Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion's (Vlad2) vs. Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke (Locke1)

Convergence is not an opponent I see too often. I have actually only faced them once before. I am told that they have received a CID upgrade, and are now a force to be reckoned with. They are a bit odd compared to both Warmachine and Hordes factions, as they do Focus in a strange way, where they can spend one and then pass it on. The army in front of me has a tremendous number of floating 'jacks with sharp elbows. Let's see how Vlad2 and his Wolves of Winter fare.

I do not see a lot of Convergence. I have only faced them once before, where Vlad1 nicely demonstrated how to contain the threat (see battle report here). This list is fresh out of CID, which should have improved them a lot. They are led by Locke, who I thought was a Crucible Guard caster. Anyway, I'm opting for Wolves of Winter under Vlad2 (list is described here).

Khador [Theme] Wolves of Winter [Vladimir 2] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion [+27] - Marauder [11] - Ruin [17] Koldun Lord [4] Koldun Lord [4] Void Archon [8] Void Archon [8] Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10] - Greylord Escort [3] Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10] - Greylord Escort [3] Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10] - Greylord Escort [3] Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10] Greylord Ternion [0(7)] Greylord Ternion [0(7)] Greylord Ternion [0(7)]

Convergence [Theme] Clockwork Legions [Locke 1] Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke [+29] - Corollary [0(6)] - Negator [0(6)] - Negator [0(6)] - Negator [6] - Negator [6] - Prime Conflux [33] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Hermit of Henge Hold [5] Void Archon [8] Void Archon [8] Asphyxious the Sanctified [14] - Negator [6] - Negator [6] - Negator [6]

Initial Thoughts

Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke is new to me, at least in Convergence. I think I might have seen her once or twice in Crucible Guard lists. I have faced the theme, Clockwork Legions before (see here for battle report), yet in another configuration. This time there is an abundance of completely new light 'jacks (or Vectors): Negators.

The theme is a bit of an odd choice. None of the theme bonuses are used. However, I think it has been chosen to be able to include the 'caster, Asphyxious4, and Void Archons; and perhaps to be able to include the unhealthy amount of light 'jacks.

The 'caster, Locke1 confers only a MAT 5 to her 'jacks, which on the surface makes her a bit of an odd choice in a melee heavy list. However, her spell Engine of Destruction, which increases her MAT to 9 is why. In addition, she gives them all Precision Strike, which luckily is not that important against Vlad's list. She is Resourceful, though. So, she can upkeep all spells on her battlegroup for free. Speaking of battlegroup. The whole list has 7 Negators. I have to admit that I can't remember exactly how many were on Locke herself, and how many were assigned to Asphyxious. I have made a guess. Under this assumption, Lock brings: a Corollary, four Negators, and a Prime Conflux.

Locke is a 7 focus 'caster, and brings six spells to the table: Engine of Destruction, Jackhammer, Redline, Road to War, Sentry, Bombshell. She actually have a very 'jack heavy spell list. First and foremost, Engine of Destruction is brilliant for a Convergence list. MAT 9 on all her Vectors is not to be frown upon. Jackhammer basically allows a 'jack to make a melee attack out of its activation; always handy. Redline is well know from out own junior 'caster. It gives a 'jack a turbo charge. Road to War is potentially quite dangerous in this matchup. It allows a 'jack to move 3" when, in this case a Khador model is killed. Give the expected death toll on Doom Reavers, the Convergence 'jacks are going to be really fast. Sentry allows a 'jack to shoot once in the Maintenance Phase. It will probably go on the Prime Conflux. Finally, Bombshell is a 10", POW 13, AOE 3" damage spell, which also has Critical throw. I'm just assuming that all upkeeps will go up in the first turn: Sentry on the Prime Conflux and Redline on one of the Negators. They are upkept for free.

The Corollary is the attachment to Locke, which works as a focus battery. I can potentially improve the focus efficiency of the Vectors. As a bonus, it also extends Locke's Control range by 2". Seems to be an auto include for a Convergence army (at least a Vector heavy one). 

