While Prorpger and I were finishing up some delicious food court delectables a couple local players asked me to set up an American Hill battle for them. Considering how long the last oversized America Hill game went I was surprised people still wanted to play but what the hell, right? So four of us sat down for yet another rumble for bragging rights up on high.

For those who haven't read an America hill report yet, the rules are as follows:

• At the end of each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gains 1 VP.
  • A unit counts as 1 model, regardless of the number of members on the hill
  • In the case of a tie, VPs are awarded to all players tied for most models on the hill
• At the end of a turn where a player has his warcaster/warlock on the hill, the controlling player rolls 1d6 and gains the following bonus:

1. Immediately activate the Yellow Woldwomper
2. Immediately activate the Blue Woldwomper
3. Immediately activate the Red Woldwomper
4. Place any one model currently on the hill or within 3" of the hill within 6" of its current location. Model may not be placed more than 4" above the table surface. There must be room for the model’s base at the destination.
5. Place 1d4 3" cloud effects in play anywhere completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. These clouds remain in play for one round.
6. Place 1 3" fire storm template anywhere within completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. The warcaster/warlock must make a magic attack roll against each model in the AOE ignoring LOS, cover, concealment, elevation, Stealth, Invisibility, or intervening models. Each model hit suffers an unboostable POW 12 damage roll and the Fire continuous effect.

I didn't expect anyone to want to play American Hill this week so I left the Woldwomper models at home. For replacements we used some of my Protectorate warjacks: two Crusaders and a Vanquisher.

Red Khador (Garret)

• Butcher
• Devastator
• Iron Fang Pikemen + Unit Attachment
• Man-o-War Shocktroopers

Garret is a newcomer to Warmachine and his models are with another local whom he commissioned to do some painting. He was using a few borrowed figs and had to proxy a Juggernaut for the Devastator. His list was a pretty defensively-built, consisting of shield wall troops and the thick shelled Devastator. Pretty simply concept, but when you're talking about Khador simplicity doesn't necessarily mean inefficiency.

Legion of Everblight (Myself)

• Saeryn
• Angelius
• Seraph
• Shredder x3

I really wanted to try out Saeryn to decide if I wanted to use her in the 750-point mixed locally event this weekend but both she and her sister were still on my painting desk so I wound up using my recently painted Vayl to stand in for her. I decided to throw in a couple winged beasts - the Angelius to deal with hard targets and the Seraph to deal with infantry. I then tossed in a few Shredders to fill out.

Blue Khador (Mark)

• Old Witch
• Scrapjack
• Manhunter
• Gorman di Wulf
• Man-o-War Demo Corp.
• Widowmakers
• Greylords

Mark brought out an infantry-heavy Khador list. He had the Old Witch for board (or hill) control, Gorman for cloud placement, MOW:DC as his heavy hitters and some lighter infantry for support. It was a fairly solid list, and the number of different units and solos meant he had plenty of models to claim the hill.

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

• Horluk (proxied by Madrak)
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Winter Troll
• Champions

Prorpger had initially built the list using Grissel, but wound up a few points over and had to sub in Horluk. Unfortunately that's the only warlock he doesn't own so he proxied in Madrak for the battle. Lots of hard hitting multi-wound models in that list; it's performance was just going to be a question of getting to the hill.

Turn 1

Red Khador
Garrett went with a defensive tactic. The butcher only spared a single focus for the Devastator to run. Both infantry units formed up in Shield Walls and marched up field while the Butcher followed behind to drop Iron Flesh on the Shocktroopers.

Legion
Surrounded by hard-hitting Khadorans, I decided to concentrate on the Legion's speed and maneuverability and try to get to the hill first to try and build an early lead. Saeryn dropped Respawn on the Angelius just in case and advanced before putting Tenacity on herself. She discarded 2 more Fury (leaving her with 1) and advanced to toe the woods. I forced the Seraph to run and toe the nearby woods then turned to the Shredders. The right shredder went rabid (for movement) and advanced, putting Tenacity on the Seraph. The center Shredder walked forward towards Saeryn, and the left Shredder went rabid, walked to the woods, and put Tenacity on the center Shredder.

+1 VPs Legion for models on the hill.

Blue Khador
Mark started his bid for the hill by running his Manhunter up onto the lowest level, tying me for most models at a whopping 1. The Man-o-War Demo Corp ran forward then the Old Witch advanced behind before dropping Iron Flesh on the Widowmakers and Wold Secrets on the Demo Corp. The Greylords ran up behind and Gorman advanced and dropped a cloud on the Old Witch.

+1 VP Legion/Red Khador for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
Prorpger ran most of his models first turn to try and overcome his speed deficiency so he could try to claim and defend the hill. Both the Dire Troll and the Winter Troll ran forward, followed by the Champions. Then Horluk advanced and put Freezer on the Winter troll for a bit of defense.

Score

• Red Khador: 0
• Everblight: 3 (+3 Hill)
• Blue Khador: 2 (+2 Hill)
• Trollbloods: 0

Turn 2

Red Khador
Second verse, same as the first. The Red Khador continued to advance under shield wall while the Devastator ran back to the center of the line, staying near the Butcher.

+1 VP Legion/Red Khador for models on the hill.

Legion
Having claimed the hill, it was time to try and start eliminating the competition. First I leeched all the fury on the board and let Respawn expires since I planned on having a different beast be in danger at the end of my turn. I started with the Angelius who shifted to the side to get line of sight on the Manhunter and took a boosted ranged attack at him. Unfortunately the boosted damage roll came up 1-2-2, doing a measly 3 damage. I just had to cross my fingers and hope he didn't do do much damage next turn.

Saeryn went next and cast slipstream, shifted towards the Seraph, then moved back and forward. I placed the Seraph 2" forward with Slipstream, then Saeryn put Respawn on the Seraph and Tenacity on the Angelius. The Seraph then activated, flew to the hill, and took a boosted shot at the Scrapjack. That was my real target - I wanted to get the Old Witch's arc node off the table to try and cripple her a bit. My first shot wound up doing 9 damage but I didn't take out any systems. The second shot did a couple more to a clean column and the third and final one missed. Not what I was hoping for, but it was a start.

The shredders went last. The left shredder stepped out of the woods and advanced, the center shredder put Tenacity on Saeryn and moved forward, and the right shredder advanced and put Tenacity on the Seraph. I knew I'd have a couple extra fury on the table the following turn but I figured it was worth the risk to help out in the defense area.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Blue Khador
The Old Witch upkept Iron Flesh on the Widowmakers for free using her staff, then the Manhunter slipped around the Wold Womper staying out of melee range and engaged my Seraph. The first hit failed to break armor but the second did about five points but didn't take out any aspects. The Demo Corp ran for the hill, forming a line of metal just off of the bottom layer. Scrapjack ran forward up onto the middle of the hill. Gorman advanced and dropped a smoke cloud on the Old Witch who then used it to teleport to the small round woods near the hill's base. She then advanced to tag the bottom of the hill, put Iron Flesh on herself, and ended her turn with one focus left, giving him the most models on the hill. Finally the Greylords advanced towards my Seraph and thought about trying to Ice Cage it until Mark realized my DEF was 20 counting elevation and being in melee with the Manhunter.

After ending his turn Mark rolled for the random hill effect and wound up getting to activate the Wold Womper nearest Prorpger's Trollbloods. He decided to have it charge down off the hill at the Winter Troll and pounded on it twice, leaving the beast with just three health before becoming stationary due to Freezer which Horluk had put on the Winter Troll.

+1 VP Blue Khador for models on the hill

Trollbloods
Wounded, Prorpger sought Vengeance. Madrak advanced behind his beasts, cast the Dire Troll's animus on the Dire Troll then dumped his remaining fury into healing the Winter Troll. The Dire Troll executed a two-handed throw on the Wold Womper, targeting the Old Witch. With his strength boosted by his animus, the Dire Troll was able to throw the Wold Womper up to 7.5"... which happened to put the witch just in range.

Between being elevated and having Iron Flesh, the old witch was sitting on a DEF of 20 so it was no surprise when the toss, even boosted missed. But deviation roll came up 1" long, placing the airborne Womper right on the Old Witch, knocking her down, and causing 9 points of damage to her. The Winter troll then advanced and unleashed its Ice Breath spray, boosting the damage roll but only doing another 5 points, leaving the old witch with 3 health left. Unable to reach the Old Witch, the Champions ran for the hill to start laying Trollblood claim to it and ended his turn leaving the Old Witch knocked down and near death.

+1 VP Blue Khador for models on the hill

Score

• Red Khador: 0
• Everblight: 5 (+2 Hill)
• Blue Khador: 5 (+3 Hill)
• Trollbloods: 0

Turn 3

Red Khador
Garret was finally able to reach the hill this turn. The Shocktroopers advanced under Shield Wall again and stepped up on the hill. The IFP received the Run order but the Standard Bearer also popped his mini-feat - the troops surged forward then formed up a Shield Wall in front of the Shocktroopers to get a second model on the hill. Finally the Devastator and Butcher walked forward, the Butcher camping on focus for armor. However with two model/units on the hill, Blue Khador still held the lead with three.

