This battle report is from a battle I had last night. I played cryx. I had invaded the homelands of the khadorans from the coastlines. A skirmish erupted near a rocky shore. Asphyxious wanted to go take a look at Khador himself. Unfortunately the Butcher of Khardov stood sentinel over the lands. Agressive and hostile as he is he immediately sent his jacks and battlegroup forwards...
The battle is played out between 2 players who are
not seasoned veterans. We have about 420 points each and just put that on the table (I have some more, but I did not want to use the slayer. Also I did not take the cankerworm. It does have affinity with gaspy, but gaspy cannot poison things or cause corosion, thus limiting the threat of the beast. My opponent left his mortar at home, and placed everything else he has.
I have some questions which I would like to ask at the end of the report...
Lists
Cryx
Iron Liche Asphyxious
- Deathripper1
- Deathripper2
- defiler
- Nightmare
10 mechanithralls
Pistolwraith
Khador
Butcher of khardov
- destroyer
- juggernaut
3 menó'war'shocktroopers
4 widowmakers
Setup
Khador deployed first. He choose to make a wall of the jacks. The caster was behind them next to the shocktroopers.
I deployed my mechanithralls in the middle. They where spread out, to minimise hits. on their right I deployed the pistolwraith. to their left I put the nightmare. just behind him I put the defiler. on the nightmares left I put deathripper 1, asphyxious, deathripper2. The rippers and gaspy where behind a rock.
The widowmakers took position behind a big rockleft of the center of the table. It would make them able to see almost anything, while it made it hard for me to just run up and cast them to death (just out ouf range...)
For prey of the nightmare I selected the juggernaut. I thought that was the thing that could take out my nightmare in 1 fell swoop if it got a charge (unlikely, but still) it wasn't the baddest choiche in hindsight, bad it did not really help me out...
Turn 1 Khador
Focus was distributed. 1 to the destroyer. The rest remained on the butcher.
- destroyer: ran forward towards my lines.
- Jugger: walked forward toward my lines (nightmare activated an ran towards the big rock behind which the widowmakers sat, thus making them unable to shoot it.)
- butcher followed the jugger closely. He casts killing blow on himself, and iron flesh on the jugger, raising it's defense and lowering it's speed.
- men'o'war walked forward behind the jacks.
- widowmakers did not move.
Turn 1 cryx
Defiler gets 1 focus, as do both rippers
- Pistolwraith ran 12 inches straight ahead. Because of the incorporeal he would not be targeted was my guess.
- mechanithrals walk forward.
- nightmare moves up an inch, but stays clear of any charges.
- defiler runs up 14 inch. Trying to get a bead on the juggernaut.
- deathripper2 advances towards the rock sheltering the nightmare from the widows and positions itself there.
- gaspy advances and stands to the right of the ripper2. He casts scything tough on the mechanithralls. he also tries to cast hellfire on the jugger,
bt misses (a 3 on my roll, needed a 6) last focus remains on gaspy.
- Deathripper1 moves up to stand next to asphyxious.
Turn 2 Khador
Focus is devided. 2 upkeeps and the destroyer gets 1 focus and the butcher gets the rest.
- The destroyer walks a bit forward and unleashes a shot from it's bombard. The shot is a hit and takes out the mechanithrall leader. that's a shame. Have to screen better next time...
- The jugger moves an inch towards my nightmare. The nightmare also inches up. (not ready to charge just yet...)
- The widowmakers move a bit to take a shot on the defiler. They all miss except one, which fails to hurt (low rolls all around,
lol).
- the men o war run up to stand next to the destroyer. the shieldwall order is given.
- the butcher stays behind the jugger. the rest of the focus is not used.
Turn 2 Cryx
Focus is devided. 1 upkeep, 1 on the defiler, the rest on asphyxious.
- Defiler runs up to stand just behind the widowmakers.
- deathripper 2 goes around the rock to also flank the widowmakers.
- The nightmare inches forward on the other side of the rock.
- the deathripper1 moves up a little behind the nightmare.
- the mechanithralls move up a bit. (could not get an order due to range and no leader themselves)
- the pistol wraith runs up 12 inch again.
- gaspy moves up to ripper2 and starts casting through nodes. He casts a breath of corruption on the widowmakers. It's a hit (unfortunately). 1 widowmaker dies, no more due to spacing. I attempt to cast Iron flesh on the jugger again, but again it fails.
