Battle Report 49: Kaya 2 vs. Thagrosh 1

Oh hey guys, Stormy here. Jaden left his laptop alone without locking me up and I'm not terribly interested in "hacking" his Facebook page so I will be writing this battle report as it features ME.

Man, what kind of font is this anyway? It's so boring. Let's see....what kind of trouble can I get into....


How's this? Nah too old school. 

Hmmm....nope, not lightningy enough. 

What about..nah...

This one is called Georgia, and it's really boring. 

Wow, this blog has terrible options for font. Ah well, I will persevere, for I am Stormy, Great and Terrible is my name and before me all will become lightning barbecue for dinner. 

I mean...Let's get to the report shall we?


Boss man made me work for Kaya for this one, which is much better than the last couple times - Kromac is a mean, mean man...beast...thing. 

I also had a couple of other guys with me - not as cool as I am but I suppose they're alright. 

Oh what the heck, here's what I had to work with. Feel bad for me, it was pretty miserable. 

Kaya 2
- Laris
- ME! STORMY!
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Feral Warpwolf

Blackclad Wayfarer

Ogrun Bokur x2 (Cliented to Stones)

Sentry Stone x2

And we were staring down a bunch of blighted balogna led by a mean horned ogre dude. 

Thagrosh 1
- Typhon
- Scythean
- Carnivean
- Ravagore
- Angelius

Shepherd x2
Forsaken x1


Boss man tossed the square rock thing better than the other dude and decided that we got to do stuff first! Oh yeah, here comes the LIGHTNING!!

I mean...we got set up like this. Why are we fighting over two big trench things again?

Look, I'm so pretty!!

Slightly less pretty from this angle. Why does that dog thing look like a tiger?

Also..wait a minute, Jaden cheated. He had out that Kromac dude and apparently
you get an extra Blackclad Druid Dude with him, but not with Kaya. I hope he  
Fixes that later......

And the other dudes got set up too...I wish they looked tastier. Blight makes my tummy hurt. 

Look how tiny that things wings are! Mine are so much better!

Good Guys Turn 1 - Or how I totally looked boss and got stronger:

The little teleporty stones (Jaden's note - Sentry Stones) did their magic and made forests. The wolf bros (Jaden's note - Feral and Stalker) ran up and hid behind the forest. It's really neat how they do that; I try sometimes, but even making myself as small as possible, it doesn't seem to work. 

Kaya's little pooch also ran to keep up with me. (Jaden's note - Laris)

Kaya cast a spell on me which made me stronger and more nimble! (Jaden's note - this was Forced Evolution).  She did some cool thing (Spirit Shift; Sheesh, don't you pay attention to anyone but yourself Stormy?) and ended up right next to her doggy. I flew super fast opposite the little flying pipsqueak of a blighted thing - I'd show him who was boss!

I was wondering why we were basically ignoring the little trench thing right next to us, but decided it probably wasn't really that important.

(J's note - hopefully the picture helps make Stormies babbling clearer)

Bad Guys turn 1:

The Bad Guys were scared of me! #StormyOP They didn't move up very far because I am a FAST bird, boo yah!

The slightly bigger dragon (Carnivean for those who are curious) thing got all spiny (Spiny Growth) and so did the super bad guy (Thagrosh) after he made the slightly bigger dragon even bigger (Draconic Blessing) and made everything super fuzzy (Fog of War). 

I don't like it when things are fuzzy, it's harder to barbecue them. 

Good Guys turn 2:

Kaya looked real hard at the battlefield, and even though I wanted to go in soooo bad, she wouldn't let me. Something about what I killed not dying for real? I don't get it, too high above my paygrade, I'm just here to look good. 

Anyway, she kept that super spell (Forced Evolution for those who forgot) on me and her puppy (Laris) ran through the forest. 

I flapped a little bit closer, and the fuzzy made it so that I missed my first lightning bolt. That made me pretty mad, so not only did I hit my second one but I gave it a LOT of juice and that scythe dragon (Scythean) looked reallll hurt. (It took 11 damage actually, hehe)

Kaya tried some bone headed thing (Casting Muzzle to be precise) through her doge (can you believe it lets her cast spells through it? I'd be annoyed as crap) but it looked like it didn't work. Maybe her eyes were all fuzzy too. The doge teleported back to her as well. (Spirit Shift again) 

The wolf bros (Feral and Stalker again) moved up as well, and the ogre dudes (Ogrun Bokur) chilled out by their special rocks. 

