Immovable Objects vs Cygnar and Mercs

Sunday I was host to a 2-on-2 game of Warmachine, and it was a really fun time. It was 35pts each of assassination goodness. Sorry about the terrible pictures. I forgot to switch off macro-mode and it screwed them all up, but I didn't realize it until I uploaded them today.

The Lists:
Team Awesome:

Cygnar (Aaron): Stryker, Lancer, Stormclad, Defender, Long Gunners (6), Stormblades (6), Journeyman Warcaster, Squire
Mercs (me): Madhammer, 2 Blasters, Basher, Herne & Jonne, Gun Mages (6 + Officer), Nyss Hunters (10), Dougal, Reinholdt, Stannis

Team Immovable Object:

Trolls (Henry): eMadrak, Mauler, Axer, Champs (5), Krielstone Bearer (4 + Elder), Fennblades (10), Fell Caller
Khador (Lance): eSorcha, Behemoth, Devastator, War Dog, Fenris, Widowmakers, Widowmaker Marksman, eEiryss, Koldun Lord, Harlan

The Throwdown:
Rather than try to recall a turn-by-turn replay of the game, I'll hit some highlights. On one flank the Nyss faced off against the Widowmakers and eEiryss near the stream. On the other flank, Fenris and Harlan faced off against Stannis and the Long Gunners. In the middle, an impressive troll brick formed up with Champs in the center, and the beast on one end, while the Behemoth and Devastator took up the other end of the line. Behind that line were the Krielstones, eMadrak, and the Fennblades, while eSorcha stood carefully behind a wall further back. On the other side in the middle was a mish-mash of all the Mercs and Cygnar.

Some of the highlights from the battle:
* The Behemoth got plenty of good scatters with the mortars, taking out 4 of the 7 gun mages on the first round.
* Jonne laid out some great template action, taking out eEiryss, the War Dog, and some Fennblades on Madhammer's feat turn.
* Concentrated attacks from the Cygnar/Merc force took out both Troll beasts before they could get into the fray, negating eMadrak's fury generation potential.
* Stannis and the Long Gunners held their flank like champs. By the end of the game, Stannis had racked up 5 kills: Fenris (after being dismounted), Harlan Versh, 2 Fennblades, and a Fell Caller. Two of those he killed on defensive strikes!
* Although the Basher got to grand slam the Devastator into the Behemoth, eSorcha's follow-up feat round was crushing, leveling the Basher, a Blaster, and the Lancer all in one turn.
* eMadrak's feat was brutal, with a single Fennblade killing almost all the Long Gunners, not to mention the champs nearly getting a solid run on Stryker.

In the end, eSorcha went down first. She was just a bit too close and Stryker caught her with an earthquake. At that point it was a concentrated ranged effort by a large contingent of models to pile on enough damage to finish her off. eMadrak went down a couple rounds later, but only after another extremely focused effort along with a key earthquake hit on a nearby Fennblade. It's important to note that Team Awesome, although awesome, didn't have the hard hitting power needed to really punch through the Devastator and Behemoth. Both of those jacks remained relatively untouched the entire game. It was merely the concerted efforts of the Basher and Gun Mages to keep those jacks at bay by pushing/slamming them back that prevented them from causing massive casualties.

The Closing Thoughts:
[Note: The following closing thoughts are, let's say, paraphrased]
* Scott: Wow dang! That was a ton of fun! And Stannis is just the man.
* Henry: What the heck? Where'd this Stannis guy come from? I mean seriously, taking out a Fell Caller on a defensive strike! Crazy! I'd heard the legends of Stannis but didn't imagine it was all true.
* Lance: STANNIS!!!!!
* Aaron: At first I was concerned about that one flank, but then Stannis rolled in and provided the kind of leadership you only see in a Conan movie.

I'm sure the above quotes will garner a comment or two. In all fairness, here's a list of MVP's for the game:
* Mercs: Stannis - For being an outright stud and killing 5 dudes.
* Cygnar: Stryker - For bravely stepping up with the earthquakes, even after his arc node was down.
* Khador: Behemoth - For generally being terrifying, and mortaring the heck out of stuff, along with wrecking the Basher in nearly a single hit (eSorcha feat round, charge attack did 24 damage in one hit).
* Trolls: Champs - Cause nothing takes a licking and keeps on hitting like Champs.