Saturday, July 22, 2017

AAR Trolls VS Protectorate : Revenge of Menoth

Last Sunday saw another great day of gaming for our small but slowly growing circle.  Sunday was also the date of the big tournament in Osaka!!  The results are in, and DanTrollBlitzer's teammate Rantei took 3rd place (woot) and DTB's OTHER teammate, the Kid, took 7th.  First place was snagged by a member of the French WTC (World team championship) team, Tom.  Congratulations!  Second went to an up and coming rookie from Osaka.  He will be leading Team Osaka during the Japan Team Championship in October so... yay and yikes?!  I look forward to getting my ass handed to me in October!

Without our teammates to practice with, DanTrollBlitzer, Leland and I were left to our own devices, and so Menoth was allowed to take on two consecutive matches, one against the Trolls and one against the Gators.  First up, a nail biter of a match between Jarl 1 and Reznik, the Wrath of Ages!  We decided to run the "Recon" scenario since we thought it's the only one that is not changing between the Steamroller 2016 and Steamroller 2017 pack (as it turns out, we were wrong, and it did not make it into SR17).  This scenario uses a rectangular zone in the center of the board with an objective on either end, and a flag off to each side.  Dominate a flag for 1 control Point, control or dominate the zone for 1 control point, first to five wins!  75 points per army, and off we go!
DTB, ready to rock and roll!


The forces for today's battle!
Army List:  Trollkin, controlled by DanTrollBlitzer.  According to DTB, this list is all about running and shooting.  Run the Long Riders to put pressure in the opponent's back field, while using the Bombers to blast everything that moves forward.
     Warlock- Jarl 1
                     Trollkin Runebearer
                     Dire Troll Bomber X2
                     Dire Troll Mauler
                     War Wagon
                     Long Riders (Full Unit)
                     Horthol, Long Rider Hero
                     Whelps (5)
                     Objective = Bunker

Army List:  Protectorate of Menoth, controlled by Commissar Koala.  This is my anti-Hordes list... Reznik's "The Flesh Is Weak" spell is a BEAST for Warlocks... suddenly your beast can't run, charge, slam or trample... and with two arc nodes, he can get this spell off twice if I need to in a pinch!
     Warlock - Reznik 2, Wrath of Ages
                      Heirophant
                      Scourge of Heresy
                      Blood of Martyrs
                      Guardian
                      Revenger
                      Avatar of Menoth
                      Idrian Skirmishers (full unit)
                           -Unit attachment (Chieftain and Scout)
                      Choir of Menoth (minimum)
                      Objective = Effigy of Valor

Roll them dice!  PoM came out on top of the roll, but I decided to take the board edge to capitalize on the extra deployment space, so Trolls set up first.

Set up: Trollkin

Trolls ready to roll!
      Making the Trolls set up first is great for my Reznik army.  Since my main goal is to make sure the beasts I don't want to charge me are caught in the Flesh is Weak spell, I need to make sure that those beasts are within range of either one of the two Arc nodes or Reznik himself... making the Troll set up first lets me put my Arc nodes where they need to go instead of having DTB put his beasts as far from danger as possible.  DTB placed his Long Riders on the right flank, Bomber A next to them with one whelp behind it, Trollsus, and then Jarl almost in the center of his zone.  Bomber B and the Mauler went next to him, one whelp each, with the War Wagon and Horthol taking the left.

Set up:  PoM
Forward!  For Menoth!
Trying to learn my lesson from last month, I made sure that all terrain was accounted for before I set up.  Luckily, Reznik and the Idrians have pathfinder, so keeping Reznik behind the forest, I knew that he would still be free to move, and I could keep the jacks out of the terrain between him and the lake.  The choir filled in between the jacks as best they could.  They would be instrumental in derailing DTB's Bomber plan by keeping my jacks from being able to be targeted by non-magical shooting (Reznik also can't be targeted as long as he has one focus on him, due to the Wracks attached to his chariot).  The Avatar filled in on the other side of the lake, facing off against the Long Riders.  I decided to put him there since he makes his own focus and therefore does not need to stay within Reznik's control range.

Advanced Deployment:  Trollkin
     NONE!!  So sad....

Advanced Deployment:  PoM
     I put the pathfinding Idrians as a shield out in front of all my important stuff, just in case DTB had some movement shenanigans that might come into play faster than I anticipated.  They chose Horthol as their prey, and will hope to take him out before he becomes a problem.

