WarmaHordes Battle Report - Cygnar vs. Skorne - 50 pts

It's been a while since the last non-tournament battle report, so (in the words of Bruce Buffer), iiiiit's time! In this one we have some of the usual suspects playing in this report: Beau, with his Cygnar and Jamar, with his Skorne. There lists were as follows: Beau's list:

• Kraye
• Stormclad
• Centurion
• Ol' Rowdy
• Minute Man
• Gun Mages + UA + marshalled Hunter
• The Black 13th
• Journeyman Warcaster
• Squire

Jamar's list:

• Hexeris1
• Titan Gladiator
• Titan Bronzeback
• Cyclops Brute
• Basilisk Krea
• Basilisk Drake
• Max. Nihilators
• Max. Immortals
• Max. Beast Handlers
• Ancestral Guardian x 2

(The two of them may have had one or two different inclusions to their lists, but with the interest of having fully painted armies for these battle reports, some concessions were made.)

Deployment: Beau won the roll off and chose to go first. From the top of the pic down, he deployed: the AD'd Hunter, Gun Mages, Rowdy, Kraye, Centurion, Stormclad, Journeyman, the Black 13th and the AD'd Minute Man. From top down, Jamar deployed: Immortals, Ancestral Guardian, Drake, Beast Handlers, Bronzeback, Hexeris, Brute, Gladiator, Krea, the other Ancestral Guardian and the Nihilators.

The scenario for this game was Ammunition Run, in which the goal is to control the zone and destroy the enemy objectives. As with all current Steamroller scenarios, first to 5 points wins. The grind balls are objectives and the scrap heap is simply a hill; everything else is what it looks like.

Cygnar turn 1: Kraye gave 1 focus to both the the Stormclad and Centurion. He then activated and cast Full Tilt (target warjack in his battlegroup doubles its SPD, but can't make ranged attacks) on the Centurion and advanced. The now SPD 8 Centurion ran up into the zone, followed by the Stormclad, which ran behind the wall, as well as Rowdy, who ran up next to the building. The Gun Mages ran around the building (as did their marshalled Hunter) and the Black 13th and the Minute Man ran up near the forest. Lastly, Jr. and the Squire ran up.

Kraye's force runs forward.

Skorne turn 1: The Immortals went first and (receiving +2 movement for beginning their activation in the CMD range of an Ancestral Guardian) ran forward 10", with their "supervising" AG running up behind. The beasts all ran onto the hill, except for the Krea, which advanced and used its animus (friendly faction models within 2" get +2 DEF & ARM against ranged attacks). Hexeris advanced and cast Soul Slave (target warbeasts auto-passes THR checks and can channel spells) on the Brute and Death March (+2 MAT and Vengeance) on the Nihilators. Everything else ran up.

A lot of vengeful Skorne moving up the field.

A Cygnar perspective.

A Skorne perspective.

Cygnar turn 2: Kraye took a focus from the Squire, upkept Full Tilt and gave 3 focus to the Centurion and the Minute Man. The Hunter aimed and shot a crit Brutal Damage, armor-piercing shot at the Ancestral Guardian amidst the Immortals, but didn't crit and only did 3 damage from a boosted roll. The Gun Mages then advanced and shot at the Immortals (mostly Snipe shots, with a couple Thunderbolts) and destroyed 4. The Black 13th advanced and Ryan shot her Mage Storm shot at a Nihilator, hitting 3 and killing 2, with 1 toughing it out (and leaving the pow 12 causing 4" cloud effect in play). The other two ineffectually shot at an Ancestral Guardian. The Journeyman moved laterally, put Arcane Shield on the Minute Man and shot and killed the previously tough Nihilator. The Stormclad advanced and shot/destroyed an Immortal and the Minute Man advanced towards the hill, but got counter charged by the Bronzeback for 8 damage, losing no systems.

The counter-charging Bronzeback giving the Minute Man the old Stink Face, a la Rikishi.

The Minute Man then spent a focus to Bounding Leap onto the hill in front of the Gladiator, mostly as a roadblock. It used it's flak field, doing 2 damage to the Titan and toughing the Nihilator. When it entered the Mage Storm it took 1 damage, taking out one of its arms, but it boosted damage with the good arm to deal 3 more damage to the Gladiator and force another tough check on the Nihilator. The Centurion walked up to the Bronzeback, destroyed an Immortal with the shield and then critted with the initial spear attack for sustained attack on the Bronzeback. After buying 3 additional spear attacks, the Bronzeback was left with 10 health. Kraye moved up behind cover and Rowdy toed into the zone.

