Tour De Cryx – Battle Report – Mortenebra Machinations and CID.
Now that I’ve finished suffering under Strugis, Its time for me to try and get some games in with our newest caster, Mortenebra 2. I received her on Thursday, assembled her, and had her ready to go for a game on Friday.
This one is a long one, so be forewarned.
Sadly, immediately after Mortenebra 2 was declared the winner of my last poll, they also announced the Bane CID. That means that while there are casters I would like to test in CID, I think that my duty is to the Tour. That said, I did want to try out a number of things in the CID this week, and kinda forced a list I thought could do well.
Originally, this was the list I decided I wanted to run:
Mortenebra, Numen of Necrogenesis [+27]
– Deathjack [23]
– Deathripper [6]
– Deathripper [6]
– Seether [13]
– Seether [13]
Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Bane Warriors (max) [17]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
– Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [3]
With the CID, though, I knew I would gain at least two points, due to the Bane Warriors PC reduction, and then I could upgrade a Seether to Barathrum. What I really wanted to do, though, was check out the three model/units that I’d been shying away from: Wraith Engine, Bane Riders, and Bane Knights. I won’t go into how excited I am about any of them, because I go over it here.
The list I came up with was:
https://conflictchamber.com/#b41bhB1w19191u1uf02B1z1N1P
Cryx Army – 75 / 75 points
Mortenebra, Numen of Necrogenesis [+27]
– Deathjack [23]
– Deathripper [6]
– Deathripper [6]
– Barathrum [15]
Wraith Engine [15]
Soul Trapper [1]
Bane Riders (max) [20]
Bane Knights (max) [16]
The loss of a heavy would be significant, I felt, but likely not backbreaking.
He brought an awesome Vyros List, the Defenders of Ios Theme.
Defenders of Ios
Dawnlord Vyros [+28]
– Griffon [8]
– Imperatus [22]
– Sphinx [13]
– Fane Knight Guardian [4]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen [0(8)]
Houseguard Thane [4]
Houseguard Thane [0(4)]
Lys Healer [3]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
Houseguard Halberdiers (max) [13]
– Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard [4]
– Soulless Escort (1) [1]
Houseguard Halberdiers (max) [13]
– Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard [4]
The Game
Setup –
I built the table using the SR 2017 Cluster method. I actually hated it prior to putting models on the table, but it created quite the dynamic table. One portion was pretty flooded with random stuff, while another portion was pretty empty, and created an interesting field, even though it LOOKS uninteresting. (PS – I love my 2.5D Terrain from Tectonic Crafts Studios. Its always been both gorgeous and easy both transport and use. Yes. Shamless plug for his awesome stuff. I use it at home almost exclusively.) I also wanted to try out the dense fog staying in play, so I put a nice ol’ cloud in there. I decided I wanted to test Recon II – The Revenge of Recon, so that was what I put on the table. This is what it looked like prior to models.
We picked our objectives – I grabbed pathfinder and he grabbed Magic Weapon. Awesome. He went first, and I chose table edges. I grabbed the one with rubble, hill, and cloud. Going first meant he was going to be all the way up the table, but at least I wasn’t getting charged bottom of 1? We were also trying as hard as we can to stick with 1 or 2 table markers, and only linear measurements, but damnit, we both have shakey hands, our models are light and made of plastic, and models kept getting knocked around as we tried to measure around corners and between models. This was the least clean – in terms of measurement – games I’d had in a long time.
Deployemnt
He deployed both units to the left, and the battlegroup mostly to the right, with a gun to either side , support and Vyros in the center.
I deployed the Bane Knights against the Halberdiers, as they had no shooting over on that side to try and whittle me down. The Riders went to the left to see if they could get into some jacks. Everything else was central to provide buffs and support where needed. AD Jacks – which were sweet, went into hiding behind buildings and dug in.
Round 1
Vyros – The leftmost halberdiers advanced moved, received Desperate pace and then ran. Imperatus wen’t into the woods, and the chimera swung wide. The second unit of halberdiers, also having advance moved, received desperate pace and then Shield Walled.
