Widower's Wood, Chapter 5

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!  I celebrated by buying myself some lovely chocolates, and enjoyed them very much!  Ahhh, chocolate holiday!  And on this delicious day, I'd like to give a shout out to my favorite game couples very quickly!  First... Prince Vlad Tzepesci and Sorscha from Western Immoren (Warmachine by Privateer Press)!  Man, I love these two.  And with as many problems as this noble Prince and common soldier faced before, it all came crashing down when he accepted an engagement to the Empress of Khador, effectively ending any chance of ending up with his love interest.  Add to that the fact that the Empress knows of his little heartthrob, and being a jealous woman, sent Sorscha off to the most dangerous theatre of war that Khador was in... officially because she's a great warcaster and they needed her help there (but we all know it's because she hope Sorscha will get herself killed!)  Yikes!  Devious!
And the other couple we'll look at is my all time favorite... brought to us by the amazing Sandy Mitchell who writes for the Black Library (Games Workshop).  Yes, it is Commissar Ciaphus Cain and Inquisiter Amberley Veil.  These two embody the grim darkness that permeates the year 40,000.  If not for the galactic war, they could finally be together... but if not for the wars, they would never have met.  Oof... Due to their respective positions, these two cannot be together, though they are clearly made for each other.  Though it's pretty clear that they discretely do manage to find some time alone, anything else is just not to be. 

But enough of all this romance!  It's time, once again, for ...
Working Hard, or Hardly Working!!!
Today, I bring to you one WIP, my second warcaster for the year, Sovereign Tristan Durant, and a set of models getting ready to go, the Witch Coven of Garlghast!  I know what you're thinking... Commissar, isn't that a Cryxian model?  Yup!  I'm in the middle of a painting exchange with DTB.  He's going to be taking care of the last two heavy jacks (after these two, I have all heavy jacks painted and ready to go for PoM!) and I'm going to paint up the Witch Coven and Pirate Queen Skarre!
     WIP, Sovereign Tristan Durant:

Tristan is about half-way!

Base coat finished and all metalics washed!
I love Tristan.  Recently he took the spotlight as the main character in the new Skull Island Expedition book "Godless."  His back story is right up my alley as one of the sane, good characters in the Protectorate.  They are certainly few and far between... Tristan, Kreoss, Vilmon.  Funnily enough, these are the models that I love to play with most!  In fact, Tristan AND Vilmon have made it into my Faithful Masses list!
     Prepped, The Witch Coven of Garlghast:

Some delightful Cryxian witches

Wow!  One of the best parts of painting exchanging is getting to paint models that I normally wouldn't have a chance to work on.  DTB is putting together a Cryx army so that we can have an army ready to go if we manage to snag a new player.  So, I'm going to give these lovely ladies a go!

Announcements:
The Fukuyama Gaming Club will be meeting on March 18, April 1, and May 20.
And as I've mentioned before, some of our good friends from Iwakuni Air Base here in Japan went all the way over to Las Vegas to join the Las Vegas Open, and it sounds like they had a very good time.  Maybe too good a time, as it turns out a certain award show was taking place just across the street!  Oh well, at least fun was had, and everyone is safely back in Japan.

At our monthly meeting of the Fukuyama Gaming Club, we got in a few great Warmachine/ Hordes games, and also continued our trek through the Widower's Wood!  Woo-hoo!  We have officially entered the second half of the campaign, and we are going strong!  All of the characters have picked up some amazing abilities and items that are helping us get closer and closer to Rasheldonak, the insane Gatorman Witch Doctor who is trying to complete a devastating ritual to control the swamp.

A Tatzelwurm in her nest

The Story so Far:
At the end of last chapter, our heroes had managed to capture several Gobbers that were running messages for the Gatormen, destroying Rasheldonak's ability to quickly coordinate his forces. Agata took over their interrogation, and found out that the Witch Doctor was going to try and capture a rare albino Tatzylwurm to use in his ritual.  As our intrepid troop made its way to the Tatzylwurm's nest, they arrived just as one of Sheldon's Warlocks and his subservient Trogs were beginning the fight to contain the wurm.  But even worse, the eggs in the nest are just beginning to hatch!  We have to keep the big Tatzylwurm safe while taking down the Warlock.  To accomplish this, I took over control of Agata, DTB continued to work with Olo and this time took over Skarg, and Vaskis fell to Leland!

