Sorscha is trying out her new irregulars in Jaws of the Wolf. First point of contact is a set of strange bedfellows. Aurora is leading, basically a Convergence army, just camouflaged as mercenaries, with a twist of Cryx. That is indeed strange. Sorscha’s mixture of nimble light infantry and heavy cumbersome Man-o-Wars is a really good counter to flying flimsy stuff. All is fine, until an important lesson is learned: Do not stand within 10″ of Asphyxious. 

It is rare to see Convergence on the table. It is even rarer to see Convergence dressed up as Mercenaries. What a strange sight indeed. I have faced some of the models before. But never Aurora and a bunch of angles. Sorscha is bringing her brand new Jaws of the Wolf list (see here for a description of the list). I have so much been looking forward to this list. However, it is my first time, so many things can easily go wrong. The two lists facing each other are: 

Khador [Theme] Jaws of the Wolf [Sorscha 3] Kommandant Sorscha Kratikoff [+28] – Devastator [14] – Devastator [14] – Greylord Adjunct [3] Man-O-War Kovnik [3] Man-O-War Demolition Corps (max) [12] – Sergeant Dragos Dragadovich [4] Man-O-War (max) [15] – Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer [3] Kayazy Assassins (max) [13] – Kayazy Assassin Underboss [4] Kayazy Eliminators [0(4)] Kayazy Eliminators [0(4)] Kossite Woodsmen (min) [7] Manhunter [2] Manhunter [2] Yuri the Axe [4] Bulkhead [0(5)] Battle Mechaniks (min) [2] – Battle Mechanik Officer [1]

Mercenaries [Theme] Strange Bedfellows [Aurora 1] Aurora, the Numen of Aerogenesis [+29] – Corollary [5] – Negator [6] – Negator [6] – Negator [6] – Negator [6] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Destructotron 3000 [6] Enigma Foundry [4] Enigma Foundry [4] Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)] Prefect Hypatia [0(5)] Widget, Mathlete Archeologist [0(4)] Stormsmith Stormcaller [1] Asphyxious the Sanctified [14] – Stalker [8] Clockwork Angels [5] Clockwork Angels [5] Negation Angels [6] Negation Angels [6] Negation Angels [6] Stormsmith Storm Tower [4] Stormsmith Storm Tower [4]

The theme, Strange Bedfellows really makes for a strange mixture of model. It turns all models into Convergence and Mercenaries, which basically makes them friendly fraction. Further, all solos that are not Servitors gain Swift Vengeance (advance 3″ and make an attack, if a friendly warrior model was destroyed within 5″). Finally, if a model is repaired and additional point of damage is removed. These are really good benefits.  

Aurora is a speed up and hit first ‘caster. She has an alpha or double strike feat. A weak little brother to the one we know from our own Vlad3. The feat gives models within 16″ (see Corollary below) Reposition [5″] and Parry. Combined with her build in Field Marshal ability that gives her ‘jacks Apparition (2″) and her spell Aerogenesis, which gives warrior models with 16″ (see Corollary below) +2 movement and flight, makes for potentially strange hit and run tactics. 

She is not really a front line ‘caster with DEF 16, ARM 15 and 16 boxes, which makes her squishy. However, if she happens to be nearby a ‘jack she has Mechanikal Seizure on her range 2″ staff (making a ‘jack stationary). 

In addition to the Aerogenesis spell, she brings another four spells: Admonition, which allows a model to move 3″ if an enemy model ends its advancement within 6″; Arcane Might, which is a bit nasty as it allows warrior models within 16″ (see Corollary below) to use Auroras focus to boost melee attacks or damage rolls; Blade Gale, which removes flight from models hit (so not really relevant here) and is a POW 13 spray; and Flashing Blade, which allows Aurora to make an attack against all models within 2″ and in her LOS.

Aurora brings five ‘jacks: four Negators and one attachment, a Corollary. The latter is basically a focus battery. It gains focus when near the Warcaster (within 3″); it extends the ‘caster’s control range with 2″ (when within 5″ of the ‘caster). Finally, it can transfer focus to Warjacks within 5″.

The five Negators are light Warjacks with just P+S 10 (two attacks). In this list, they will attack with just MAT 6 (from Aurora). They do have flank, giving them MAT 8 and P+S 10 on 3d6. Nevertheless, they are not really dangerous to Khador’s heavy armour. On a charge (with another Negator already there for flank) the average damage output is just 24 (4d6+10). That is just one point of damage on a Shocktrooper Shield Wall under Iron flesh or the Devastators. At ARM 15 and 33 boxes it is like fly swashing.

Aurora is brining an impressive nine solos: an Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex, the Destructotron 3000, two Enigma Foundries, the ubiquitous Hermit, a Perfect Hypatia, Widget, a Stormsmith Stormcaller, and finally the (black) rabbit in the hat: Asphyxious 4.

The Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex basically does two things: it extends the focus induction range by 3″ and Aurora can channel through it. The latter doesn’t really do anything in this list, besides the occasional spray. The other support type solo is two Enigma Foundries that are basically advanced mechanics. In addition to being able to repair constructs they can also make new grunts (assuming angles here) if there are souls on the Foundry. This is kind of annoying and means that care should be taken to kill whole units in one go; or they will return.

