The Motherland goes to Conquest (day 3)

Day three and final day of Conquest. I'm thinking two days of warm up. It is now I strike. There is a new day, new opportunities. I'm getting comfortable with the Valerii list. Yet, still not with the Yara list. This final day 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 three and final day of Oslo Conquest (for the day 1 report see here, and day two here). It is three days of tournament play, and I'm getting a bit tired. I think I'm getting to grips with the big January update of 2025.  

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 and I think I'm getting the handle of this list. I'm also still bringing Yana with a Mastodon and all the Pikemen. I still haven't gotten her to work, despite actually winning one yesterday. I still really want to get the Pikemen to work. I still 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 day 1, which can be found here.

Battle 1 — House Kallyss

The dead elves are back. So far, I have managed to loose one and win one against these guys. So, it can go either way. This time it is a lovely Norwegian guy. He is bringing the following (from memory).

Dusk - House Kallyss Tyrus, Nis-Arsyr of Spiders - Eidolon [17] - HEAD - True Sight - RIGHT ARM - Dawn Blade - LEFT ARM - Force Shield - BACK - Force Cannon - Ghast [7] - HEAD - Arc Node - RIGHT ARM - Heavy Blade Fist - LEFT ARM - Light Blade Fist Mage Hunter Commander [4] Void Engine [8] - Wight Dreadguard Cavalry [11] Dreadguard Cavalry [11] Dreadguard Slayers [8] Mage Hunter Assassins [6] Mage Hunter Assassins [6] Seeker Adepts [4] Soulless Blademasters [6] Soulless Guardians [6] Soulless Guardians [6] Total points 100/100

This round is Two Fronts. In principle, it is a Mastodon friendly scenario. However, there is a lot of large base fast stuff, and I am getting somewhat comfortable with Valerii. So, he is up.

Deployment

We are playing Two Fronts. I win the roll-off and decides to go first. It is beneficial to get up the board and put some scenario pressure on the opponent as fast as possible; or that is the theory, at least.

Valerii deploys the Kontroller module on the left flank. Ready to move up and park on one, or even two of the 50 mm objectives. On the right flank, a unit of Suppressors and a unit of Snipers line up to deal with the two 40 mm objectives. The flag ends up on the wall in the middle. So, that is most likely going to be contested for ever. Unless the super fast Avalanches can work their magic. Everything else goes, more or less in the middle.

Tyrus deploys a unit of kittens on each flank. Himself in the middle, right in front of the Void Engine. A 'jack on each flank with a unit of shield guards just on the inside of them. All advance deployment models deploy in some sort of terrain.

That is it. We are ready to rumble. The picture below shows the nice view before it gets ruined by stuff smacking each other around.

End of deployment

That is it. We are both ready and motivated. Let's see where this goes.

Round 1

Valerii does his standard 1. turn. He casts Escort, Puissance on the Wrecking Crew and Superiority on one of the Avalanches. He then goes At All Cost, giving Shield Guard to the unit with Vengeance. He the runs to the rubble in the middle.

On the right flank, the Snipers run to the water feature ready to be annoying around the 40 mm bases. The Suppressors tag along. On the left flank, the Kontroller modules runs to the wall. Everybody else just go full speed ahead.

The picture below shows the situation after the Motherland's finest has been sprinting.

End of turn 1

Tyrus sends his kittens up both flanks as far as they can get. A unit of Guardians, along with the Ghast move towards the 40 mm objectives. Everybody else just run up the field headed by the Eidolon and the Swordmasters. The picture below shows the situation just before something hits somebody's fan.

End of round 1

Boring round done. Let's start cracking skulls.

Round 2

One can say a lot about the Norwegians but the are polite people. This Norwegian in particular has placed his Eidolon up front within range of the leftmost Avalanche. I can only assume it is in the spirit of Nordic solidarity. Also being polite, I think it would be wrong to disappoint him. So, the Avalanche better slam it. To do this, Valerii has to move Superiority to that 'jack, which he does after up-keeping the other two spells. He then moves a bit to the left to be able to stand valiantly behind the wall of steel that will move there shortly.