Mortenebra – Well, I felt pretty froggy and kinda safe, and felt like playing circle. He’d left three models in a vulnerable position – one to Barathrum and two to Deathjack. I wanted to start a soul train on Mortenebra, so I figured now would be the time. I ran the soul trapper into position. Barathrum charged forward and spiked a Halberdier, and triggered Drag Below. Sadly, I forgot that its RFP’d at boxed, and tossed a soul over to the Soultrapper. He then faded back out of range of Imperatus – as measured by a stick. Deathjack, Ready to do his job having received pathfinder from the Objective. He charged into two of the Halberdiers, giving their souls to the Soul trapper. He then locomoted 3″ backwards. The arc node then ran around the bane Knights, and got within 6″ of Deathjack. Morty cast locomotion again, and deathjack pulled back 2 more inches into the terrain. She then cast Failsafe on him, and moved into position, 12″ up the board. The Bane Knights – Eager to try their new wall of Steel out, ran interference with the Halberdiers, in front of Deathjack. The Bane Riders played it safe, sliding around everyone so that Imperatus couldn’t get into the army, and the Wraith Engine took it in front of the army.
Round 2
Vyros – The turn started off with a bit of hemming and hawing, and then decisive action. Halberdiers under desperate pace and Inviolable Resolve charged Barathrum under minifeat and simply erased him. I had no idea that Halberdiers could hit that hard, and that accurate. I was impressed! They then used reposition to get in the way of all of the Bane Riders, engaging most of them. The left Rifle Team took aim at one of the Knights, tagged him but failed to break armor because even with AP, its 12. The other unit charged the Bane Knights on the other side – Man, I can’t tell you how much I want them to have some sort of defensive ability – and took out 3. Two had unfortunate misses. All the guns in his army that could opened up into the Wraith Engine, and did some significant damage – though ARM 20 was instrumental in keeping that low. All his support moved up and in, and finally Issen took a run at the Wraith Engine. I thought he still had Rapid Strike – Which he did not, and though he took out a bunch of damage, didn’t have the follow up. He used reposition to get into Deathjack.
Mortenebra – Well. Jammed outside of the scenario, I’m looking at trying to recover. I’ve gotta take the infantry off, now, or I am going to end up in a huge pickle. With the Wraith Engine suffering some real damage last turn, I’m sure to lose it this turn, so I am definitely going to have it make its three attacks. I’d love to steal the Sphinx with the follow up Machine Wraith, but I don’t know that I can pull it off without some sort of miracle killing Issen and freeing up Deathjack. Allocation is easy, giving none out and keeping Failsafe up. I really need to cast Spellpiercer to make killing those pesky halberdiers easier. The first thing to go is the Soul Trapper, donating the three souls from turn 1 over to Mortenebra. It doesn’t move as there are plenty of souls to gather standing where it is. The Knights go next, and though I stupidly declare all sorts of charged, my opponent – being a good human, after my rant to myself about how stupid I am for charging the set defense unit, lets me un-declare charging as none of them made a 5″ or greater move. They do right good, and clear out a large portion of their halberdiers. I activate the Bane riders next and, not having played with them for a while, fiddle around with measuring and widgets and all sorts of things, including almost declaring another charge with them, and remembering, again, that these guys get two attacks and can chew through nearly the whole unit, if positioned correctly, and I manage to do that, removing all but one that I made attacks against. I then reposition into the zone to contest. Sadly, I reposition one out of the zone. The Wraith Engine goes next and removes three of the nearby halbs, turning one of them into a Machine Wraith. I want to activate him, but I leave him for later. With few things left Deathjack smashes into Issen and kills both his mount and him. I then use what remains to locomotion forward. I durdle my arc nodes around, trying to get into good positions, but that just hasn’t been the case in the game, and lately. Next up us the machine wraith, who launches himself at the Sphinx, hits does a few damage, and wanders him over to the griffon to take an attack on him in the back arc, doing a fair bit of damage, and of course facing the back boardedge. If I had guns, man. Finally, Mortenebra, who was supposed to have gone first, goes, moves a bit left, and then locomotes Deathjack into the zone through the arc node. Good times.