+1 VP Blue Khador for models on the hill

Legion
This was the turn I decided to see what Saeryn could do. I leeched all the fury of the table I could but left two on the Seraph. I figured I'd use the last one to boost an attack against the Manhunter and kill him but I failed my Threshhold check and the Seraph frenzied then missed the Manhunter with its boosted attack. Great way to start the round.

First things first the Angelius flew up to the top of the hill and took a boosted attack on the Old Witch (I wasn't trusting my luck this turn). He hit and the boosted damage finished her off and causing the Scrapjack to go inert. The left Shredder went rabid and ran, using it's increased speed to wind up in the middle of the pikemen. The right shredder then went Rabbid and walked up and ate the Manhunter.

Saeryn then advanced onto the lower level of the hill and dropped Blight Bringer on the Shredder that had engaged the Iron Fang Pikement. I wasn't able to kill their leader even boosting, but even in Shield Wall I was able to kill five pikemen. She then Feated; with only 6 models on the table I was easily able to select all of them to be untargetable by melee attacks next turn. Somewhere I spent one more Fury - maybe to boost a damage roll on Blight Bringer? And Saeryn ended her activation with 2 on her for transfer. I knew I had overspent Fury again this turn, but no matter. I figured I could draw from the beasts that really need and if the others frenzied it wouldn't be a gamebreaker. My final Shredder walked up and stood in front of Saeryn to screen her.

After I ended my turn I rolled my random effect for getting Saeryn to the hill and got a 5. I placed one smoke cloud on the Angelius, one on Saeryn,and one in the space between Saeryn and the IFP to block line of sight, just in case the butcher decided to try and shoot or spell her.

+1 VP Legion for the models on the hill.

Blue Khador
Witch he Old Witch killed, the rest of the Blue Khadoran forces went to work avenging her loss. The Demo Corp received a Charge order and two charged the Winter Troll, finishing it off. The other three ran forward but trailed back so as to not get caught by the Trollblood forces' retaliation the following turn. Then the Greylords and Gorman ran to get in the middle of his army so they could contribute the next turn. Finally the Widowmakers advanced into the woods and started shooting Horluk, doing a total of 7 points of damage to the elderly shaman before Mark ended his turn.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
My feat put Prorpger in a bad spot. He had the nearly pristine Red Khadoron his right who was going to gun for him next turn since they couldn't do anything to my forces and the vengeance-hungry Blue Khador on his left. He decided to split his forces - the Champions received a charge order and rushed into the Red Khadoran lines. They butchered a pair of pikement and dented the armor of the one Shocktrooper they could reach but the Man-o-Wars' shield wall saved them.

On the other flank the Dire Troll Mauler charged the Man-O-War line and killed the two exposed Demo Corp. Then Horluk advanced into the woods with the Widowmakers and took a swing at the nearest but missed. Prorpger decided to camp on his Fury instead of taking extra swings and ended his turn there.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Score

• Red Khador: 0
• Everblight: 16 (+3 Hill, +5 Old Witch, +2 Scrapjack, +1 Manhunter)
• Blue Khador: 8 (+1 Hill, +2 Winter Troll)
• Trollbloods: 0

Turn 4

Red Khador
After finally reaching the hill, Red Khador was trapped between the tough Trolls and the untargetable Legion, so he turned on the only models he could hit. The Shocktroopers turned and engaged the Champions but with the trolls +2 DEF for being in base-to-base with each other the Shocktroopers wound up missing their attacks. One wound up staying too close to the Shredder's Blight Bringer cloud and took a point of damage.

The Devastator ran towards the Legion flank to engage on the following turn using the 1 focus the Butcher had allocated him. The Butcher advanced up on to the hill and cast Iron Flesh on the Shocktroopers to help them handle the Champions. He then cast Avalanche on the Angelius but missed. The AOE drifted directly over the Shredder next to Saeryn and it lost its Mind and most of its Body on the blast damage roll. Then the Butcher ended his activation on the hill without any Focus. Finally the surviving four Pikemen fell back out of the Shredder's Blight Bringer cloud so they wouldn't die, but one was killed by a free strike leaving just three.

After the end of his turn Garret rolled for a random effect with the Butcher on the hill. As luck would have it he got to activate the Wold Womper next to Saeryn. Fortunately for me Saeryn's feat meant the Wold Womper couldn't hit her so Garret walked it over and engaged her so she couldn't go anywhere on my upcoming turn.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Legion
I leeched what Fury I could off the my beasts, leaving two on the Shredder that had been the Blight Bringer and one on the Shredder that had killed the Manhunter. That Blight Bringer Shredder failed it check and charged a nearby Champion, missing him. The other beast passed. My Seraph moved up to the top of the hill and launched a boosted ranged attack at the butcher but missed. Saeryn then moved ever so slightly to the side and threw Breath Stealer on the Butcher (I really should have done that first) to lower his Defense. Then she used Mirror Magic to put Iron Flesh on the Angelius to raise its DEF to 17. Finally she cast Respawn on the Seraph.

The Angelius then flew down over the Shocktroopers to engage the Butcher. I boosted the first attack roll on the Thrust special attack just to be safe then boosted the damage, doing 14 points past the Butcher's halved armor. I then forced for an extra attack, hit, and forced to boost doing another 11 points past armor, killing the Butcher and rendering the Devastator inert.

I shifted my right Shredder up a bit and ended my turn, rolling another 5 for my random effect. I put a cloud on the Seraph, a cloud on Saeryn, and a cloud on the Angelius.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Blue Khador
Mark was making a fair showing without a Warlock. His Greylords Ice Caged the Dire Troll to cause it to be stationary and the Demo Corp charged. They all chose the dual-swing option and finished the Dire Troll off with the last swing. Gorman advanced and the Widowmakers shifted away from Horluk, losing two on the free strike. The remaining members made their command check and shot at Horluk, missing him.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Trollbloods
Unable to afford to leave Horluk exposed, Prorpger chose not to have him stick around and attack the Widowmakers. Instead he ran up to the hill behind his Champions. The trailing Champion then fell back to protect Horluk from the Demo Corp and the others started attacking the Shocktroopers. The first couple champions were able to hit but not do much damage through armor, but the third one was able to finish off a Shocktrooper before the fourth one killed my Shredder.

For his random effect Prorpger rolled the Firestorm which he dropped on the Demo Corp. He did five damage to the two on the outside and lit all three on fire in an attempt to protect his flank.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Score

• Red Khador: 0
• Everblight: 29 (+4 Hill, +5 Butcher, +4 Devastator)
• Blue Khador: 11 (+3 Mauler)
• Trollbloods: 1 (+1 Shredder)

Turn 5

Red Khador
Garret's Shocktroopes swung back at the Champions but both missed. He decided not to even bother with his Pikemen and ended his turn.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Legion
Saeryn leeched all four Fury from the Angelius and one from the rear Shredder. The Seraph Frenzied and charged the Angelius but missed. The two Shredders passed their check. Saeryn let Iron Flesh drop on the Angelius so it would have extra movement and it flew behind Horluck, boosted to hit with a Thrust special attack, and boosted damage to finish off the last warlock.

Score

• Red Khador: 0
• Everblight: 35 (+1 Hill, +5 Horluk)
• Blue Khador: 11
• Trollbloods: 1

Summation

Red Khador
Garret's a new Warmachine player. He likes the Butcher and the heavy armor of Khador but unfortunately got to stuck in the shield wall train of thought and didn't get to the hill quickly enough to make an impact. He seemed unsure what to do with his Devastator as well, moving it back and forth a couple times over the course of the game. I expect his skill to improve as he gets a few more games under his belt.

Legion
The Angelius was unquestionably the MVP of the match, brining down three warcasters/warlocks. I added him to my army since I had been using Carniveans the last few times we played the hill and I stumbled onto Legions exploit of the scenario - their speed lets them get to the hill first, the elevation of the hill lets them see to their opponents' back lines, and their wings let them past their opponents without having to go through them. Combined with the fact that both Prorpger and Mark had medium base warcasters it looked like I brought paper to the group's collective rock this time.

Blue Khador
Mark made quite the showing after he lost his caster. I think that his turning point was not feating on turn 2. That would have really messed with Prorpger's and my movements and may have kept the Old Witch alive. He probably wanted to do it the next turn and get the whole hill under the effect but sometimes you need to blow a feat just to stay alive.

Trollbloods
Prorpger's Womper-lobbing was the coolest thing in the game. It was a perfect through and by all rights he should have gotten the kill on the Old Witch. That seemed to be the theme for the night for Prorpger... he was weakening both Khador players but didn't get any finishing blows in.

