The Motherland goes to Conquest (day 2)

Day two of Conquest. It is quite clear that I'm quite rusty. However, new day, new opportunities. There is still new hardware on the table, new lists, and new opponents. I still have no idea how this is going to go. This day (of 3) is going to be tough. I'm sticking to my normal ambition: Win at least one and don't end up last. Let's see how the Motherland fares.

Day two of Oslo Conquest (for the day 1 report see here). It is three days of tournament play, and I'm already tired. I'm getting to grips with the big January update of 2025. Yet, I'm still trying out things I haven't tried before. 

My ambitions is, as always to win at least one and not end up last. 

I'm sticking with Valerii. He was doing pretty well yesterday. However, I'm exchanging Alexia for two Battle Mechaniks. She is supposed to resurrect killed Man-O-Wars, but they died faster than see could keep up, and I would really like the Tune Up and a bit of repairing from the Battle Mechaniks. I'm also still bringing Yana with a Mastodon and all the Pikemen. She has taken over from Baranova in the list I brought to last year's WTC (for a report on WTC, see here for day 1 and here for day 2). I would still so much like the Pikemen to work. I do think they are an unpolished gem. Let's see. 

Khador - Winter Korps Kapitan Yana Kovoskiy    - Fog of War    - Puissance    - Mastodon [32]      HEAD - Shock Assault      RIGHT SHOULDER - Deep Freezer      LEFT SHOULDER - Deep Freezer      RIGHT ARM - Great Axe      LEFT ARM - Grinder Fist AC-2 Bison [10] AC-2 Bison [10] Battle Mechanik [2] Battle Mechanik [2] Magziev Zarivah Volkova [4] Mortar Team [2] Winter Korps Officer [3] Winter Korps Officer [3] Arkanists [4] Shock Trooper Pikemen [7] Shock Trooper Pikemen [7] Shock Trooper Pikemen [7] Shock Trooper Pikemen [7] Command cards     - Blessing of the Gods     - Duck and Cover!     - Lucky Penny     - Old Faithful     - Put the Fires Out Total Points   100/100

Khador - Winter Korps Kommander Valerii Savaryn    - Puissance    - Superiority    - Avalanche [15]      HEAD - Hyper-Aggressive      RIGHT ARM - Pneumatic Lance      LEFT ARM - Wedge Shield    - Avalanche [15]      HEAD - Hyper-Aggressive      RIGHT ARM - Pneumatic Lance      LEFT ARM - Wedge Shield Battle Mechanik [2] Battle Mechanik [2] Kontroller [4]    - Dire Wolf [10]      HEAD - Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM - Long Axe      LEFT ARM - Plow-Shield Sergeant Sergie Krol [5] Winter Korps Officer [3] Winter Korps Officer [3] Arkanists [4] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Winter Korps Snipers [4]    - Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Command cards     - Blessing of the Gods     - Lucky Penny     - Old Faithful     - Put the Fires Out     - Sapper Total Points   100/100

A few thoughts on the lists can be found in the report from yesterday, which can be found here.

Battle 1 — Crucible Guard

Oh no, my nemesis. I have never really managed to crack Crucible Guard. Everything model has more rules on their card, that the entire Winter Korps has combined. Not only, is it Crucible Guard. There are also two Vulcans!

Anyway, my opponent is a very nice Norwegian; who, unfortunately is not new to playing this game. He is bringing the following list.

Crucible Guard - Crucible Guard Major Aline Bennet - Toro [10] Aurum Ominus Alyce Marc [5] Crucible Guard Mechanik [1] Crucible Guard Mechanik [1] Crucible Guard Mechanik [1] Crucible Guard Mechanik [1] Prospero [4] - Vulcan [28] - Vulcan [28] Rocketman Stinger [3] Rocketman Stinger [3] Trancer [2] Trancer [2] Crucible Guard Assault Troopers [7] Dragon's Breath Rocket [4] Defenses - Defence 1 - Barrier - Defence 1 - Barrier - Defence 1 - Barrier Command Cards - Blessing of the Gods - Careful Reconnaissance - Defenses - Lucky Penny - Sapper Total Points   99/100

OK, so this is clearly not a list for Valerii. Yana with the Mastodon might have a remote chance of doing something against the two violent Vulcans. We are also playing Best Laid Plans, which fits the Yana list nicely. Let's see how hard I get hit.