Chapter 5, Wurm on a Hook

Let's do this!

Okay... well, the Tatzelwurm is in the middle, along with four egg piles in the middle.  At the beginning of each round, a Young Tatzelwurm will be spawned on each egg pile that matches the color priority for the round.  Mommy Wurm will attack anything within 2 spaces of herself, focusing on those who are standing in the water.  Looks like we have 10 rounds to keep the Tatzelwurm alive (luckily, we don't have to save the baby Tatzelwurms as they hatch).  At the beginning of round 8, if the Tatzelwurm survives, the Warlock will spawn and we can bring the hurt!  If we fail to save the wurm, the Warlock will spawn when the wurm goes down.  We can do this!  Our plan was to try and run interference on villains moving towards the nest, but letting Mommy Wurm take care of villains that get into the water.

The heroes had to split into two groups again, so as usual we had a support character and a fighter per team.  Olo and Agata went to the bottom of the board, and Vaskis and Skarg took the top corner.  Again, we would be facing a Perilous Journey card.  This time, the perils take the form of cane leeches, which will keep characters from being able to replenish their feat cards...So, off we go!

Olo is off in search of Side Quests!

Round one, and the first event card of the game is PERILOUS JOURNEY!!!  Yikes!  And the cane leeches marker gets placed on the space with Mommy Wurm!  I guess that's okay, it's not going to bother her any, and hopefully we won't be close enough for it to trouble us.  Olo started things off by starting to make his way over to the Side Quest card near him.  We're still trying to find the second in the chain quest that we started, so hopefully, we'll make it this time!  Right away the Bokor on the board moved into the water to challenge Mommy Wurm, but we're not worried, Mommy will take care of him!  On her activation, she took a snap at him... BUT SHE MISSED!!!  Uh-oh, well... our plan has already crumbled, and Mommy Wurm might be in trouble.  

Olo kept running for his Side Quest, but during his Villain Action card, the Bokor was activated an dealt one damage to Mommy Wurm.  Skarg stepped forward to help her out by killing TWO Gatormen with his amazing bow work, and Agata took out the Bokor.  Sadly, her villain action also activated some Trogs near Mommy, and she took 2 more damage!  Aaaahhhhhh!!!

Ugh, Mommy takes some damage!

Olo made it!  A Phylactery of Venom is now ours!  Too bad that we didn't get the second card in the chain, but the Phylactery is a great card that lets you go through your feat card deck and pick one once per chapter.  On the down side, he's now being chased by SO MANY VILLAINS!!  Good luck, Olo!  At least he's pretty slippery and has some traps to throw down.  Vaskis missed a second chain lightening attack in a row, and on his villain action Mommy Wurn took ANOTHER damage!  We're on the third round, and she's taken almost half of her damage!  It's not looking good... Skarg helped out even more by killing another 2 Gatormen!  Woot!  And Mommy finally found a Trog and chomped him into chum!

To make up for his ineffective spells, Vaskis took his Article 1185 to one of the Bokor's skulking around, dealing double damage!  Agata moved in to finish it off, taking another Gatorman with him.  Round 5, halfway through!  And the event card is... BUZZING BEETLE SWARMS!!!  Uh-oh.  Some of the Trogs got chomped, but so did Mommy Wurm... she's only got 3 damage boxes left...A veritable army of evil doers has begun amassing at entrance 2.  Luckily, Skarg is between them and Mommy Wurm, so hopefully he'll be able to keep them under control...

Villains and more villains

Unluckily, Mommy Wurm thought Skarg was getting too close, and charged him after he killed off another Gatorman to help her.  She chomped him for 2 damage.  Agata moved into the nest to take her attention off of Skarg and lure her back into the water, away from the masses of enemies that want to knock her out.  Before she can get to safety, she takes a charge from another Trog, but luckily it misses...