With our league starting up next week, this was most likely to be the last America Hill game we'd be playing for awhile. In addition it may be my last battle report for a while. While I'm playing a league game I'm not going to be able take the time to take pictures of everything between turns. So don't be expecting a new post every week.

This time around we went with some changes to the hill rules. To emphasize getting to to the hill even more, we required

• At the end of each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gains 1 VP.
  • A unit counts as 1 model, regardless of the number of members on the hill
  • In the case of a tie, VPs are awarded to all players tied for most models on the hill
• At the end of a turn where a player has his warcaster/warlock on the hill, the controlling player rolls 1d6 and gains the following bonus:

1. Immediately activate the Yellow Woldwomper
2. Immediately activate the Blue Woldwomper
3. Immediately activate the Red Woldwomper
4. Place any one model currently on the hill or within 3” of the hill within 6” of its current location. Model may not be placed more than 4” above the table surface. There must be room for the model’s base at the destination.
5. Place 1d4 3” cloud effects in play anywhere completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. These clouds remain in play for one round.
6. Place 1 3” fire storm template anywhere within completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. The warcaster/warlock must make a magic attack roll against each model in the AOE ignoring LOS, cover, concealment, elevation, Stealth, Invisibility, or intervening models. Each model hit suffers an unboostable POW 12 damage roll and the Fire continuous effect.

We also decided to fight it out on a large molded plastic terrain board and had to use a smaller hill for the center of the table. Most of the rocks and rubble provided cover, and we let people move out of their deployment areas without movement penalties on the first turn because it would have been too unfair to a couple players.

James, the Cryxian player, opted to go last so I wound up going first. We deployed and set up in the following order:

Protectorate (Myself)

• Kreoss
• Crusader
• Crusader
• Vilmon
• Paladin
• Paladin
• Choir

Cygnar (Patman)

• Siege
• Centurion
• Lancer
• Junior
• GMAC
• Reinholdt

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

• Grissel
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Pyre Troll
• Scattergunners

Prprpger was trying out some Trollblood models he didn't own, so Madrack was standing in for Grissel and he had a couple bonejacks for use as Scattergunners.

Cryx (James)

• Skarre
• Helldiver
• Helldiver
• Bane Thralls
• Mechanithralls
• Skarlock
• Necrotech

Turn 1

Protectorate
When setting up, I noticed that Skarre had no arc nodes so I decided to throw Vilmon over in that direction to force James to have to deal with him with Skarre. I started the turn by running both Crusaders forward, then Kreoss put Protection of Menoth on Vilmon and moved forward. Vilmon activated Impervious Wall and ran to the hill, claiming it in Menoth's name. The Paladins moved up to flank Vilmon and the Choir advanced in the rear and put Ward on the Crusaders.

+1 VP Menoth for models on the hill.

Cygnar
Cygnar's gunmen moved forward but were just short of range to the choir near Kreoss. The Centurion moved towards the hill and the Lancer ran, getting on the hill. Siege lobbed a Shockwave through it at Vilmon and hit, doing 2 points of damage and pushing him 6" back off the hill. Junior cast Arcane Shield on Siege.+1 VP Cygnar for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
The Mauler raced to the hill, getting his base up on it. The Pyre Troll then advanced and boosted an attack and damage roll against the lancer, dishing out about 5 points of damage. Then the rest of the troll troops walked forward, with Grissel dumping off some fury so she could leech next turn.

+1 VP Cygnar, Trollbloods for models on the hill.

Cryx
Seeing Vilmon knocked back off the hill and closer to her, Skarre decided to take care of the Paladin. After giving a focus to each Helldiver so they could run onto the hill she cast a fully boosted Hellfire at him, then walked up towards the hill.

After Skarre finished, the thralls spread out massing forward. The Mechanithralls spread out on my flank and the Banes positioned themselves to face Prprpger. The Skarlock Sac Lambed a Mechthrall, rolling a 4 for focus.

+1 VP Cryx for models on the hill.

Score

• Protectorate: 1 (+1 Hill)
• Cygnar: 2 (+2 Hill)
• Trollbloods: 1 (+1 Hill)
• Cryx: 1 (+1 Hill)

Turn 2

Protectorate
I felt dirty, but, well, it was either this or eat a Skarre Bomb next turn. Kreoss put three focus on his left crusader then walked up and feated, catching the Centurion, Lancer, Mauler, and all of the Cryxian forces except four Bane Thralls in the very back. He then walked forward. The focused Crusader then charged the knocked down Skarre (who had spent all her focus killing Vilmon), Inferno Mace insuring she was done for the day.

The other Crusader moved forward to catch the edge of the hill and the Choir moved up to block access to Kreoss before singing Ward on the Crusader on the hill. My left Paladin charged the Mechanithrall leader, killing him and the right Paladin stepped out towards the Cygnar line to serve as a distraction.

+1 Protectorate, Cygnar, Trollblood for models on the hill.

Cygnar
Siege moved a bit towards Kreoss, putting Explosive on himself and Jr. He used Ground Pounder to take out the Choir around Kreoss, killing the only one not in the template by using the Exoplosivo attack on the one next to him. GMAC shot and killed the Paladin. The Centurion continued its advance towards the hill. Jr moves towards the trolls to put some threat on that side of the table. He shoots a Scattergunner (with Explosivo), killing one.+1 Protectorate, Cygnar, Trollblood for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
The Scattergunners move up and start spraying banes, killing two, missing a few because of stealth, and actually rolling low enough to fail to kill a couple. The Mauler stands up and Walks to the middle of the hill, and the Pyre Troll walks onto the hill and boosts a shot at the Lancer, missing but doing minimal damage on the scatter. Then Grissel goes, walking towards the hill and putting Hoof It on the Scattergunners, who shuffle up so a couple of their members are on the hill as well.

+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Cryx
With most of his forces knocked down, his Banes surround my Crusader and his Mechanithralls surround the Paladin. The one Bane able to attack takes five points out of the Crusader.+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Score

• Protectorate: 10 (+2 Hill, +5 Skarre, +2 Helldiver x2, )
• Cygnar: 5 (+2 Hill, +1 Paladin)
• Trollbloods: 3 (+2 Hill)
• Cryx: 1

Turn 3

Protectorate
With Siege and his gunmen so close, I needed to keep focus on Kreoss to try to live out the turn, but need to clear the hill a bit. So Kreoss placed two focus on the Crusader on the hill and kept the rest. Said Crusader slammed the Mauler, but only knocked it back one inch, killing a single Scattergunner. I needed him to go further back but it didn't work out for me. The Paladin actually missed a Mechanithrall with his MAT 8 but the Crusader hit with both attacks, rolling too poorly on his open fist but killing one with his mace. Kreoss activated, telling the last choir boy to run before walking to the edge of the hill and casting Protection of Menoth on himself. Then the choir boy ran to the hill to give me three models on it.

Finally, someone got a caster to the hill. I rolled on the chart and got a 4. With Cygnar going next, I decided to move the Centurion 6" away from Siege so it couldn't get focus and couldn't attack Kreoss. That Piston Spear would have been painful.

+1 VP Protectorate, Trollblood for models on the hill.

Cygnar
The Centurion wound up just out of Siege's control area, so it wasn't able to get any focus this turn. Siege started by feating then channeled shockwave through the lancer at a nearby Scattergunner, sending them bouncing off each other and killing three in the process. Then dropped a ground pounder on Kreoss and the last Choir member, killing the choir boy but missing Kreoss. He then tried shooting Kreoss but missed when we realized Kreoss was within 2" of the Woldwomper, thus engaged by it and in melee. GMAC and Jr. tried to shoot him as well but both missed. The Centurion walked up onto the hill, bashing the Pyre Troll with his shield but missing with the spear.

With the loss of the choir, the trolls owned the hill with 3 models.

+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
Prprpger had a good turn, despite the Pyre Troll frenzing on the Centurion and doing no damage. He started out by having Mauler stand up and walk to the top of the hill. The Scattergunners walked around the Mauler, shooting a Bane Thrall and otherwise getting between the Crusader and Mauler. Then Grissel walked to the Centurion, put Calamity on it, and whacked it with her maul, deafening it. After that she used Hoof It on herself and walked away and up onto the hill, ignoring free strikes.

With Grissel finally on the hill, he rolled on the chart and got to activate the Woldwomper next to the Centurion. With the jack still deafened and unable to take free strikes, Prprpger walked the Woldwomper back behind it and between bypassing its shield and Calamity still being up, the Woldwomper wrecked the Centurion.

+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Cryx
The Mechanithralls on the Paladin finally killed him. The Necrotech walked up and immobilized the Crusader and the two surviving banes did a few more points of damage to it (one actually missed its melee attack).