The Destructotron 3000 is a new model that I haven’t see before (one of the Riot Quest solos). Surprisingly, it is a cavalry model and stumbling drunk. It supports the Stormsmith units and solos by being super conductive giving +2 to the attack roll if the target is within 6″ from it. It has two POW 12 guns that also slams small and medium based model d3″. It is probably OK, but not a big threat here.

Along the Riot Quest solo line is also Widget, Mathlete Archeologist who has a fun ability to define half of the table as her digging site, which give +2 to attack and damage rolls for her against model in that half. She is also ‘jack hunter, which gives her an additional die on damage rolls against ‘jacks. This actually gives her gun an effective RAT 7 and 3d6+14 (average 24) on her gun against the Empress ‘jacks. Luckily, they are Devastators.

Obviously, the Hermit is here. I would like to point out that I have never ever put an army on the table including him; and I think I’ll keep it like that.  The Hermit can take six hits before he dies. Five for Ancient Shroud, which allows him to only suffer one point of damage, and once for Mad Visions, which allows him to disregard a damage roll against a model within 8″ of him. He can also cast spells. In this matchup the only one that matters is Whispers at the Gate, which lowers the ARM of all models within 5″ of him by 2. 

To support all the angels (see below) a Perfect Hypatia is on the field. It is born with Apparition 2″, which is also gives to angles within 7″. It has a P+S 11 reach 2″ weapon, which it is weapon master with. It also has a range 10″ POW 12 beam, which har critical push. Again not a big problem for the heavy Khador, which is mostly steady. 

For some reason, a Stormsmith Stormcaller has entered the list (I’m guessing it’s because it’s one point). In this list it’s only danger point is the critical disruption, which is quite annoying for our nice ‘jacks. In particular in combination with Aurora’s Stationary stick.

Finally, the (black) rabbit in the hat: Asphyxious4. He is nasty. On his own he is actually an accomplished fighter. With MAT 7, P+S 16 (actually 18, due to Dark Shroud), and five focus he can put out a lot of damage. Also, him and Aurora are BFF, so if she casts Arcane Might and nothing more, she will be left with five focus. This allows Asphyxious 6 attacks all boosted (if charging). That is 51 points of damage against standard Khador armour, or 33 points of damage against a Devastator (which is just one shy of what it has). Dangerous guy. 

Yet, that is not all. He has three Annihilation Servitors, which can fly and kill light infantry. One can come back every round if it is missing. They also have Dark Shroud when within 9″ of Asphyxious. That could potentially be annoying. But wait, there is more. He also has spells. He can cast: Caustic Mist (3″ AOE cloud with corrosion), Hellfire (POW 14 spell that also removes Tough), and Vanish (placing him completely within 3″). Wait, that is still not all. He also has a ‘jack with him: a Stalker. 

The Stalker is a Cryx ‘jack (just to mess up the coherent list a bit more), which is highly mobile; yet not horrible dangerous for heavy Khador. It is speed 7 and can jump 5″, Pathfinder and extended control range (in this case 20″). So it can show up almost everywhere. It has two P+S 12 weapons with Grievous Wounds. Yet, without help, it can’t kill Sorscha.  

Finally, Aurora brings a load of angels: two units of Clockwork Angles and three units of Negation Angels; and two units of Stormsmith Storm Towers for good measure.

The Clockwork Angels are fast, flying and hard to shoot units of 3. They have a P+S 10 blade (with brutal charge) and a POW 10 beam. They are not really dangerous to the heavy part of the Khador list. The Negation Angels are somewhat similar, except they have Gang and Prowl; and they can paralyse living things with their weapons. 

At the very end are two units of Stormsmith Storm Towers. They can shoot 14″ at POW 14 with lightning arcing to d3 other models. Again, another model adept at killing light infantry. It also does Disruption, which combined with Aurora’s stationary staff could be a pain. Luckily, Devastators can still go Kaboom without focus.

In general, this list does not worry me. The Assassins, Eliminators and Kossites are going to die. But there really isn’t anything that can touch the Man-o-Wars or the Devastators. Not that they are immortals, but a lot of concentrated attacking is required to kill ARM 21-23 things. (Almost) everything is flying and fast, so it is going to be interesting to keep track of where stuff will be next round.  I think that as long as I do not cock up, I should be good. 

We are playing the Steamroller 2021 Bunkers scenario. Aurora chooses the Observatory Objective (one model can have True Sight), Sorscha goes for a Cargo Net Objective (giving Steady to one model). We roll for who’s going first and Sorscha wins. Aurora’s army is fast, so Sorscha gives Aurora the opportunity to  pick side. 

Sorscha deploys according to the Empress’ standard deployment 11 (see here for details and tactical discussion). The BYOF (Bring Your Own Forest) is dropped on the right flank for Yuri to hide in, whilst threatening the rightmost flag. The Manhunters deploy to take advantage of the leftmost forest and threaten the other flag. Oh, and there is an annoying house in the middle. Whatever happened to Demolition Corps being experts at demolition?

Aurora deploys herself and her battlegroup to the left, probably going for the zones. Asphyxious deploys to the right. All angels are Advance Deployment and does so. The picture above depicts the end of deployment. 

