Going into the game, I knew 2 things. First, that Rasheth had the tools to deal with Saeryn, and second, that Mordikaar did not. So I went with Rasheth:
Dominar Rasheth (+5)
*Bronzeback Titan (9)
*Titan Cannoneer (8)
*Titan Gladiator (7)
5 Gatormen Posse (9)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (1)
Agonizer (2)
Paingiver Task Master (2)
Kier went with Saeryn, since both my lists are overwhelmingly melee-oriented, and her Feat is absolutely paralyzing against melee armies.
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight (+5)
*Scythean (9)
*Scythean (9)
*Angelius (9)
*Shredder (2)
Anyssa Ryvaal, Talon of Everblight (4)
The Forsaken (2)
The Forsaken (2)
3 Spell Martyrs (3)
And now the game. I ended up only taking screen caps at the end of my own turns. After Kiers,' I was usually too busy plotting my next moves, and forgot. I also forgot to take a screen cap of deployment. Hopefully, I'll remember to take all the pictures in the next games.
As promised, the report is written up as a story. Hopefully, I manage to keep everything relatively clear.
Task Master Jhorvash watched her charges sprint toward the enemy. Even without her urging, the savage gatormen would likely be running to sate their inborn bloodlust, but the fear of her lash lent them extra speed. As they ran, their leader called up a mist to shroud their advance. It was rare for slave species to be allowed to speak their own tongues, but the simple magics the gatormen bokors could call up added immeasurably to their usefulness in battle. It was a fine line - too much freedom, and the slaves might rebel - but one Jhorvash walked expertly. She was certain these gatormen would serve faithfully and well today.
Close by, Jhorvash's liege, Dominar Rasheth, was managing his titans with his customary aptitude. He sent the cannoneer to the fore. Its gun might slay a few of the enemy, and when the lines clashed, its death would buy time for the more powerful gladiator and bronzeback titans to destroy whatever had brought it down. Lord Rasheth was a master of trade, even on the battlefield.
Jhorvash suffered no illusions about her own value to the Dominar. It would be more expensive to replace the slaves.
Crimson runes appeared around her gatormen's mouths and claws. The Dominar's mortitheurgy, enhancing their natural appetite for bloodshed. In battle, all their lives rested in Lord Rasheth's hands, and he carried them through or threw them away as he saw fit.
 |
| Most of the Skorne run. The Gatormen get Carnivore, Dirge of Mists, and Temper Flesh (they're also Anyssa's Prey). |
The enemy was a blighted toksaa leading a force of so-called dragonspawn. Jhorvash had heard reports of tyrants who had faced such creatures before. Supposedly, they had become a thorn in the Army's northern flank.
The toksaa servants ran forward. One who rode a strange furred beast shot one of Jhorvaash's gators before skittering away. Though the arrow sank deep into the gatorman's neck, it stayed up. The others had no mounts or weapons, but were studded with jagged stones which glimmered ominously in the afternoon sun.
The dragonspawn moved forward with the speed of born predators, guided by their leader and a pair of even more disfigured toksaa. Whatever sorcery they used seared Jhorvash's eyes, but she forced herself to look on as runes coalesced about the leader and her spawn. As the blighted warlock worked, one of the crystal-studded toksaa erupted in a flare of power. The blast was intended for the nearby gatormen, but vanished into the mist without finding its target.
Nothing was left of the toksaa but a heap of scorched and tattered flesh. Jhorvash shuddered. She was familiar enough with that technique.
[Kier's list mostly runs. Respawn goes on the left Scythean, and Banishing Ward goes on Saeryn. Saeryn will upkeep these spells for most of the game. Saeryn also tries to Breath Stealer the Gatormen, but misses.]
Lord Rasheth ordered one of his gobber slaves forward. He often took perverse pleasure in upstaging his enemies, and he wouldn't miss an opportunity like this. The wretched creature's flesh sloughed off its diminutive frame as the Dominar's mortitheurgy coursed through it toward one of the lead dragonspawn, a loping monstrosity that looked like a modest armory of bone welded together by pale, rippling sinew. As the Dominar's magic struck, the creature's scales buckled and began to ooze blood.
Seeing the beast's weakness, Jhorvash lashed her charges. The pain drove them into a killing frenzy, and they ran snapping and hissing at the spawn.