Turn 3 Khador
2 upkeeps are paid. The destroyer gets 1 focus. rest stays on the butcher.
- Jugger walks forward. My nightmare moves up to about 10 inch of it (it's charge time
)
- Destroyer stands still and shoots at the nightmare. He boosts hit and a direct hit is scored. The damage he roll is only 8, so 4 damage later I still have a fully working nightmare... (phew..)
- the widowmakers shoot the nightmare for another 3 damage (same column as bombard, no systems down)
- butcher moves to the left of his jugger. He is standing in chargerange of my mechanithrals now. He casts retaliation on the jugger. (which should take care of the iron flesh, but we forget that... (not that it mattered much)
- Men'o'war build a wall where the wraith has to get around to outflank the butcher.
Turn 3 Cryx (let the fun begin)
Upkeeps are cancelled. The cloud disappears. nightmare gets 3 focus and rest stays on asphyxious.
- pistolwraith moves around the men'o'war. He is standing in the butchers back arc. He shoots the butcher and hits both shots (doing minimal damage). The chain attack chills the butcher. He is down.
- defiler moves to 7' behind butcher. just next to widowmakers. it shoots at the butcher and hits. Damage is minimal (did not boost), but corrosion takes hold
- ripper2 moves up to stand just around the edge of the rock in the flank of the widowmakers. ready to charge next turn.
- Asphyxious casts scything touch on the nightmare. Then moves up to stand behind the defiler. he then arcs a hellfire at the butcher, but only does 3 or 4 damage (after boost). butcher lives with a third of his life gone...
- nightmare charges jugger. Nightmare has it's prey and gains 2
STR and 2 mat. (and 2
str from scything.) The nightmare starts wailing on the jugger. first attack hits. Retalliation hits, but damage is low and still no systems go down (lucky me
) at P+S 19 I think it should be enough to injure the thing severely. Unfortunately only 7 damage. I proceed stomping it until all my normal attacks and focus are drained. The jugger lives (barely) only has a hull of a few points and left and right arm left. rest is down (although I expected to take it out completely...
- the mechanithralls charge the butcher. Unfortunately they are out of range of gaspy...
(no caster kill this round.) should have paid more attention to where gaspy was standing now that their leader is gone... instead they just stumble on...
- deathripper 1 moves up to stand just behind nightmare.
Turn 4 Khador
1 upkeep is maintained (iron flesh on jugger) 3 focus is put onto the destroyer. rest on butcher.
- destroyer charges the nightmare. It boosts attack and hits (with crit
) then boosts damage. The nightmare is almost disabled, but has a few hull and 2 amr still intact.
- the jugger finishes of the work, disabling the nightmare...
- the widowmakers turn on the spot and shoot at the defiler. It takes 7 damage from 1 hit, rest does nothing. It's arcnode is taken out.
- the man'o'war move into combat with the pistolwraith (had to take the shot at the butcher, but could not do it in any other way...) byebye wraith...
- the butcher forfeits action and moves towards the men'o'war. He does nothing more.
Turn 4 cryx
1 Helljack and a pistol wraith down. Not to good looking...
1 focus goes to ripper2. the rest stays on asphyxious.
- ripper2 charges widowmakers. Taking out it's leader with a boosted hit.
- Asphyxious charges another widowmaker. He takes it down with a boost to hit(and gets a token
) he casts scything touch on the mechanithralls. Iron blight misses again on jugger. Asphyxious pops feat killing the last widowmaker (and getting another token
). He then uses his new focys to cast breath at the butcher 2 times (should have use Hellfire in hindsight) wounding him and 2 men'o'war.
- the thralls charge the jugger (backarc) and destroyer (front and back arc) and start hammering. The jugger goes down with it's last boxes destroyed. the destroyer get's damage all over the place, but no system goes down. (that really sucks!!!)
- ripper1 does nothing
- the defiler shoots at Butcher but misses.
Turn 5 Khador
down 1 jack and the widowmakers. Butcher has lost 2/3 of it's health by now.
Butcher keeps al of it's focus.
- Butcher walks into combat with the mechanithralls and knocks 5 down (everything in his range). then casts iron blight on destroyer.
- men'o'war charge walk into combat with another mechanithrall taking it down.
- destroyer misses it's attacks.
Turn 5 Cryx
upkeeps are cancelled. the thralls are going to die again, but that is not that important now. I have 9 focus (7 and 2 tokens) and I keep it all on gaspy.