Score

• Protectorate: 11 (+1 Hill)
• Cygnar: 6 (+2 Choir)
• Trollbloods: 9 (+3 Hill, +3 Centurion)
• Cryx: 2 (+1 Paladin)

Turn 4

Protectorate
Kreoss dropped his upkeep spells and charged Siege, making sure to engage the GMAC as well with his reach. Thanks to Spellbreaker's Dispel ability, the first hit nullified Arcane Shield and Kreoss was able to kill Siege (though it cost all his focus to do so). The crusaders flailed at the various infantry around them without killing any and I ended my turn.

+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Cygnar
Rineholt fled with his caster dead, dying to Kreoss's free strike. Jr charged Kreoss and hit him (boosting), doing 8 points of damage. His second attack hit but didn't get through armor. The GMAC sidestepped around JR to get out of melee without taking a free strike (using Jr. to block melee access to him), but couldn't hit Kreoss with the defensive bonus for being in melee.

+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
Grissel leeched the only two fury she had on the table from the Pyre Troll and Feated, then put the Mauler's animus on himself. The Mauler then charged Kreoss (taking a free strike from a Woldwomper but not loosing an aspect) and ate him.

+1 VP Trollblood for models on the hill.

Cryx
We had to pick up and turn in at this point, so the Cryx player didn't bother with his last turn.

Final Score

• Protectorate: 19 (+5 Siege, +2 Lancer, +1 Rineholdt)
• Cygnar: 6
• Trollbloods: 23 (+3 Hill, +5 Kreoss, +6 Crusader x2)
• Cryx: 2

My Thoughts

Protectorate
Vilmon was a huge distraction, and I think he knocked the Cryxian player off his game enough to leave Skarre out infront of the Crusader. I'm going to enjoy using him in the league. I got lucky when I accidently engaged the Woldwomper with Kreoss's reach - that extra defense saved his butt when Siege feated.

Cygnar
I don't think Patman realized how powerful having a caster on the hill was. When I was able to move the Centruion out of his control area, that really hurt his plans for the following round and really blunted its use. He spent most of the game trying to eliminate my ranks and he did a good job with most of it, but in the end Kreoss's melee ability proved why it's so underrated. MAT 7 POW 14 Reach that dispels upkeeps? Yes, please.

Trollbloods
Talk about getting the roll when he needed it, by activating the Woldwomper on turn 3 Prprpger was able to kill the Centurion instead of just deafening it, taking VPs I would have otherwise earned when I killed Siege. That 3 point swing would have made the difference in the end.

Those damn trolls are resilient. Prprpger's growing fond of them as well, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him fielding a Trollblood army before too long.

Cryx
James had a bad day. He was getting himself ready for a big turn 2, unfortunately looked too far past turn 1 and made a mistake. I felt a little dirty killing him after he only got one turn, but I think he'll be more concious of his placement when he plays in the league after having suffered that, so I hope it was more of a good lesson than a jerk Protectorate player.

America Hill
The terrain on this table sucked. We really should have put down more terrain between the armies to force most of the fighting to take place on or around the hill. The rules however worked pretty well. Accumulating hill VPs on a tie meant people who dedicated forces to it would pull ahead of those who didn't, even if they were fighting each other for most models. And the randomness of the Hill benefits meant that no one would get two extra Woldwompers fighting them but at the same time the benefits that were given proved very effective. There's defintely an incentive to get to the hill quickly. And with the game going past caster kill, you could risk him/her to do so if you wanted.

This week we discovered that the hills we had been fighting over were really the wrong hill. Luckily we finally found the right one this week.

Before I get started, I have to make a couple notes:

• It's been a while since this game was played, so I'm a little iffy on all the details. I'll try and fill in as best I can, though.
• This took place before Remix and we played throws the old way when they happened.

Here's a copy-paste of the rules from the last hill fight:

To help encourage people to take the hill, we added Woldwompers. Woldwompers were independent models that could be activated by various warcasters or warlocks if they were in control of the hill. Woldwompers had the same stat line as a Woldwarden but with -1 SPD and -1 ARM. They also had a fury of two and could be forced by any controlling warcaster/warlock, and the fury would dissipate at the end of each player's turn. Woldwompers had no animus, no chain attack, but maintained All Terrain, Elemental Construct, and Spell Strike.

• At the end if each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gained 1 VP. This is turn, not round - we went this way to place more value on the hill.
• At the end of a turn, if a player had their warcaster/warlock on the hill, they could activate one of the three Woldwompers immediately.
• At the end of a turn, if a player had their wracaster/warlock on the hill and had or tied for the most models on the hill (units counted as 1 model), they could activate two of the three Woldwompers immediately.

Despite the steps we played the hill as "smooth" so it could be climbed freely. We didn't want to overemphasize the steps too much.

= = = = =

Khador (Mark)

• Irusk
• Kovnik
• Kodiak (on Kovnik) x2

This time Mark changed up his list just slightly, swapping out the Butcher for Irusk. After seeing how slow the Butcher was, he decided to try to rush the hill and use Inhospitable Ground to protect it this time around.

Everblight (Myself)

• Thagrosh
• Carnivean
• Seraph
• Shredder x3

With four opponents on the table, I decided to bring my hardiest warlock - Thagrosh. I hoped his Death Shroud would keep my beasts alive long enough to take control of the hill.

Protectorate (Phenominal_1)

• Kreoss
• Revenger x2
• Choir
• Exemplar Seneschal
• Knights Exemplar
• Wrack x2

P1 brought out Kreoss for this game, and decided to go with more infantry than jacks, specifically the hard-hitting Knights Exemplar. Those relic blades could hurt a lot, especially if they were auto-hitting after Kreoss' feat.

Trollbloods (Aslain Kheog)

• Horluk
• Dire Troll Mauler x2
• Fell Caller
• Kreilstone Bearer

I'm not a fan of the big trolls - I was just glad that AK was wedged between the Protectorate and Cryx.

Cryx (Gary)

• Deneghra
• Deathripper x2
• Nightwretch
• Skarlock
• Ogrun Bokur
• Pistol Wraith
• Mechanithralls x10

Gary brought a nice little force to America Hill - Denny and three arc nodes was pretty core, but the a Pistol Wraith, Bokur, and a unit of Mechanithralls to tie up his opponents looked pretty solid.

Turn 1

Khador
This time Mark decided to run his forces all out, and reached the hill first turn. Irusk walked so that he could put up Inhospitable Ground and everyone else hit the hill.

+1 VP Khador for most models on the hill

Everblight
I decided to risk not casting any spells this turn by just running Thagrosh up onto the hill to activate Woldwompers. He barely made it with Slipstream and running to get through Inhospitable Ground. A Shredder went Rabbid and joined him while the Seraph (who did the Slipstreaming) and the Carnivean move up to Thagrosh's right. The final two Shredders trail behind. I ended the turn with Thagrosh still at 7 fury, one shredder at 2, and the Seraph at 1.

I activated the Woldwomper between Khador and I to throw the Kodiak off the hill, then I activated the one between the Protectorate at and I to try to Spell Strike the Choir Warpriest, but it was out of range.

+1 VP for the hill

Protectorate
Phenomenal_1 decided to split his forces and sent his Exemplar and his Seneschal up the left flank towards the Trollbloods. The Choir stepped back by the woods and the Revengers ran forward to get in the way of the Woldwomper. Kreoss moved up behind, putting Retribution on one Revenger and Protection of Menoth on the other.

+1 VP Everblight for the hill

Trollbloods
AK sent one Mauler and the Fell Caller towards the Exemplar line and moved the second Mauler towards the hill. Horluk advanced, dumping fury in the Kreilstone which also advanced and put up its protective aura.

+1 VP Everblight for the hill

Cryx
Gary's mess of Cryx went to the hill quickly. The Mechanithtralls rushed toward Khador while one of the Bonejacks and Deneghra ran to the hill. The bokur and pistol wraith fell in behind the Mechanithralls while the Skarlock brought up the rear (after Ghost Walking Deneghra so she could run through models).

Since he tied me for most models on the hill, Gray picked the two Woldwompers near Khador. They each attacked the Khodiaks, taking out about a column apiece.

No Hill VPs.

Score

• Khador: 1 (+1 Hill)
• Everblight: 3 (+3 Hill)
• Protectorate: 0
• Trollbloods: 0
• Cryx: 0

Turn 2

Khador
Although he had gotten stuck in, this is where Khador shined. The Kodiak nearest my side of the table stood up and grabbed the Woldwomper, tossing it away. The second tried to throw the second Woldwomper at Deneghra but deviation caused it to knock into his own base, knocking them both back down. That was a tough break or Mark and really hurt his plans. The Kovnik cut down a couple Mechanithralls, but there were plenty left on the table. Irusk moved up a bit, shot another Mechanithrall with his gun, and put up Inhospitable Ground again.

No Hill VPs.