As the maddened gators approached, a boom sounded from Jhorvash's right, and a cannon shell smashed into the dragonspawn's torso, staggering it. Then the lead gators struck, giving full reign to their pain and bloodlust and despair. When they were done, the beast was dead. Jhorvash allowed herself a small smile. Skorne warriors were fond of boasting about their exploits and sneering at the lesser castes, but how many could hope to fell such a monster? Yet Jhorvash's slaves had done so in only a few strokes. And it was she who had unlocked their full potential as instruments of death.
 |
| Rasheth casts Blood Mark at the right Scythean through a Gobber, and the Cannoneer and Gators finish it off! |
The toksaa responded with an outpouring of malevolent power. A small burst from another stone-crusted minion felled a gatorman, while the majority poured into her remaining beasts, lighting them up like torches of searing blight.
A winged beast and a twisted toksaa abomination slaughtered the gators who had felled their companion, while the toksaa rider cantered around a jutting pile of boulders to slaughter the last two slaves. Jhorvash frowned. Slaves were always sent first into battle, and they were always the first to die, but replacements took considerable time and skill to train. Especially gatormen, whose pride had to be broken again and again.
A second bladed monstrosity charged Lord Rasheth's cannoneer. Though it gouged long red furrows in the titan's flesh, none of its blows struck deep. The creature had stumbled into the auras of pain around the warbeast and the Dominar's nearby agonizer, and the sympathetic waves of agony from the two titans sapped the dragonspawn's stength.
The other toksaa fanned out, claiming ground. If they could hold it long enough, their reinforcements would be able to drive Lord Rasheth's army back.
[Kier focuses on wiping out the Gatormen and claiming the control zones. Saeryn Feats to protect her battlegroup. The remaining Scythean charges the Cannoneer, but Diminish and Gnawing Pain, as well as some bad luck on Kier's part, ensure the titan lives will all aspects intact. Still, Kier has cleared the right zone, and the left is uncontested, so two points for the Legion.]
With her charges dead, Jhorvash's duty was to serve her lord as best she was able. She charged the toksaa rider who had felled two of her slaves. If Jhorvash could slay the rider, she could secure Lord Rasheth's flank - and exact some measure of retribution for the hours of work she had spent training the dead gators.
The rider's nimble mount began to dash out of reach when a terrible pain seized Jhorvash from within, as though her organs had suddenly turned on one another with knives. She stumbled to a halt, retching blood. As she looked up, she saw the toksaa rider enveloped in a cloud of caustic gas. Lord Rasheth's mortitheurgy at work again, directed through her body this time. Still, Jhorvash could not suppress a grimace of satisfaction as she heard a wail of anguish from within the cloud, followed by the thump of flesh striking hard-packed earth.
Across the field, the Dominar urged his warbeasts to meet the toksaa flanking him on both fronts. Though they moved at his direction, the titans refused to strike at the dragonspawn. Whatever blazing power the creatures' blighted mistress had conjured up, the titans would not touch it. Despite her pain, Jhorvash was glad she wasn't near enough to try her hand at attacking the spawn; she could barely stand to look at them from a distance, but Lord Rasheth would undoubtedly command her to fight. Beasts who refused orders in battle might be disciplined brutally afterward. Subordinates were executed.
The Dominar used one of his most terrible rituals to contaminate the enemy's blood with pestilence. Though the toksaa and their twisted warbeasts weakened visibly, the titans still refused to attack them. Thwarted, the Dominar directed his gladiator to seize the other gobber, and hurl it at the bladed spawn. The slave was impaled on its bony spikes, but the creature barely registered the impact.
Jhorvash winced, still weak from Lord Rasheth's sorcery. She had lived all her life with sacrifice, but she would never grow accustomed to the carelessness with the Dominar discarded his minions' lives. The gobber was a mere slave, but how far above it did Jhorvash truly rank? Low enough to be cast away in a fit of pique? It seemed all too likely.
 |
| I contest the zones, and turtle up under Diminish and Rasheth's Feat. The Agonizer is using Spiritual Affliction so the Angelius has no chance to Repulse the Bronzeback out of the zone. |
Jhorvash surveyed the field. She had to admit that Lord Rasheth had timed the battle well. The mid-afternoon sun burned down overhead, and the parched ground of the battlefield held scarcely even a scrap of shade to alleviate the heat. None of the Skorne were bothered. These western climates always seemed mild compared to the march across the Bloodstone Desert. But the blighted forces must have been used to colder weather, and were starting to flag.
Their leader urged her dragonspawn onward, but the creatures were sluggish to respond. The bladed monster managed to finish the titan cannoneer, but was too dazed to turn is scything limbs on the nearby gladiator or paingivers. The winged spawn flew at the bronzeback titan, but its blows were relatively feeble.