Deployment

We are playing Best Laid Plans and I win the dice roll. I want to go first. Apparently, it is far too early for me to be vertical. I, for some reason do not think about the fact that one side of the table is objectively absolutely worst side. There is a large quicksand right in front of where the Mastodon is supposed to go! I have no idea what I was doing. My opponent obviously picks the best side.

Anyway, Aline deploys a Rocketman and a Trancer on each flank. Followed by the two Vulcans, and everything else goes into a large group in the middle.

End of deployment

Yana follows the standard deployment scheme. A Bison with two units of Shock Troopers on each flank. The Mastodon in the middle (right in front of the quicksand). The rest around the Mastodon. We are ready to roll.

Round 1

I'm starting. There is only one way: forward and fast. The two flanks do what they are supposed to do. Bisons move forward with Shock Troopers behind for cover. In the middle, the Mastodon moves forward towards the quicksand. Everybody else tag along. Yana casts Fog of War and Puissance on one of the Shock Troopers. That's it. The picture below shows the end of Yana's turn.

End of turn 1

Aline has a normal uneventful turn. Everybody moves forward. Force Aura and some spell goes up. The picture below shows the end of Aline's turn.

End of round 1

Round 1 is as usually quite uneventful. Everybody just moves forward. After the January update, nobody is afraid of the Mastodon in round 1. Let's see what happens (in addition to quicksand) in round 2.

Round 2

OK. I'm pretty sure that the two Vulcans can do a tremendous amount of damage to the poor Mastodon. So, two units of Shock Troopers run to the enemy to jam them. On the left flank, the Bison and a unit of Shock Troopers move up to be annoying. The same happens on the right flank.

In the middle, The Mastodon moves forward (and into the quicksand) and starts shooting into the Vulcan in front of it. Yana moves up behind the Mastodon and puts Iron Flesh on it. She also upkeeps Fog of War. Everybody else moves forward and tries to stay away from all the shooting. The picture below shows the situation just before all hell breaks loose.

End of turn 1

On the left flank, the Vulcan cleans out most of the models, save for one Shock Trooper. In addition, a Rocketman flies down behind the house and ties up an Officer and a Mechanik. All the Shock Troopers in the middle get removed by Crucible troops, opening up the route for both the Vulcan and the Toro to remove the Mastodon.

Nothing more to see here. Move along. The picture below shows the sorry remains on Yana's force.

End of round 2, end of game

That's it. Game over... at least I was demonstrated how this game is actually played.

Note to self: pick the correct side of the board, and do not give away half the army.

Battle 2 — Protectorate of Menoth

The Protectorate is back. I have mixed feelings about the Protectorate. Sometimes they are manageable, often they demonstrate that "Khador is the ARM faction" is completely wrong. I fear that Final Interdiction is an example of the latter. This is what my lovely Polish opponent is bringing.

Protectorate of Menoth - Final Interdiction High Exemplar Cyrenia - Fire of Salvation [13] - Redeemer [8] - Redeemer [8] Exemplar Errant Seneschal [3] Exemplar Warder [3] Exemplar Warder [3] High Exemplar Gravus [7] Vassal of Menoth [1] Vassal of Menoth [1] Choir of Menoth [3] Exemplar Cinerators [7] - Exemplar Cinerator Officer [3] Exemplar Errants [8] - Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [3] Exemplar Errants [8] - Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [3] Exemplar Vengers [9] Exemplar Vengers [9] Defenses - Defense 1 - Barrier - Defense 1 - Fire Pit - Defense 1 - Fire Pit Command Cards - Break Through - Careful Reconnaissance - Defenses - Lucky Penny - Old Faithful Total Points   99/100

This looks like a job for Valerii. There is a load of small guys that probably will only spell trouble for the Mastodon. In addition, we are playing Two Fronts, which should be good for the Mastodon. However, somebody has placed a house in between the two 50 mm objectives.

Deployment

We are playing Two Fronts and my opponent wins the dice roll. I pick the side without the Quicksand!

Cyrenia deploys pretty standard. Cavalry on the flanks. A unit of Errants on the left flank. Everybody else goes in a a big clump in the middle.

Valerii places himself in the middle with most of the models. An Avalanche ready to move on both sides of the forest in the middle. The Kontroller goes on the right flank to grab the Objective. For some reason the Snipers also deploys there. They were actually supposed to go on the other flank.

The picture below the silence before the storm.

End of deployment

We are ready. Let's see what the real ARM faction can do.