Everblight
It was a gamble last turn, and sure enough my Seraph frenzied first thing, going after my Carnivean and laying down the Poison Tail. Luckily it only did about 3 points of damage, but worse was the fact I couldn't do anything with the Seraph this turn. I spent the rest of my turn fortifying my claim on the hill. The Carnivean moved up next to Thagrosh and put its animus on itself. The two most forward Shredders moved up in front of and beside Thagrosh, turning to face the Protectorate lines. Thagrosh turned a bit and put the Carnivean's animus on himself then cast Death Shroud, blanketing the field in the blessing of the better dragon.

Four models on the hill let me activate two Woldwompers. The one that Khador had thrown away went first, moving back into melee. The second moved up and threw one of the Protectorate Revengers back into Kreoss, doing a bit of damage to both. Death Shroud really messed with the Woldwompers' strength scores, making them less effective.

+1 VP for hill.

Protectorate
Out on the flank, the Knights Exemplar charged the Mauler and Fell Caller, leaving space for the Seneschal to get to the Mauler if it survived. The three Exemplar took down the Fell Caller without any problem, but the Seneschal had to come in to help out on the Mauler. He couldn't finish it, but he did chain-attack slam it back into Horluck, which was rather entertaining. The Mauler wasn't dead, but it would be stalled for a round.

Meanwhile the unthrown Revenger whacked on the Woldwomper a few times, doing a fair bit of damage (but not as much as it would have without Death Shroud). Kreoss moved behind the Choir and the other Revenger moved forward to re-engage the Woldwomper.

+1 VP Everblight for the hill

Trollbloods
The Trolls turned their attention of the Protectorate forces, not wanting to get attacked from behind. The Mauler that had gotten slammed ran up to re-engage the Exemplar while the second Mauler turned to engage a couple more, killing three. Horluck tried to cast Vexation on the Seneschal but missed. The Kreilstone put up its aura again.

+1 VP Everblight for the hill

Cryx
Deneghra and her bone jacks jocky a bit up on the hill. The War Witch steps back from the Kodiaks, putting an arc node between her and my forces. The Bokur hits the hill as well, and the other two arc nodes and the pistol wraith fill in around them, netting Gary the most models on the hill. I believe Deneghra cast Parasite on the Kodiak nearest her as well. The Pistol Wraith Death Chilled the Kodiak with arms on it.

The Mechanithralls swarm the Kovnik and Kodiaks, but between Inhospitable Ground preventing charges and Death Shroud lowering Strength, they're not able to kill either. However one of the Woldwompers that Gary activates does manage to rip off both arms from the Kodiak nearest him.

+1 Hill VP Cryx

Score

• Khador: 1
• Everblight: 6 (+3 Hill)
• Protectorate: 1 (+1 Fell Caller)
• Trollbloods: 1 (+1 half the Exemplar)
• Cryx: 1

Turn 3

Khador
The armless Kodiak wasn't quite defenseless and vented steam, catching a couple Mechanithralls and damaging the Woldwomper in front of it. The Kovnik killed another Mechanithrall and Irusk shot a third before putting Inhospitable Ground back up. The other Kodiak tore into the second Woldwomper, but with its strength lowered with Death Shroud it left the construct with just a couple boxes left.

+1 VP Cryx for hill

Everblight
I decided it was time to try and pounce. Deneghra was hiding behind a bone jack, but I had two things in my favor - the ability to slam the bonejack and Eyeless Sight - so I decided to go for it. The Carnivean needed a 12 to slam the Bonejack, but I managed to get it, sending the node over Deneghra and knocking her down. I sent a Shredder up to attack the Pistol Wraithon the Cryxian side of the hill and killed it. Then the Seraph stepped up and attacked the knocked down Deneghra, hitting and rolling 6 additional attacks, sealing her fate. The Shredders moved to face the Protectorate forces and Thagrosh threw up Death Shroud, Spiny Growth on himself, and dumped fury down to 1.

The first Woldwomper activated was the one near the Protectorate lines, which threw the Revenger over the choir at Kreoss. A perfect deviation roll insured every model was hit, killing the Choir and knocking down the caster. I then activated the Womper near the armless Kodiak and finished it off.

+1 VP for hill.

Protectorate
The remaining Knights finished off the wounded Mauler while Kreoss's unthrown revenger beat on the Woldwomper some more, but couldn't kill it with -2 strength.

+1 VP Everblight for the hill

Trollbloods
The Krielstone moved over by the remaining Mauler, which used its animus on itself and two-handed-threw a stone scribe over the entire line of knights. Each knight (including the Seneschal) was killed and the stone scribe actually made its Tough roll upon landing.

+1 VP Everblight for the hill

Cryx
Without Deneghra, the Mechanithralls still couldn't quite get through the Kovniks armor. The Bokur attacked the Shredder but missed it's one attack (rolled bad on Flying Steel) to end the game.

+1 Hill VP Everblight

Score

• Khador: 1
• Everblight: 22 (+4 Hill, +5 Deneghra, +3 Bonejack x3, +1 Pistol Wraith, +3 Kodiak)
• Protectorate: 4 (+3 Mauler)
• Trollbloods: 3 (+1 other half of Exemplar, Seneschal)
• Cryx: 2 (+1 Hill)

My Thoughts

Khador
Mark got teamed up on and it hurt. It seemed everyone was always picking on his jacks with the Woldwompers, keeping them out of combat. He was resilient but just couldn't mount the offense he otherwise would have been able to.

Everblight
Thagrosh's Death Shroud was just mean this game. It really hurt everyone on the table so much more than just a 2-player game. I'm not sure I'll take him anymore in this format because of that. He's just vile. Other than that, my early gambit to take the hill first turn and keep fighting for it was paying off. Even if I hadn't gotten to Deneghra, I was building a lead on hill VPs that I should have been able to maintain.

Protectorate
Phenomenal_1 hurt himself a bit when he split his forces, sending most of his offense around the flank. He basically yielded his claim on the hill, which cost him VPs. He did fairly well against the Trolls, though.

Trollbloods
Because he had a load of knights heading his way, AK couldn't afford to go strait for the hill or they'd just come up behind him. Because of that, he got punished a bit and had to split his force, then allocated his whole force towards the Protectorate, missing out on the hill.

Cryx
The Cryxian swarm was nasty. I think Death Shroud was the primary reason Khador lasted as long as it did against all those McThralls and Womper attacks. Gary realized as I started my turn he should have had Deneghra feat to deny me the slam, but it was a bit too late.

America Hill
I'm looking at some changes to the hill to make it a bit more fair:

• Weakening the Woldwompers just a bit, probably by lowering their POW on their fists and maybe taking away another point of armor
• Making which Woldwompers get activated random each time. That should make it a bit harder to pick on one player to much.
• Maybe making it so you only activate one per turn no matter what.

Chad's challenge for this Wednesday may be the last hill fight for a while once we start the league. It also might be my last battle report for a while, since I probably won't be worrying about taking pictures and what not during my league matches. If I'm not playing and one of the forum goers asks, I might be able to do some pictures of their match as they play but I don't want to be disruptive. We'll just have to see what happens.

This week we decided to try another tweak to the America Hill rules. We discovered that the hills we had been fighting over were really the wrong hill. Luckily we finally found the right one this week.

To help encourage people to take the hill, we added Woldwompers. Woldwompers were independent models that could be activated by various warcasters or warlocks if they were in control of the hill. Woldwompers had the same stat line as a Woldwarden but with -1 SPD and -1 ARM. They also had a fury of two and could be forced by any controlling warcaster/warlock, and the fury would dissipate at the end of each player's turn. Woldwompers had no animus, no chain attack, but maintained All Terrain, Elemental Construct, and Spell Strike.

• At the end if each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gained 1 VP. This is turn, not round - we went this way to place more value on the hill.
• At the end of a turn, if a player had their warcaster/warlock on the hill, they could activate one of the three Woldwompers immediately.
• At the end of a turn, if a player had their wracaster/warlock on the hill and had or tied for the most models on the hill (units counted as 1 model), they could activate two of the three Woldwompers immediately.

Despite the steps we played the hill as "smooth" so it could be climbed freely. We didn't want to overemphasize the steps too much.

After rolling to determine order, we arranged ourselves around the table as follows:

Khador (Mark)

• Butcher
• Kovnik
• Kodiak (on Kovnik)
• Kodiak (on Kovnik)

Mark brought a Butcher list with a couple Kodiaks and a Kovnik. Although all slow-moving models they all sported high ARM values and would prove difficult to remove from the hill if he could get them there.

Protectorate (Myself)

• Kreoss
• Crusader
• Devout
• Devout (Proxied Revenger)
• Seneschal
• Choir (x5)

I like me some Kreoss - he's just so all-around useful. I decided to pair him up with a couple Devout escorts and a Crusader to provide some punch. The Seneschal would hopefully provide more slamming capabilities and the Choir is because... well... I play Menoth.