Our Story:  While visiting an outlying settlement to bring Menoth's righteous justice to some villagers who had strayed from the True Law, Reznik's forces were set upon by a Trollkin force from the United Kriels.  In the town square, a small stockpile of weapons collected by Reznik's forces, the goal of the Trollkin forces, are watched over by an effigy of an ancient Paladin Hero of the Protectorate, which Reznik's forces are loathe to see damaged by the interlopers.  Both forces rush to save their objectives while depriving the other army of theirs. 

Round One:  Trollkin
     The Runebearer (Trollsus) moved forward and put Harmonious Exaltation on Jarl.  Jarl activated next and cast a bunch of spells.  Quicken on the Long Riders, Wield Secrets on Bomber A, and Tactical Supremacy on Bomber B.  He then walked forward and FEAT! creating d3+3 clouds.... due to a terrible roll, that meant 4 clouds sprang up to protect the Long Riders, Jarl, and Trollsus from the Idrians trying to take a few pot shots on the first turn.  Bomber A then riled and ran into the forest, again to try and protect himself from the Idrians (who knew that big burly Trolls would be so afraid of little puny hummies!).  The Mauler riled and ran near the objective, followed by Bomber B, who also riled and ran behind the clouds.  The whelps ran to keep up with their big brothers, while Horthol and the War Wagon ran forward beside the cabin.  Finally, the Long Riders (or, Tuffaloes, if you will) ran forward into the lake.  They do not have pathfinder, so they got a little bogged down, but with their high speed, it won't stop them next turn from wreaking havoc in my deployment zone.

Round One: Protectorate of Menoth
     Hmmmm, those Tuffaloes are fast.  If I don't put a halt to their advance, I could be in some pretty big trouble.  But before I take care of that, the easy stuff.  All four jacks powered up, and the Avatar received a measly 2 focus from the Creator... hmmm, Menoth certainly doesn't like to make things easy.  The Idrians shifted to the right to try and keep out of the way of the Long Riders bearing down on them.  Five were able to make a combined ranged attack on Horthol, their prey.  Unbelievably, they were able to destroy the Great White Buffalo he was riding, forcing him to march across the field next turn!  Reznik moved forward and cast Death March on the Idrians, since we already know that some of them are getting killed next turn, and then Lamentation on himself.  The Choir moved forward and prayed for passage, managing to include all jacks except for the Avatar way off on the left.   All four of the jacks ran forward, though none of them went the entire distance, since I didn't want to bring anything within charge distance of the Mauler.  The Avatar, the only chance I had to stop the Long Riders from ending this game early, had one trick that might save the day.  Spending one of his two focus, he ran to the edge of the lake and used the other to performed "Menoth's Gaze," making it so that any enemy within 8" of the Avatar can only move closer to it.  So... it's possible the Avatar will be destroyed by the wrath of five angry Buffaloes next turn, but at least they're stuck there for the moment.
So the Menoth jacks are just.... hanging out?

 Round Two:  Trollkin
All fury was leeched, all spells were upkept, and the Trolls were ready to roll.  Trollsus move forward and used spell slave to cast Magic Bullet on Jarl.  Horthol ran from the cabin over to the far side of the forest.  The War Wagon followed him with a charge on the Idrians in the forest.  The War Wagon has a bunch of additional rules to cause as much mayhem as possible.  First, Linebreaker killed off one Idrian.  The actual charge attack killed another, and then he unleashed his dual attack with the scattergun... managing to MISS 4 IDRIANS with the spray attack!!!  It did manage to put one damage on the Scourge of Heresy, and then time for the big gun!  The Pounder fired.... and ALSO MISSED!  Not only that, but it deviated back onto the gun carriage.  It still managed to clip Reznik, but his armor is high enough to ignore it.  The War Wagon took one damage, but more irritating, he killed off the Chieftain and Scout plus one more Idrian!  Damn!  The Mauler ran into the zone, and Bomber A moved up next to the objective, his little whelp buddy keeping up with him.  Sensing the danger of the arc node, Jarl lined up two shots at the little Revenger, and MISSED BOTH!!! Wow, this was not a good round for DTB!  I have never seen him miss so many shots that were so important. Bomber B riled twice, and moved along the forest line near the Long Riders.  The Long Riders finished up the turn by moving up a little so they were at the edge of the pond.  Not having pathfinder was a big problem for them, making it so they couldn't actually make it to the Avatar to destroy it.  Huzzah!
Idrian scout Vs. Troll battle wagon