For once, there is actually a chance of the first round becoming slightly more than just moving forward. Khador is fast and Aurora is even faster. Interesting times ahead. 

Sorscha sends the Eliminators as far up each flank as possible. Yuri and the Manhunters moves into each of their own forest. The Kossites stay at the camp fire. 

In the middle, the Assassins run up the board, but stays out of the angels’ charge range (perhaps I should have baited a few?). Some of them also get stuck in a stupid field. That is not something to put up when the city boys arrive. Sorscha manage to place herself so she can’t cast Stoke the Fire on both Devastator before they move. So the right most is a bit slower. Nevertheless, they run up the board, as there really aren’t anything dangerous in front of them.

Man-o-Wars follow suit. The Shocktroopers in Shield Wall, and the Demolition Corps just tagging along. That is about it. The picture above shoes the end of Sorscha’s first turn. 

Aurora is a bit hesitant to meet Khador steel head on. She moves the Negators up to present a wall. Most of the other stuff clamp up and hide behind the house. Two units of Angels manage to draw first blood by killing one of the Manhunters that got too cocky. The picture above depicts the end of Round 1.

OK. so far so good. Nothing interesting so far. Aurora is moving cautiously up the board. So it seems that Sorscha has the initiative.

As we all know, Hubris is the precursor of Nemesis. So let’s start with a bit of Hubris. Since Sorscha is not worried and she really wants to try out her new toys, she sends the Assassins far up the field. She should have waited, but… In combination with the Eliminators, they take out the Angels that killed the Manhunter. Shadow Dance is so cool. Yet, it takes some finesse and is heavy on the clock. But, the magic it can work; and this was even without the mini-feat. I love it.

Except for the over eager Assassins, not a lot more happens. Everybody else moves into postions. Perhaps the most important thing that (didn’t) happened was that Sorscha forgot to feat. She was too engaged in admiring the Assassins’ dexterity. The picture above shows what Sorscha made out of the first turn in Round 2. 

Aurora is finally moving. This is her feat turn. First of all, some of the angels are being recreated by foundries. I should make sure that whole units are killed. A whole bunch of them moves into the forest on the left flank. 

On the right flank, the Stalker moves and jumps to eliminate Eliminators, but can’t really hit them. A bunch of angles fly forward to mess up the right flank. They are basically everywhere. They also manage to chip the Devastator on the way. The Foundry on the right moves into contact with the flag; hoping that it might score if Aurora somehow can remove the Devastator. She can’t. Asphyxious moves in and hides behind the house. 

In the middle, all sorts of flying stuff happens. The Hermit flies down behind the Man-o-Wars and does his -2 ARM thing. The Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex moves forward to be used as an arc node. Aurora can then spray from it to take out the Assassins and a single Eliminator. One of the Stormsmith Storm Tower also shoots the Devastator and Disrupts it. Finally, the Negators attack the Devastator and gives it some damage. However, ARM 23 is hard. Finally, the two Assassins, including the Underboss is killed by the Perfect Hypatia (on in this case, the Perfect Nemesis).

That is more or less it. Scenario score is now 1-1. The picture above depicts the end of Round 2. 

On paper, Sorscha is on top of this. Aurora has thrown most of what she has at the heavy Khador armour, with no effect. The sensible choice would now be to hide Sorscha and just grind Aurora into the ground. However, being sensible has never been my strong side. So, let’s see what happens. 

Hubris is back! After much thinking and contemplating, the Kossites decide to leave the campfire and move in on the left flank; which was perhaps not the best choice. 

On that flank, the Kovnik charges the Hermit and damages it 3 times (assault, axe and shield). The remaining Eliminator charges him and kills him (I must have damage him once in a former round). There is now room for the Demolition Corps to charge and kill the leftmost Negator. 

The Kossites discover that the Angles in the forest have Stealth (from Prowl). So they have to move to shoot them. It also turns out that Negation Angels have an effective DEF of 18 (14 +2 for Blade Shields +2 for concealment). With RAT 4 and shooting in the back, they need a 12 to hit, which is a 37% chance. I do, however think I forgot to roll 3 dice (from backstab). So they hit nothing.

The Shocktroopers can now charge into the enemy part of the field. In the middle, they take out the Perfect Hypatia and move in behind the house. On the right flank they try to contact Asphyxious, which one can do. The Devastator on the right parks next to the flag. It goes Kaboom and removes an angel.

Sorscha now moves in and kills the Negator next to the Devastator. She then Wind Rush back into the zone. There really isn’t any reason for her to move. She should just have moved left and backwards in the zone to stay safe. But, she is not Cygnar. For reasons that are not clear she decides to feat now. 

In the back, Bulkhead cleans out some Angles by charging and spraying (he is so cool). Yuri cleans up the remaining ones. The Eliminators take out the last Angel and a Servitor. The Adjunct also sprays a Servitor. This area is now disinfected.

That is about it. Scenario score is now 2-2. The picture above shows the result of the first turn. 

As stated earlier, Hubris is always followed by Nemesis. In this case Nemesis is called Asphyxious. The only thing that matters in this turn is that Aurora casts Arcane Might. Asphyxious flies over the building, dodging a free strike from a Shocktrooper. He is now in front of Sorscha. He needs sevens to hit (she has DEF 14 due to Wind Rush). He has six attacks, five of them with a boostable damage roll due to Arcane Might. There really isn’t anything more to say. Except for: “do not stand within 10″ of Asphyxious!”