The Arkanists fill up the Avalanche with focus, the Mechanik gives it Pathfinder, and off it goes. It slams directly into the Eidolon and slams it across a unit of Guardians killing four of them. The Eidolon is naturally knocked down and does take som damage. However, the Slam God does not follow up. It rather takes a swing at the Assassins without any luck. Now the party is started.

On the left flank, the Kontroller module stays behind the wall eyeing the kittens and being within 3" of the home 50 mm objective. On the right flank, the two Suppressor units move up and shoots the other kitten unit to death. The Snipers move in between the two 40 mm objectives to interact with both of them.

In the middle, the Wrecking Crew moves to the flag wall and change into a Speed Bump Crew. The second Avalanche screens Valerii. Hey, Ho, let's go. The picture below depicts the result of putting stuff "near" the Slam God. ARM 22 'jack almost in the opponent's deployment zone.

End of turn 1

The look on the lovely Norwegian's face when accepting his slam present was worth a lot. Apparently, I might have misunderstood the gesture. At least everything that can reach the Avalanche charge, move or just hit it. I does not feel appreciated. ARM 22 and 34 boxes is nice. It is still standing after the smoke clears.

On the right flank, the Slayers, a unit of Assassins, the Ghast and some other stuff attempt to chew into the Wrecking Crew. Such a crew is rather robust and decides to hang around.

That is it for the 2. round. Valerii scores one point at the home 50 mm objective. The picture below shows the magnetic effect of an Avalanche.

End of round 2

That was an explosive round. Tyrus is on his heels. Let's see if Valerii can keep up the momentum.

Round 3

This smells like a feat turn. Valerii does his thing and puts Kill Order on the Slayers and the kittens. He also goes for Precision Strike. The Wrecking Crew charge the kittens and... wreck them. The Dire Wolf can now move up to in between the two 50 mm objectives to score both. This is assuming that the Avalanche and friends can remove whatever contest the opponent's 50 mm. This is now the focus of the Avalanche, and it is successful.

On the right flank, the Suppressors clean up by removing the Ghast and a bit of the chaff. Everybody else chip in and the combined might of Sergie, an Officer and a Mechanik removes the Slayers. The only things not really removed are the Swordmasters and the Eidolon. But you can't have it all.

The picture below shows the effect of spring cleaning. Scenario score is now 6-0 in Valerii's favour. He has 11 minutes on the clock. Tyrus almost the same with 10 minutes.

End of turn 1

Tyrus is in serious trouble. If he can't score four points and stop Valerii from scoring a single one, he has lost.

Out of spite, I guess, Tyrus takes matter into his own hands and kill the Avalanche with the assistance of the Eidolon. The Swordmasters make a feeble attempt to kill some Wrecking Crew. At least Tyrus' 50 mm is contested. There is nothing to do on the right flank.

Finally, a Hail Mary is attempted by the two remaining assassins — to assassinate Valerii. It is not a completely ridiculous attempt. However, Valerii is nicely protected so only one assassin makes it into contact. That is not enough.

That is it. Everybody has done their things. The picture below shows the result of dead elves attempting to encroach on Khador territory.

End of round 3, end of game

Game over. Valerii wins on scenario at 11-0. That is a pretty solid win. The game was a blast, for both players. Although I might permanently have damage the Norwegian through excessive slamming. I hope he recovers.

It turns out that placing an ARM 22 'jack with 34 boxes and Superiority in the middle of the opponent's lines forces him to deal with. Despite the fact that it is most likely going to be outside Valerii's Control Range. I can still see why it must be annoying. This leaves room for the rest of Valerii's army. I like the Avalanche a lot. It reminds of the old days when Vlad1 did similar stuff with Marauders (there is a very old example here).