Round Two:  Protectorate
The jacks powered up, both spells were upkept, and the Avatar got 3 focus... much better!  Three Idrians managed to get a charge off on the War Wagon that still had 5 Idrians in base to base.  10 damage on the charges, but the rest just scratched the paint a bit.  The heirophant moved and put Harmonious Exaltation on Reznik.  Reznik moved up and arc'ed The Flesh is Weak onto the Mauler through the Revenger, dealing 8 damage and breaking it's mind!  Yessss, my plan was working!  The jacked continued their monumentally slow advance into the zone.  The choir followed behind them to continue to give them Passage.  The Avatar used a focus for Menoth's gaze and charged into base with the Tuffaloes, killing one, leaving the rest out of range.

The Avatar has successfully nullified the Long Riders
Round Three:  Trollkin
Leeched all fury, but only upkept Tactical Supremacy... which told me something is up!  Trollsus moved into the forest, and used Harmonious Exaltation on Jarl.  The whelps moved up behind the Mauler to comfort him.  And then... DTB decided it was time for a YOLO move!  The War Wagon has a special ability called Crushing Weight, which says that it does not need to move to make a charge attack.  Sadly for me, that means that it can charge while in melee.  So.  It made impact attacks against all the Idrians, killing off four of them.  Another spray attack from the scattergun killed off 2 more plus one choir member!  NO!!!  I had just enough to keep all of my jacks safe.  Now, one will have to just be lucky, I guess.  Then, DTB just got cruel and aimed the Pounder at the Heirophant.  Boom, squish.  And suddenly, there was only one Idrian left.  The Mauler ate two whelps to heal 5 damage, and ran back to safety behind the objective.  Imagine!  A big Mauler being afraid of a tiny little light warjack!  Ha!  Bomber A threw a bomb at the objective, doing 14 damage... only one damage box left!  Jarl cast Magic Bullet on himself, and shot the objective, destroying it and awarding DTB his first control point.  As the effigy of the Paladin Hero crumbled, the bullet ricocheted and killed one more choir member.  Oh no!  His second shot put 6 damage on the Revenger.  The tuffaloes brought up the rear.  Most of them were too close to get a charge off, and another was blocked by the flag, but one was just outside of 3", so he targeted the Avatar with a slam attack.  The attack hit, slamming the Avatar 2 inches and knocking it down, but doing no damage.

Menoth objective...DESTROYED!!!
Round Three:  PoM
VENGEANCE!!!  The last surviving Idrian took its vengeance attack on the war wagon, but of course, could do no damage.  Then, I made my FOOLISH, ROOKIE mistake of getting too excited about what was going to happen on my turn and NOT ALLOCATING FOCUS!!!!  What was I thinking?  I'm staring down three large warbeasts, and I didn't give any focus to any of my jacks!  At least they got their power ups.  The avatar received three focus, using one immediately to shake the knockdown.  The final Idrian again tried to damage the Wagon, to no avail.  The choir moved forward and put passage on the Guardian and the Blood of Martyrs.  The Revenger and the Scourge moved forward into the zone.  DTB's got one point already, and I have to make sure that I don't just hand him another by not having anything in the zone to protect it.  The Avatar used Menoth's Gaze again, this time catching all of the remaining Tuffaloes, Bomber B, and also Trollsus, locking them from being able to move towards the jacks.  He then chopped down one of the Tuffaloes, which toughed, knocking it down.  One shield bash, and one dead Long Rider.  Reznik charged Horthol, though the Long Rider Hero managed to hang onto life, but I bought another attack (since I had so much focus hanging around) and killed him.  The Flesh is Weak was arced again on the Mauler (hee hee), and Reznik FORGOT TO REPOSITION AGAIN!  Hopefully this won't be a game breaker.