The picture above depicts the result of Nemesis. The scenario score ends at 3-2 in Aurora’s favour. 

On paper this is an easy game. Aurora really has nothing to deal with heavy Khador armour. To a large degree I followed the master plan; which was fine. Of course, I should have been more thorough and relaxed. But, I really wanted to try the new Assassins and Kossites. 

I was too early with the Assassins. I did not think through the deployment of the Kossites. But most importantly Sorscha ended up within 10″ of Asphyxious! This should never be done. In particular not when Aurora has cast Arcane Might. That is potentially 6 attacks from his on focus, five boosted with Aurora’s focus.

It is possible to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!

I do not see a lot of Convergence. I have only faced them once before, where Vlad1 nicely demonstrated how to contain the threat (see battle report here). This list is fresh out of CID, which should have improved them a lot. They are led by Locke, who I thought was a Crucible Guard caster. Anyway, I’m opting for Wolves of Winter under Vlad2 (list is described here).

Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke is new to me, at least in Convergence. I think I might have seen her once or twice in Crucible Guard lists. I have faced the theme, Clockwork Legions before (see here for battle report), yet in another configuration. This time there is an abundance of completely new light ‘jacks (or Vectors): Negators.

The theme is a bit of an odd choice. None of the theme bonuses are used. However, I think it has been chosen to be able to include the ‘caster, Asphyxious4, and Void Archons; and perhaps to be able to include the unhealthy amount of light ‘jacks.

The ‘caster, Locke1 confers only a MAT 5 to her ‘jacks, which on the surface makes her a bit of an odd choice in a melee heavy list. However, her spell Engine of Destruction, which increases her MAT to 9 is why. In addition, she gives them all Precision Strike, which luckily is not that important against Vlad’s list. She is Resourceful, though. So, she can upkeep all spells on her battlegroup for free. Speaking of battlegroup. The whole list has 7 Negators. I have to admit that I can’t remember exactly how many were on Locke herself, and how many were assigned to Asphyxious. I have made a guess. Under this assumption, Lock brings: a Corollary, four Negators, and a Prime Conflux.

Locke is a 7 focus ‘caster, and brings six spells to the table: Engine of Destruction, Jackhammer, Redline, Road to War, Sentry, Bombshell. She actually have a very ‘jack heavy spell list. First and foremost, Engine of Destruction is brilliant for a Convergence list. MAT 9 on all her Vectors is not to be frown upon. Jackhammer basically allows a ‘jack to make a melee attack out of its activation; always handy. Redline is well know from out own junior ‘caster. It gives a ‘jack a turbo charge. Road to War is potentially quite dangerous in this matchup. It allows a ‘jack to move 3″ when, in this case a Khador model is killed. Give the expected death toll on Doom Reavers, the Convergence ‘jacks are going to be really fast. Sentry allows a ‘jack to shoot once in the Maintenance Phase. It will probably go on the Prime Conflux. Finally, Bombshell is a 10″, POW 13, AOE 3″ damage spell, which also has Critical throw. I’m just assuming that all upkeeps will go up in the first turn: Sentry on the Prime Conflux and Redline on one of the Negators. They are upkept for free.

The Corollary is the attachment to Locke, which works as a focus battery. I can potentially improve the focus efficiency of the Vectors. As a bonus, it also extends Locke’s Control range by 2″. Seems to be an auto include for a Convergence army (at least a Vector heavy one). 

The Negators are the new black for Convergence. They can fly and have Reposition, and at speed 7 they are quite mobile (add Road to War to make them extremely mobile). They have a pretty bad P+S at only 10 (with Critical Amputation, though). This is not impressive.  However, it is really cheap at only 6 points, or even free as a Requisition Choice. Those under Asphyxious is slightly better though. They are affected by Dark Shroud, making the effective P+S 12. This is more than enough the kill a doom reaver. So, they are fast and trivially kills Doom Reavers. They spell trouble.

The Prime Conflux is one of Convergence’s two colossal. It is a big stumpy brute. In particular against the Wolves. Against ‘jacks it is capable to deliver two P+S 21 fists, plus a d3 POW 10 damage per hit. If Locke uses Redline on it, it becomes P+S 23, and it is going to hit every time due to MAT from Locke using Engine of Destruction. She can also add more attacks by casting Jackhammer. So, any ‘jack coming within 10-12″ of the Conflux is very very dead. I’ll just have to put my faith the the trusted Marauder and enough Doom Reavers.

Speaking of Doom Reavers, the Conflux is unfortunately also pretty good against infantry. It big gun can potentially kill a whole lot of Reavers, not only by hitting one, but also by damaging all troopers between the model hit and the Conflux in a straight line. It also has two smaller guns. As a bonus if a Reaver hits the Conflux the Reaver will suffer a POW 10 damage roll, which will normally kill a Reaver. A Conflux is really bad news for the Wolves.