Cygnar gets first blood.

Skorne turn 2: Both units do their Vengeance moves; the Immortals advance and do a couple damage to the Centurion and the Nihilators try to round the objective, avoiding the Mage Storm. Hexeris upkept both spells and both Ancestral Guardians now have souls from Nihilators dying. The Nihilators got the run/charge order, with the three that had both LoS and charge lanes charging. One charged Lynch of the Black 13th (killing him, but missing his Berserk attack on Ryan) and two charged the Stormclad (one hitting for 7 damage and the other missing). Next the Drake advanced and did a fully boosted spray on the Hunter, doing 12 damage. The Immortals then charged, with two on the Hunter (bringing it down to 1 cortex box) and two on the Centurion (moving less than 3" and doing no damage). The Spell Slaved Brute ran towards the enemy objective and Hexeris moved towards it and channeled a boosted Obliteration (range 10", pow 15, AOE 4") though it at the Gun Mages, killing 3 grunts and the UA (they failed their CMD check) and did 2 damage to the objective. The Beast Handlers advanced to Enrage the Titans and the Gladiator wrecked the Minute Man. Unfortunately for Jamar, during Hexeris' activation he'd forgotten to heal the mind of the Bronzeback. It attacked the Centurion, missed two initial attacks, bought attacks, boosted damage twice and when all was said and done it left the jack with less than half its boxes, but had only taken out the movement. The AG near the zone charged the Centurion (doing a couple damage), the AG by the forest ran and the Krea advanced and used it's animus again.

The units charge, but the literally mindless Bronzeback fails to wreck the Centurion.

Nihilators getting in the mix.

Cygnar turn 3: Kraye took another focus from the Squire, upkept nothing and gave 2 focus to the Centurion and 3 to the Stormclad. The Gun Mages rallied and the Hunter swung harmlessly at the Immortals. Watts (of the Black 13th) did 2 damage to the nearby AG with a Brutal Damage shot and Ryan walked into Gunfighter range of the nearest Nihilator, shot another Mage Storm and caught 3 of them, but all made their tough checks. Kraye used his feat (jacks can change facing, get free charges at +2" of movement and boosted melee attack rolls), cast Full Tilt on the Stormclad and shot a Nihilator dead. Next, the Centurion destroyed an Immortal with its shield, finished off the Bronzeback and attacked the AG engaging it, bringing it down to 3 boxes. Wishing the Nihilators weren't still in the way, the Stormclad trampled over 5 of them, but 3 made their tough checks. It took 3 damage from a Defensive Strike from the AG, then bought two sword attacks on the Gladiator, bringing it down to 8 health, with the Electro leaps killing 1 Beast Handler and forcing yet another successful tough check on a Nihilator. The Squire walked back, Jr cast Arcane Shield on Ol' Rowdy and Rowdy charged the formerly tough Nihilators, killing two with impact attacks (it's a Kraye thing) and smashing a third with the hammer.

Bronzeback dies and the VERY tough Nihilators get cut down to size.

The Stormclad wails on the Gladiator.

Skorne turn 3: The remaining 2 Immortals made their Vengeance moves (with one of them finishing off the Hunter) and Hexeris upkept Soul Slave. The AG in front of the Centurion did a couple damage with a boosted damage roll, while the other AG charged Rowdy (doing no damage), but bought a boosted attack on Ryan and killed her (and Watts passed his CMD check). The Immortals charged Rowdy in the back (doing 1 damage) and the last Nihilator got up and advanced. The the Drake advanced towards the center objective with the intention to spray the Journeyman (who Jamar mistook the Gun Mage by the shack for), but instead shot a fully boosted spray at Kraye and did 6 damage. The Brute then ran up next to the Drake and Hexeris arced a boosted Obliteration at Kraye, rolled the 11 he needed to hit and boosted damage, doing 4 more points, bringing Kraye down to 8 health. The Beast Handlers healed the mind and spirit of the Gladiator, which then walked over and, after filling up on fury, managed to take out the Stormclad on it's final attack.

Kraye get's damaged and the Gladiator smashes the Stormclad.

Rock beats scissors, but it doesn't beat Arcane Shield.

