Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince (Vlad1) vs. Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince (Vlad1)

This is strange Vlad is facing Vlad. The confusion is complete. The only thing I am sure of is that Vlad is going to win. So, Vlad the Imposter is challenging the True Vlad. imposer is bringing Jaws of the Wolfs against True Vlad’s famous Winter Guards. The battle proceeds as expected. Vlad is more or less in control, until he does what he sometimes do when he is bored. He wanders too far forward. He ends up inside Behemoth’s threat range… Imposter is victorious.  

Vlad is threatening Vlad. This should be a battle where there shouldn’t be any unknowns. It is my first time in a proper mirror-match. Even though it is not a complete mirror-match. Imposter-Vlad is brining Jaws of the Wolf against the tried and true Winter Guards. The WGK-list is the usual one. This time with a Mortar instead of the Adjunct. Imposter-Vlad’s and True-Vlad’s lists are as follow:

Khador [Theme] Jaws of the Wolf [Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince [+28] – Behemoth [25] – Berserker [8] – Berserker [8] – Berserker [8] – Berserker [8] – Marauder [11] – Greylord Adjunct [0(4)] Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios [7] Greylord Forge Seer [4] Greylord Forge Seer [4] Kovnik Apprentice Kratikoff [4] – Berserker [8] Kayazy Eliminators [0(5)] Kayazy Eliminators [0(5)] Widowmaker Scouts [8]

Khador [Theme] Winter Guard Kommand [Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince [+28] – Marauder [11] – Marauder [11] – Marauder [11] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [0(4)] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4] Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8] – Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8] – Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17] Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]

There shouldn’t be any reason to go through Vlad1 and his abilities. It is only worth noticing that he is über-cool and has pretty flamboyant shoulder pads. He runs Jaws of the Wolf, which gives all ‘jacks Pathfinder and allows him to put a 5″ forest on the board. Vlad brings six ‘jacks in his battlegroup: Behemoth, four Berserkers and one Marauder. The Berserkers are the cheapest choice in our arsenal at a mere eight points. This gives two P+S 16 attacks at a slightly worse frame than the standard Juggernaut frame. Only ARM 18 and 27 boxes. It also has Berserk (surprise), which forces it to make another attack if it kills something. Unfortunately, being very old ‘jacks they run the risk of exploding. If it spends more than one point of focus it can explode (resulting in a AOE 3″ POW 14 blast. The Marauder is also well know. It slams stuff and is pretty dangerous to the Gun Carriages due to Siege Weapon (giving an extra die against huge-bases). The new kid on the block (at least for me) is Behemoth. Finally, the Adjunct is also there, which in this matchup doesn’t really matter.

Behemoth is a monster. Despite being extremely expensive (25 points, almost colossal price) it is not more robust than a standard Khador ‘jack, having the standard ARM 20 and 36 boxes. It has two cannons at Range 14″, P+S 14 and 4″ AOE. To augment these it has a sub-cortex, which for 1 focus can boost to hit and damage. Also blast, which is bad news for the Winter Guards. In addition, it has two fists of P+S 12. However, it has Armor Piercing. So, it does die +2 against a standard Khador ‘jack. This is an average of 11 points of damage for each fist under Vlad’s S&P. Thus, when charging it only needs to buy one attack to kill a Khador ‘jack! All in all, it is wise to keep Winter Guards out of shooting range and other stuff out of charging range; which can be difficult with Vlad’s feat and Boundless Charge.

Imposter-Vlad has also brought his Imposter-girlfriend. She is there dragging another Beserker along. Sorscha0 is our very good Junior Warcaster, or as she is colloquial known “Boundless Charge on a stick”. In this list, this is why she is here. The distance a ‘jack can travel using combination of Vlad’s feat and Boundless Charge should be a well known problem (or opportunity depending on which end you are seeing it from).

The units are two units of Eliminators, who are free in this theme; and a unit of Widowmakers. The Eliminators are among the best mercenaries around. The are fast (SPD 7, Acrobatics, Parry and Side Step), hard to hit (DEF 15, Stealth and Duelist) and deadly to Winter Guards in melee (Two attacks, POW 9 (or 13 Combo Strike), Anatomical Precision and Gang. Kind of along the same line is the unit of Widowmakers. They are our nimble, precise and Advance Deployment hunters. RAT 7, Marksman and Sniper is a very nice combination.

There are also two Greylord Forge Seers. They are probably mostly here to give focus, removing some of the focus strain from Vlad. They can also drop a cloud when required.

Finally, Eiryss1 is also here. Personally, I think she is the most annoying version. Most importantly, she can Disrupt ‘jacks from very far away (19″ on a good day). If there is nothing to Disrupt she can easily kill infantry, either by doing 3 points of damage or ignoring LOS, Concealment and Cover.

So, all in all this should be doable. Despite the many ‘jacks and Imposter-Vlad’s bag of trick. The real issue is the enormous threat range of Imposter-Vlad’s ‘jacks.

Deployment

We are playing the 2019 Steamroller Spread the Net. True-Vlad wins the roll-off and decides to go first. Imposter-Vlad picks the side with the lovely wall in the middle.

True-Vlad deploys in, more or less the standard manner. A Gun Carriage goes on each flank, ready to drive into the rectangular zones where they can score. True-Vlad goes in the middle with his trusted Winter Guards on both sides. As a new feature the ‘jacks go in the back where they can be screened by the valiant Winter Guards.