Speaking of rocks, their stick guys (Mannikins) didn't do a whole lot to that scythe dragon. Looks like I gotta carry the team, as per usual. 

The Scythean is the empty base

Extended Jaden note - I carefully premeasured so that nothing of mine was getting charged this turn except Mannikins by a Scythean or Mannikins by a Carnivean. 

Bad Guys turn 2:

We were all cleverly too far away from the icky dragons for them to do a whole lot, but the scorched scythe one (Scythean) came in and twirled a very nice pirouette (Threshered) and killed all the stick guys near him. 

The fire-ball dragon (Ravagore) shot a fire-ball at the ogre guy next to me, but didn't kill him or the Druid Dude. (At this point I realized that I'd put an extra Blackclad on the table. As the one on the hill had taken damage already, that's the one I kept in play and removed the other one from the table. Glad I caught that before I got multiple Hunters Marks off in one turn, I would have felt really bad) Fire don't scare me neither, I just floated above it. 

The multi-head dragon (Typhon) ran up to me and so did the little annoying flying thing (Angelius). 

Everything was still fuzzy (Fog of War was upkept), and the big dragon (Carnivean) with the spell (Draconic Blessing got upkept as well) on it got spiny again, and so did the really bad dude (Spiny Growth on Thagrosh and Carnivean - can't the bird remember anything?). 

The really big dragon sprayed fire all over one of the rocks and it melted. Poor rock. (Carnivean killed the Sentry Stone with a Spray)

Good Guys turn 3:

I really felt like I was going to get the go ahead here, and I was impatient to go. 

First, Kaya's little doggy ran into the forest again, and she did something to the fire-ball dragon (Dog Pile - what an awesome spell) and all of a sudden I could see it through the forest!

She also did her super magic spell (Feat) and cast ANOTHER spell on me, the kind that's probably like 'roids except better and it makes you super duper angry. (Primal)

And then the little Druid next to me threw a piece of Salmon on the weird rock thing and I couldn't help myself. I totally went for it. (The Blackclad cast Hunters Mark on the objective)

After I got it, I remembered what I was supposed to do and promptly tore the lotsa-heads dragon apart and ate the stupid flying thing. Mmm....barbecued flying dragon. The rock thing fell apart from all the lightning at some point. (Stormy killed Typhon and the Angelius, and his charge attack on the objective at dice +3 did 13 damage, so the several eLeaps into it eventually killed it)

The Wolf-Man with the Sword went after the fire-ball dragon, but he didn't kill it OR the seriously crispy scythe dragon and then teleported back to Kaya somehow. (Stalker couldn't stay outside of Thagrosh's aura of -2 Strength and, while he didn't kill either beast, really messed them both up. Less than half health on both)

Then the stripey cat-dog thing went after the really big dragon, staying outside the bubble of grossness coming from the really bad guy just like I had. 

HE screwed up TOO! Don't ever hire a dog to do a Raptor's work friends, it doesn't end well. It looked like he messed him up pretty good though, and then he also got teleported back to Kaya. (Feral went in and nearly killed the Carnivean, leaving him on 3 boxes)

Ogre boys chilled out by us bigger boys and that was basically that. 

(Score 1-0, Advantage Circle)

Bad Guys turn 3:

I AM LIGHTNING, I AM THUNDER! THEY WERE ALL THUNDERSTRUCKKKKK!!!!

Wait there's a little winged dude over there, what's he doing? OUUUUCCHHHHHHHH. THAT BLOODY HURT YOU STUPID THING! (Forsaken came over and blew up, doing 15 damage to the Storm Raptor)

After that, a whole bunch of healing happened from the big bad man and...wait the multi-head dragon CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD??? WHAT THE CRAP??? (Thagrosh moved up and Feated, and also sprayed Stormy who clearly isn't remembering that with the shock of Typhon coming back)

Then the scyth dragon came in and REALLY hurt me. 