Round 1

The Protectorate advances. The Vengers move up the two flanks. One unit of Errants moves partly into the woods in the middle. Everybody else just shuffles forward behind the forest. An uneventful first turn. The picture below shows the Protectorate's advancement.

End of turn 1

Looking at the board, it has become evident that going first is probably a pretty good thing. There is a forest in the middle and linear obstacles on both sides. It is going to be a killing field. I hope it is killing Protectorate, I fear it is Khador.

Valerii orders the Kontroller and his Dire Wolf to the objective, where I expect them to spend the rest of the battle. An Avalanche dares the Protectorate by moving almost into the forest. All the Man-O-Wars move forward and makes a wall of steel. Valerii drops a wall behind the Man-O-Wars, casts Superiority on the other Avalanche and moves behind the wall. This is going to be a lovely place to hang around. DEF 19 (shooting) and 17 (melee), whilst being behind the wall; yet, sufficiently close to the battle ground.

The picture below depicts the end of the boring round.

End of round 1

Now onto the bloody one...

Round 2

This is were it kicks off. On the right flank, the Vengers begin a, I expect long and tedious: move one guy forward, contest, die, move another one forward. Stupid house... On the left flank, the other unit of Vengers move behind the wall. I wonder if they can get Pathfinder.

In the middle all hell breaks loose. One unit of Errants makes it through quicksand and a forrest, and runs to jam the Wrecking Crew. The Cinerators makes it to the Avalanche and a wall magically appears in front of them. Clever.The Fire of Salvation tags along. All the rest hangs back. The picture below shows the chaos produced by Menoth and his zealots.

End of turn 1

OK. So, Valerii better start chewing through all the highly armoured fanatics. For some reason, he is not happy with his little wall. He drops it a moves to the left. He upkeeps Superiority and Escort, and drops Puissance on the Wrecking Crew. They start chewing though the Errants; yet, only removes three. A units of Suppressors, Sergie and the Kontroller cooperate on removing two of the Cinerators, which makes room for one of the Suppressors on the opposite side of the wall. Cinerators behind a wall are. annoying.

All sorts of other attempts of killing the fanatics take place. But not a lot is a success. On the left side a unit of Suppressors make ready to score both objectives, supported by an Avalanche. On the right flank the Dire Wolf kills the first Venger. The picture below shows the end of a pretty hard turn.

End of round 2

The Battle Machaniks in the lower right corner still haven't registred that the battle is on. I wonder if he will discover it now? Scenario score is 2-1 in Valerii's favour.

Round 3

I'm expecting hand of a god being smashed on the Empress' finest. On the left flank the Vengers move a bit about and contest both objectives. Only one Suppressor dies. On the right flank, the next Venger in the meat grinder appears in the Dire Wolf's face. So far, so good.

It is a different story in the middle. All the Errants clean up the Wrecking Crew, a Mechanik and two? Arkanists. The Fire of Salvation and Cinerators also take out all but one Suppressor. This is quite a hefty turn. The picture below shows the sorry remains of the Khador force. Scenario score is now 3-2 in the Protectorate's favour.

End of turn 1

That was pretty hard hitting. Far more that I expected. I was expected the ARM 19/20 guys, with 10 boxes to weather the storm. That was clearly not the case. Stuff needs to happen

This looks like a feat turn for Valerii. He goes Kill Order on the Vengers to the left, a unit of Errants and, I think Precision Strike. On the left, the Avalanche and Suppressors attempt to remove the Vengers. One survive. They are robust.

On the right flank, the Dire Wolf redo the exact same thing as last round. Kill a Venger, wait for the next one. In the middle, the Snipers take out three Errants. And, lo and behold, the last Mechaniks discover that a battle is going on. Joins, and kills the last one.

The picture below depicts the fall of Valerii. Scenario score is 4-4 but Valerii is done for.

End of round 3, end of game

I'm not sure what we did here. I can't remember. I think we just counted up the losses and decided that the Protectorate won with some scenario score. Anyway, a hurting loss for Valerii.

I actually went into this game thinking that this might go in my favour. I seriously under estimated the Protectorate, and not the least a very clever player. It was fun, though. Despite the fact that the Protectorate trivially get to some obnoxious ARM levels, which makes Khador envious.