The Negators are the new black for Convergence. They can fly and have Reposition, and at speed 7 they are quite mobile (add Road to War to make them extremely mobile). They have a pretty bad P+S at only 10 (with Critical Amputation, though). This is not impressive.  However, it is really cheap at only 6 points, or even free as a Requisition Choice. Those under Asphyxious is slightly better though. They are affected by Dark Shroud, making the effective P+S 12. This is more than enough the kill a doom reaver. So, they are fast and trivially kills Doom Reavers. They spell trouble.

The Prime Conflux is one of Convergence's two colossal. It is a big stumpy brute. In particular against the Wolves. Against 'jacks it is capable to deliver two P+S 21 fists, plus a d3 POW 10 damage per hit. If Locke uses Redline on it, it becomes P+S 23, and it is going to hit every time due to MAT from Locke using Engine of Destruction. She can also add more attacks by casting Jackhammer. So, any 'jack coming within 10-12" of the Conflux is very very dead. I'll just have to put my faith the the trusted Marauder and enough Doom Reavers.

Speaking of Doom Reavers, the Conflux is unfortunately also pretty good against infantry. It big gun can potentially kill a whole lot of Reavers, not only by hitting one, but also by damaging all troopers between the model hit and the Conflux in a straight line. It also has two smaller guns. As a bonus if a Reaver hits the Conflux the Reaver will suffer a POW 10 damage roll, which will normally kill a Reaver. A Conflux is really bad news for the Wolves.

Locke is flanked by Junior 'caster Asphyxious4, probably leading three Negators. The lich gives his Vectors Bloodlust for an extra 2" movement when charging, and Dark Shroud, which lowers the ARM by two for enemies base to base. Finally, the Negators can also use focus on Asphyxious.    

There are two Void Archons, apparently they only come in pairs. They have a host of build in abilities, like the all archons. They cannot be knocked down or made blind, within 5" enemy models loose tough (poor Doom Reavers), it can be placed within 8" if it kills something, dual attack, Dark Shroud (-2 ARM within 1"), and it can gain and use Soul Tokens to become incorporeal or boost. That is a lot of build in abilities. In addition, it has a 10" POW 14 spray and two P+S 13 (actually 15 due to Dark Shroud) attacks. It seems to be able to do a lot of shenanigans with charging and jumping around.

There is also three Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex, which are basically just Arc Nodes and can work as relays for the whole Convergence focus flying around thing. Incidentally, besides Locke these are the only three souls available for my Void Archons. Bad day to be a Khador Void Archon on.

Finally, the ubiquitous Hermit of Henge Hold is also present. As a side note, I have gone into dissident mode. I flatly refuse to recruit the Hermit. There has to be a single list in the entire world that does not include him. Anyway, the Hermit does a lot of things: he has the Mad Visions, which can negate damage to a model within 8" once per game; he can cast Grip of Shadow, which gives +2 to magic attack rolls against models within 8"; and Whisper at the Gate lowers the ARM by 2 on all models within 5". On paper he does a lot of things. However, I have ever only encountered him used as a flag hugger. He is really difficult to remove, as he has 5 boxes and only takes one point of damage per attack.

This appears to be a difficult matchup. In theory, the Doom Reavers should be well equipped to deal with the Negators. It takes four charging maniacs to kill one Negater. Of course, the requires that they can actually get there. The Conflux should be manageable between Ruin, the Marauder and a few suicidal Doom Reavers. However, my Void Archons are not going to do much more that denying the opponent souls. Hard times ahead.

Deployment

We are playing the 2019 Steamroller King of the Hill. This is clearly in Locke's favour, as she has sufficient 'jacks to score the two outer zones. We are both picking the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4"), Lock wins the roll-off and decides to go first. 