Then the fire-ball dragon came in and...wait am I reading this right? I DIED THIS TIME??? NO NO NO, I AM OUT, JADEN CAN FINISH THIS STUPID REPORT ON HIS OWN. 

STORMY IS OUT, PEACE!

Wait I get my blog back? Is this for real?

Yes it is true, Stormy perished there, but in doing so nearly killed the Scythean with eLeaps.

The rest of the turn boiled down to the Shepherds healing a bit more and the Carnivean casting Spiny Growth again.

Thagrosh dominated his zone for a point.

Score 1-1

Tie!

Circle turn 4:

I upkept Dog Pile and thought good and hard for a second. The Scythean was practically dead, and so was the Carnivean.

I was pretty sure the pair of Bokur's could finish both of them off barring awful dice, and then the Stalker could charge in.

I did some quick math, and even with Thagrosh's aura, I should be able to kill Typhon with the Stalker if he has Primal and Forced Evolution on him, and then I could charge the Feral through the forest thanks to Dog Pile and kill off that beast too.

Fortunately, the Feral didn't Frenzy with the pair of fury left on it.

Both Bokurs charged in and killed their targets.

Kaya cast Forced Evolution and Primal on the Stalker.

The Stalker charged the Ravagore with it's claw attack and did pretty good damage.

He then proceeded to kill Typhon super dead even through excessive healing (dice +2 is a thing apparently) and used his last attack to kill the Ravagore.

The Feral moved over to block LOS to Kaya as best as I could and I passed the turn controlling his zone for a second point.

Score 2-1

Advantage Circle

Legion turn 4:

Thagrosh went in and killed the Stalker, and the Shepherds killed the Mannekin they were engaging and also contested. 

Score 2-1

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 5:

The Bokurs charged in and killed both Shepherds, and I have a terrible fear of trying assassination runs so Kaya just ran to the other zone, bringing her beasts along with her.

I went to four points and my opponent conceded.

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game thoughts:

Okay color me very intrigued. Kaya is certainly a powerhouse, and Dog Pile combined with Forced Evolution is an extremely potent package.

I was laughing to myself when I realized that with Dog Pile and Hunters Mark, the Storm Raptor can charge 14 inches with a 2 inch reach past that. That's a little silly.

Forced Evolution also turns the Raptor into a very difficult to remove piece if you don't have blessed, as DEF 14 on a colossal is nothing to sneeze at. If my opponent hadn't had the Forsaken there (and I should have spent the Mannikins activations' killing it instead of farting around charging the Scythean), then the Raptor 100% survives that turn which is pretty incredible when you think about it.

I have to go console Stormy, the regeneration process isn't very kind to him and he always takes news of his dying hard. Maybe if I finish painting his armor he'll get over himself.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :)

Battle Report 48: Kromac 2 vs. Elara 2

Happy 2017 everyone! (Yes I realize it's January 4th or January 5th depending on where you are, bear with me.)

After reflecting on my Kromac 2 list from last time, I decided a couple of very important things. 

1) Ghetorix isn't really necessary in the list. 

2) The Mist Riders, while very cool, aren't as good as Sentry Stones because...

3) I should be playing two Ogrun Bokurs in 99% of my Circle lists AND

4) I need double Hunters Mark in the list - it's too important. 

With that in mind, I badgered Chandler until we came up with this:

Kromac 2

- Storm Raptor

- Stalker 

- Feral

Blackclad x2

Ogrun Bokur x2 (Cliented to the Stones)

Sentry Stone x2

And I then promptly left the bag with the Feral and one of the Blackclads at home! So this game I have a proxied Feral (the Pureblood) and I've got Lanyssa instead of Blackclad number 2. 

My opponent had a proxy or two of his own:

Elara 2

- Helios

- Imperatus

- Phoenix

- Moros

- Chimera

Mage Hunter Assassin x2

Arcanist x2

Min Rifle Corps and CA

We rolled up outlast and I ended up going first, fine with me!

Central deployment again. He has less in the way of damaging shooting than Malekus did, so my Raptor can play pretty central which is nice. 