Battle 3 — Rhul Guard

The round if formally a 'bye'. Luckily, one of the locals is looking for a single game. He is bringing dwarfs. This makes me both happy and a bit worried. Happy, because the little guys are still around; and a bit worried because I have lost so many times to, god knows how many of the small 'jacks. To my great surprise, he is only bringing two. He is, however bringing both the Earthbreaker and Big Pig. This is the list.

Mercenaries - Rhul Guard General Ossrum - Ghordson Earthbreaker [27] - Grundback Blaster [5] - Grundback Blaster [5] Carver Ultimus [20] - War Boar MMD47 Ogrun Bokur [3] Ogrun Bokur [3] Stone Lord Guvul Godor [4] Horgenhold Artillery Corps [4] Horgenhold Artillery Corps [4] Horgenhold Forge Guard [7] Horgenhold Forge Guard [7] Horgenhold Forge Guard [7] Tactical Arcanist Corps [4] Command Cards - Blessing of the Gods - Careful Reconnaissance - Lucky Penny - Old Faithful - Put the Fires Out Total Points   99/100

This actually looks like a job for Yana. I don't think the Avalanches can kill both Big Pig and the Colossal. Not to mention all the dwarfs. Despite the fact that we are playing Trench Warfare, which is not Mastodon friendly, this is what I'm going for.

Deployment

We are playing Trench Warfare. Ossrum wins the dice roll and goes first. I pick the side with the two forests. I'm thinking that I would have picked the other side. There is things to be said about having an obstruction. However, I need to learn to appreciate those on my side of the table.

Ossrum deploys the pig and the Earthbreaker next to each other, behind the cloud. All the dwarfs are distributed on both sides.

Yana deploys in the middle with the Mastodon on the right. That is the objective it is going for. The rest is the standard deployment. A bison and two units of Shock Troopers on each flank. The rest, more or less near the Mastodon and Yana.

The picture below shows the deployment.

End of deployment

Two slow armies lumbering into action. I'm foreseeing a lot of rounds.

Round 1

We have an army that actually makes Khador look fast and nimble. This turn can easily be summed up as: the lumber forward — a bit. The picture below shows the little movement there is.

End of turn 1

Yana can now employ her armies superior speed (finally). She brings both flanks forward towards the two objectives. Not too close, though. In the middle, the Mastodon moves forward and attempts to stay outside the range of at least the Earthbreaker and hopefully also Big Pig. Most others move in behind the Mastodon to avoid being shot.

The picture below shows the quite befor the storm.

End of round 1

We are all here, we are all ready. Bring it one, you people of Rhul (and pig).

Round 2

Ossrum is a cautious fellow. He really does all sorts of tricks to stay out of range of my army; the Mastodon in particular. Nevertheless, the Earthbreaker and the two Artillery units manage to take out the Bison on the right and quite a few of the Shock Troopers. The pig just takes out one Shock Trooper on the right, and puts some damage on the Mastodon, I think. The Earthbreaker also drops a crate on it. Crates are annoying.

The picture below shows the devestation brought forward by a surprisingly shooty Rhul army.

End of turn 1

It is clear that I'm going to loose a shootout. I also do not really want to get the Mastodon into charge range of the Earthbreaker. I some sense the crater helps here. I need to deal with the pig and the Earthbreaker. That is clearly not going to happen in this turn. So, I need to attempt to contain them.

Let's start on the left flank. The two Shock Troopers run to jam the pig. The Bison moves into the woods and shoots at something. The last Shock Trooper unit prepare themselves to charge anything attempting to score the objective. It kind of looks like a Mexican standoff.

On the right flank, the solo Shock Trooper runs to jam the Earthbreaker and contest the flank; which of course doesn't matter as you can't score you own terrain in this scenario. The whole units moves forward to screen the Mastodon, which also moves forward and offload all its cannons into the enemy. The Arkanists move to score the home objective and everybody else just tags along the Mastodon.

The picture below shows the end of the first scoring turn. Scenario score is 2-1 in Yana's favour.

End of round 2

Yana is quite happy. Let's see if she remains so.

Round 3

On the left flank, Ossrum makes a move to capture the objective. The little 'jack moves into position and all the men follows up; yet, keep their distance. On the right flank, somebody kills the lone Shock Trooper; the Earthbreaker backs up, as it is still afraid of the Mastodon; and a small 'jack moves into screen. Finally, a unit of Forge Guards moves down to contest the objective and kill the last Shock Trooper unit.