Locke is flanked by Junior ‘caster Asphyxious4, probably leading three Negators. The lich gives his Vectors Bloodlust for an extra 2″ movement when charging, and Dark Shroud, which lowers the ARM by two for enemies base to base. Finally, the Negators can also use focus on Asphyxious.    

We are playing the 2019 Steamroller King of the Hill. This is clearly in Locke’s favour, as she has sufficient ‘jacks to score the two outer zones. We are both picking the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4″), Lock wins the roll-off and decides to go first. 

Locke deploys, with machine precision everything in a nice line. The two Archons go on each flank; Negators are more or less evenly distributed; Locke hides behind the Conflux; and Asphyxious deploys slightly to the right. Most other things clump around near the middle. 

Vlad deploys in, more or less the standard formation. The Void Archons mirror their opponents and deploy on the flanks. The two ‘jacks deploy around Vlad near the middle. The Ternions are spread out behind the Advanced Deployed Doom Reavers in front. Two units deploy in the middle in two layers: the one without the Escort in front. The picture above shows the situation after deployment. 

Round one is as always the uneventful round, where we go through the motions. We might or might not adjust to counter our opponent. 

Locke does a somewhat cautious advance. She really wants to keep her models outside Doom Reavers’ jamming range, which is completely understandable. She drops Redline on the Conflux (my assumption was wrong) and Road to War on herself. That is about it. A classic uneventful turn. The picture above depicts the end of Convergences’ first turn.

Doom Reavers – hey ho, here we go. I am contemplating using Apparition and then run the middle unit into the enemy as a speed bump. Locke made sure that almost all of her models are outside the 16″ engagement range of the Doom Reavers (running for 12″ + 2″ Apparition + 2″ reach). After a bit back and forth, I decide to go for the wall of clouds instead. So the Ternions move up and put clouds on Doom Reavers. They then proceed to move forward and construct a wall of clouds. All other Doom Reavers spread out behind them. I know there is going to be carnage as the Negators will chew through Doom Reavers and trigger Road to War repeatedly. Yet, this is what Doom Reavers do: they die, and then what remains kill stuff. 

Vlad also places the Archons so that they can collect and deny souls. Ruin, unfortunately got in a slightly bad position on the right flank. He would have liked to be in the middle to have a comprehensive soul cover, together with the two archons. Vlad moves behind the wall – he really likes walls. He drops Assail onto Ruin and Arcane Might on himself. 

This turn is a bit of a gamble. I have no idea how efficient Locke’s models will be at chewing through Doom Reavers. We will find out soon enough. The picture above shows the end of the first Round.

Second round. This is where we will find out just how many Doom Reavers can be killed in one round. 

Locke starts by making sure that Engine of Destruction is up; and thats it for her.

On the left flank the Void Archon flies forward and sprays through a whole lot of Doom Reavers; who were nicely lined up for that exact purpose (bummer 1). This is followed up by two Negators really going to town on the last few Doom Reavers. Finally, the Conflux shoots a bit to get rid of even more. This almost wipes out two units. Only the Escort is left in one of them, and the unit leader in the second one.

On the right flank, the second Void Archon pulls another neat trick. It charges a Doom Reaver, which it easily kills, then it Void Walks to the right most unit of Ternions and sprays them (bummer 2). Kudos to the Locke player for a very well carried out attack. Besides that, the story on this flank is more or less the same. Negators chew through Doom Reavers like nothing. What is left alive is taken care of by Servitators. Asphyxious moves in behind the house and an Conf moves to score the flag on the right flank.

Holy crap. That was really bad positioning from Vlad’s side, and to be fair good playing from Locke’s side. I am basically left without Doom Reavers, and the Ternions Bond of Woe is not going to help a lot, as there are hardly any living models on the other side. Vlad is now in survival mode. Assassination is unlikely, as Locke is quite happy where she is, Scenario is also unlikely. So the only way is to use that fact that Locke spends a lot of clock and go for that “victory”. However, I need to be mindful of not loosing on Scenario before Locke clocks herself. 

So let the clean up begin. Vlad starts by moving Assail to the Marauder and feats. He climbs over the wall to protect himself from the Void Archon now in his back yard. He also drops a Wind Blast on the Conflux to hopefully hinder its shooting. 

On the left flank, the first unit of Ternions move up to engage the Negator and one of them blasts one of the few living models with Bonds of Woe. There by removing the scoring solo from the flag and resurrecting one Doom Reaver. The rest do a bit of damage on the Negator. The second Negator is removed by what remains of the Doom Reavers, with a bit of help from a Koldun Lord. The last Doom Reaver in the middle stands up a kills a Servitator. 

The remaining Doom Reavers and Ruin kills the two Negators on the right side, along with the Servitators. This now allows the Void Archon to fly up and threaten Asphyxious. It sprays the Optifex in the right zone and then chews into Asphyxious. I’m not sure that I expected to do serious damage, so perhaps I’m not too surprised that Asphyxious survives. Finally, an Escort kills the Servitator on the right.

Round 3. I wonder how long Vlad will survive. I’m hoping longer than what is left on Locke’s clock. 