Cygnar turn 4: Jr. upkept Arcane Shield on Rowdy and Kraye took the last focus from the Squire, putting 3 on each remaining heavy. The Gun Mages went, with one destroying an Immortal engaging Rowdy, one missing and the other missing and hitting the Centurion in the back for 1 damage. The Centurion walked over to the Gladiator (taking 4 damage from an Immortal's free strike) to finish it off and did some damage to the Krea with a shield and bought spear attack. Ol' Rowdy walked over to the Brute and, after using all his focus to buy attacks, left the Cyclops knocked down with 5 health left. Watts then shot it with a Brutal Damage shot for 1 more point and Kraye and the Squire ran to the far side of the nearby forest. Lastly, the Journeyman ran back, putting the shack between her and the battle. Rowdy contests the zone to keep Jamar from scoring.

The Gladiator gets smote and Kraye "repositions".

Skorne turn 4: The remaining Immortals did their Vengeance moves, doing a couple more damage to the Centurion. After reeving, Hexeris was short on fury, thus he cut for 2. The AG hit the Centurion with a boosted damage roll for another 5 damage and the Krea finished it off with 2 boosted damage rolls. The Drake walked towards Kraye to attempt to spray him (there was an Immortal behind the forest he could have targeted), but upon completing its movement it was clear it wouldn't have range, so it shot a boosted spray at Watts and missed. The Beast Handlers ran, with the one on point running closer to Kraye than the rest. Hexeris then charged that one (killed it) and then cast a boosted Oblit at Kraye. He hit and boosted damage (sitting on 1 fury), needing an 11 to kill him outright, but rolled a 10, leaving him with 1 health! The last Nihilator ran over to "tie up" Kraye and the nearby AG spent it's last soul to get +2 movement and walked towards Kraye around the forest, but was juuust out of melee range. Kraye survives by the skin of his horse's teeth.

Hexeris beckons Kraye to come a little closer.

Cygnar turn 5: Kraye gave 3 focus to Rowdy and kept 3. First the Gun Mages destroyed an Immortal that was somewhat in the way and put 7 damage on the objective in the zone, followed by Jr shooting it for another 4 damage. Watts advanced and shot Hexeris in the back arc with a Brutal Damage shot, but rolled a 6 on three dice, doing no damage (c'mon, it is Watts after all). Kraye walked through the forest (ignoring free strikes thanks to Parry), cast Full Tilt on Ol' Rowdy and fired a boosted carbine shot at Hexeris, doing 2 damage. Rowdy activated next and advanced 10" to juuust make it into melee with Hexeris. First he hit him with the open fist doing 5 damage and then rolled double 5's to crit knockdown Hexeris with the initial quake hammer attack. Jamar transferred the 12 damage that that hit did, but then got splattered by the next bought hammer attack.

Rowdy crits early and flattens Hexy.

Hexy's come-hither finger attracted entirely the wrong suitor.

Aftermath: That was a closer game than I'd expected it to be. Earlier on it looked like Beau had the upper hand, in part due to his Gun Mages and Black 13th whittling away at the Skorne infantry and part due to Jamar essentially giving up his Bronzeback for free by brain-farting and not healing it's mind (and thus not taking out the Centurion in the piece trade). Things turned around a bit later when Jamar's units closed (the Nihilators made 10 tough checks) and the Drake and channeled Oblits had Kraye scared for his life. The end of the game was seemingly decided by movements/rolls being very close, one way or another; Hexeris was juuust short of killing Kraye, the AG was juuust out of range to get to him (and have a shot at finishing him off) and Rowdy was juuust in range to get to Hexeris. Speaking of which, after that battle Kraye should really give that Squire an extra pat on the head, as if he hadn't had that extra focus from it that turn he'd have been toast. Jamar's list was also slightly disadvantaged against Beau's Kraye list, as there were literally no good targets for Hexeris' feat. For the most part I thought both of their lists were decent, though as mentioned above, some concessions had to be made to play fully painted armies for this report. I know Beau would've liked to have his Stormwall in his list, though I think what he went with was just fine for a Kraye list. I know Jamar would've liked to have had Aptimus Marketh, a couple of his newly acquired Will Breakers and (just maybe) Molik Karn in his list. With Death March, having two 10-man Vengeance units with Reach isn't too shabby and all the beasts were just fine. Really the only fat that I felt could easily be trimmed were the Ancestral Guardians, as he didn't really have any stellar buffs for them nor enough souls to keep them fueled. He intentionally didn't bring the Gatorman Posse and Task Master, as he wanted to mix it up a bit. On the bright side, it inspired Jamar to put some more paint on his Skorne.