Battle 2 — Necrofactorium

Another nice Norwegian and more dead stuff. There seems to be a pattern here. This time it is not dead elves but dead everything else: the Necrofactorium. It is a bit of an odd list. I think it boils down to which models the player has. This is the list he is bringing (from memory).

Cryx - Necrofactorium Lich Lord Dekathus - Hades - HEAD - Hades [16] - RIGHT ARM - Soul Cannon - LEFT ARM - Death Claw - Malefactor [15] - HEAD - Dark Shroud - RIGHT ARM - Fell Axe - LEFT ARM - Spiked Shield - Raptor [6] - HEAD - Doomspitter - BACK - Arc Node - Raptor [6] - HEAD - Venom Blaster - BACK - Arc Node Machine Wraith Dominator [4] Magnus the Unstoppable [20] - Invictus Master Necrotech Chatterbane [4] Night Terrors [10] Sludge Thralls [8] The Furies [10] Total Points 99/100

We are playing Colour Guard, which is a scenario for the Valerii list. Also, I'm so much in love with the Avalanches right now. So there really isn't a question. Valerii it is.

Deployment

Dekathus win the roll-off and decides to go first. I pick the side with the trench. That looks like a wonderful spot for Valerii to hang out.

The Cryx player deploys quite heavily on the left flank with the unit of Night Terrors, probably having their eyes on the cache, Magnus and Invictus and a unit of Sludge Thralls. The right flank is occupied by all the 'jacks. Dekathus and the rest are in the middle.

Valerii does a quite standard deployment. The Kontroller module goes on the left flank with their eyes on the 50 mm there. The Snipers tag along looking at the cache.

Everything else goes into the middle, except for one unit of Suppressors who deploys far to the left to counter the Night Terrors most likely coming this way around the house.

The picture below shows the deployment of the troops before the Necrofactorium starts the party.

End of deplpoyment

I don't think I have played Dekathus before. I'm told he can be rather tanky. Let's see where this takes us.

Round 1

The first turn doesn't really hold any surprises. All the Cryx and Magnus just runs forward. That is it. Nothing more to see here. The picture below shows the nothing to see.

End of turn 1

Valerii does what he always do. He casts Escort, Superiority on an Avalanche, and Puissance on the Wrecking Crew. He also shouts Precision Strike and moves a bit forward.

The left flank moves up. The snipers attempt to hide behind a house on their way to the cache. The Dire Wolf is more bold with the Kontroller behind it. In the middle, the Wrecking Crew moves in front of the lake. The Mechanik and Officer moves into the lake to be ready to score later. A Suppressor unit move in front of Valerii to screen him. The two Avalanches move forward to be ready for the potential slam party.

On the left, the Suppressors move up behind the house. That is it. The picture below shows the status before the lines meet.

End of round 1

We are ready for axe to face or more likely Avalanche to face.

Round 2

The Night Terrors start by running all the way to the left of the cache. Basically in my deployment zone. That is quite naughty. Invictus moves forward and fires the Obliterator into the Avalanche, I think. The Sludge Thralls move up to the house.

On the right flank, all the 'jacks advance and start shooting. It turns out that at least one of them can shoot through the house. So, bye bye Snipers.

After some deliberation, Dekathus is being bold, moves into the cloud and feats. If think this brings him to ARM 23 or something like this. He feels invulnerable and taunts Valerii. The picture below shows Dekathus taunting Valerii.

End of turn 1

Valerii takes offence from Dekathus' obscene remarks and flaunting of souls. After some internal debated, whether to kill Invictus or Dekathus. The result is killing Dekathus. So, Valerii puts focus on one of the Avalanches, feats and shouts Precision Strike, he then moves up and puts a Kill Order on Dekathus. It is Avalanche time.

The first Avalanche slams Dekathus into whomever is standing behind him. Attacks are bought until it runs out of focus. Dekathus is still alive. This situation begs the question: what is better than an Avalanche in your army? Two Avalanches!