Locke deploys, with machine precision everything in a nice line. The two Archons go on each flank; Negators are more or less evenly distributed; Locke hides behind the Conflux; and Asphyxious deploys slightly to the right. Most other things clump around near the middle. 

End of deployment

Vlad deploys in, more or less the standard formation. The Void Archons mirror their opponents and deploy on the flanks. The two 'jacks deploy around Vlad near the middle. The Ternions are spread out behind the Advanced Deployed Doom Reavers in front. Two units deploy in the middle in two layers: the one without the Escort in front. The picture above shows the situation after deployment. 

Round 1

Round one is as always the uneventful round, where we go through the motions. We might or might not adjust to counter our opponent. 

End of turn 1

Locke does a somewhat cautious advance. She really wants to keep her models outside Doom Reavers' jamming range, which is completely understandable. She drops Redline on the Conflux (my assumption was wrong) and Road to War on herself. That is about it. A classic uneventful turn. The picture above depicts the end of Convergences' first turn.

End of round 1

Doom Reavers – hey ho, here we go. I am contemplating using Apparition and then run the middle unit into the enemy as a speed bump. Locke made sure that almost all of her models are outside the 16" engagement range of the Doom Reavers (running for 12" + 2" Apparition + 2" reach). After a bit back and forth, I decide to go for the wall of clouds instead. So the Ternions move up and put clouds on Doom Reavers. They then proceed to move forward and construct a wall of clouds. All other Doom Reavers spread out behind them. I know there is going to be carnage as the Negators will chew through Doom Reavers and trigger Road to War repeatedly. Yet, this is what Doom Reavers do: they die, and then what remains kill stuff. 

Vlad also places the Archons so that they can collect and deny souls. Ruin, unfortunately got in a slightly bad position on the right flank. He would have liked to be in the middle to have a comprehensive soul cover, together with the two archons. Vlad moves behind the wall – he really likes walls. He drops Assail onto Ruin and Arcane Might on himself. 

This turn is a bit of a gamble. I have no idea how efficient Locke's models will be at chewing through Doom Reavers. We will find out soon enough. The picture above shows the end of the first Round.

Round 2

Second round. This is where we will find out just how many Doom Reavers can be killed in one round. 

End of turn 1

Locke starts by making sure that Engine of Destruction is up; and thats it for her.

On the left flank the Void Archon flies forward and sprays through a whole lot of Doom Reavers; who were nicely lined up for that exact purpose (bummer 1). This is followed up by two Negators really going to town on the last few Doom Reavers. Finally, the Conflux shoots a bit to get rid of even more. This almost wipes out two units. Only the Escort is left in one of them, and the unit leader in the second one.

On the right flank, the second Void Archon pulls another neat trick. It charges a Doom Reaver, which it easily kills, then it Void Walks to the right most unit of Ternions and sprays them (bummer 2). Kudos to the Locke player for a very well carried out attack. Besides that, the story on this flank is more or less the same. Negators chew through Doom Reavers like nothing. What is left alive is taken care of by Servitators. Asphyxious moves in behind the house and an Conf moves to score the flag on the right flank.

The only small, actually rather minute positive thing is that Locke spend a lot of time on the clock. The picture above shows the battle field sans Doom Reavers and the end of turn 1.

End of round 2

Holy crap. That was really bad positioning from Vlad's side, and to be fair good playing from Locke's side. I am basically left without Doom Reavers, and the Ternions Bond of Woe is not going to help a lot, as there are hardly any living models on the other side. Vlad is now in survival mode. Assassination is unlikely, as Locke is quite happy where she is, Scenario is also unlikely. So the only way is to use that fact that Locke spends a lot of clock and go for that "victory". However, I need to be mindful of not loosing on Scenario before Locke clocks herself. 

So let the clean up begin. Vlad starts by moving Assail to the Marauder and feats. He climbs over the wall to protect himself from the Void Archon now in his back yard. He also drops a Wind Blast on the Conflux to hopefully hinder its shooting. 