- deathripper1 moves up to stand in the back arc of the men'o'war
- deathripper2 does the same.
- The defiler moves up and takes a bead on the men'o'war. It fires and misses.
- Asphyxioushen moves behind another rock (I am in his deployementzone now
) and arcs 3 hellfires. These take down 2 men'o'war. The leader wounded and alone flees. (can't let the butcher see his tears
)
- the thralls start hitting the destroyer again. 1 hits and does 5 damage. all except a 1 will take out at least 1 system. I roll a 1, as my luck never lasts long... The destroyer lives with all systems down to 1 or 2 boxes... :(
Turn 6 Khador
butcher keeps all focus.
- The butcher moves in on the last 3 thralls. They die. he then casts killing blow on himself with his last focus.
- the destroyer takes up firing position and shoots at the bonejacks, but scatters off.
- the men'o'war runs to his edge and ends standing between my deathjacks...
Turn 6 Cryx
only asphyxious and the bonejacks left.
Asphyxious gives 1 focus to the defiler. The rest he keeps.
- Defiler runs up to flank butcher. (he is a sacrifice). Boost to hit. He hits and then boosts damage. Agian rolling very low, but the butcher has corrosion and is down to 10 or so life. he is also corroded.
- deathripper1 moves up to stand behind the wreck of the jugger.
- deathripper 2 moves to stand inbetween asphyxious and the shocktrooper.
- Asphyxious casts hellfire trough deathripper2 on the trooper. He boosts hit (have to take him out) and then boost damage. The trooper dies (good thing I boosted wound, otherwise he would have survived...)
We decided to play to the end, allthough it was late. it was almost oer anyway...)
Turn 7 Khador
Only butcher and mangled destroyer left, but will it be enough?? 1 upkeep, Butcher keeps 2 focus and gives the rest to destroyer.
- Destroyer charges defiler. It hits and knocks out all systems in a single hit (charge and boosted hit. 1 focus wasted)
- butcher gets corrosion damage. He could get a charge off on the ripper1 standing just behind the wreck (have to keep on checking lines of sight etc). He proceeded to knocking it dead in 1 hit (boosted to hit). stays with 1 focus on him
Turn 7 Cryx
Only 1 ripper left. have to make it count...
Focus stays on Asphyxious.
- The ripper moves to about 3' away from the butcher.
- Gaspy then casts a hellfire trough the node. It misses. Then I cast it again, boosting to hit (wanted to boost damage...). It hit and the butcher gets a few points damage (down to 4 point of life...)
Turn 8 Khador
Butcher and out of position destroyer left. All focus stays on butcher.
- Butcher gets corrosion damage. He walks into the ripper2. He hits and boosts damage. taking out the jack in 1 hit. (damn that guy is strong...) he then casts Iron blight and killing blow on himself.
- Destroyer walks towards gaspy
Turn 8 Cryx
Only gaspy left. He keeps all te focus (duhhh...)
Gaspy pops out from the corner of the rock and casts a hellfire at the butcher, boosting hit and damage. Butcher is taken out....
Analysis:
I took a bit more time in getting the nightmare a good charge. It still got wrecked, but it almost took down a jack. Unfortunately I did not quite kill it. still did pretty good..
What I thought was not that good is the leader of the mechThralls being taken out so early in the game. he has to be screened better... other then that not much I would have done differently... (except maybe not purposefully sacrifice my jacks in the end
The feat of gaspy is rather hit or miss
IMHO. Denegra's ability always works, but for Gaspy it is harder to do it right
IMHO... (and I did not know exactly what to do with the 7 focus extra. ended up blowing them on low power spells. should have realy cast hellfire... a well, first time playing him, so learning.
Final note on the battle: I and my opponent had fun. It took longer to finish the skirmish then was nescesary, but when learning the rules it is best to stand still for a moment and look them up...
Can the order shieldwall be given to a running unit?
Is turning around a move? (rotating on the spot)
When are orders given (and from where is it measured)? any time in the turn measured from the model giving the order or at the start of it's activation?? something else??
How does fleeing and rallying work with regards to moving nearer to enemy units instead of further away?? (I was in his deployment zone, but according to Prime:remix he had to go to his nearest tableedge (and away frm nearest threat, which was not both possible due to positioning...
Thanx for reading and for the answers...
