So we have a re-match on our hands though with a slight list change for Sorscha. Destroyer was dropped for a pair of Eliminators, eEyriss, War Dog and a couple more Rocketeers for the Winter Guard. Lists were otherwise the same.
Menoth won roll-off this time and elected to go first. We have a nicer looking board this time though a lot of forests - less of an issue here without anything which can see through forests but hopefully our terrain will pick up over time for WM :P.
Deployment
Pretty similar to last time with Temple Flameguard in the cetnre flanked by the Warjacks (Vanquisher on left, Reckoner/Blessing on right). Choir, Vassal & pSevvy deployed behind to block line of sight with the Errants advanced deployed on the right in the forest and the Wracks again placed in a triangle for best access to extra focus whilst not impacting upon my army's movement too much.
Vince deploys opposite with the WGI + UA + Joe + Rockets holding the centre, Beast 09 with Sorscha + Dog behind and on the right with Eliminators chilling as well. Widowmakers advance deploy into forest on the right with eEyriss on the left. Great Bears sitting pretty behind WGI line.
Menoth Turn 1
pSevvy gives a focus to each of the 'Jacks who run up on either side of the central fence. Blessing hides behind Reckoner. TFG run up as well and I decide to put them in front of the fence to potentially have charges next turn. This was really abad move and I should have walked up and left them behind the fence to gain +2DEF. Choir & Vassal move up and give Passage to the 'Jacks - no shooting at them! Errants move up to the fence on the right whilst pSevvy chills out and casts Eye or Menoth on himself and Defender's Ward on the Errants.
Khador Turn 1
Widowmakers move around in forest to be out of charge range from Errants next turn and shoot down two despite needing 9's to hit - one was self-sacrificed into the Banner. Beast 09 runs up on the right flank whilst eEyriss walks up the left flank and shoots down a choir boy. The WGI move up around the fence in midfield and the Rocketeers throw three blasts into the TFG and kill all but three of them. Great Bears move up behind WGI and the Eliminators follow Beast 09. Sorscha casts her concealment spell and sits on three focus in the back.
Menoth Turn 2
pSevvy hands out one focus to Vanquisher and two to Reckoner (leaving him with three). Choir buff all three 'Jacks with Battle Hymm. Losing most of my TFG without having done anything with them hurts but it was my own fault. I run the remaining few at eEyriss and the Rocketeers to force Vince to deal with them if the other units want to shoot (though sprays do make this quite easy) and look the rest of my force. The Reckoner declares a charge against Beast to bring his gun into range and thanks to Eye of Menoth & Battle Hymm takes out the cortex in one shot! Blessing follows up behind which allows pSevvy to cast Ashes into the weakened Beast (Def 8) which causes a bit of extra damage and kills a WGI + Eliminator (don't stand too close!). To get the extra focus though a Wrack exploded killing a TFG >.<.
The Errants cross the fence and shoot down two of the Widowmakers whilst the Vanquisher + Vassal kill four WGI and set two more on fire/knocked down. Both the Widowmakers & Eliminators fail their command checks. Despite losing all the TFG, things are looking pretty good! Since Beast's cortex was taken down, I didn't Feat this turn though I forgot about Boundless Charge!
Khador Turn 2
Sorscha upkeeps concealment power and keeps focus for herself. The WGI gain boosted attack rolls and +2DEF from their UA and Joe and go about clearing out the rest of the TFG and remaining Choir members with sprays and blasts. The Widowmakers retreat further into the forest and rally whilst the Eliminator moves backwards a tiny bit and also rallies. Beast 09 moves up to engage the Reckoner (didn't need to charge) but does minimal damage. The Great Bears follow up but only one can engage but is unable to take out any weapon systems thankfully. The other two run up to be engaged with the Reckoner next turn but not engaging the Blessing (Vince did this with one initially forgetting about Defensive Strike and it killed one so I let him take it back :P). eEyriss moves around to shoot the Vanquisher and disrupt him and Sorscha moves up to pop feat (once again only hitting the 'Jacks) and wind rushes back to safety.
Vince really should have done that move earlier in the turn and tried to get the Errants in there as well if possible (I'm sure he could have gotten a couple without exposing Sorscha). It would have meant more damage to Reckoner most likely and allowed the Bears to engage Blessing in combat.
Menoth Turn 3
The Vanquisher is out of action for this round being disrupted and stationary. Sevvy upkeeps Defender's Ward and Eye of Menoth again and gives Reckoner three focus and Blessing two. I really missed the Heirophant here as even giving the Blessing one to let him stand up would have left me one focus shy of being able to cast Ashes and Reckoner really needed three to smack some crap around. I had to do other things with Sevvy this turn then and that meant more focus on Blessing was a good idea (more attacks, etc.).