Round Four:  Trollkin
The Mauler failed his threshold check, and frenzied.  Now, usually an out of control beast would charge his nearest enemy model, but since HIS FLESH IS WEAK (how do I love that spell), he just stood still and roared.  Jarl decided not to upkeep any spells.  DTB started with his War Wagon.  Just as I feared, he managed to move the Wagon around the last Idrian, and while keeping within it's front arc, swung around into base to base with Reznik.  Luckily, Reznik still had a focus on him, so could not be targeted by any ranged attack.  So, since there was only one target left, the poor Idrian took the brunt of the shooting.  The scattergun missed again, but the pounder pounded him flat.  Jarl cast magic bullet and put Rage on Bomber A.  He then took a shot at the Blood of Martyrs, dealing 5 damage, and ricocheting onto one of the choir members.  One more magic bullet, one more shot at the Blood, three damage and a magically dead choir.  Thus ended the safety for my jacks, but the choir did their job.  Finally, Bomber A did something that I would never have imagined and charged the Scourge of Heresy.  With Rage and a charge, he managed to scrap the Scourge.  Finally the Long Riders took attacks against the Avatar, but his armor is just too high, and took no damage.  And as we use a death clock, the Trollkin are running out of time... they ended this turn with only three minutes left on their clock.

Stay strong, Horthol!

Round Four:  PoM
Reznik upkept his Lamentation spell, the jacks powered up and received allocations, and the Avatar received 3 more focus from the Creator.  The Avatar killed two more Long Riders and used another focus to continue his Menoth's Gaze.  The Guardian charged Bomber B, and made a critical hit, dealing over half of the Bomber's damage and using Critical Pitch to throw him four inches across the zone.  The Revenger, brave light jack that it is, charged the Mauler, dealing six damage and pushing the heavy beast one inch... just not enough to get it out of the zone.  The Blood of Martyrs walked into the zone to put more pressure there.  Finally, Reznik made a ton of attacks against the War Wagon, leaving it with only two boxes left.  I debated spending my last focus to destroy it, but decided not to.  There were two Bombers capable of hitting him with some heavy detonations, not to mention the Wagon's pounder attack if I failed to kill it.  Best to keep it and stay safe.

Round five:  Trollkin
Jarl leeched all the fury on the table, but still had to cut for two to get full fury.  The War Wagon charged Reznik (like I mentioned before, it can charge 0 inches), and followed his early trend of MISSING ALL ATTACKS!  Not able to target Reznik with any ranged attacks, time ran out for the Trolls...

Conclusion:
Victory for Menoth!  All hail Menoth!  The Trolls managed to destroy the Effigy of the Paladin, but they were unable to secure the cache of weapons before reinforcements arrived to bolster the executioner's forces.  Unable to complete their mission, Jarl led his men into a controlled retreat, withdrawing from the Protectorate village.

This was a great game, and a lot of fun to play.  DTB had a pretty rough first turn.  If things had gone differently, I think we would have had a wildly different result...BUT, that's the game.  A lot of skill, and a little luck!  The dice can lead us into victory, or hurl us into defeat.  Bad luck, DTB.  I look forward to a rematch after you send your dice to your own Commissar for disciplinary action!

The next meeting of the Fukuyama gaming club will be on August 20th!  Stop by for a game.  And stay tuned, the packet for the Japan Open will be posted soon!  Praise the Creator of Man!

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Mail Call

Ohmygoshyouguys!!!  When the doorbell rang today, I was not expecting the mailman to bring me a present from Privateer Press!!!  Look at it!

A surprise package from PP!
Okay, so maybe it's not a present... but close enough!  I funded the Widower's Wood kickstarter last year.  This is their Hordes counterpart to their successful Undercity board game.  Not wanting to do things half way, I funded at the middle level (I wanted to fund the highest level, but it was just a little too rich for my wallet), which means that I got the "premium chest", which will hold not only all of the elements for Widowers wood and all the unlocked stretch goals, but will also hold all elements for the Undercity, should I choose to buy it... who am I kidding, I'll get it eventually... and the Dead Men Walking expansion which also came with my fund level.

Shiny!  Premium Chest looks nice!
That is a good looking chest!  The sides are actually made to look like, I'm assuming, Gatorman skin! 
What detail!  Made of a Gatorman Bokor.
Excellent attention to detail.. Look at the skin!

It's all in the details
Even the metal fittings have detailing... all of them.  I can't explain how much I'm geeking out right now! But enough basking in the glory of the chest itself, now for the fun!  Time to open her up and check out all the great swag!

Widower's Wood goodies
Three boxes awaited me.  First of course was the Widower's Wood game itself.  It comes with a game board, a stack of terrain features, tokens to represent everything from dangers that the characters may face in the Wood to health tokens, a bag of models to represent the villains and heroes, cards for events, side quests, character stats, and villain activation, a campaign guide, rule book, and feats and abilities for the four heroes.