Round 3
Vyros – His turn started off in the tank for a few minutes, including measuring to DJ to see if Imperatus was in range of a couple sidesteps to Deathajck who was thankfully safe, but once he was ready, he jumped right in. Vyros allocated plenty of focus to all his jacks, popped feat, and dropped mobility. Halberdiers jammed into the Bane Knights once again, and came up a bit short, leaving 4 alive. His other halberdier went in to engage almost all of the bane riders, who’d jammed up right nice. The griffon launched himself into the Bane Riders and summarily smashed two of them off the board. The Sphinx, now with a huge movement and reach, simply walked over to the Wraith engine and punched it a time or two, removing it from the table. Then, Imperatus charged into and proceeded to remove the remainder of the Bane Riders. My entire right flank had crumbled in something like 7 attacks. It was discouraging. The rest of the guns fired pot shots, and the Thanes started getting involved as well, but for the most part, his turn destroying my army was well in hand. Somewhere in there my Soultrapper, loaded up on souls, was dropped. Poor guy. He scored a point, having eliminated everything on that side of the board.
Mortenebra – Well. It looked like DJ was within range of Imperatus, and I could get a jack out there for flank, I could take him down. I need to clear a lane, which could be problematic. I measured out the distance for deathjack, coming up an inch short, but locomotion is a thing. Thankfully I had those three souls from turn 1! I had little else to co off of, so I started the plan in action. The Bane Knights needed to roll statistically high, and they did, to clear off the models engaging Deathjack. Doing so left only a few Halberdiers against my four Knights. The Deathripper that was engaged attacked and removed the offending, blocking model from Deathjacks path. Mortenebra activated and popped her feat. She then lobbed, after much painful debate, a Curse of Shadows at Imperatus, connecting. I then shot an arcantrix bolt at it, thinking that I was going to make my chances of hitting easier, and it failed. I then Locomoted Deathjack 2″ to be safe. The final deathripper moved up to engage Imperatus. Deathjack, now free to move about the board, launched himself at Imperatus. His first attack, under feat and with curse of shadows up, was hitting at Dice +2. After connecting, I rolled the damage dice: 6,6,5,5. Not terrible! The second giant paw dropped him and booted up the phoenix protocol. One Horns attack and a third meat fist, and he was dropped for good. I then used a point to locomote, and took the last attack on the Sphinx, hoping to soften it up, no flank, but I did some damage. With Imperatus removed, and damage done to the Sphinx, I figured it was good enough to pass the turn. I forgot to run a warjack into the zone, so he scores, again, going up 2-0
Round 4
Vyros – Edging up on scenario, and starting to pull ahead, he set about trying to remove my army. The sphinx and the Griffon both received focus, and later the +2 Str from the Arcanists, something he’d been doing all game to great affect. The combined power of the Sphinx and the griffon, however, were not powerful enough to bring the deathjack down, leaving him with 4 boxes left, and thanks to fail safe, completely operational. Desperate, he even fired the AP gun into the melee, but to not avail, damaging the Sphinx. Seeing some opportunity, the Thanes both fired shots at Mortenebra, dealing a small amount of damage, as did the Heavy Rifle Team. Vyros moved forward cautiously, not wanting to get smashed and end the game, and advanced the Control Point counter to 3-0
Mortenbra – Well. This was going pretty well. I’d expected to lose Deathjack to his counter punch, but I’d been saved by failsafe. Mortenebra was starting to feel the pain of the random shots, so I’d have to be careful from now on. Deathjack got his allocated 5, and the Deathrippers were each allocated one as well. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was a plan! Deathjack, emboldened by his defiant continued existence, proceeded to tear up the poor Sphinx, and thanks to Mortenebra, I regained 9 boxes when doing so. Unfortunately, I was unable – even after the activations of both Deathrippers, to eliminate the Griffon. With Flank on Vyros, that was going to be extremely costly. Mortenebra, knowing that the VP count was going to spiral real quickly, charged over to the other zone and started plucking off infantry models, and swallowing their souls when the Lyss healer wasn’t within 8″. Pest. The Bane Knights, the three that remained, tried unsuccessfully to clear the zone for Mortenebra, and the turn 