Vaskis, high on his attack on the Bokor, took a shot to try and clear out some of the mess around the nest... and on his attack and multiple re-rolls, rolled NOTHING BUT 1'S!  Argh!  Dice... such a fickle mistress... Agata took aim at a Baby Tatzelwurm with both of her katara, and ALSO missed both attacks!  Ugh!  However, she was able to use her Feat "Staredown" to keep Mommy Wurm from charging.  Hahahahahaha!  Agata is so unbelievably terrifying, she can keep a full grown Tatzelwurm in check by giving it a death glare!  Hahaha!

Agata and Vaskis against the world

Event card... Patrol!  Oh Noes!  The Mist Speaker, Bokor and a Gatorman move up, ready to smash into Mommy Wurm.  Olo managed to use his feat "Hoof It" so that he could glue the space that the villains kept spawning in, since the mass of baddies was getting totally out of control.  Skarg and Agata kept trying to clear out the nest area... and Round 8 begins!

Some glue for you, and some glue for you!

Round 8!!!  Ominious Silence reigns as the Finale begins!  The Warlock and two more baddies appeared near the Wurm!!!  NOOOOOOooooooo!  Olo managed to flame bomb the Mist Speaker!  Yeah!  That's a good one to get rid of!  But... the Warlock blasts Mommy Wurm for double damage, and she took another damage from a charging Gatorman... and went down.  

Ugh.

Okay.  So, mission one fail.  Luckily, we can still pull a win if we take out the Warlock.  Time to go CRAZY!!!  I think it's time for our closer, the redoubtable Agata, to do her thing!  But before she could go, Vaskis made the chain lightning finally work out on some Gatormen.  Then, on his villain activation, THREE GATORMEN CHARGED AGATA!!!  And down she goes.  Incapacitated!  Oh noes!  Agata has finished every chapter for us so far, and now she's out!  Luckily Vaskis is close by, and has a restorative potion, so hopefully, she can still get back on her feet.  She did manage to drag herself by the hooves towards the Blackclad.  But he is in trouble too, because on Agata's villain action card he takes the SAME THREE GATOR CHARGES!!!  Luckily Vaskis is crazy sly, and took NO damage!  Go Vaskis!

We have a piggy down!  Piggy is down!

Top of Round 9, the Warlock knocked down Skarg (and also killed one of his own Gators)!  Luckily, he's not out, just down.  Olo threw a flaming Vitrolic gourd at the Warlock and HIT!!!  Yeah!  Hit with double damage!  Vaskis moved up and revived Agata, who stood up with full health, ready to smoke some gator meat when her turn ran around.  Skarg stood up, took aim, and shot twice straight into the Warlock's FACE!!!  Boom!  Dead Warlock!!!  And Skarg ripped out his heart and ate it as an offering to the Devourer Wurm!

Skarg, master marksman

VICTORY!

Conclusion:
Wow!  MVP to Skarg today, for sure!  His tag team with Olo was amazing to win the game!  This game was loooooooooong, certainly the longest we've had so far.  It took about 3 hours to play, almost 1 hour longer than our usual game.  But so much fun!  I have never seen such bad luck for us with Villain actions!  It seemed almost every time the worst possible villain possible was activated.  The good news was we killed so many Gators, we wracked up a huge 14 XP per player, and Agata got passed the Phylactery of Venom (it's pretty in character for the Slaughterhauser to have such a thing, anyway!)  Then, something exciting happened... a dice was rolled to see if we were going to play the floating Kickstarter Exclusive mission next meeting...  AND WE ARE!!!  Yeah!  Next up, Ghost Trap!  See you then! 