In the middle, the small pig moves behind the wall (he is clearly squealing of fear). Big Pig and a Bokur screens Ossrum, who is bravely hiding out behind the big rock. Big Pig kills one of the Shock Troopers and fire everything into the Mastodon. The picture below shows the result of Ossrum's bravery. Scenario score is now 4-2 n Ossrum's favour.

End of turn 1

Yana thinks she is on top of this. She is behind on scenario but is pressuring Ossrum. How to keep up the pressure and not loose on scenario.

On the right flank, the Arkanists puts focus on the Mastodon, whilst still scoring the home objective. Yana moves forward around the Mastodon and throws a few spears at the Forge Guards. The Mastodon takes over and removes that unit. The rest of the shots go into Big Pig.

On the left flank, the lone Shock Trooper casually moves over and picks up the cache. The Bison shoots at something, probably the Blaster. If that goes away, Ossrum can't score that objective. This is followed up by the last Shock Trooper unit charging in and removing the Basher and a few dwarfs.

This has been a pretty good round. The objective is now secure, in the sense that nobody is going to score and the cache has been collected. Scenario score is now 6-4 in Yana's favour. She is going to score forever on the home objective. There is no way Ossrum is going to score the 50 mm or pick up the cache, whilst the Mastodon is alive; and he is only going to score his home objective. The picture below depicts a moment of satisfaction.

End of round 3

All is well. Let's see if the fourth round can change this.

Round 4

Who would have guessed that stumpy legs can be ridiculously fast? The unit of Forge Guards on the left flank make it all the way to Yana's terrain objective. That was not polite. Other Forge Guards and Guvul remove all the remaining Shock Troopers.

In the middle, Big Pig moves next to the rock to screen the VIPs and offload all the shots into the Mastodon. A single Forge Guard contest on the right flank.

Scenario score is now 7-7. The picture below shows the fast dwarfs.

End of turn 1

7-7. Yana needs points. It is unlikely that she can kill Ossrum. He is hiding behind a big rock. So, she needs to primarily concentrate on scenario points. On the left flank, the Bison charges into the Forge Guards and kill three. At least this point is now contested. The Arkanists in the middle will just fuel the Mastodon and score the home objective.

On the right flank, Yana needs to do something. She charges up, kills the last Forge Guard, and puts a toe in the quicksand, staying outside the charge range of the Earthbreaker. She then continues to kill one of the artilleries with the spears. The remaining officer runs to the quicksand. They are now two and can score. Finally, the Mastodon (finally) shoots the Big Pig to death and removes two Forge Guards on the left.

Lo and behold. She is now at 11 scenario points to Ossrum's 8. She is on 7 minutes on the clock. Ossrumm on 27 seconds. The picture below shows the situation at T-27 seconds.

End of round 4

Ossrumm has 27 seconds. Let's see what he can do with that.

Round 5

It is quite surprising what he can do in 27 seconds. The Bokur on the left charge the Bison and kills it. The last little 'jack runs to score. On the right flank, the artillery runs to contest both the objective and the terrain. That is it time is up. The picture below depicts the downfall of Ossrum.

End of turn 1, end of game

That was it. It was close. If Ossrum had flipped the clock, Yana might be in trouble. She wasn't.

I have managed half of my ambition: at least win one. Formally, I had, kind of won as it was a 'buy'. However, it feels so much better to actually win.

I'm still not convinced about the Shock Troopers. But, I really would like to get them to work. I know they are only 7 points. But, I still feel they die to easily. Since the puny Black 13 got 8 boxes, I think that would be fitting for the Shock Troopers as well.

This is the second encounter with the new Big Pig. I like it. It is still pretty good, but not redicilous as before. I'm not pretty sure that I want one.

It is clear that my habitus has not done anything good for my game. I think I'm getting confterable with the Valerii list. Yet, the Yana list doesn't work (yet).

Anyway, onwards to the last game today.

Battle 4 — House Kallyss

Last game of the day. I'm paired with another nice Swede. He is bringing dead elves to the table. I my local meta, I tend to destroy dead elves. However, this is not my local meta; I'm a bit skeptical.

He is brining Scyrafael the ubiquitous Israfyl and a whole bunch of 'jacks. Most 'jack heavy Dusk list I have seen. To quote the Swedish Chef, I think my opponent said that his list does: "Zees is my duosk leest. It is pretty veurd. I hefe-a a lut ouff jecks und tu Specters. Bork Bork Bork!"¹.