Cygnar (Patman)

• Darius
• Centurion
• Ironclad
• Junior
• Reinholdt

Darius. Ug. I hate having to try to kill a Centurion twice. The big man moved slow himself but his crane added speed and Maneuverability that those Cygnaran jacks just didn't need.

Cryx (James aka Pinky aka Yogurt)

• Deneghra
• Slayer
• Deathripper
• Deathripper
• Deathripper
• Skarlock
• Pistol Wraith

James brought a pretty basic Deneghra assassin army. Lots of ways to provide the killing blow, along with the two-handed throwing capability of the Slayer to help clear the hill. It looked like James may have the hardest time holding the hill but if he can eliminate the competition that wouldn't be an issue.

Turn 1

Khador
Mark began his slow advance towards the hill in the first turn. The Jacks walk and vent steam for protection and everyone else moves forward.

Protectorate
I started out giving the Devout a couple focus, giving one to the Crusader, and leaving the rest on Kreoss. The Devout slammed the nearest Woldwomper to move it back away from my lines and discourage people from using it on me early. Then the Crusader ran up and took the hill. The Second Devout edged up on the left flank. Kreoss put Protection of Menoth on himself and charged something out of reach for movement. The Seneschal came up along side him and the Choir brought up the rear chanting Ward. I got a VP for taking the hill.

Cygnar
Junior puts Arcane Shield on Darius and heads out behind the woods. Two halfjacks run towards the Protectorate line to force them to divert resources to deal with them or serve as Meltdown bombs. Darius puts Jackhammer on the Centurion, which then charges the nearest Woldwomper, but misses the first attack and doesn't do any damage. The Ironclad heads up in front of Darius to provide some screening.

Protectorate gets a VP for keeping the hill.

Cryx
James sends his Pistol Wraith out where it Death Chills the nearest Kodiak. One Deathripper runs up on to the hill, and Deneghra keeps the rest of her focus and runs onto the hill herself to tie the Protectorate for most models and activate two Woldwompers. The rest of her jacks rush towards the hill.

James activates the Woldwomper next to Deneghra first and has it walk up to the top of the hill and try to toss Parasite on Kreoss but misses. He then activates the one near Cygnar that the Centurion charged. It stepped around a bit and two-handed-threw the Centurion at Darius, knocking them both down but not doing any significant damage.

No Hill VPs

Score

• Khador: 0
• Protectorate: 2 (+2 Hill)
• Cygnar: 0
• Cryx: 0

Turn 2

Khador
The Kovnik steps up and kills the Pistol Wraith with its Axe Cannon. The rest of the jacks and the Butcher head to the hill as quickly as possible.

Protectorate
The Devouts and the Crusader set up a defensive perimeter as Kreoss got on the hill, casting Anti-Magic Pulse (to get rid of Darius' Arcane Shield) and camping on his focus with PoM to keep himself safe. The choir gets the run order and heads towards the halfjacks, engaging them and angling themselves to limit the halfjacks' mobility. The Seneschal head out to the right flank to prep for following rounds.

The first Woldwomper Kreoss activates is the one Deneghra used to throw Parasite at him. He sends it back at the Warwitch, but even with boosted attack rolls it only gets one hit and with Deneghra on her focus she doesn't take much damage. The second Woldwomper headed for Darius, hitting him a couple of times but only doing a handful of points through his focus-boosted armor.

Protectorate gets a VP for the hill.

Cygnar
With Darius and the Centurion knocked down, the Ironclad walks up and Tremors, knocking the Woldwomper down. Darius stands up sacrificing his action and moves around the Centurion, throwing up Full Throttle and putting Jackhammer on the Centurion. Then he cranes the Centurion over in front of himself, where he sends it charging off after Deneghra.

Sometimes the dice really don't want you to succeed, sometimes they do. Even with boosting up to four dice, Patman rolled a 10 instead of the 11 he needed to skewer Deneghra. James had caught a break.

Finally Cygnar digs its halfjacks near the Protectorate in as mines to serve as a barrier.

Protectorate gets a VP for keeping the hill.

Cryx
Deneghra decided not to let anyone get the jump on her again and started by Feating, then tossing Parasite onto the Centurion. She then shifted around a bit and sent a fully focused Slayer at the Centurion. The Combo Strike ripped of the jack's shield and with a few extra attacks it was able to total the Centurion, buying a bit of a breather. She then moved a couple Deathrippers to tie the Protectorate for most models, giving her two Woldwomper activations.

The first activation was the Woldwomper that was next to Deneghra, which he walked away from her as far as its feat-reduced movement would allow. Then he activated the one near the Protectorate lines and after taking a Defensive Strike did some damage to the Devouts arms but left them intact.

No Hill VPs

Score

• Khador: 1 (+1 Pistol Wraith)
• Protectorate: 4 (+2 Hill)
• Cygnar: 0
• Cryx: 3 (+3 Centurion)

Turn 3

Khador
Khador is slow to begin with. Khador under Deneghra's feat almost moves backwards. The Khador and his Kodiacks ran toward the hill, only one actually making it up. The Butcher ran forward, but still couldn't make the hill.

No hill VPs

Protectorate
With Deneghra's feat up there wasn't much going on for the Protectorate. The jacks maintained their defensive perimeter as Kreoss puts Retribution on the right Devout and camps on PoM and focus again. The Seneschal steps up on the hill to lay claim to most models and the Choir - the only models unaffected by Deneghra's feat - run away from Cygnar's mines.

Kreoss activates the Woldwomper near the Cygnar lines and has it get up and walk in front of the Ironclad to prevent it from charging my lines then activate the one nearest him and walks it up to engage the Kodiak to get in Khador's way.

Protectorate gets a VP for the hill.

Cygnar
Darius' newly created Halfjack head up and System locks the Slayer's Movement, dropping its Defense. Darius (with a little help from Rineholdt) then takes two shots at the Slayer, taking out its movement and one arm. Then Junior takes a boosted shot at the Skarlock (he was out Deneghra's feat) and kills it.

Protectorate gets a VP for keeping the hill.

Cryx
At this point Deneghra wants nothing to do with Cygnar, so shifts her attention over to the other blue warjacks. She shifts away from the Centurion and puts a Deathripper in front of her to block the Crusader from charging her, putting Parasite on the nearest Kodiak. The second one walks up further on the hill and the third (fully loaded with focus) goes to town on the Kodiak, ripping both its arms off in an orgy of destruction typically unseen from Deathrippers.

With only four models in the hill, Cryx can't keep the Protectorate from scoring again and only activates one Woldwomper, selecting the closest one and using it to pound on the injured Kodiak some more.

Protectorate gets a VP for keeping the hill.

Score

• Khador: 1
• Protectorate: 7 (+3 Hill)
• Cygnar: 1 (+1 Skarlock)
• Cryx: 3

Turn 4

Khador
The Butcher and his crew finally reach the hill, and there's much chaos. The armless Kodiak vents steam, priming the nearby arcnode and Woldwomper with a little damage. Then with just a couple focus the Khadoran caster quickly totals two Cryxian arc nodes and makes his presence known. The Kovnik follows up with a Slam on the damaged Woldwomper, knocking it away from the Kodiak. The unhurt Kodiak then goes to down on the nearby Woldwomper that I had moved to engage it, killing the Womper and scoring three VPs.

With the Butcher on the table, he wanted to try to get the Woldwomper near the Cygnar lines over to mine, but the Ironclad killed in with a free strike, earning Patman a few VPs as well.

Protectorate gets a VP for keeping the hill

Protectorate
Finally, a chance to pop Kreoss' feat and do some damage. I'm not a fan of the Pop-and-Drop - it's not the Protectorate's strength. I prefer the Pop-and-Pound, which uses the feat to prevent free strikes (from the knocked down models) and auto-hit in melee. First things first - giving out all Kreoss' focus to his jacks. Before Kreoss feated, the Seneschal walked up to the nearby Kodiak, chain attack slamming it over the Butcher to knock him down. Then Kreoss stepped up and feated. The right Devout charged across the newly opened charge lane at Deneghra, killing the warwitch in one swing. Then the Crusader charged the Butcher. At this point I realized that I forgot to have the Choir Infuse my jacks, so after three swings at the Butcher who had camped on 4 focus, I only had him down to 2 life left. Had Infuse been up, the Khadoran would have been dead. So I had to charge my other Devout across the hill to engage the Butcher with reach, but couldn’t roll well enough to get through his armor with two attacks.

The Choir got the run Order and blocked the Ironclad's charge lane at Kreoss.

Protectorate gets a VP for keeping the hill

Cygnar
Darius' crane foiled my plans. The mechanik was able to stand up, move around the Ironclad, and then crane it up and around my Choir so that it could get a charge lane on Kreoss under Full Throttle and Jack Hammer. Then he feated and used a newly created Halfjack to bring the Centurion back up to full health. The Ironclad then charged Kreoss, and while the Choir took a couple of valiant free strikes and actually did a couple points to the warjack the critical on the first attack against Kreoss sealed his fate. Smashy smashy.