Me: Look at the absurd angles I have to photograph from to fit you in bird!
Storm Raptor: Silence slave, look how freaking pretty I am!

My opponent skewed Helios off to my left and put his heavies on the right, an interesting play for sure. 

I think it would have been better most likely to put Helios centrally to influence more of the table, but I could be wrong there. 

Stormy: Look! I even made it into that picture too! Photo bomb!
Me: *sigh* what have I done....

Circle turn 1:

Sentry Stones activate and get fury and port up.

Awakened Spirit goes onto the Storm Raptor, and Vengeful goes on the Feral. Kromac charges up the table.

I premeasure a landing spot for the bird and make sure not to put anything there so he can run 14 inches. 

Everything else runs up, I put one Hunters Mark  solo on each side. 

I gave up on trying to fit everything into one picture, so most of my turns with the Storm Raptor involved will have two photos - just feeding the bloody things ego.

Left Side

Right Side

Ret turn 1:

Scything Touch on Imperatus and everything runs to stay outside of my threat ranges. 

I really don't like how Elara's entire list threats as far as my Stalker does with Hunters Mark. That's a really good Feat over there. 

Circle turn 2:

Well...I've got to bait him out and not lose too much on the backswing. 

That basically means the Stalker is Imperatus bait. 

The Storm Raptor still can't shoot at much without getting charged next turn, so it backs up. 

I create "Fort Feral" on the hill, and then move the Bokur, Lanyssa, and Stalker up to the wall so as to deny the Mage Hunter Assassin an easy landing spot when she charges the Stalker. 

The Blackclad hangs out behind the forest and farther than 11 inches from the left hand MHA. 

Left

Stormy: You sacrificed the Stalker but saved me? You must love me the best!
Me: Whatever you want to think thunderbeak.

Ret turn 2:

The prospect of getting at least a partial alpha is too good to resist and Elara pops feat after fully loading Imperatus. 

The Rifle Corps CRA the Bokur and leave him on one box. 

The MHA charges to the Stalker's left and....misses her seven. 

Imperatus charges in and leaves the Stalker on about 10 boxes because DEF 16 effectively is pretty good. 

The Phoenix charges in and also fails to kill the wolf, leaving him on 3 boxes but on fire. 

On the left side of the table, Helios moves up threateningly, but can't quite get the angle he wants to pull my Feral out. 

Left

Right

Circle turn 3:

Fire doesn't go out, and with Scything Touch the Stalker is only ARM 15, so he dies. 

Kromac, angered beyond reason, pops Feat after dropping his upkeeps and charges Imperatus.

At this point, we realize that my opponent's warroom didn't actually add Imperatus to the list when he had tried to in list building, and as a result my opponent had an extra Imperatus on top of the 75 point list he had there. 

Since it was already pretty well into the game, I just decided to see how I could do even playing 22 points down. 

Turns out, Kromac can kill Ret heavies really well, and he camped a couple at the end. 

The Sentry Stone on the right killed some Rifle Dudes. 

The left side Sentry Unit got out of the Feral's way, and it went in and murdered the Aspis super dead before putting Primal on the Storm Raptor. 

The Blackclad moved into Helios' back arc and got Hunters' Mark on him.

The Storm Raptor, now a Mat 9, PS 22/21/21 monster charged Helios and put him down with Fury to spare. He bought an attack on Moros and missed. 

Left

Right

Ret turn 3:

Elara loads up the pair of lights and Apparitions up. 

She charges the Mannikin closest to her, kills it, casts Scything Touch for free, and Teleports back. 

Moros goes and Paralyzes the Storm Raptor. Between the two lights, they drop the Raptor to about 20 health. 

The Phoenix flails at Kromac but doesn't do anything, and the Rifle dudes shoot the Sentry Stone but don't kill it. 

Left

Right

Circle turn 4:

The Storm Raptor frenzies into the Chimera and does a few damage. 

The Feral murders the Chimera easily. 

Kromac murders the Phoenix easily. 

Sentry Stones flub their attack rolls on Riflemen and make a forest to block LOS from Moros to Kromac. 

Left

Right

Ret turn 4:

Moros gets loaded up again. An Arcanist moves up and gives him +2 damage, and the little jack takes down the bird. 

