Monday, March 15, 2010

Madhammer vs Mortenebra (round 1)

I labeled this as "round 1", because I highly suspect that there will be more games of this combination in the future. Henry and I had a blast in this game. Anyway, on to the battle report:

The Setup:
Scenario: 50pts, Assassination
Me: Madhammer, Basher, 2 Blasters, Nyss Hunters (10), Forgeguard (10), Alexia, Gun Mages (6+UA), Herne & Jonne, Dougal, Bokur, Aiyana & Holt
Henry: Mortenebra, Deathjack, Harrower, Nightmare, Biles (10), Pistol Wraith, Warwitch Siren, Withershadow, Gorman

The Throwdown:
This was actually a pretty fast battle, despite my swarm of infantry and it being 50pts. I won the initiative and went first, rushing towards the middle at my typical stumpy-dwarf pace. I'd positioned the Forgeguard centrally with Nyss on one side and Alexia/Gun Mages on the other. The Cryx force surged in, slightly favoring the side with Alexia and the Gun Mages, mostly due to the terrain I suspect, but also because the Deathjack was further up due to AD. I pushed in closer, used Madhammer's feat, and took a few shots. I rolled good damage on the Harrower, but unfortunate location rolls meant it didn't lose any systems. This is where things nearly got completely out of hand. You'll notice in this first picture my positioning after my 2nd turn. And then...

...the Harrower rolled in. I had not really thought through just how effective the Harrower could be against infantry. Between threshering on the first attack and buying extra attacks with the accumulated soul tokens (and continuing to chain based on those soul tokens), it cleared out the entire unit of Forgeguard and 1 Nyss. Geez! The Nightmare then trampled in, killing 2 more Nyss and buying an attack to kill Aiyana. And then the Deathjack rolled in and clobered Alexia and a Blaster. It was a pretty hammering round to say the least. However, victory still lingered within my grasp!

First the Bokur moved up out of the Basher's path. Then Madhammer advanced, put Redline on the Basher, and took a case-cracker shot at Mortenebra putting some damage on her. Then the Basher slamed the Harrower back 8"(!), taking out both it and the Pistol Wraith at the same time. This cleared a path for the second Blaster, which advanced and sprayed Mortenebra and due to the powerful shot, put some more damage on her. Then the Gun Mages advanced around, did a little clean up, and more specifically took out the Warwitch. This cleared the path for the Nyss who then charged in and finished the job. It took leveraging everything left in my army in order to pull it out, but that's what a "No Quarter"-style win is all about.

The Post-Game:
Man what a fun battle! It was Henry's first time running Mortenebra, and only my 5th or so game with Madhammer. It was fast and furious, but very entertaining. I think there were a couple key things that contributed to the fun from my perspective: First, the caster selections are entertaining. I've had discussions with multiple players now about how some casters suck the fun out of the game because they shut down armies and general remove your ability to just play your army (eDeneghra, Kreoss, Sorcha, eMagnus, Baldur). Motenebra and Madhammer fall into the category of where their feats boost their own armies rather than handicap (or downright stall) their opponent's army, which keeps things more entertaining. Second, both armies had more of the "toolbox" feel. Lots of features with lots of flexibility, and many choices to make each round.

Now, for the MVP awards:
* The Harrower - Good lord! 11 mans in one activation! 11!!! Level up baby! That whole soul-chaining thing is just badass.
* The Basher - Hooray for getting a slam off! I'm still not 100% convinced he's worth 7pts, but when he pulls off a Redlined slam, it definitely brings home the bacon.
* My dice - I have to acknowledge the fact that my dice didn't betray me, and when I needed to hit, I hit. No tragic rolling of 5 on 3 dice to miss a critical attack or anything like that.

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