AAR - Outlast the Enemy

Welcome back, everybody!  Well, we finally had our first gaming meeting at the Fukuyama Gaming Club of the new year, and we had a great time!  It was very productive, and I'm pleased to announce that my decisions have been made!  The two warcasters that I will use for the Japan Open Team Tournament in October are going to be the Testament of Menoth, using a Faithful Masses theme force, and Sovereign Tristan Durant, using the Guardians of the Temple theme force.  Phew!  It's actually a really great feeling to have that decision made.  As you will see, I had a great game against DTB using Malekus, and while I liked using him and I think he could make a great army, I decided that Tristan is going to make the cut this year, and maybe I can bust Malekus out next year.  I've got a couple of decisions left to make, a few tweaks to units or 'jacks, but for the most part everything is set... and my painting list is set.  And those lucky models to hit the painting table are... (drum roll, please...)
     1 - Sovereign Tristan Durant (most important... have to have painted 'casters)
     2 - Paladin Order of the Wall solo (making the 3rd paladin in the list)
     3 - Champion of the Order of the Wall dragoon solo (which just got delivered, woot!)
     4 - Deliverer Skyhammers x 4 (6 already finished, 4 to go for a full unit)
     5 - Deliverer Arms Master solo
The Deliverers and the Arm Master are a list addition I'm toying with... it's going to be probably either them or Zealots with a Monolith Bearer.  My goal for next month's meeting is to run TOM with both these ideas and deciding which I'm going to go with.

Guns Vs. Flamethrower

Announcements:
The next meeting for the Fukuyama Gaming Club will be on February 11!  Come play!
Also!!! and this is exciting... some of our good friends from the Iwakuni Air Base are currently at Bally's Casino for the Las Vegas Open.  Sarge is joining in the Games Workshop Blood Bowl Tournament, and some of the other marines will be joining in the Warhammer 40K and Warmachine/ Hordes events.  Good luck, everyone!  I can't wait to hear how it went!

And this is going to bring us to a new segment!  For the first time, welcome to.... dun dun dun....

Working Hard or Hardly Working
In this segment, we'll be looking at projects that finally got finished, WIP's that I'm currently working on, and models that are getting ready to go.  And today, I present to you 2 models.  One is finally complete!  My first warcaster for the year, the Testament of Menoth is done!  And the second model was just delivered to my door and is going to be getting put together and painted up ASAP, the PoM model from the 12 Factions of Christmas that Privateer Press put together for the holidays, the Champion of the Order of the Wall!
     Completed, TOM:

Aw, yeah!  He looks ready to shepherd some souls to Urcaen.  I'm rather pleased with the way he came out.  My new painting technique is coming along!
     Getting Ready, Champion of the Order of the Wall

Fresh to my doorstep, the newest model for the Protectorate has arrived!  I can't wait to get started, and the model looks like a lot of fun to put together!

This month, I was hoping to get a game in with Leland, but with this and that and some other things we didn't manage to face off against each other.  Next time, I'm really going to hope for a game against Cygnar!  I did get two games in against two of DTB's Trollkin lists.  Both times I used my list for Malekus, but was never really able to make it work the way it was supposed to.  I'm hoping with a little more time, I'll get Malekus to be the super badass that I know he can be!  Gunnbjorn came out guns blazing to try and take him down, but Malekus was not afraid!  I used the Guardians of the Temple theme force, which means that my Temple Flameguard cannot be knocked down while in base to base, and a Daughter of the Flame unit gains Ambush... but, I didn't use a DoF unit in this list, so alas, that will go to waste!

Army list, Trollkin:

Grrr, growl, snarl!

Uh, okay... that's a whole lot of Troll...
   Warlock - Gunnbjorn
                    Mountain King
                    Dozer & Smigg
                    Dire Troll Bomber
                    Dire Troll Blitzer
                    Swamp Troll
                    Runebearer
                    Janessa
                    Dhunian Knot
                    Whelps
This is a Power of Dhunia theme force, which means that DTB can start the game with Gunnbjorn's
upkeep spells in play, so he put Explosivo on the Mountain King and Snipe on the Dire Troll Blitzer.  Also due to the theme force, the Dhunian Knot can calm one beast per model (so, up to three) for 1 fury... wow!  Good stuff!

Army list, Protectorate of Menoth:

A force full of Menoth's might!

 Finally, Malekus is on the table!  I've been looking forward to this for a long time!
 Warcaster - Malekus
                    Eye of Truth (proxied by the Indictor)
                    Reckoner
                    Vanquisher
                    Purifier
                    Phyrrus, Flameguard Hero
                    Nicia
                    Mechanik
                    Choir of Menoth (minimum unit)
                    Temple Flameguard (maximum unit)
                          - Officer and Standard bearer
                    Flameguard Cleansers
                          - Officer
This is a Guardians of the Temple theme force, so as I mentioned a minute ago, Temple Flameguard can't be knocked down while in B2B and my non-existant Daughters of the Flame unit gains Ambush.