Imposter-Vlad deploys all of his ‘jacks as an iron curtain around the middle. The Greylords go in the back. Himself and Imposter-girlfriend go in between the ‘jacks. Everybody who can Advance Deploys do so, with the Widowmakers going into the forest Imposter-Vlad brought. The picture above shows the end of deployment.

It is worth noticing that the Berserkers are in disguise. Two are dressed as Juggernauts, one pretends to be a Decimator (the one belonging to Imposter-girlfriend), another one appears as a Destroyer. The only one that actually looks a bit like a Berserker is only the top part of a Berserker.

Red ones go faster. True-Vlad must forward in a hurry to put pressure on the scenario. 

There is only one direction and that is forward. Despite Imposter-Vlad the opposing army is slow. Everybody runs. On the left flank, the Winter Guards spread out to avoid too much death by Behemoth. This is not as important on the right flank as the forest in the middle blocks Behemoth’s line of sight. Vlad walks forward and puts up Wind Wall. The rest are details. The picture above depicts the battle field after the dust from True-Vlad’s first turn has settled. 

Imposter-Vlad starts by not allocation, neither does Imposter-girlfriend. All the ‘jacks move forward. On the interesting side, the Widowmakers move forward and take out four Winter Guards on the left flank. One of the Eliminators runs and engages the Gun Carriage, whilst the other one runs to the egde of the battle field. On the right flank, the Eliminators also run and one of them puts a toe into the zone. Eiryss runs to the rightmost flag. The picture above shows the end of Imposter-Vlad’s first turn.

I think we are close enough for Imposter-Vlad to be hit by the first wave. 

True-Vlad moves into the rubble in front of him, and casts S&P and Wind Wall. The Gun Carriage on the left flank takes a free strike form the Eliminator for charging the Widowmakers. This, obviously has no effect on it. Two Widowmakers are killed and the Gun Carriage repositions into contact with the ‘jack on the left flank to avoid being charged.

Joe moves forward a tells a tale of the Courage of the Forefathers to the middle Rifle Corps, who then courageously move forward and kill another Widowmaker. The leftmost Rifle Corps only move a bit forward and the throws rockets at more Widowmakers., one goes down.

On the right flank the Gun Carriage moves forward and pounds the ‘jack in front of it. The ‘jack takes a bit of damage. Everybody else just moves forward. The picture above depicts the end of True-Vlad’s turn.

Imposter-Vlad does what Vlad normally does best. He stays behind the wall. S&P and Wind Wall goes up. Not surprisingly, the Marauder, with a bit of help from the Forge Seer easily removes the Gun Carriage in the right flank. Imposter-Vlad has less luck on the left flank, the Gun Carriage stays alive. Both Eliminator units receive a Press Forward. On the right they just run, on the left one of the charges and kills a grunt from the Field Gun. This actually results in Imposter-Vlad scoring two point: one for the rightmost zone and one for the rightmost flag. This leaves the scenario score at 2-0 in Imposter-Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the end of round two.

This is not going quite as well as I hoped for. The loss of the rightmost Gun Carriage was a miscalculation. I had hoped it would have survived. So Plan B. 

True-Vlad moves forward to ensure that everybody will be inside the S&P aura. He then feast, casts S&P and Boundless Charge on the rightmost Marauder.

On the left flank, the Gun Carriage slams the Berserker back into the Greylord behind it, but narrowly misses the Forge Seer. Nevertheless, the ‘jack is knocked down and outside the zone. It the proceeds to miss the Widowmaker with all shooting, and decides reposition into base contact with her to stop her shooting. The Field Gun tries to kill the Eliminator, but unsurprisingly fails. The Marauder is more adept at killing street smart ladies, though. This opens up space for an Artillery Kapitan to move up and score at the flag.

On the right flank, the Field Gun moves out of the way, and miraculous manage to kill the Eliminator. Unfortunately, the grunts are a bit slow, and one of the forgets to toe the zone. The Marauder charges the Berserker at the flank and deals a not insignificant amount of damage.

In the middle, the Marauder moves through the forrest, and slams the Berserker into the wall in front of Imposter-Vlad. Joe moves forward and continues to instil Courage of the Forefathers into the Rifle Corps. They, then advance and shoots at something I forgot.

So far this is OK. True-Vlad scores two points and Imposter-Vlad scores one. This leaves the scenario score at 3-2 in Imposter-Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the end of True-Vlad’s turn. For the eagle eyed it also demonstrates that True-Vlad still does what he sometimes do. He moves forward. This is generally frowned upon; basically because it tends to kill him (most recently when he aimlessly wandered in front of Beast, as described here). 

Imposter-Vlad has a field day. True-Vlad is sometimes just slightly distracted and wanders of in search of -what do I know, flowers? He is now in range of Behemoth. You can guess the rest. The picture above illustrates why Vlad should really learn how to measure threat distances. In particular when he should know this particular distance by heart. 

It was going OK. The plan was to push hard to keep Imposter-Vlad out of scenario and figure out how to deal with the Eliminators. It kind of worked, a bit. However, as it sometimes happens when the man behind the lines, either become overly confident or distracted I made too many silly mistakes. The Gun Carriage was a gamble. It could have payed off. It did not. Not contesting when I can is just silly; moving Vlad out of hiding is downright idiotic. Even worse, this is the second time.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!