Locke continues her unreasonable killing the Empress’ subjects. On the left flank, the Archon moves in and kills all the Ternions, except one. This releases the damaged Negator, which can then move into the zone to score. On the right flank, three Negators and the Archon move into the vicinity of Vlad. They remove Ruin and a few remaining Doom Reavers; they also put some damage on Vlad. The Conflux moves in and takes out the Marauder; and the remaining Negators clear out more troops. This turn was really bloody. Locke manages to score two scenario points for the left zone and the flag. The picture above shows the sorry remains of Vlad’s forces. 

Vlad is in so much trouble. There is only a slim to no chance of surviving long enough for Locke to clock herself. To do this, he also needs to make sure that he does not loose on scenario. On the left flank, a lone Doom Reaver charges and kills the Negator in the leftmost zone. One Doom Reaver moves forward in the middle zone and hits the Negator there. The main purpose of this is to contest the flag. Vlad and two Doom Reavers do their best to clean out what is in Vlad’s back yard. Two Negators and the Archon goes down. Unfortunately, this leaves Vlad with his back to most of the Convergence army. He does, however camp four, hoping this will be enough to keep him alive. At least, this hinders scenario scoring. Thus, the score is still 2-0 in Locke’s favour. The picture above depicts Vlad’s last stand. 

This is it. Vlad is so much going to die. The only hope is Locke’s clock, which is quickly moving towards zero. 

The Conflux moves into the leftmost zone to score. I think it also took at least one shot at Vlad. The Archon moves in and sprays Vlad for some damage. Finally, the rightmost Negator also starts hitting Vlad in the back. Luckily, this is where Locke’s clock goes bing! Vlad is victorious (here in its widest possible definition). Scenario ends at 3-0 in Locke’s favour. The picture above shows Vlad’s marvellous victory…

OK, 7 Negators and spice is quite difficult. Luckily, my opponent was not super confident with his list. If he hadn’t clocked himself, I would have died horribly. I am not sure that this was actually doable for Vlad. If Vlad should have had a chance a few things should have been done differently. 

First of all, I think both Ruin and the Marauder should have been positioned to go after the Conflux and ignored the Negators, which Doom Reavers should be able to handle. Secondly, I think I should have run at least one (the one that also did Apparition), possible two units of Doom Reavers to begin with. They should only serve the purpose of tying up Locke’s army to get the remaining Doom Reavers into charge range. I have to learn that Doom Reavers are there to die. 

It is also clear that I underestimated Mat 9 Negators. They can really remove Doom Reavers. However, the Conflux did not do a lot. Perhaps it didn’t have to?

Anyway, Vlad did win!

Until next time.

For the Motherland!

Convergence of Cyriss is not very common across the table. I think I have only seen them once or twice. They are a bit odd compared to both Warmachine and Hordes factions. The do Focus in a strange way where they can spend one and then pass it on. The army in front of me is a whole lot of smaller floating robots and one huge one. I am opting for Vlad and his trusted Winter Guards (list is described here). This is post-Oblivion, which only changes the WGK list by adding an extra Artillery Kapitan.

Convergence [Theme] Clockwork Legions [Orion 1] Eminent Configurator Orion [+28]        – Corollary [0(6)] – Diffuser [0(6)] – Modulator [10] – Modulator [10] – Modulator [10] – Modulator [10] – Modulator [10] – Modulator [10] – Prime Conflux [33] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Hermit of Henge Hold [5] J.A.I.M.s [0(5)]

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]

The Eminent Configurator Orion is completely new to me, as is the Clockwork Legions theme. To begin with the theme. It is a bit unclear why this theme as it doesn’t seem to add any benefits to this particular army.

The warcaster in this army, Orion brings a standard MAT 6 and RAT 7 to all of his ‘jacks (weird system where the ‘caster defines the MAT and RAT of all ‘jacks). He also give Reposition 3″ to all ‘jacks in his battle group.

Orion is a 7 focus caste who brings five spells to the table. The first one is Avenging Force, which allows a kind of Vengeance move in the Maintenance Phase if either Orin, Optifex, Hermit, or J.A.I.M.s are damaged. Mage Sight allows Orion to drop an AOE 5″ on an enemy and Orion’s army can ignore forest, clouds and stealth when attacking. Magic Bullet allows to make a POW 12 damage roll against a model within 4″ of whatever the targeting model is shooting at. Spellpiercer is an upkeep that gives Blessed weapons within Orion’s control area. Finally, Forced Induction gives a ‘jack 1 focus and gives a POW 10 damage roll (per focus on the ‘jack) against the ‘jack and everybody within 1″. None of theses spells are game breaking in any sense agains Vlad and his Winter Guards.

The feat is quite dangerous. It gives an addition dice on attack against models that don’t have focus on them, and an additional dice damage against models that do have focus on them. So, under feat everything should trivially hit Vlad’s stuff. If the Marauders, and in particular Vlad are left with focus, it can potentially be painful.

Orion brings a huge monster of a Prime Conflux, a Corollary, a Diffuser, and six Modulators! The Prime Conflux is almost as robust as our own Conquest. Doing the classic huge-base Marauder counting, it is a two-Marauder job to finish one off. One Marauder will be 14 points of damage short of killing it (when charging with all the bells and whistles). The Conflux is equipped with standard colossal fists, which also does some electrical damage. It has 3 cannons. The main cannon, which can shoot twice, it a range 15″ POW 13 gun, which can also damage models between the Conflux and the target (POW 10). This only has consequences for the Winter Guards. The two smaller guns can shoot a Beacon, giving charging models basically a Boundless Charge agains the target hit. It is also a POW 11. In general, I think this colossal is kind of underwhelming.