Setup, Trollkin:

Ready for Round 1

So, when you put a bunch of beasts in your list and only one unit, your setup is pretty compact!  The front line had the Swamp Troll on the left, next to the Dire Troll Bomber, the Blitzer, the Runebearer, Dozer & Smigg, and the Mountain King on the right.  Behind them, Gunnbjorn took the middle, with Janessa between him and the Mountain King and the Dhunian Knot spread out behind him.

Setup, Protectorate:

Not the best set up in the world...

Alright...so, problem number one to winning this game was this set up.  Do you see this?  What the heck was I thinking???  The Cleansers should have been in the middle, followed by a skirmish line of the Flameguard, with the 'jacks bringing up the rear.  Did I do that?  NO I DID NOT!!!  Ugh.  Instead, I came up with this master plan to spread my forces out as far as possible.  Temple Flameguard and Phyrrus on the left flank in two groups, starting the game in Shield Wall.  Next to them, the Purifier, the Eye of Truth, Malekus, the Reckoner and the Vanquisher, and the Mechanik in base to base with the Vanquisher.  The Cleansers took the right flank, and the Choir spread out behind the jacks.

Advanced Deployment, Trollkin:
Hahahahahha... none.

Advanced Deployment, Protectorate:
Nicia set up at the corner of the cottage, ready to swoop in to kill some Troll! 

We rolled the Outlast scenario, which is not that great for DTB since it consists of two zones that can only be controlled by units.  There are also two flags that can be held by solos and 'casters/ 'locks.  Good for me, if I can keep his beasts out of the zones.

Our Story:
As the Protectorate tried to strengthen its boarders after the conclusion of the Northern Crusade, Malekus the Burning Truth was ordered to take a force of Flameguard along the Cygnar boarder.  As they neared their destination, a force of Trollkin from the north appeared, intent on the same mission.  The two forces appraised each other across the field for a moment before Malekus raised his sacred flamethrower and motioned his Cleansers to destroy the army of Dhunia.

Round 1, Trollkin:

Here they come!

Trollsus (the Runebearer) moved up and put Harmonious Exaltation on Gunnbjorn.  The Mountain King and Dozer & Smigg ran forward.  Gunnbjorn moved up and made a rock wall next to the flag before casting Swarm on himself.  The Blitzer, Bomber and Swamp Thing ran forward.  Behind them, Janessa walked forward and made a hill for Gunnbjorn.  Finally, the Knotts Berry Farm ran forward to be near the beasts.

Round 1, Protectorate:

Forward, mighty army!

The Cleansers ran forward, followed by the amazingly speedy Nicia.  The Flameguard also ran, getting into B2B to prepare for Shield Guard next round.  Phyrrus followed them, also in B2B to activate his special ability to ignore normal damage while he is in B2B.  The Purifier, Vanquisher and Reckoner ran forward.  The Eye of Truth moved up, keeping one focus on himself just in case he needs to use Orracular Vision.  The Choir moved up, giving Passage to the 'jacks, and the Mechanik ran up to stay in B2B.  Malekus walked into base to base with the Eye of Truth and cast Ignite on the Flameguard.

Round 2, Trollkin:

Brave Trolls, hiding behind a wall

Gumbjorn upkept all three spells, leaving him with 3 fury.  Yikes!  That is not a lot!  Luckily he has a Runebearer, who walked forward and gave him Harmonious Exaltation.  Knott's Berry Farm spread out to cover as many beasts as possible and put Puppet Master on the Mountain King, Dozer, and the Blitzer.   Swamp Thing ran towards the wall, and Gunnbjorn walked up after him and cast Guided Fire.  I really hate that spell.  DTB already rolls with unholy luck... he doesn't need a boost on every roll!  And then the murder began.  The Mountain King moved forward and killed 3 Flameguard.  The Blitzer moved up to the wall as well and killed off a Cleanser and 2 Flameguard and Dozer killed another 2 Cleansers, right before the Bomber killed Nicia.  Oof... I thought that her stealth would keep her safe... alas.