The second Avalanche decides not to slam. Charging can also be fun. It charges in and finish off Dekathus. The kodak moment below shows why hybris is a bitch.

End of round 2, end of game

It almost took pity on the poor Norwegian and went for Invictus. However, how often do I get the chance to park two Avalanches in the face of a 'caster?

I'm not sure what is going on today. I have won two out of two possible games. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it is examples of my superior skills (a bit perhaps). It is worth mentioning that both my opponents today are rather new to the game.

Battle 3 — Winter Korps

Final game for today, and the finals. I don't think I have ever made it to a final before. Somehow it is fitting that I finish this wonderful time in Norway with a Finnish player. It is even going to be a mirror match. I am going to face somebody pretending to be part of the Motherland. The nice Finn is putting Zahara on the table. This is going to be interesting. The only thing in Khador that actually out-threatens an Avalanche. I have never played, nor played against her before. This is list Zahara is leading (from memory).

Khador - Winter Korps Kapitan Zahara Vilkul - Avalanche [15] - HEAD - Hyper-Aggressive - RIGHT ARM - Pneumatic Lance - LEFT ARM - Wedge Shield - Great Bear [15] - HEAD - Aggressive - RIGHT ARM - Deep Freezer - LEFT ARM - Battle Axe - Razor [18] AC-2 Bison [10] Sergeant Goran Lazarenko, the Jackal [4] Winter Korps Officer [3] Arkanists [4] Arkanists [4] The Hounds [8] Winter Korps Infantry [6] - WEAPON SUPPORT TROOPERS - Auto Cannon - WEAPON SUPPORT TROOPERS - Auto Cannon - Winter Korps Standard [1] Winter Korps Infantry [6] - WEAPON SUPPORT TROOPERS - Auto Cannon - WEAPON SUPPORT TROOPERS - Auto Cannon - Winter Korps Standard [1] Winter Korps Snipers [4] - Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Total Points 100/100

The scenario is Payload. That is the prime example of what the Valerii list is build for. So, there really isn't any question.

Deployment

I win the roll-off an decides to go first. I better get some board presence fast.

Valerii deploys very much in the standard way. The Kontroller module goes on the right flank to grab the 50 mm objective. The snipers go on the left flank to deal with the flag. Everything else deploys around Valerii himself.

Zahara deploys slightly of center towards the left flank. A unit of snipers go on the far right. Everthing else around her. The SKS-6 warriors advance deploys near the opponent's 50 mm.

The picture below shows the situation before some Khador on Khador action.

End of deployment

As mentioned, I have never played, nor played against Zahara. This will be interesting and most likely educational.

Round 1

Valerii does what he normally do and casts Superiority on an Avalanche. He is picking the one not opposite the opponent's Avalanche to avoid a Mexican standoff. He also casts Escort and Puissance on the Wrecking Crew. Finally he shouts At All Cost to the Wrecking Crew and moves behind the wall.

The Kontroller module on the right runs to the 50 mm, where I expect them to occupy most of battle. The Snipers to the left runs to the woods. Everybody else moves forward. On the right, they try to stay behind the forest, and on the left they stay out of the Avalanches range.

The picture below shows the situation just before Zahara makes her first move.

End of turn 1

It quickly becomes clear that Zahara has given up on Valerii's 50 mm home objective. Her whole army moves forward, cautiously eyeing the two Avalanches, whilst extending towards the left flank. Not surprisingly, her Avalanche also gets Superiority.

This is, perhaps an even more uneventful round. Both lines are eyeing each other waiting for somebody to grab the initiative. The picture below depicts the waiting for grabbing initiative.

End of round 1

Something probably needs to happen. We can't stand here all day. Let's see where this is going.

