pSeverius vs eMorvahna

Elliot and I got together for our Tuesday night Warmachine game at the club. We played Into the Breach (SR 2013 Scenario #9). Here you can see the terrain set up, the zone and the flag. My Menoth force will be coming in from the left. Elliot's Circle army will be coming from the right.

This game will forever be known to me as the match of two grave mistakes...

This is a 50-point game. I rolled to go first. I'm set up on the left with pSeverius, Elliot is on the right with his new eMorvahna Tier 4 list.

Menoth opening set up. I have pSeverius with Hierophant, Blessing, Reckoner, Avatar, Choir, two Vassals, a Mechanik, Rhoven & Guards and the book set up on the base line. Advance deployed are the wracks and Errants with UA and Seneschal.

Circle opening set up. eMorvahna is with the Stalker, Pureblood, Gorax, Ravagers, the Ravager solo, Tree, Bloodtrackers and a min unit of Cavalry.

Here's Elliot's battlegroup on the start line. The army is so new, Elliot just has primer down on several pieces. They look great, however...will be awesome when all painted up.

Menoth turn 1. Elliot has set up after me, so my pieces are mismatched. On my right (closest to the camera) I have Blessing up against his Ravagers. I'd rather be arcing into the Bloodtrackers, which are on my left. Oh well. The Ravagers are only armor 14, so Severius should be able to do some work against them anyway.

On my left flank (away from the camera) the Errants line up outside the wood and scoring zone. Elliot's Bloodtrackers have the Errants as Prey, and will be able to rush through the woods no problem, so I play conservatively there.

Circle turn 1. On my right, the Ravagers run up.

On my left a few Bloodtrackers move up to throw spears. They get one Errant even with Morvahna cutting plenty for re-rolls. I should say at this point, our dice were cold the entire game. Fog of War is up, so my shooting options next turn are cut way down.

Menoth turn 2. On my right, Blessing moves up and I arc Ashes to Ashes into the Ravagers. I catch 4 and put good damage on all of them.

On my left, the Errants move into the woods, whack some Bloodtrackers and put a lot of damage into the Ravager solo. The Avatar sandbags and gets ready to take a charge from the Stalker next turn. I put Menoth's Sight onto the Reckoner and shoot at the Stalker. More terrible rolls follow. It seems that the whole key to playing against eMorvahna is to try and get at her while killing as few of her troopers as possible. A tall order that winds up being very frustrating.

Circle turn 2. On my right, the Ravagers get into my support troops, killing a Guard, Rhoven and a Vassal. The Tree also moves up and I take a Death Toll on the final Guard and 4 points onto Blessing. The Pureblood also sprays into a group of my dudes. Ouch. Attrition going good for Elliot on this flank.

Meanwhile, on the left, the Bloodtrackers finally get stuck into the Errants and get rid of most of them. The Stalker goes ghostly (from the Pureblood) and gets Primal from Gorax and plows into Avatar. But my big 'jack is left with a column of boxes and will exact revenge next turn.

And here is where Elliot serves the game up to me on a platter. Morvahna is sitting in the clear at 6 hit points (due to all the re-rolling he is doing) and with no Fury (he cast Purification to strip Defender's Ward off of Avatar). The game is mine to win. Big mistake number one is pending.

Menoth turn 3. Sideshow on the right flank. Blessing takes out a couple of Ravagers...big deal.

On the left flank...brain fart disaster. There is a single Bloodtracker standing where I want to move my Reckoner to put Morvahna out of her misery. I have multiple ways of clearing it. But I pick the stupidest. I want to charge into it with an Errant, but to get through, I want to eliminate the Stalker in order to avoid the free strike. I quickly dispatch the Stalker...and in so doing, Morvahna reaves 4 fury. Damn it! Dumbest move ever. Sure, I charge and clear the Bloodtracker, but Morvahna can now transfer and I will not win this turn. My loaded Reckoner moves up anyway and shoots 9 damage into Elliot's caster. Transfer to Gorax. I'm an idiot. Ancillary attack with Vassal...just to get more damage into Elliot's beasts. Miss. Oh God.

Now for the second big mistake of the game. When I activated Severius, he put Defender's Ward up on himself (good) but did not feat (super-bad). Now, Morvahna can Purify again and Severius will be standing in the open with his pants down.

Circle turn 3. An easy decision for Elliot. Morvahna moves up and Purifies. The Pureblood moves up and sprays into Severius, starting the assassination by landing 11 damage. The Bloodtrackers activate, eliminate the last of my Errants and move Prey onto Severius. The remaining two spear attacks then take my 'caster down. Sad face.

I deserved the loss because I had the win right in my butter-fingered hands. Yet another good, hard-fought game with Elliot. Always fun and challenging.