Round 2, Protectorate:

No Retreat!

I'm not gonna lie... I got a little frustrated at this point.  Nicia's death hit me pretty hard, and add to that the feeling like I really didn't know what I was doing with all the new models I've never played in my list, I wasn't having a great time... but that's when my Commissar training took over.  Never retreat!  Time to regroup and fight back.  The Cleansers began by setting Dozer & Smigg on fire.  Take that!  The Flameguard charged the Mountain King and made a combined melee attack for 7 damage.  The Vanquisher shot Dozer and the Blitzer doing no damage, but setting them both on fire as well.

How's that fire, guys?

The Purifier charged the Mountain King (I'm going to KILL THAT GUY SO BAD!!!) doing another 9 damage... not too bad!  And, with the Purifier's special rules, setting the Mountain King on fire was a little bonus.  Malekus moved up behind the Vanquisher and FEAT!!!!  The Eye of Truth and the Reckoner double charged the Mountain King, finally killing it.  VICTORY!!!  Oh, wait... the game's still going... Phyrrus ran into B2B with the flag, and the Mechanik finished up by moving forward.  And at the end of the turn, I took one CP for the central flag.


Round 3, Trollkin:

Troll-venge!

 First thing this turn, fire damage... mua-hahahaha!  Thanks to Malekus' feat, it has no chance of going out, so now time to roll some damage!  The Blitzer takes 5 and Dozer took 6.  Then Trollsus moved forward, giving Harmonious Exaltation to Gunnbjorn.  The Dhunian Knot moved up and put Puppet Master on all three heavy beasts, which the Blitzer promptly used as he moved forward and took a shot for 9 damage at Malekus.  Swamp Thing charged the Cleansers, killing 2.  Gunnbjorn cast Guided Fire again and Snipe on himself.  Then he moved up and took some shots at Malekus for another 7 damage... eep!

Galloping Whelps!

The Bomber put Far Strike on himself and threw two bombs, killing 2 Flameguard and the Officer and putting 2 damage on Phyrrus and breaking the gun on the Reckoner.  Then the little Whelps ran around, trying to be annoying and getting in the way in my zone!  And a second CP comes my way with Phyrrus still sitting on the flag.


Round 3, Protectorate:

Time to win on scenerio!

The Flameguard started the round by killing 2 Whelps.  The Cleansers charged (with Assault!).  One killed one Whelp..another charged Swamp Thing... and a last one charged the Blitzer.  The Purifier, ugh... I wanted to do something useful with him but I had to get that last irritating Whelp out of MY zone, so off he went to squish himself a mini-troll.  Only one Whelp left on the board... the best of them all, the Party Whelp.  I almost can't bring myself to kill him, he's so awesome!

Party on, brah!

The Mechanik fixed 3 points on the Reckoner, fixing his gun just in time for him to shoot with it.  And shoot he did, slamming Gunnbjorn for 2 damage.  The Vanquisher followed, shooting Gunnbjorn as well and dealing another 6 damage!  The Eye of Truth readied his massive Eye Beam, aimed at Gunnbjorn and BEEBEEBEEBEEB!  Time up!
(But 2 more CP's go to me!)

Conclusion:
Victory for Trollkin!  Malekus lowered his flamethrower, and gazed around at the fires his Cleansers had set in the Troll flesh... but the Trolls were already beginning to regenerate their burning limbs, while his own forces were falling one by one.  Finally he had the Eye of Truth send a rending blast of steam, calling his men back.  If the Trollkin wanted to take on the Cygnaran troops at the border, he would let them, and follow at a distance to clean up the remnants of both armies...

Most valuable model!

MVP for today totally goes to the Dhunian Knot!  The Puppet Master was so important for DTB, his already suspiciously good rolls becoming oh so close to 100%!  He never even used the theme force benefit for removing fury, Puppet Master was so good!  Good game, DTB!  I look forward to another game against the blue horde, but next time, I'm going to win!

See everyone on February 11th!