Once again, the toksaa warlock directed her power through one of her minions. This time, when the jagged stones flared, a cloud of toxic blight surrounded the bladed dragonspawn, searing the titan gladiator's exposed flesh. Jhorvash was struck by how similar the enemy's techniques were to her own lord's. No doubt there was a world of difference in the technical natures of their respective magics, but they were nearly identical in there effects on soldiers, friend and foe alike.
The blighted toksaa abominations also advanced. One drew power from the winged warbeast, while the other spewed it out in a wave of blighted energy at the gladiator. The massive beast carried on, unhurt by the attack.
It seemed the tides of battle were turning.
[Saeryn's army only kills the Cannoneer. Blight Bringer goes up on the Scythean. Protection from Diminish and Rasheth's Feat help a lot, but so do the dice. Kier needed this turn to be a big one, but the dice just said no. It took most of the Scythean's juice to kill the Cannoneer, even with Bloodbath, and the number of 0-damage results rolled against the Gladiator and Bronzeback was pretty staggering too.]
The blighted power in the dragonspawn's flesh had burned out, and Lord Rasheth spurred his beasts to attack. Jhorvash nodded in approval as her fellow beast handlers whipped the two surviving titans into a killing rage.
The gladiator turned its fists upon the bladed monster, and beat it to the ground. Just when the dragonspawn's twitching had ceased, however, baleful runes blazed to life around it. It was reborn in an explosion of gore, and lurched away before the titan could react.
Jhorvash adjusted quickly, trying to reach the beast before it could strike. But Lord Rasheth was quicker still. He sent the agonizer keening toward the respawned creature. The stunted titan never noticed as new gashes appeared along its flanks and belly, and a stream of dark power poured out of it. Such wounds would not register above the pain it felt every second from the barbs impaling its flesh. The magic slammed into the bladed monster, and brought it low for good.
The Dominar bolstered his bronzeback's natural aggression with more mortitheurgy, and the bull titan smashed into the winged dragonspawn. After goring the creature to death, the titan turned its attention to the blighted toksaa abomitation nearby, and crushed it with a single blow.
One side of the battlefield was now fully under House Telarr's control, and it wouldn't be long before the other fell. Jhorvash eyed the toksaa warlock nervously. Cornered enemies were always the most vicious and unpredictable.
 |
| I finish off the Legion heavies. I score one point for controlling the right zone. |
The toksaa's eyes narrowed, and she darted toward the gladiator. She threw some sort of barbed weapon at the beast, but either the heat or the loss of her army spoiled her aim. Her last remaining spawn, a slavering toothy creature about the size of a large hound, jogged after her. The last of the toksaa abominations charged the titan in an effort to keep the beast away from its mistress, but its claws had little effect on the warbeast's armored hide.
[Kier is running out of options, and decides to try crippling my gladiator with Saeryn's Grievous Wounds dagger, but she misses. The dice are really not liking Ker right now. I also scored another point for controlling the right zone, bringing me to two.]
Jhorvash saw her chance, and charged at the toksaa warlock. Her adversary was too nimble, however, and stepped aside.
Once again, Lord Rasheth sent his power through the agonizer, melting the toksaa abomination in a cloud of entropic corruption. Then, he and his paingivers sent the gladiator stampeding toward the toksaa warlock.
Its fists pummeled her mercilessly, and though she was able to use her power to abdicate her wounds to her nearby spawn, the beast was soon overwhelmed, and the toksaa fell at the gladiator's feet.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
Well, I think Kier and I both played pretty well, but luck was with me all game. Kier consistently rolled below average, and really tanked a few key rolls which might have given Saeryn the advantage. Meanwhile, I consistently rolled average or better, meaning that all my key rolls went through. The one notable dice spike I had also happened at one of the most decisive moments in the game: the two Gatormen and the Cannoneer taking out one of Kier's Scytheans with three attacks. I can't think of any major screw-ups on either end, though there are a few activations I could have handled better, and Kier could probably say the same.
The list performed well. The combination of Diminish and other damage debuffs is very reliable for keeping my beasts alive. Rasheth's Dark Rituals were amazing this game. The ability to channel spells through my hapless support models let me exert control wherever I needed it, and let me keep the upper hand throughout the game.
Thanks for a great game Kier! Hopefully the dice will be a little more balanced in your next game.
Jhorvash looked back to the Dominar for further orders. The field belonged to House Telarr at last, and every enemy had been slain.
As she turned, Jhorvash caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye.
She snapped her head back around, and saw that the blighted toksaa warlock was gone. Jhorvash scanned the horizon. She thought she saw a shadow flitting through the scrub nearby, but when she looked again, she saw nothing.
Although the Dominar's forces had won, Jhorvash knew he would be displeased that she had let the enemy leader escape from right under her blade.
No comments:
Post a Comment