Anatomical Precision*" allowing them to do at least 1 damage if they weren't able to crack the high ARM of the Skinwalkers & LotF.
The tally after the Vengeance attacks left Skinwalker B suffering 2 damage, LotF suffering 1 damage, & the Rotterhorn Griffon suffering 3 damage to spiral 4. I also removed a fury from the Rotterhorn using the "Inflict Pain*" ability of the Beast Handler's Barbed Whip. This was a nice added bonus that hampered Kaya's spell casting & boosting / buying of attacks next round.
* Anatomical Precision (ability) - When this model's melee damage roll fails to exceed the ARM of the living model hit, that model suffers 1 damage point. A model disabled by a melee attack made by this model cannot make a Tough roll.
* Inflict Pain (weapon ability) - When it hits a warbeast with this weapon, this model can place 1 fury point on or remove 1 fury point from the warbeast.
In order to get the most out of "Dark Dominion's" limited capacity against models as strong as Warpborn Skinwalkers, the order of operations that I activated my models this round was critical.
First up, I activated the Paingiver Beast Handlers. The one that had attacked the Rotterhorn was already B2B with the Cyclops Raider. I had him use "Medicate*" to keep the Raider going as long as I could. Without the ability to shoot since he was engaged by the Rotterhorn, I wanted to use him to tie the Griffon up for as long as he could; pecking away with whatever he could get in his weak melee attacks.
Two of the other Beast Handlers "Enraged*" the Savage & the Titan respectively. The 4th Beast Handler tried to attack Skinwalker B, but missed on a roll of double 1s.
* Medicate (star action) - RNG B2B. Target friendly Faction warbeast in range can remove d3 damage points.
* Enrage (star action) - RNG 3. Target friendly Faction living warbeast gains +2 STR for 1 turn.
Hexeris then activated and popped "Dark Dominion". After that, he charged LotF. This is where things got a little hairy for me. Hexeris only needed a 5 to hit. "I can roll that; no problem", I thought.
Then, I rolled double 2s...oh...yeah...a 4 doesn't get it done. So, I bought another attack & rolled double 1s....WHATISHAPPENING.PNG?!
With only 5 fury left, I was getting worried. To do what I had planned, I absolutely NEEDED to have at least 3 fury left over to cast "Parasite*" on the Skinwalkers. I bought another attack & boosted to hit. This time I rolled way higher than I needed to...because of course I did. Thankfully, the unboosted damage roll was just enough to knock out what was left of LotF's boxes after the Vengeance attack.
Then, the first "Dark Dominion" possession-move-attack-whatever went down. I took control of the now-zombified LotF, had him move the inch or so into the gap between the Titan and the stone tower to get the War Wolf in range. Needing a 5 to hit, LotF connected easily & his Wurmblade killed the War Wolf outright at dice +2.
LotF was removed from play & "Dark Dominion" triggered for the War Wolf now. The War Wolf attacked Skinwalker B for 3 damage; which was way more than I expected. At P+S 11 going against ARM 18, I was hoping to get at least a single point of damage in. Instead, I rolled a 10 at dice -7 and got a nice unexpected bonus out of it.
After the War Wolf was removed from play, Hexeris ended his activation by casting "Parasite*" onto Skinwalker D. Of course, everything that proceeded it would have been much better for me if he'd have cast "Parasite" earlier, but the only 2 Skinwalkers close enough at first were engaged with the Titan & Beast Handlers. I didn't want to risk rolling into the +4 DEF for them being in melee. Hexeris' new position after charging / destroying LotF put him in range to cast it on Skinwalker D who was not engaged / engaging with anyone yet, but rather who was making his way around the stone tower to flank the Cyclops Savage.
Spending the last 3 fury he had, Hexeris successfully cast "Parasite" on the Skinwalkers; hitting their ARM with a -3 penalty. Thankfully, I was able to roll high enough without boosting since I'd wasted fury in trying to kill LotF. I should have just boosted Hexeris' charge attack roll against LotF from the start and this concern would have been avoided.
* Parasite (spell) - Target model /unit suffers -3 ARM & the spellcaster gains +1 ARM. Upkeep.
Mortitheurge Willbreaker moved up to cast "Influence*" on Skinwalker B. I knew this was going to be iffy since the Skinwalker was in melee with the Titan, but I still managed to pull it off. Needing a 9, I rolled a 4 and a 5 to nail it. Skinwalker B then attacked Skinwalker C beside him. Thanks to the reduced ARM from "Parasite", Skinwalker C took 4 damage.
The Titan Gladiator activated next and attacked Skinwalker C first. I boosted all of Gladiator's attack rolls this activation. I figured with the Skinwalkers in range wouldn't be able to live through the Titan's "Enraged" P+S 18 War Gauntlets since they were already injured from the combination of the Vengeance attacks, "Dark Dominion" attacks, & the "Influence" attack. This allowed me to budget my fury for boosting to hit & not worry about boosting for damage. I learned the hard way with Hexeris that if I don't boost to hit & end up missing, it's all a waste anyway.
The attack destroyed Skinwalker C, who I then took control of and moved to attack the Alpha. Unfortunately, Skinwalker C wasn't able to make the attack roll to hit the Alpha. The Titan attacked Skinwalker B with his second War Gauntlet to destroy it. I took over Skinwalker B and moved him to attack Skinwalker E for 4 damage thanks to the weakened ARM from "Parasite". Skinwalker E was out of range of the Titan's Tusks....
The Cyclops Savage activated next and charged Skinwalker D. The "Enraged" charge damage roll was enough to destroy Skinwalker D thankfully. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hit him hard enough to do more than 4-5 damage, but ended up rolling 10 at straight dice. I took over Skinwalker D & moved him to attack Skinwalker A; hitting him for 3 damage.
I had room to add fury to the Savage to buy another attack if needed, but was thankful to get it all done with one attack.
When the dust settled at the end of my turn, I had destroyed Lord Of The Feast, the War Wolf, & 3 Warpborn Skinwalkers along with injuring 2 more Skinwalkers. It took a carefully thought out plan and could have blown up on me easily with choosing not to boost the first 2 attack rolls with Hexeris.
All in all, I was really happy with how it played out. Yes, I realize that a feat like "Dark Dominion" isn't exactly strong going into Circle; especially when most of the warrior models Donna has on the table are Skinwalkers. However, being able to work out a combo of my own activations that benefited from the feat attacks, I ended up taking out half of the Skinwalker unit, the only 2 solos she had on the table, & significantly injured 2 more Skinwalkers.
I love this game!
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