Round 5
Vyros – with dwindling resources on his end, and mine in a vulnerable position, he figured it was time to get involved personally. The griffon contributes what it can, broken and beaten as it is, before Vyros Charges in, swinging his massive blade. With more swings than feels is really neccesary, he takes down Deathjack, the great machine finally stilling, and dealing some massive damage to the first of two Deathrippers. Both Thanes assault Mortenbra, with one doing a little damage, but the other charging weaponmaster doing a significant amount, reduced by focus. The Heavy rifle team takes a solid shot at the Objective, doing serious damage. Having failed to kill the objective, or clear the zones, we sit, again, at 3-0
Mortenebra – With one jack, and a fast one, remaining, I needed to rid myself of that pest before it ran over and killed me, somehow. I also needed to clear this damned zone so I could start scoring. I allocated the full amount to the healthy Deathripper, and kept the rest- including the pair of souls turned focus, for myself. The Deathripper managed to kill the griffon, much to my relief, and between the Bane Knights and Mortenebra I was able to clear the zone and get rid of the Lyss Healer. I finally started scoring, and the game went to 3-2
Round 6
Vyros – We’ve so little left. He wants to go back to the flag and start scoring 2 points by taking both, but its just not feasible. Without flank, he spends his entire stack destroying both of the Deathrippers. the rest of his army regroups, with a mechanic and a Heavy Rifle team taking a large chuck out of the objective, leaving it with only a few. He scores his zone, and contests both my flag and my zone. 2-4
Mortenebra – Unsatisfied, and unwilling to quit, Mortenebra and her three Bane Knights fight on. Mortenebra moves over to the flag and the zone, and eats a massive freestrike – one that would have killed her without focus. She then proceeds to pluck off the contesting model and swallows his soul, spending the rest of the stack to heal. The Banes run into position to attack the Objective next round, and sends one of their number to contest the flag and zone in such a position that he cannot be slain, by Vyros, while on the flag. Someone else has to do it. I score both the flag and the zone, scoring 2.
Round 7
Vyros – This is it, the final push. He goes for broke. The Rifle Team picks off the objective, and Vyros, Full of rage and fury, launches a fully boosted stranglehold at the poor bane knight in the woods, removing him from existence With the Zone and Flag both controlled and the Objective destroyed, the game goes to 7-4.
Mortenebra – Its no big deal. I only have to destroy the objective, kill two models, both of which are contesting the flag and one of which is contesting the zone, and somehow contest both the flag and the zone, again, with three models of my own. Mortenebra keeps all of it, with nothing to allocate too. She moves forward, within 10″ of the Objective, and 10″ of the model outside of the zone. I toss a bolt at the model outside the zone, and connect, removing him. I take a swing with my giant crab claws at the other model nearby, removing him. The zone and the flag are both mine. I can easily contest the zone and flag with one of the two remaining Knights. That means the other has to kill the objective. Time to give him some help. I toss a boosted damage and an unboosted damage Arcantrick bolt at the objective, and through sweet dice, leave it on three hit points. A single run/charge order later, and the objective is dead, the zone and flag contested, and the game is mine! CP score 7-7
Conclusion
This game was great. I got a bit salty when my Wraith Engine and my Bane Riders all died in some 3 activations, but that was how it needed to be. Locomotion as a Faux-Sprint on Deathjack was amazing, and much stronger with deathjack because he can locomote himself between targets, if needed. Failsafe was extremely vital to the way the game played out as the +2 armor clearly saved him with only 4 boxes left after the Sphinx got finished with him. The Bane Riders and the Wraith Engine both performed admirably, with the Riders – mainly due to 2″ melee, being able to participate after they were jammed. The Wraith Engine creating a Machine Wraith, though, was completely clutch, keeping Deathjack safe and enabling him to take down Imperatus and the Sphinx later in the game.
It was an awesome, awesome game.