On the left flank, the first unit of Ternions move up to engage the Negator and one of them blasts one of the few living models with Bonds of Woe. There by removing the scoring solo from the flag and resurrecting one Doom Reaver. The rest do a bit of damage on the Negator. The second Negator is removed by what remains of the Doom Reavers, with a bit of help from a Koldun Lord. The last Doom Reaver in the middle stands up a kills a Servitator. 

The remaining Doom Reavers and Ruin kills the two Negators on the right side, along with the Servitators. This now allows the Void Archon to fly up and threaten Asphyxious. It sprays the Optifex in the right zone and then chews into Asphyxious. I'm not sure that I expected to do serious damage, so perhaps I'm not too surprised that Asphyxious survives. Finally, an Escort kills the Servitator on the right.

All of this moving around also makes room for the Marauder to charge a Negator in the middle of the field. Unfortunately, it survives. The Marauder only had its initials.

Given the starting point, I think this was not too bad. Vlad managed to hinder Locke easily scoring and a lot of the stuff on Vlad's side of the table was cleaned out. He is still in trouble, which can easily be seen in the picture above.

Round 3

Round 3. I wonder how long Vlad will survive. I'm hoping longer than what is left on Locke's clock. 

End of turn 1

Locke continues her unreasonable killing the Empress' subjects. On the left flank, the Archon moves in and kills all the Ternions, except one. This releases the damaged Negator, which can then move into the zone to score. On the right flank, three Negators and the Archon move into the vicinity of Vlad. They remove Ruin and a few remaining Doom Reavers; they also put some damage on Vlad. The Conflux moves in and takes out the Marauder; and the remaining Negators clear out more troops. This turn was really bloody. Locke manages to score two scenario points for the left zone and the flag. The picture above shows the sorry remains of Vlad's forces. 

End of round 3

Vlad is in so much trouble. There is only a slim to no chance of surviving long enough for Locke to clock herself. To do this, he also needs to make sure that he does not loose on scenario. On the left flank, a lone Doom Reaver charges and kills the Negator in the leftmost zone. One Doom Reaver moves forward in the middle zone and hits the Negator there. The main purpose of this is to contest the flag. Vlad and two Doom Reavers do their best to clean out what is in Vlad's back yard. Two Negators and the Archon goes down. Unfortunately, this leaves Vlad with his back to most of the Convergence army. He does, however camp four, hoping this will be enough to keep him alive. At least, this hinders scenario scoring. Thus, the score is still 2-0 in Locke's favour. The picture above depicts Vlad's last stand. 

Round 4

This is it. Vlad is so much going to die. The only hope is Locke's clock, which is quickly moving towards zero. 

End of round 4, end of game

The Conflux moves into the leftmost zone to score. I think it also took at least one shot at Vlad. The Archon moves in and sprays Vlad for some damage. Finally, the rightmost Negator also starts hitting Vlad in the back. Luckily, this is where Locke's clock goes bing! Vlad is victorious (here in its widest possible definition). Scenario ends at 3-0 in Locke's favour. The picture above shows Vlad's marvellous victory...

Final thoughts

OK, 7 Negators and spice is quite difficult. Luckily, my opponent was not super confident with his list. If he hadn't clocked himself, I would have died horribly. I am not sure that this was actually doable for Vlad. If Vlad should have had a chance a few things should have been done differently. 

First of all, I think both Ruin and the Marauder should have been positioned to go after the Conflux and ignored the Negators, which Doom Reavers should be able to handle. Secondly, I think I should have run at least one (the one that also did Apparition), possible two units of Doom Reavers to begin with. They should only serve the purpose of tying up Locke's army to get the remaining Doom Reavers into charge range. I have to learn that Doom Reavers are there to die. 

It is also clear that I underestimated Mat 9 Negators. They can really remove Doom Reavers. However, the Conflux did not do a lot. Perhaps it didn't have to?

Anyway, Vlad did win!

Until next time.

For the Motherland!