The Corollary is basically a focus battery. It gains one automatically when near the ‘caster, and it doesn’t loose unspent focus. It also extends Orion’s control area by two inches. The Diffuser is a small ‘jack that more or less only brings the same Beacon ability as the Prime Conflux.

Finally, there is a whole swarm of Modulators. Six to be precise.  These will eat infantry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They can shoot twice at range 11″ POW 10, and do the same thing of hitting model between it and the target. It also has two P+S 14 melee attacks. Finally, if it is hit in melee it will give POW 10 electric damage back. Under Orion’s feat it will shoot all Winter Guard to death, and do potential serious damage to the ‘jacks and Vlad. Luckily, they are a very poor matchup to the Gun Carriages.

Orion is also brining four solos: two Algorithmic Dispersion Optifexes, Jaims, and the Hermit. The Optifexes are just very cheap Arc Nodes, Jaims is a super Eliminator, and Hermit is there to skew dice (and score flags).

In general, this list will probably chew through infantry like there is no tomorrow. The Marauders are more safe, as it is more or less only the Prime Conflux that can really hurt them. Vlad could wasily be shot to death. However, the Gun Carriages should be pretty safe.

We are playing Steamroller 2019 Recon II. We both picked the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4″). Orion won the roll-off and opted to go first. Vlad thinks it is a good place to be able to stand in rough terrain, so he choses that side. As a first, there are three burning clouds terrain on the table.

Sorry for the blurry pictures throughout this report. I think that there must have been some sort of digital inference from the Convergence models; which is unfortunate, as the Convergence army is completely painted and quite pretty.

Orion deploys in the middel with his Corollary and the Conflux. Four Modulators go on the left flank with an Arc Node. The two remaining goes on the right flank with the Diffuser and the second Arc Node. Jaims hides somewhere on the left flank.

End of deployment

Vlad deploys in the standard manner. A Gun Carriage on each flank. A Rifle Corps on the inside on each Gun Carriage. All artillery in the middle with Vlad, and Marauders, and solos in the back. The picture above shows the end of deployment.

First round is probably as always uneventful.

End of turn 1

Everything advances. On the left flank, all four Modulators advance as a floating wall of steel. The Arc Node tags along. The Hermit shuffles towards the flag. On the right flank, the Diffuser-Modulator trio also advances. In the middle, the Conflux walks through the burning cloud and catches fire. It also ejects an Ionization Servitator just next to the house in the middle. The picture above depicts the end of the first turn.

End of round 1

Vlad is a bit worried about all the Modulators, and their potential ability to shoot a lot. He advances all of his army and makes sure to stay outside of the threat range of the Modulator. He himself ends up in the rubble in the middle escorted the Mortar and one of the Field Guns. The picture above depicts the end of round 1.

Round two could potentially also be a staring contest. Who will blink first, Vlad or Orion? I wonder if Orion actually have blinking-devices?

End of turn 1, round 2

On the left flank, the wall of Modulators advance into the forest. Jaims and the Arc Node tags along. The Hermit places himself next to the flag ready to score. On the right flank, the two Modulators also moves a bit forward. The Conflux moves forward, and I discover I forgot it could shoot further. It drops three Winter Guards, all of them Rocketeers! It also ejects another Servitator near the Winter guards. That was it. The picture above shows the end of Convergence’s turn.

End of round 2

It is time to get into action. Vlad starts by moving a bit forward, yet staying in the rubble. He then casts S&P. On the right flank, the Gun Carriage moves forward, avoiding the burning cloud, and starts shooting the Diffuser who has positioned itself next to the Arc Node. The Carriage gets a bit of help from the Rifle Corps and removes both hostile models.

On the left flank the other Carriage moves forward and puts everything into the rightmost Modulator. Based on the same approach as the Convergence models that moves one focus from one end of the army to the other; I though I could kill the models from one end to the other. The Rifle Corps also assist on this flank (after Joe tells them to be tough), and together they manage to take out the first Modulator and blast the Hermit to kingdom come. The rest basically just moves forward and the artillery take potshots at whatever it can. Finally, one of the Kapitans moves to the flank to score. Vlad scores one for the flag, Convergence scores nothing. The scenario score is now 1-0 i Vlad’s favour. The picture above depicts the end of round two.

Now the match is heating up. I think the second round was pretty good for Vlad. Lets see how bad Orion hits back?

End of turn 1, round 3

Orion seems to be a bit annoyed. On the right flank, one of the Modulators in conjunction with with Conflux shoot a lot on the Carriage. Orion spend a tremendous amount of time making sure that the Conflux is outside the charge lane of the middle Marauder. To finish of the Marauder, the last Modulator moves in and brings the killing shoot. Somewhere in all the shooting, the Kapitan and two Winter Guards are also killed.

On the left flank, two of the three remaining Modulators charge the Gun Carriage. They do some damage, but they basically haven’t got a chance to kill it. The last Modulator shoots at the Winter Guards. But thanks to Joe’s inspiring speech they do manage to roll a few tough rolls. Jaims charges in and takes out two Winter Guards. I think Orion did cast Magic Bullet at some point. He also upkeeps Avenging Force as a general rule. Finally, the Arc Node moves up to the flag to score.

