The Enemy is Legion!!!

Ok so its not as dramatic as the title suggests but guess which faction I played against this week at the club??

The order of the day was speed playing, the aim being to get two 50pt games completed within 3 hours 30 mins of club game time (as prep for the two upcoming tournaments).  The chess clock was set for 1 hour each and off we went.  Unfortunately we didn't have a chess clock so an app on my phone substituted which meant no photos for the blogg - doh another rookie mistake!

Harbinger of Menoth vs. Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight (Legion)

Loss: Assassination

Well I'd blame this on the fact I was rushing or that I didn't mind losing after 25 minutes of total game time, but these would both be lies...

So the forces, well I took what I was hoping was an improved version of what I used in my last game vs Siege.  I had a tweak here and there (removing the pointless Deliverers comepletely) and managed to fit in the Avatar at the expense of wracks, half the bastions, the deliverers and a vassal.  However, I was up against a 10 model Legion force (with a Blightbringer - now that is a very cool model!) so I thought that this would be worth it for the extra armour cracking.

What materialised was sadly very similar (although it happened much much quicker) to the game against Siege.  I admit from the outset my mind was purely on killing the Blightbringer - its a recent addition to the club and no one has taken it down yet.  

The first two turns were a bit of minor piece trading (although I remembered Martyrdom to keep some Errants alive) finalised at the end of my turn 2 whereby I lined up the Avatar and a Reckoner for a charge on the Blightbringer and the second Reckoner for a strike on one fo the pair of opposition heavy Warbeasts.  Harby floated forward and feated trying to hold off the minor beasts and caster so I would only need to endure the heavies.

Sadly what I missed in all of my smugness as I hit the clock to begin Legion turn 3 was that Harby was out in the open, with only 3/4 focus and thanks to martyrdom had taken around 5 boxes of damage...  The short version is that up walked a Ravagore and burned Harby down to a single point of damage, however she was on fire.  This meant that for me to stay in the game I needed to roll a 1 or 2...I didn't and after 25 minutes of gaming that was it.

Lessons Learnt - 

• Harby needs a Devout, shield guard would have meant that the hit was taken by a jack and she could have survived to fight another day.  All being well this would have completely changed the game and after my subsequent charge would hopefully have put me in the drivers seat.
• Don't get carried away with killing stuff, theres no point setting up a world ending turn if you don't get the opportunity to play that turn! Which leads to..
• Concentrate and don't get so carried away with  the timer/promise of glory that simple mistakes are made.

However it did mean we definitely had enough time for a second game!

Grand Scrutator Severius vs. Vayl, Consul of Everblight (Legion)

Loss: Assassination (Also losing 2-1 on Scenario Points)

Well feeling somewhat deflated I opted for a caster I was more familiar with in the second game.  It also gave me a chance to use a list that has been sat in the back of my mind.  I've never been convinced with pSevy as a magic user prefering to use all his focus to fuel 2-3 jacks and having him hide somewhere at the back.  However this time I went the opposite way, fuelled him up for 2x Ashes to Ashes per turn through Blessing of Vengeance and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities!

Anyway this game was played on the same battlefield as before however I opted to swap sides as a fetchin bunker took my eye for Sevy to hide in, especially as this scenario had killbox.  I went first and ran everything forward and got all of ready for a lot of shooting turn 2.  In my opponents turn the Flameguard took a beating from the croaks and two Ravagores.

Back to my turn two and I was in such a rush I missed several crucial things, the first being  to use the Hierophant before Sevy (so only 1 Ashes-to-Ashes this turn, killing two croaks) and the second being the Choir (although it allowed me to use Passage which may not have been too bad).  The Flameguard went into Shield Wall and prepared for another round of being beaten with sticks, whilst the jacks advanced ready for some turn 3 charges.  In Legion turn 2 the Croaks setup the Flameguard with burning Oil, who were then ignited by a Ravagore and shot to bits with Strider solo Bows and Croak shots (leaving only 3 left by the end of the turn).  The Avatar was jumped by an Angelius then ran away and hid behind the opposition objective.  Finally a good shot into the trench from a Ravagore killed Tristan (disabling the Recokner) and the Vassal of Menoth.  The benefits of this army were that the Ravagores couldn't touch the Vessel of Judgement and the Hex Hunters couldn't touch the Avatar - maybe it does have legs...  Additionally, at the end of the turn I gave away two Scenario points by being in kill box :'-(.  Not the best turn of Warmachine I've played.

So my turn three and now I'd written out my idiot sheet Ashes-to-Ashes made up for the last turn by killing a maximum number of 14 models (including all of the guardians around the spawning pot - go Sevy!).  The Avatar broke away from a lesser beast and smashed the opposition objective (1 point to me).  Across the other side of the board the Vessel blasted at a ravagore with little effect and the remaining Flameguard charged to get in the way of the Assasination attempt that I knew was coming from a Ravagore.  Hit the clock and the Flamegaurd were quickly cleared out by the Strider solos, up walked a Ravagore and spat at Sevy boom down to 5 hitpoints but he was alive!!  Then the silly bit on my behalf.  Vayl shot the Ravagore in the back turning it into an arc node, then blasted Sevy with a spell to kill him and the game was up.

The more awake of you are now probably thinking, but that can't happen Sevy is immune to spells! I know, I know - although clearly I don't.  A massive oversight on my part which has now happened twice (the first time against Cryx).

Ah well, it was a good game and everything went fairly well (although the Flameguard were rubbish!!!), I learnt lots of things (amazing that if you play longer you learn more, lol) and enjoyed it so all in all a good evenings gaming.

Lessons Learnt - 

• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!
• Giving away 2 points on scenario for kill box is very silly - don't do it!
• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!!
• Sevy, Blessing, Wracks and a Hierophant killed 16 models over two turns - thats awesome keep going.
• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!!!
• Ask for stealth, the Vessel of Judgement wasted a shot (of the two it took in a game) on a stealth target - completely unnecessarily.
• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!!!!   Remember, remember, remember....It may not have altered the final outcome but at least it would have made my opponent work, and this is the second time it has happened, lol.