Dusk - House Kallyss Scyrafael, Nis-Issyr of Desolations - Eidolon [16] - HEAD - True Sight - RIGHT ARM - Dawn Blade - LEFT ARM - Force Shield - BACK - Vortex Cannon - Eidolon [15] - HEAD - Arcane Stasis - RIGHT ARM - Dawn Blade - LEFT ARM - Force Shield - BACK - Vortex Cannon - Ghast [9] - HEAD - Arc Node - RIGHT ARM - Blaster Fist - LEFT ARM - Force Lash - Israfyl [17] - HEAD - Israfyl - LEFT ARM - Serpentine Blade - RIGHT ARM - Serpentine Blade - BACK - Death Whisper - Specter [10] - Specter [10] Vaelyss, The Hand of Mourning [4] Void Engine [8] - Wight Seeker Adepts [4] Soulless Guardians [8] Command Cards - Careful Reconnaissance - Duck and Cover! - Hit & Run - Lucky Penny - Old Faithful Total Points   99/100

We are playing Wolves at our Heels. Actually a scenario that is quite good for Yana and her pet Mastodon. However, with all the large bases and not being immune to knockdown, I think Valrii might be the option. That is the one I'm going for anyway.

Deployment

We are playing Wolves at our Heels. I win the roll-off and deceides to go first. This time I (also) pick the side with quicksand on. However, I haven't got a Mastodon to navigate around it. So, it might actually work to my advantage.

Valerii deploys the Kontroller and pet Dire Wolf on the left flank. They are obviously not going to score the 40 mm, but they can be annoying to anybody trying. The Snipers go on the left flank to sit on the flag or move up to the opposite 40 mm. Everything else basically just go in the middle.

The avid reader might notice that the two Battle Mechaniks are attempting an advance deployment. That is obviously wrong and will be called to order before we proceed.

Scyrafael haven't got a lot of models. So they basically just clump up around herself in the middle. Let's all enjoy the Kodak moment in the picture. Before all the hostilities commence.

End of deployment

This is going to be interessting. Heavy armour vs. nimble 'jacks. Let's see.

Round 1

Valerii begins by pushing everything forward, as much as possible. On the left, the Snipers park them selves on the terrain with the flag. On the right, the Kontroller moves left around the house. In the middle everybody spread out to be ready to react to whatever the dead elves come up with.

Valerii puts Escort into action, Superiority on the Avalanche on the left and Puissance on the Wrecking Crew. He then hangs back to watch the show. The picture below depicts the show.

End of turn 1

Most of Scyrafael's army advances cautiously. They are a bit worried about the threat range of the Avalanches. A Specter runs behind the big rock on the right. Probably aiming to mess with the objective terrain. The picture below shows the end of the boring round.

End of round 1

Let's see if the Motherland can kill some elves and not allow them to kill some back.

Round 2

This is, so far a lazy afternoon. So, one unit of Suppressors stroll over to the 40 mm objective on the left to score. The Kontroller and Dire Wolf have made space for them by moving in front of the objective. On the right flank, the Snipers move up to the rough terrain near Scyrafael's 40 mm. They are relieved by a Mechanik and an Officer holding the flag. An Avalanche lumbers over to protect them against the Specter.

In the middle, a unit of Suppressors take point, with the Wrecking Crew right behind. Valerii put a wall behind them and moves up for a better view of the battlefield. The last Avalanche just moves out from the house, to be ready. The picture below shows a lazy Khador afternoon.

End of turn 1

Scyrafael starts the first scoring turn by moving the Specter into contesting position of the terrain. It is going to rely on its very hig DEF against both shooting and melee to be an annoyance down there. The second Specter takes up the position that the first one left.

On the left flank, something manage to kill all the Snipers; but not the dog! Israfyl moves to the rightmost 50 mm and an Eidolon moves to the leftmost. All the shield guards stand between them. All of these things and the Void Engine kills the front row Suppressors (again I overestimate their resilience), and gives the Wrecking Crew Vengeance. I think the scenario score is 2-1 in Scyrafael's favour. The picture below shows how a bunch of dead elves ruin a lazy afternoon.

End of round 2

Once again I overextended Suppressors. When will I ever learn. Anyway, there is work to be done.

Round 3

Once again I overextended Suppressors. When will I ever learn. Anyway, there is work to be done. I think it is a feat turn for Valerii. He feats and puts a Kill Order the contesting Specter and Israfyl. He also goes Precision Strike and with Tides of War he moves back into safety of the wall.