First, the Vassal tried to engage eEyriss for kicks and managed three damage after an impressive to hit roll. Five of the Errants charged into Beast and managed to cripple it's Axe and movement but left it's open fist chugging along. One of the others tried to shoot down a Widowmaker with his Crossbow and failed whilst the other ran to engage them and stop them from shooting. Reckoner gets up and since Beast is quite damaged, looks to smash some Bears. Three tough rolls later...and they're all still standing. Blessing comes in and smacks one around (and pushes it back) but two tough rolls later...and it's still standing! And being steady, they aren't knocked down either! pSevvy ends up casting Vision on the Reckoner before moving backwards after sucking a focus from a Wrack (which explodes).
Khador Turn 3
Sorscha drops her upkeep and keeps all her focus (nothing to allocate to!). The WGI once again get DEF and boost attack rolls bonus and move up to clear out what infantry I have left. The Vassal dies to multiple sprays (curse those things) but despite lots of sprays hitting lots of Errants, high DEF/ARM and self-sacrifice see only two die. The Rocketeers move up though and drop pSevvy down to four health left, yikes! eEyriss is free to move and moves up to clean up pSevvy but rolls snake eyes to hit...
The Eliminator moves up to smack some Errants but is unable to kill any (though it does damage the Officer down to one box). Beast does some hefty open fist damage to Reckoner but vision removes it and the Great Bears manage to cripple it's combat arm though it still has about 1/3rd health left. The other Great Bear cripples the Shield system of the Blessing.
Menoth Turn 4
pSevvy upkeeps both Eye and Defender's Ward and gives both 'Jacks two focus. The Errants cripple the open fist arm system of Beast leaving him on two boxes whilst the one engaged with the Widowmakers kills one. The Reckoner gets a lucky hit in on one of the Great Bears but it passes its tough roll whilst Blessing is able to kill one Great Bear (finally) but the other passes it's tough roll again.
The Vanquisher moves to swing at three WGI and kills all but one (a Rocketeer). pSevvy casts Vision again on Blessing this time (after taking a focus from a Wrack) and moves into the forest where he cannot be shot.
Khador Turn 4
Sorscha keeps her focus again and the WGI get boosted attack rolls/+2 DEF again and work on clearing out those Errants. With the Eliminators help they are able to drop them all this time leaving the Widowmaker free to run towards pSevvy. Two of the Rocketeers move in to engage Blessing with a CMA but Vision ignores their damage and Defensive Strike kills one. Beast scrabbles at the Reckoner's paint but one of the Great Bears brings him down. The other Great Bear knocks out the Arc Node of the Blessing but he still has his spear, cortex and movement. eEyriss moves between the two remaining 'Jacks to restrict focus allocation.
Menoth Turn 5
I've rapidly lost control of this game :P. pSevvy upkeeps Eye on himself and casts Defender's Ward on himself, too. He then moves behind the Forest and camps focus. Blessing tries to take down the Bears again but a Tough roll sees one of them through (missed with Shield attack). The Vanquisher opted for a free strike from the WGI and moved to engage eEyriss but his attacks missed.
Khador Turn 5
Sorscha keeps her focus and moves behind the trees in the far right. The WGI move up the field to push pSevvy into a corner whilst Beast moves around the wreckage of the Reckoner. The Great Bears combine forces and drop the Blessing into a pile of scrap. The Widowmaker plinks pSevvy taking him to three boxes and eEyriss plays tag with the Vanquisher.
Menoth/Khador Turns 6 & 7
At this point (or well before really) the game is over but I feel like taking some extra crap with me! We play it out and I convert two WGI (which promptly die), kill the Eliminator running towards for as well as eEyriss and the Widowmaker before Sorscha does her halfwayacrosstheboardbutIcanstillcharge you thing and smacks pSevvy around with her scythe. Meanwhile, the Bears drag down yet another 'Jack and I end the game not tabled due to a lone Wrack =D. 1/3rd of a point!
Conclusion
Those Great Bears really grind my gears... I played poorly with my TFG and they got fried thanks to that excellent unit known as WGI. I think we forgot half POW for the Rocketeer blasts that round but still, they got smacked pretty good. I also am still having trouble with my Choir, perhaps because I'm over advancing and getting into the grill of the Khadorn army rather than trying to maximise my buffing benefits? Not sure but I surely missed them latter in the game when my Jacks just kept missing. Errants once again did nicely but were just that little bit shy of bringing down Beast and I once again really only had one chance to cast Ashes - a sign of too aggressive play?
eEyriss really went to town on me and I think redeploying the TFG to her flank Turn 1 rather than running up the middle was the way to go. Turn 2 run them into her and if they live, stab her to death and move on rather than them basically get shot to pieces by the WGI.
I really think Heirophant is needed though and a 2nd Vassal wouldn't be amiss... Dropping the TFG is certainly on the cards (particularly against mass sprays + AOEs). Not feating was silly as well - although Vince didn't have much allocation, he would have stopped him from feating and Windrushing back which would have given me some assanation options with a trampling Reckoner. At the same time, Vince needed to use his Feat earlier in the turn to gain more benefit but his army changes (eEyriss + Rocketeers [and the Eliminators & War Dog]) were excellent replacements over the Destroyer.
Was a good game and certainly more food for thought. Any pictorial examples of how people play their Menoth support? Extra words work as well!