Rifle dudes shoot at Kromac, but don't do much. 

Me: See Stormy? Without you, I can take ONE picture and get all of it
Stormy: Yeah, but it's not as pretty without me in it!

Circle turn 5:

I screw up my premeasuring and fail a charge with Kromac. 

The Feral charges Moros and kills him easily. 

The left Sentry Stones fail to murder the Arcanist, and the right ones fail to kill Riflemen again. 

three points!

Score 3-0

Advantage Circle

Ret turn 5:

The writing is on the wall, and the Riflemen go in to contest, as does the Arcanist. 

Score 3-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 6:

Sentry Stones finally decide to hit things, and Kromac goes in to kill the last Rifleman, leaving Ret with literally Elara left. 

I score 3 more points. 

Score 6-0

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I don't think the Storm Raptor is a competitive model, but it can definitely kill some things. 

That being said, trading my 38 point gargantuan for a 34 point colossal isn't the greatest thing ever, especially when the math says that a Feral with Primal and Kromac Feat does 6 damage less (still about 15 more than needed to kill Helios by the way). 

It's still a gorgeous model though, and it was pretty neat to actually see it do stuff this game before dying horribly to....a PS 13 light *sigh*. 

Ah well, it's a lot of fun on the table and you'll be seeing more of Stormy in the next batrep. 

Thanks for reading!

2016 - A Warmachine Year in Review

Prologue:

At the beginning of 2016, I had been living in Utah Valley for 3 months and had come to the rapid and very stark realization that I was nowhere near as good at Warmachine as the guys I was playing with.

I had a pretty abysmal win to loss ratio by my (limited) records, and I always felt like I was out of contention for any serious events due to sloppy placement, poor target priority, and a weak scenario game.

I came into 2016 with a new faction (Cygnar) and a few goals - I wanted to play 150 games of Warmachine in 2016. I wanted to have at least a 60% win to loss ratio. I wanted to place at tournaments, regardless of size. I wanted to get really comfortable on the clock.

To record all of this, I put together a quick spreadsheet to track my games, with a column that would automatically add up my wins and losses and then give me a percentage and a nifty pie graph.

It's quite the collection of stuff now, and I thought it would be cool to share it you all.


Here are my criteria for winning and losing games:

Assassination (obviously)
Scenario
Attrition (usually when a concession happened)
Time (if played with clock)
DICE - some games, there are no explanations. Dice happen, and you can't help it. I think I managed to avoid all but a couple of these from happening, and they were only in the spreadsheet for games where either myself or my opponent literally could not roll above 5 on two dice constistently.

I held myself and my opponents to this standard, and even if we played on post time - out, it went in my record as a clock win or a clock loss. I also only recorded standard, tournament-sized games. This meant 50 points for Mark 2 and 75 points for Mark 3.

Mark 2:

I played 143 games of Mark 2 Warmachine/Hordes between January 1, 2016 and the release of Mark 3 at Lock and Load.

Out of these games, I won 109, leaving me with a 76.22% win - loss ratio.

For tournament games, I played 27 games, losing 4 total and placing quite well in a number of events for an overall win - loss ratio in tournaments of 85.19%.

Out of these events I:

Did not quite qualify for Day Two of Las Vegas Open Masters on tie breakers, but only lost to Mike Puryer of WTC fame
.
Won the Spring 2016 Utah Cup.

Placed 5th at the Spring 2016 Intermountain Cup.

Placed top 8 (5th I think) at Lock and Load Masters, losing due to mistakenly putting an extra solo on the table on day 2 after changing my list slightly. After discovering my mistake, I conceded (although I was up 3-1 on Scenario against JVM!)

My best win-loss ratio was with Minions at 83.33%, and my worst was with Trollbloods at 67.74%.

Overall I was very, very happy with how the final six months of Mark 2 went for me.

Cute little chart stolen from my Excel Sheet

Mark 3:

Going into Mark 3, I had just moved back to Washington into a much less (read, basically nonexistent) meta, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue this rapid fire pace of games.