Round 2

Something needs to happen. Valerii upkeeps his spells. He then drops a wall between the forest and the enemy's line by casting Rock Wall. The right most officer moves into the cloud and gives the unit of Suppressors Pathfinder. They can now move through the woods and stand behind the wall, whilst shooting their lovely guns into something big.

The rightmost Avalanche is encouraged by this behaviour and shuffles forward along the forest edge. Not too far though. Better not let the opponent's Avalanche see me. The Kontroller modules just walks to the other side of the objective. No reason to risk not scoring. Everybody else moves forward.

This is the situation that can be seen in the picture below.

End of turn 1

Valerii might have put his hand in a hornet's nest. Let's see how hard they sting. The Bison runs over the Rock Wall and removes it. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure we played this correctly. I can't find anywhere where it says that the Rock Wall can be removed. It is not a Defense. Anyway, that is probably not going to be paramount for the result of this match.

Anyway, back to the Bison. It then offload its shots into the Suppressors. This is followed up by a unit of Winter Korps Infantry who does a very complicated combination of CRA shots, all originating from an Auto Cannon and all ending up in the Suppressors. We had to stop the clock whilst the nice Finn walked me through how this is. It took a few attempts until I got it. That is really cool and effective. I have never thought about that. So far, consider me educated. It is actually so efficient that the Suppressors go away.

The Avalanche then charges the remaining Suppressors, no longer behind a wall and removes them. It might have been helped by the other unit of infantry doing the same fancy CRA as the first unit. Razor wants to play and charges the rightmost Avalance. It doesn't do a lot.

Finally, Zahara moves forward and feats. Now I can't see most of the left flank. This was a brutal, yet educational turn. The picture below shows Valerii thinking about bringing infantry going forward. I think scenario score is 1-1.

End of round 2

This was hard. I lost both units of Suppressors and can't see the left flank. Let's see if there are any rabbit in Valerii's, otherwise very lovely hat.

Round 3

It is time to get creative. Valerii upkeeps everything. The Arkanists fuel up the rightmost Avalanche which the slams the opponent's Avalanche. Whilst doing this, it Bulldoze away Razor. The opponent's Avalanche is not completely destroyed, but in really bad shape.

The Wrecking Crew move forward and almost remove the Bison. They get a bit of support from the Avalanche, which moves up, kills the Bison and a few infantry. The two Snipers also abandon the objective terrain, and shoots at the infantry.

On the right flank, the Kontroller fires his spray at Razor and freezes it. It it now both knocked down and stationary. This opens up for the Dire Wolf to bring axe to face. Razor does, expectedly survive.

Finally, Valerii would like to stay away from Zahara. So, he moves to the left and puts up a wall. The picture below shows the result of an attempt at spring cleaning. The scenario score is now 3-1 in Zahara's favour.

End of turn 1

I can't completely remember what happened here. It is an intense game, so I even forgot to take a picture. I think that a combination of The Hounds, the last of the infantry and the Great Bear removed the leftmost Avalanche and one of the Wrecking Crew.

In Zahara's home field, not a lot happened. An ARM 22 Avalanche is difficult to deal with; in particular when your own Avalanche is in really bad shape.

Also, as Zahara has been hiding between the Retribution column to the left, Razor is outside her control area. So he does nothing. I think that was it.

Round 4

There has been a clean up of Valerii's troops. If I'm not mistaken, he is behind on points and probably not in a position to kill Zahara.

Valerii has to move back to the first wall and drop his own. He feats for two Kill Orders on the stuff on the left flank, and a Precision Strike.

On the right flank, the Dire Wolf moves back to score the objective. This is fine as Razor is still knocked down and I'm pretty sure it will be stationary again shortly. The Kontroller makes sure that Razor is indeed both knocked down and stationary again. So, it is not a threat.

In the middle, the Arkanists are told March by an officer and moves into the woods to give focus to the Avalanche and score the 40 mm objective. Said officer also goes next the that objective. For good measure, he puts a shot into Razor. The Avalanche says thank you to the Arkanists and kill the opponent's Avalanche.