On the left, the Avalanche slams the Eidolon, yet does not manage to kill it. The Suppressors, Kontroller and Dire wolf moves forward. They might have killed all the Shield Guards. At least they disappeared. There is now room for the Wrecking Crew to charge Israfyl. Under Puissance and Kill Order they most definitely live up to their name (not so much without these two additions). Israfyl disappears.

The right flank is a problem. A Specter has like DEF 17 with Grave Winds on it. What to do? The Avalanche walks up to the Specter, boost to hit, and simply head butts it to the ground. It is only an 8 on three dice. Quite easy. The look on the lovely Swede's face was worth everything. Once the Specter is down, dismantling it is like a walk in the park.

This ends Valerii's feat turn, except for the dog contesting the 40 mm. Scenario score is now 3-3. The picture below depicts the result of Valerii's feat turn.

End of turn 1

Scyrafael can feel the pressure. The left flank is a lot cause. So, she is consolidating from the middle and to the right. Scyralfel and the Eidolon clear away the Wrecking Crew from the rightmost 50 mm. The Void Engine moves along and might have contributed with some shooting. In the back, the two lazy 'jacks who have not contributed shuffles right.

The last Specter, on the right flank moves in and sprays the Officer and Mechanik to death. So no more scoring down there. The Seeker Adepts consolidate in the rubble to score the objective.

All in all, it was actually a better turn for Scyrafel that what appears on the surface. She managed to bring the scenario score to 7-4 in her favour and has seriously limited Valerii's ability to score. The picture below shows Scyrafel leading the brawl.

End of round 3

Valerii needs to do something or he is slowly but steadily loosing on scenario. Both players have around 30 minutes on the clock. So, don't panic.

Round 4

Valerii unfortunately has to drop the wall. He upkeeps Escort and cast Tides of War. He puts a Kill Order on the Eidolon in front of Scyrafel and shuffles a bit backwards. The Avalanche in the middle contemplates slamming the Eidolon over Scyrafel. Unfortunately, it is not Sturdy and it is not going to be damaged by Scyrafles feet. So it will be pushed. It opts for slamming the other Eidolon over the Ghast instead.

The Suppressors on the left flank give up the scoring and move forward to put a lot of shots into the Eidolon in front of Scyrafel. Unfortunately, it is not enough to kill it. This means that Sergei tries to pull the Eidolon in with his Harpoon to finish it off. It is hard to hit an Eidolo... Oh, and the Dire Wolf decides to kill Vaelyss. That was dumb. Don't do that. She becomes a highly annoying ghost.

On the right flank, the last Avalanche attempts to do the same trick as before. But without the Kill Order, the order is too tall. The Arkanists move in to score. This leaves the scenario score at 7-8 in Scyrafel's favour. The picture below shows the trouble of Valerii.

End of turn 1

Scyrafel is apparently slightly annoyed. The Eidolon in front of her and the Ghast goes into Sergei and kill him. This also makes room for Scyrafel to stand in the middle of the board. This, unfortunately also allows the Eidolon to hit Valerii with its Momentum gun, slamming into the kill box.

End of round 4

The Ghast hears 'kill box' and moves to Valerii, who is keeled over. The picture below depicts the ballade of Valerii. You can probably guess what happend.

Oy! I'm just lying around here...

This was an intense game.

Valerii actually did pretty well. I really like the double Avalanche. The opponent has to respect a pretty (for Khador, anyway) threat range. Suppressors are always good. I need to work more on Valerii's spell casting.

Scyralfel's feat is hard for Khador 'jacks. There is no way they are going to be damaged, so they are going to be pushed. On the other hand, all sorts for Man-O-Wars just laugh at the damage and the pushing.

Anyway, it was as always fun. My opponent was nice and at the end of the day I did manage to reach my goals.

Now for a short break and onwards to the thrid day of moving toy soldiers around. I can't wait.

Summary & Lessons Learned

So far it has been fun. I haven't faced any opponents where it didn't matter that we actually played. All my losses are purely down to being worse than my opponent. It is clear that I'm really rusty.

I'm happy with the Valerii list. I think it will remain like this for a while. The Yana list, on the other hand. The Mastodon might have seen its hey days. I still can't get the Shock Troopers to work. I haven't given up yet.

Anyway. Tomorrow is another day.

For the Motherland!