With the Protectorate mostly Inert, Khador gains a VP for owning the hill.

Score

• Khador: 7 (+2 deathripper x2, +3 Woldwomper, +1 Hill)
• Protectorate: 18 (+2 Hill, +5 Deneghra, +3 Slayer, +1 Deathripper)
• Cygnar: 16 (+5 Kreoss, +3 Crusader, +4 Devout x2, +3 Woldwomper)
• Cryx: 3

We had to pack up at this point, but we did a hasty round as we packed up but nothing really happened. The Butcher feated and tore apart the Centurion and the Seneschal slammed another jack over the Butcher to try to kill him (a Kodiak that had moved to keep him from getting to the Butcher himself), and Darius and Jr lobbed shots at the knocked down Butcher but couldn't get through his armor and we called the game.

Score
Khador: 10 (+3 Centurion)
Protectorate: 18
Cygnar: 17 (+1 Hill)
Cryx: 3

My Thoughts

Khador
Slow to the party but they brought the pain. If Mark had run them first couple turns, we would have been hard pressed to dislodge them from the hill. But with the Woldwompers we could activate to throw things, the rest of us seemed to teamup to slow him down.

Protectorate
I shot myself in the foot when I forgot to Infuse that last round. Had I done so the Butcher would have been killed by the Crusader and the left Devout could have gotten in on the Ironclad, engaging it and doing some damage and probably keeping it from charging Kreoss next turn. Spreading the Choir out more would also have helped screen better, but things just didn't work out for me in the end.

Cygnar
Darius is a bad man. He's almost as slow as Khador, but his Jacks can make up for it. If it wasn't for a statistical fluke Deneghra would have been killed early and Cygnar would have been a much bigger thread. As it was between Kreoss and Deneghra's feats and Woldwomper throws, he was held up most of the game. I think if he had gotten Fortify up each round and left the Ironclad in base-to-base with Darius he would have moved a little faster, but that's hindsight for you.

Edit: I realized later we typically forget about Rineholdt's Coward ability. Darius was engaged a few times and I think got away from Rineholdt at one point and the Gobber probably would have fled the table giving everyone else 1 VP. We'll have to remember him next time.

Cryx
James made good use of Parasite this game, but his tactic of constantly matching me for models on the hill just for the Woldwomper activations instead of taking the hill for VPs caused him to fall behind. He was really gutsy with Deneghra forward from the beginning and caught a lucky break but once she was knocked down it was game over.

After the fun we had with the first attempt at the Fight for America Hill we decided to try to tweak the rules to encourage people to take and hold the hill instead of hiding on the edges and sniping adjacent opponents. Our first try was to add VP rewards for claiming the hill.

Scoring:

• Having the most models on the hill at the end of your turn scores 1 VP
• Having the most models on the hill at the end of the turn of the player across from you scores you 1 VP

With those changes we rolled for initiatve and picked starting locations for the second try at taking America Hill.

Circle (Eye Tyrant)

• Baldur
• Warpwolf
• Woldwarden
• Argus

This had become a fairly standard list for Eye Tyrant at this point. The Woldwarden was a giant hard to kill beatstick while the Warpwolf had the speed and maneuverability to get the charge in. The Argus was a point filler but it's higher speed and Doppler Bark can come in handy, especially if a knocked down enemy beast is nearby to use the bark on.

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

• Horluk
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Pyre Troll
• Fell Caller
• Kriel Warriors (Proxied by Scattergunners)

Prorpger decided to try out some Kriel Warriors, so tossed them into a Horluk list. I wasn't overly worried about their damage output as much as I was from the Mauler, though the Kriel Warriors did have CMA to help combat my Dervishes' higher DEF. It looked like his plan was going to be to use the smaller models to tie up the rest of us and try to hold the hill.

Protectorate (Myself)

• Amon Ad-Raza
• Guardian
• Dervish (Proxied by two Revengers)
• Choir

Upon request I brought out Amon, and decided to field him with a pair of Dervishes to try them out. I needed an Arc Node and wanted a heavy so I added a Guardian and a choir and called it done. My hope was between the Guardian’s Ward of Retribution, the Dervish’s Riposte ability, and choir chants I’d dissuade attention for a round or two, instead I think that worked against me, and people seemed to rush toward me instead. D’oh!

Everblight (Nick)

• Lylyth
• Carnivean
• Forsaken
• Shredder x6

Nick's list boiled down to a Shredder swarm with a Carnivean backup. It was ugly to see adjacent to me, but my hope was that he'd go towards Eye Tyrant's Circle instead where the Forsaken could do more damage.

Once again the plastic American Flag was placed atop the hill that dominated the table. Then to separate each army we placed either ruins or a forest between the deployment zones to help funnel everyone into the middle of the table.

Turn 1

Circle
Eye Tyrant started this game the same way he did the last one – the Argus ran to toe the hill, then the other beasts advanced with the Woldwarden using its animus to help defend them both. Baldur brought up the rear.

Trollbloods
The Mauler ran and took the hill (and flag). The kreil warriors followed suit to swarm around him. The Pyre troll got on one edge and shot at the Woldwarden, hitting and doing some fair damage to it after boosting. The Fell Caller brought up the rear but got on the hill as well. Horluk walked up and threw Fortune on the Kreil warriors, leaving him in the back and off the hill.

Protectorate
With the trolls already positioned atop the hill and Everblight following me to swoop in, I decided try a little more cautious of an advance. The turn started with the Choir moving up and circling Amon before Infusing (not much range could affect me so I decided to buff any Riposte attacks that might be generated). I gave the Guardian one focus to run and had him move up about seven inches. The Dervishes then advanced to either side of him, staggered a little further back. Amon dropped into Meditative Stance, threw up Synergy, and arced Sandblast at the Dire Troll on the hill. Two champions were killed but I rolled 1-1-2 on the attack roll against the Dire Troll, denying me a hit let alone the crit I really wanted. I had made a little mistake – I ended the turn with one focus on Amon instead of the Guardian to trigger its Ward of Retribution.

Everblight
Nick decide to shift towards my lines, though I don’t know if it was because of the only woods on the table he could take refuge in or a decision based on my army composition. Either way a majority of his Shredders either ran or went rabid to get to the woods and everything else moved forward. Lylyth took two fully boosted shots at the Dire Troll Mauler up on the hill doing a little damage but leaving her without any fury to transfer damage with.

Score:

• Circle: 0
• Trollbloods: 0
• Protectorate: 0
• Everblight: 0

Turn 2

Circle
Eye Tyrant shifts off the hill in an early bid for a warlock kill. The Woldwarden moves up and throws a Earth Spikes at Lylyth, missing but catching her on the deviation. Baldur then shifts over and tries as well but she’s out of range and the deviation drifts in the middle of nowhere. The Warpwolf runs over go get in the way and the Argus charges Lylyth from its spot atop the hill. Lylyth survives with 7 wounds left, but she’s still hurting.

Trollbloods
Prorpger decides to turn his attention on my Protectorate forces early in an attempt to stop the mad monk. Horluk puts Fortune on the Dire Troll Mauler and hangs out in the back off the hill. The Pyre Troll moves onto the hill and launches an AOE at the Woldwarden, doing some more damage to it. Then the Mauler activates and puts his own Animus on himself and charges the Guardian. Doing even dice damage to it’s ARM 19, the Mauler rips off its Flame Pike and gets one point away from taking the open fist as well. Although he didn’t destroy the jack, he took my biggest POW weapon away and engaged my arc node at the same time. The Fell Caller and Kriel Warriors moved entirely up on the hill and Prorpger ended his turn with the most models on the hill.

Protectorate
Having the Guardian’s spear ripped off didn’t make me too happy. Looking at the table my right Dervish had a clear line at Horluk, but was about a foot away – to far to charge. The warlock also had a couple of fury on him to transfer damage. The Dire Troll was full, but the Pyre Troll was unwounded and could probably soak two attacks without much overflow back on to Horluk. Still, I decided to try and take the shot.

I stared by putting one focus on my left Dervish and upkeeping Synergy. The choir started the turn and circled to the right a bit before Infusing all my jacks. Amon went second and feated, casting Mobility and then throwing those focus on the right Dervish. He then walked up and used the Crack the Whip ability on his weapon to slam the right Dervish forward, doing a whole 2 damage to it. Next the left Dervish activated and walked up to the Dire Troll and spent its focus to boost the to-hit roll on a combo strike. That hit, then my Chain Attack Sidestep hit and I moved the Dervish back away from the Dire Troll to keep it out of retaliation range and block any charge lanes Everblight might have at Amon. The Guardian went next and punched the Dire Troll for minimal damage.