The Wrecking Crew has to deal with the infantry and can't kill the Great Bear. The Mechanik moves up to block it. The officer moves into the forest to contest the 50 mm.

That is it. Valerii is slowly running out of models. Luckily, so is Zahara. The picture below shows the quickly emptying battle field. Scenario score is now 4-3 in Zahara's favour.

End of turn 1

Zahara has 15 minutes left, so does Valerii. She is most likely not going to score the right 50 mm objective, she might contest. She will probably not score the left one either. However, Valerii hasn't got the models to score that one. With the Avalanche in her home field, she is not going to scor the 40 mm either. She can contest both 40 mm, though.

On the left flank, the Great Bear completely ignores the Mechanik, walks forward and kills the two remaining Wrecking Crew. That seems excessive.

On the right flank, the infantry has work to do. They chip away at the Avalanche. Yet, there is a long way to go. The Snipers charge the Arkanists, kill one and now contest. Something also killed the officer.

The only muscle that can kill the Avlanche is the Great Bear otherwise occupied. So, Zahara needs to have a go. She does not kill it — interesting...

That is it. The picture below depicts the situation at the end of the 4. round. Scenario score is now 4-4.

End of round 4

We are moving into the 5. round. It is not often I survive this long. I wonder is the Avalanche can deal with Zahara. That seems the only viable option.

Round 5

Again, this is an intense game. So, I forgot to take a picture. I have 14 minutes on the clock. The, surprisingly animated Finn has 5 minutes.

The only clear option is for the Avalanche to kill Zahara. So, the two remaining Arkanists give it some focus, and it attempts to kill her. It fails, despite her taking heavy damage. Secondary plan is now to get as many scenario points as possible.

On the right flank, the Kontroller continues to keep Razor frozen. The Dire Wolf can now both hit Razor and score the objective as it has been moving closer to Zahara's terrain zone. Razor keeps un living. I wonder if I need another unit of Arkanists in this list.

On the left flank, the two remaining models do chip the Great Bear and make sure that they contest.

An attempt to clear out the 40 mm objective in the middle is made. Sergei does an effort and Valerii also has to move up. He stays outside of the forest and keeps it between himself and Zahara. Something also kills Zahara's Arkanists to deny the Great Bear too much focus.

There are only a few models left. So it is not a lot that happens. I'm left with 3 minutes on the clock and a scenario score of 5-4 in Valerii's favour.

The lovely Finn is almost in a panic due to the clock. So, things are happening fast. The Great Bear moves to the objective, but can't remove the contesters. The infantry runs to the 40 mm objective to contest. The Snipers move forward for some reason.

Finally, Zahara decides that with all the tricks in the book she can make it to Valerii. I can't remember the exact sequence. But the end of the story is that she arrives next to Valerii with focus and proceeds to kill him. That was unfortunate.

The picture below shows the sorry state of Valerii when having Zahara next to him.

End of turn 1, end of round 5, end of game

This was wild! I was on the brink of having Zahara. If she hadn't been able to make it, which it seriously didn't think she could, Valerii still had an Avalanche and could being himself in a position to Kill Order Zahara and fuel the Avalanche completely. That would have been a much more fun situation.

Anyway, the game was a blast. Both the Finn and I had a lot of laughs. I learned something about the Winter Korps Infantry that I need to go home and try out. I did make it to the final, which is unheard of. What a fantastic day.

Summary & Lessons Learned

Three days of intensive Warmachine is fantastic. I'm a bit tired, but in a very good mood. It is clear that I'm very rusty. So, I really need to practice more.

I think the Valerii list is pretty good. It still can't get Yara or the Shock Troopers to work. So, I'll have to rethink that list.

The venue was fantastic. Lovely large bright rooms and the hosts were impeccable. I'll return to Oslo for sure.

For the Motherland!