The game looks like a lot of fun.  It chronicles the adventures of four adventures in the Widower's Wood, a wild track of swampland outside of Corvis.  (Corvis is also the location of the Undercity game... Coincidence?)  Olo, a croak hunter new to the Widower's Wood, Agata, a Farrow Slaughterhouser whose tribe has been destroyed, Vaskis the Knotkeeper, a Druid of the Circle Oroboros trying to protect the wood, and Skarg the Voracious, a Tharn warrior seeking a mighty offering for the Devourer Worm, find themselves working together to stop the designs of a mad Gatorman bokor before he can complete his goal... which may destroy the Widower's Wood and all who live there!  Or... something like that, at least.

The Campaign for Widower's Wood comes in seven chapters.  In each, a new episode of the story is revealed as the characters continue their fight against Sheldon, the Gatorman bokor.  Okay, his name isn't really Sheldon, but the Gatorman language is somewhat difficult for Croaks, and that's what Olo calls him.  Chapters do not have to be won to continue the campaign, but there are benefits for the characters if they can complete each chapter.  Experience is earned through game play, and new abilities can be purchased after each chapter to help in the next.  And just in case you don't want to play a full campaign, the rule book comes complete with hints on how to play each chapter as a stand alone game.

Dead Man Walkin', here!
The second box in the chest was the Dead Man Walking expansion that works with both Widower's Wood and the Undercity.  It is centered around, as you might expect from the name, necromancers, undead hordes and Thamarites!  The game comes with a campaign book detailing two new, three chapter stories, one that can be played with each of the core games or as stand alone games, new character models with plenty of undead goodness like boneswarms, thralls and risen, terrain features like crumbling old ruins and Thamarite altars, and some new tokens for runes, epic heroes, and Helstrom (with the Undercity story).

Woot!  Stretch goals are a joy!
Finally, the best part... Stretch goals!!!  For those of you who have never used Kickstarter, the more people that pledge money for an item, the more bonus items are usually made available.  Widower's Wood had a lot of people pledge a lot of money, and so we were able to get our hands on a LOT of stretch goals.  An extra set of terrain features and tokens, extra cards for events and villain actions, more villain models, 5 exclusive missions (three for the main game, two for Dead Men Walking), and the best part, four new heroes that can be used in all the games (Viktor Pendrake, a wandering professor from Corvis, Lanyssa Ryssyl, a Nyss sorceress mercenary, and Crede and Jagger, a Circle Oroboros wolf sworn team ).  Swag, swag, swag!!!
Viktor, Lanyssa, Crede and Jagger
Heroes!
Boss Villans (Swamp Horror, Ironback Spitter, Gatorman and Blackhide Wrastler
Villains!
It all fits so nice!
And because Privateer Press is an amazing company, they included these lovely wooden trays that fit perfectly in the chest, and have enough space to hold all of the goodies I've already mentioned, and everything from Undercity game as well.  They required a little assembly, a little sandpaper, and a little glue, but they are great little trays.  Plus, PP also put in a few foam strips to protect the inside of the chest.  I love it!  And because we all love dice, they threw in a set of Hordes dice too... just for fun!

Starting set up for Widowers Wood
We're going to try out the first chapter at our next group meeting on July 16th, but I couldn't wait to set everything up and just take a look at it.  So, here it is.  This is the layout for Chapter One: It Takes A Village.  The Campaign Guide lays out all the necessary information for terrain features, spawning sites, villian locations, etc.  The small numbered areas are villain spawning locations, and in the far left corner, you can see one of the Side Quests set up in case the hero's have a chance to grab it.

And finally a prep'd character sheet, ready for action.  All stats and starting abilities are recorded, along with a "second wind" ability to help with things start going... well, the way things so often go... "ploin shaped", if you will.  Each character starts with a restorative draught, and heart markers for their health score.  As they take damage, you flip the hearts over to their black side.

Oh man!  I can't wait to play next week!  I imagine that this game has a great deal to offer, both as a campaign, and also as a set of one off sessions if you don't want to devote yourself to the full story.  But above all, I want to give a shout out to Privateer Press for the delivery of the Premium Chest... it exceeded all of my expectations, and I had a great time just opening everything up and taking a look at it all.  Everything was well thought out, expertely designed, and just fun fun fun!

Stay tuned!  Our first attempt to play through Widower's Wood will be coming soon!