I am very happy to say that a successful local Journeyman League (and a lot of driving to Seattle and Spokane) have led to me getting no less than 137 full-sized, 75 point games of Mark 3 Warmachine from Lock and Load to December 31st of 2016.

Out of those games, I won 123 of them, giving me a win-loss record of 89.78%.

I managed to attend several tournaments, playing a total of 25 tournament games with 3 losses, for an overall tournament win - loss ratio of 88% on the dot.

These include:

Several local Steamroller wins and second place finishes.

Winning a High Reward event at Mox Boarding House in Bellevue, Washington.

Captaining Team Deceptively Adorable to a 2nd place finish at the i5 Team Tournament in Portland, Oregon.

Winning a Masters Event in Bellingham, Washington.

I nearly exclusively have played Circle Orboros in this time - period, and imagine that I probably have the best win-loss record still with Minions at 1 loss for my dozen games played.

The Mark 3 Excel Sheet!

Going forward:

I have set some pretty lofty goals for myself in 2017.

I will be traveling to Las Vegas in early February and participating in the Master's Event there, with the intention to qualify for Warmachine Weekend.

I am the Captain of yet another band of misfits dubbed Team Freedom Fries heading to the ATC in Milwaukee this coming March.

I will be competing in the Intermountain Cup with the hopes to improve on my 5-1 record there from last year.

I will be attending Lock and Load Masters, hopefully not having to concede a game in day 2 this year.

I will be applying for one of the USA WTC teams as soon as the applications are being accepted.

And I'd like to play at least 200 games of Warmachine between now and December 31st of this year with a 70% winrate or better. (I'm flexible on this last one).

It's been a crazy ride, and it's only going to get crazier.


Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 47: Kromac 2 vs. Malekus

For my final game of 2016, I had just received my Storm Raptor in the mail (literally as I was walking out the door) and I couldn't wait to give the thing a try.

It was partially assembled as the game started, and it got finished somewhere around turn 2.

My local Menoth opponent was good enough to let me try it out, so we threw down in style for the end of the year!


Kromac 2
- Storm Raptor
- Ghetorix
- Stalker
- Gorax Rager

Blackclad Wayfarer

Min Mist Riders
Gobbers Bellows Crew

Against:

Malekus
- Heirophant
- Reckoner
- Reckoner
- Hand of Judgment
- Castigator
- Revenger
- Repenter? Spray Jack?

Temple Flame Guard and CA
Choir (max)

Wrack


I won the roll off, and we were playing Extraction, so I windmill slammed first. I really wanted to get the Storm Raptor up the table fast without having to worry about eating shots turn 1.

Blackclad is hiding under the left wing.

My opponent counter-deployed by putting all of his shooting stuff across from the Storm Raptor, which is the right thing to do.

Circle turn 1:

I started things off with Kromac casting Awakened Spirit on the Storm Raptor and Vengeful on Ghetorix, before charging up the field to the right.

Literally everything ran at that point, with the Storm Raptor doing a nice switcharoo and coming to the side of the table where I actually felt like he could get work done without being blown to smithereens.

Isn't it pretty!

Menoth turn 1:

My opponent uses the TFG mini-feat and runs them at me.

Jacks move up, and Ignite goes onto the Revenger.

Choir sings no shooting.

Circle turn 2:

I do some premeasuring, and the Storm Raptor can aim and shoot some TFG to death.

More interestingly, if I can get the Hunters Mark off, Kromac can charge over to that side of the table, kill 3-4 Idrians for basically free and then Sprint back to just outside of Castigator charge range and THEN the Storm Raptor can bazap a zap TFG to death.

The Blackclad moves up and...whiffs his six.

The Storm Raptor sighs and aims and...misses both of his attacks needing fives.

The Mist Riders go up and do a little bit of work and then Reposition back to make it awkward for the TFG to charge them the next turn.

Kromac moves up into the rubble, and Ghetorix runs instead of walking up and casting Spiny Growth like he should have.

The Stalker runs to the wall, making it so that anything that commits to the flag will get a Stalker to the face.

Gobbers run to contest the right side flag.

I had to take like three pictures to get all the models in the shot. 

Menoth turn 2:

Things start to go off the rails pretty hard here.