At the end of the first turn, Orion manages to score a single point for the flag. Unfortunately, Vlad doesn’t score. This leaves the scenario score at 1-1. The picture above shows the end of turn 1.

End of round 3

Hey Ho, here we go. Vlad smells a feat turn. It would seem like two Boundless Charge and/or a lot of allocation is required. One for the middle Marauder to take out the objective and the Corollary, and one for the left ‘jack to take out the Prime. That is more focus that Vlad can spare. But if he can kill something he can do Blood Boon and cast Boundless Charge. Jaims is the only available target. Vlad starts by allocating two focus to the rightmost Marauder, and one to the middle Marauder. To get to Jaims, the Field Gun needs to move out of the way. The two Field Gun grunts moves out of the way and the Field Gun Fires at the Prime to do a bit of damage. Vlad can then activate. He cast S&P, feats and charges Jaims, whom he proceeds to kill and, using Blood Boon he casts Boundless Charge on the middle Marauder.

The rightmost Marauder charges the Prime and does around its expected amount of damage. It is not enough to take it down. The second Field Gun takes aim and fires. The Mortar has to chip in. It is still not down. So, the remaining Rocketeers have to move right and lob rockets at it. It is still alive with one box. It seems that it is all down to Joe. So Joe activates, moves towards the flag, pulls out his Hand Cannon, tighten up his uniform, shouts Courage of the Forefathers to the Rifle Corps, and fires at the Prime Conflux. It finally goes down. The rest of the Rifle Corps shoots and kills the last Arc Node.

The remaining Rifle Corps on the right flank moves in to intercept the Modulator. The remaining Carriage charges the Modulator in front of it, does impact to knock the two Modulators down, and shoots the two Modulators in front of it. The leftmost Marauder walks through the fire cloud, catches fire and slams the Modulator away.

Finally, the middle Marauder charges the objective, kills it, and proceeds to kill the Corollary. That was it. A pretty good round. Vlad scores one point for the objective, leaving the scenario score at 2-1 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the result of the Empress’ finest doing their job.

So far Vlad is on top og this. He has put himself a bit forward. But he is currently quite confident. Let us hope that Orion can’t pull a Hail Mary.

End of turn 1, round 4

Orion is formulating a plan involving his feat and the remaining Modulators shooting Vlad to death. It sounds convincing and I’m getting a bit worried. Luckily, the two knocked down Modulators on the left flank is now outside Orion’s control area.

Orion activates (he might have allocated something, it is bit confusing). He feast and charges the Marauder at his doorstep. He does manage to knock it down and do some damage. He might have casted Magic Bullet on on of the Modulators. One of the Modulators in the right flak charges the Marauder to try and take it out. It is really no serious match. Khador steel agains Convergence flying bucket. The other Modulator tries to shoot as many Winter Guards as possible near Vlad to deny him the Sacrificial Pawn.

Kind of the same pattern occurs on the left flank. The two knocked down Modulators take out the Carriage, and the last one shoots Winter Guards. Luckily, the Modulators run out of shoots before the Motherland runs out of Winter Guards. That was it. No scoring, leaving the scenario score at 2-1 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the end of the Convergence turn.

End of round 4, end of game

Vlad is happy. He is on top of this. There is plenty of time left on the clock. There is actually time to think. There is probably no chance of clearing the left zone. Even though the Modulators are pretty beat up. There might be more important thing to do for the left Marauder. The right zone can probably be cleared. The middle Marauder is pretty beat up, so it needs help – just to be sure. So here goes.

Vlad activates, casts S&P and lean back. In hindsight, he should perhaps have contributed to clearing out the left zone. On the right flank, Joe moves up and shouts Bear’s Strength to the remaining Winter Guards. He then parks at the flag. The Rifle Corps charge the rightmost Modulator and does a reasonable amount of damage (Orion did not find i reasonable). The combined fire of the Field Gun and Mortar takes out the second Modulator. Finally, the Marauder walks backwards and pounds the Modulator to the ground. Unfortunately, the last Servitator is still contesting.

The leftmost Marauder charges Orion, takes a few free strikes on the way. It arrives and Orion dies. That was it. End of game. Vlad did not manage to clear the left zone, he did, however unintentional clear the left one. Not of enemy models, but of his own. This means that Vlad scores one point for the flag, and Orion scores one for the zone. This leaves scenario score at 3-2 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above depicts the glorious victory be the Empress and her loyal subjects.

This was a surprisingly easy match. Convergence turns out to be far less of a threat that I had expected. The whole feat plus Boundless Charge is still a game winner. Also with all the huge-bases out there Marauders are just marvellous. Finally, S&P solves so many problems for everybody. Vlad is clearly a bit focus starved. So perhaps it is time to think about bringing his ex-girlfriend onboard. We will see.

Primary thing to remember is to check scenario score. There was really no reason to give up a scenario point. Also activation order might be worth thinking about. I can’t remember why the middle Marauder just did not kill Orion. It might have been too damaged, or I might have worried that it couldn’t.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!