Warmachine. Ashlynn against the Slone (and) Ranger(s).

Last December I had a bit of a Warmachine melt down! 

Since then I had only played two games.

One was a 50 pointer against Lano as it seemed the most appropriate way to see out a year of absolute misery that was 2014. To my surprise it turned out to be a cracking game that we unfortunately had to pull short due to time constraints.

The other game was against Tim at the Creative Biscuit. His only other opponent would have been Russell and Tim was not ready for that kick in the nuts yet! Again it developed into a cracking game of 30 points!

So as is the way with poisonous relationships after a while you start looking back, remembering the good times and wondering "Was it really so bad?".

As a consquence I have found myself picking this up more and more often to have a read..........

Yep the Warmachine Rulebook. . . . I guess everyone has their poison.

With Mordheim on a hiatus at the moment a couple of us met up at Lanos to have a play of Warmachine. With trepidation I entered the room and set down 30 points of Rebellion.

Damon sets down 30 points of Cygnar with the caster Slone. I guess the all black paint job is their stealth uniform.

"We're all black. You can't see us!

 I win initiative and bolt forward in the first turn.

Looking at the cards and talking to Damon it looks like I have brought a knife to a gun fight as I have brought a shooting force to duke it out with a far superior gun line!

As a consquence I decide to run the Risen forward to tie up the Cygnar forces. I hope Alexia will be in position to collect Cygnar corpses or at least get the Cygnar caster in her Disruption bubble.

I leave one Risen out of combat, drive the Mule forward (with Sam) and then use steam power to extend the Mules range to blast the risen in the back. I am hoping to get the critical to blast the risen and rangers into the forces behind. Unfortnately I fail to get the critical. Am I starting to regret my decision to return to Warmachine?

The good news is at least Alexia gets to reap a couple of corpses. At this point I spot Taryn hidden amongst the sea of black. Well she is going to have to go as she could really nerf my end game! I move two Mages forward to pop her off.

In Damon's turn my blocking Risen are destroyed. Damon then demonstrates the destructive power of his gunline . My Nomad takes a kicking but manages to last the turn. Goodness knows what the damage would have been if I had not run in the Risen.

My turn and I continue to hold the centre while continuing my advance up the left flank. I move Gorman forwards and pop smoke to save the Nomad from another kicking.

This just means my Mule is left out on a limb and is swiftly destroyed. My large wreck marker continues to be my most used miniature (I really should get round to painting that up)!

The destruction of the Risen also means Damon gets to dominate the centre circle and Ashlynn takes seven damage.

I figure now is the time to strike as Damon is in position to pop his feat next turn which will probably spell disaster for my forces.

First I move Reinholdt forward to furnish Ashlynn with the extra shot and make my first cock up by blocking her in behind her Mages!!!!! I had deliberately left a gap between the the Mages to allow Ashlynn through to pop her feat before unleashing the critical brutals of the Mages.

Having cocked that up I am forced to move the Mages forward and take a pop at the Slone Ranger. I do sufficent damage but who knows what would have happened if the 'brutals' had been unleashed?

Next I cast 'quicken' on Gorman and then move Ashlynn forward and pop her feat to have a go at Slone. I go all in and use all my remaining focus to boost attack and Damage rolls. For once the dice are kind and I roll a decent amount of damage.

On my second shot (thanks to Reinholdt) the headache begins when one of the extra die I roll knocks into a die I have already rolled and bumps it from a four to a one! This means I fail the attack roll by ONE!!!!

Then in an echo of experiences past, Slone is left on ONE DAMAGE BOX!!!!!

I get a real sinking feeling in my stomach!

Next I move the 'quickened' Gorman forward to 'black oil' the Cygnar light Jack and get Slone in the AOE. Of course even rolling four die I miss and then the AOE deviates in the wrong direction!

The sinking feeling deepens!

I am determined to still pull this one out of the bag, so convert a Risen into a Thrall and go crashing into the back of the Cygnar Caster. I started in her back arc so only need to roll an eight. The way my luck is now running I except the worst but manage to roll the hit!

The four die of damage are JUST enough to finish off the Cygnar caster!!!!

All I can think is "thats my only unpainted bloody model on the field!"