The Revenger gets Battled and charges Ghetorix. Ghetorix rolls boxcars on his Vengeful attack, and then dies as the Revenger rolls 10, 11, 12 for damage.

TFG charge in and fail to kill the second Gobber, and the Castigator runs to the left flag to cap it.

The spray light comes and guns down my Blackclad.

Menoth scores a point.

Score 0-1

Advantage Menoth

Circle turn 3:

Well...that sucked. 

My plan here is to clear the TFG without activating Kromac, use the Storm Raptor to charge the Revenger, and then have Kromac feat and charge the Reckoner (empty base by the cloud). 

Once he kills it, he'll sprint back to the safety of the right side of the forest and my Stalker will charge in, wreck the Castigator and maybe the light jack, and then Sprint to engage the remaining two heavies. 

Thunder Goats go first and...miss an attack in the TFG back arc and then roll 1 for eLeaps twice. *sigh*

The Storm Raptor moves to the Revengers back arc and hits the first attack, boosting damage at dice - 3 and does....3 damage. The Reload shot connects and does average damage, leaving the jack on a few boxes. 

Kromac charges to the left of the Revenger to get at the Reckoner and Feats. He hits his charge at MAT 10 and rolls...1,1,2 for damage. I buy an attack and roll 1,2 for damage. He camps five. 

Stalker charges in, wrecks the Castigator, and Sprints to engage Hand and the other Reckoner. 

Unfortunately, all I have to transfer to is a Gorax. 

No points are scored. 

Score 0-1 

Advantage Menoth

Menoth turn 3:

Malekus loads up his jacks with focus.

Battle is sung, and Reckoner number one goes into Kromac, doing fair damage.

The two lights go in, the Revenger being crippled, and the Revenger fails to connect. This is important because Kromac is 3.5 inches from the edge of the forest on the left, so Hand and the other Reckoner can't see him from where he is.

Malekus pops feat and sprays Kromac.

Reckoner two moves away from the Stalker, who takes his club arm off with a massive free strike. The Reckoner tries to shoot Kromac, but at effective DEF 20, the Tharn King is missed.

Hand backs away and takes another good free strike, and sprays Kromac as well, but also misses.

My opponent is down to about a minute on his clock.

\\

Score 0-1

Advantage Menoth

Circle turn 4:

Looking back at this turn, I am actually really miffed with how I had played it.

Kromac's fire damage wouldn't have killed him, but he transfers it to the Gorax who dies.

Malekus is sitting in the open on nothing. I pull from the Stalker and a couple from the Storm Raptor, who does not fail his frenzy check.

The correct play here is to have the Storm Raptor advance, shoot Malekus with boosted everything for an average of 9 damage, have Kromac cast Primal Shock through the Raptor twice at dice - 3 for an average of 16 damage, and then have the two Mist Riders charge him for another 10 damage on average.

The next best play is to have the Raptor disrupt the Reckoner and sit there, have the Mist Riders charge Malekus and Reposition in front of him to engage him and block a charge lane.

What I actually did was the worst thing I could have done.

Kromac activates and hits the Reckoner for a pathetic amount. He buys an attack, and then another, doing essentially nothing.

The Stalker kills the other Reckoner and then Sprints to engage Hand of Judgment.

The Raptor kills the remaining TFG.

The Mist Riders charge Malekus and do pretty good damage and then...don't Reposition in front of him.

But hey, I score a point right?

Score 1-1

Tie!

Menoth turn 4:

My opponent times out pretty quick, but we continue on.

The Reckoner is about to start clubbing Kromac when I remind my opponent that he can do a head butt.

His Reckoner does so, and buys an attack doing a few more. His little jack knocks Kromac down to 3 health and 1 transfer, and Malekus charges to seal the deal.

Other than Malekus, this is what I should have done. 

Sadly, a loss for the Druids.

Post Game:

Now that I've had a couple days to look at this game more objectively, I realize that the dice really weren't the thing that lost me the game here. 

I had a totally viable assassination run, and I didn't take it. 

I had multiple ways to not die here, and I didn't take them. 

In a tournament, while I would have won this game due to time, I probably wouldn't have felt very good about it. Plain and simple, I let my opponent have the opening and he took it - well played!