Lastly I activated the right Dervish. With Infuse and Synergy going, he was set up to be +4/+5 on the first attack and +5/+5 on all additional attacks. The Dervish was knocked down but thanks to Mobility the jack stood up, dusted himself off, and walked right up to Horluk and proceeded to lay into him with his now MAT 9/10 POW 18 swords. He killed Horluk with one focus left, but luckily the trollkin failed his tough roll and it wasn’t needed.

It wasn't until after the game I realized I forgot that if you're knocked down on your own turn, you can't stand up that turn. Without the extra movement I wouldn't have been able to reach Horluk that turn. Fortunately the players are all good guys and didn't mind - they got to see how nasty Synergy and Infuse can stack together, even if it was on an illegal target.

Everblight
Nick decides not to try and pounce on my somewhat extended lines and instead turns to face the Circle that was suddenly in his face. The Carnivean charged and took care of the Argus before the Forsaken came and consumed its fury. One shredder charged the Warpwolf but wound up just out of range. Lylyth backed away and shot at Baldur, then sat on a couple fury points. The rest of the shredders went rabid or ran to get over into position for next turn.

At the end of this turn Prorpger still had the most models no the hill, scoring him another VP.

Score:

• Circle: 0
• Trollbloods: 2 (+2 Hill)
• Protectorate: 10 (+5 Horluk, +3 Dire Troll, +2 Pyre Troll)
• Everblight: 2 (+2 Argus)

Turn 3

Circle
Baldur charges the Shredder near the Warpwolf and kills it, then feats to prevent all the nearby Shredders from eating him alive the following turn. The Woldwarden moves up and throws out its animus to debuff Everblight’s defense. Then the Warpwolf charges the Carnivean and tears into it. Unfortunately he comes up just a couple boxes short before running out of fury and can’t finish it off. (Edit: as an afterthought, two-handed throwing the Carnivean at Lylyth [and thus over all the Shredders] would have been beautiful here.)

Trollbloods
The Dire Troll, now Wild, runs for the Trollblood table edge. After that Prorpger decides to try and get some vengeance on the Protectorate. The Fell Caller uses War Cry on itself and it walks up to the Dervish and lays into it. Then the Kriel Warriors follow and the few that can reach CMA it as well. At the end of the round the Dervish as lost it’s left sword and its movement systems.

Sigh. That's right; you can't use War Cry and attack in the same round. We sure were off our game

Protectorate
Amon’s jacks are nasty, but I wanted to get some action with the monk himself. Amon let Synergy drop (I wasn’t going to attack with Jacks and planned on ending the turn engaged so wanted the armor), then charged the nearest Kreil Warrior. Special Attack: Circular Strike. Unfortunately one Kreil Warrior made its tough roll and the Fell Caller survived with one damage point (even with boosted damage roll). The untouched Dervish and the Guardian walked onto the hill, claming a point for most models on the hill. Then the Choir gets the run order and acolytes run up around Amon to prevent him from being swarmed. The Kreil Warriors couldn’t CMA him, but with enough attacks there’s always the chance for the lucky roll to get through.

Everblight
The turns starts with the Forsaken edging around to keep from violating Baldur’s feat and moving right next to all the beasties then unloading a four-fury Blight Shroud. The Warpwolf had four fury, the Woldwarden two, and Baldur four. Many things were critically injured. Lylyth shot Baldur twice, killing the Woldwarden with damage transfers then healed herself, leaving her without fury again. Then the Carnivean stood up and finished off the Warpwolf, leaving Baldur full on fury from reaving but without any beasts.

At this point Nick had to leave so had started packing up, but gave Eye Tyrant the chance to retaliate on his round before heading out.

I stopped taking pictures here as I didn’t expect anything else to happen in the game and one of the players was leaving.

Score:

• Circle: 2 (+1 Shredder, +1 Hill)
• Trollbloods: 2
• Protectorate: 11 (+1 hill)
• Everblight: 8 (+3 Warpwolf, +3 Woldwarden)

Turn 4

Circle
Eye Tyrant’s turn was pretty strait forward. Lylyth was too far to charge, so Earth Spikes it was. He got a critical on the attack roll that proved meaningless when the boosted damage roll finished her off. That little shot took down all the remaining Everblight beasts as well, scoring him 12 VPs in one turn.

Trollbloods
The Kriel warriors circle the Dervish, with one moving around to kill the choirboy blocking the Fell Caller from getting to Amon. A CMA finishes off the Dervish and the choirboy dies, leaving the Fell Caller to walk to Amon and attack him twice, dealing a total of 10 damage.

We ended the game here, not going through my turn. Between a meditative stance, a circular strike, and a couple sandblasts it was pretty likely that there weren’t going to be any trolls left at the end of the round. And Everblight only had a fury-less forsaken sitting around. The mall was closing soon and we wanted dinner so we broke up and called the game here.

Score:

• Circle: 14 (+5 Lylyth, +2 Carnivean, +5 Shredderx5)
• Trollbloods: 0 (+2 Dervish)
• Protectorate: 11 (+1 Hill)
• Everblight: 0

Eye Tyrant had the lead on VPs, but I would have liked to have had one more turn. I still had Amon, a pristing Dervish, and an arc node that I could have used.

My Thoughts

Circle
I know Eye Tyrant’s loosing some love for Baldur and the Woldwarden, but I think that might be at least partly due to the fact that we haven’t had many forests on the table when we play. And he’s been using the Woldwarden relatively defensively, relying primarily on Spell Strike and Undergrowth. I wonder how it would do when used more aggressively to throw and Chain Attack Druid’s Wrath beasts and jacks around the board.

Trollbloods
With so many models all on medium or large bases, I wouldn’t have looked forward to trying to dislodge Prorpger from the hill had Horluk survived. And watching the Mauler do even dice in damage to my Guardian I couldn’t help but think how mangled a warbeast that suffered that would have been in the end. From what Prorpger said he enjoyed the faction though and I agree with his assessment 100% - that faction has Protectorate-style synergy but are much more durable. It’s like the Protectorate of Khador.

Protectorate
Amon Ad-Raza is a bad bad man. He doesn’t quite have the focus to fully feed to his warjacks but between Infuse and Synergy he doesn’t necessarily need it. After feeding one jack to kick start Synergy everything just builds up from there. I wish I had remembered about the knockdown rule during the game, but no one minded in the end. It's good to have great players in the area who are forgiving of little mistakes.

I didn’t really get to use the Dervishes’ Riposte ability this game but they worked out fairly well regardless and are a great value at 65 points each. Especially with Amon and a Choir boosting them up. Had I remembered to give the Guardian my extra focus the first turn he might have been a little meaner (and had a chance to take out an aspect on the Mauler’s first hit), but he was able to hold on long enough to do his part and slap the Dire Troll to help build Synergy.

Everblight
Nick is a new player in our group, but he did ok all things considered. He really pounced on Eye Tyrant with his superior numbers, but unfortunately left Lylyth in the open with no fury on her twice and Eye Tyrant took advantage of it. Still, he did pretty well against the Circle up until that point and will probably get better as he learns how to avoid big mistakes.

It was a cold and dreary night, but none of us cared because we were all crammed in the back room of the local gaming store, crowded around a table moving our little pewter figures around foam we called “hills” and felt we called “forests.” Somewhere in the midst of our madness we had a wild and crazy Warmachine/Hordes King of the Hill style game between myself, Eye Tyrant, Prorpger, and Patman while Superduck (aka the Breadstick King) watched on).

We decided to have a 350-point four-way King of the Hill style match. Instead of scoring on every turn, each player would earn a victory point if they had more models than anyone else on the hill at the end of their own turn starting with the second turn. The board was dominated by the hill in the center, but there were a few other terrain pieces scattered around the board. Only the hill in the middle and the forest between the Patman and my own deployment areas got any use. The hill itself had some rough edges but to be fair we decided the whole thing was a smooth surface and a model only had to get on part of it to be “on the hill.” Prorpger threw a plastic American Flag that was sitting around on the hill, giving it its name. Which was fine until we realized this must be Early America Hill since there were only four stars and three stripes on the flag. Regardless, the battle was soon joined...

After sitting around the table I won the initiative roll so started the game. The armies in the order we would take turns were:

Everblight (myself – I wanted to try the swordsmen so I was spotted 3 points)

• Vayl
• Carnivean
• Seraph (Played by a Vanquisher while my Seraph is being assembled)
• Shredder
• Blighted Swordsman x6

Circle (Eye Tyrant)

• Baldur
• Waldwarden
• Warpwolf
• Argus

Menoth (Prorpger)

• Kreoss
• Avatar of Menoth
• Reckoner

Cygnar (Patman)

• Siege
• Centurion
• Lancer
• Junior Warcaster
• Gun Mage Captain Adept
• Reinhold (Played by a Stormsmith)

I need to preface this by saying I made a pretty bad mistake with the digital camera. I turned the flash off to get clearer pictures, but I forgot that when the camera’s in auto mode it increases exposure time to compensate, resulting in some blurry pictures. I’ll know better next time but unfortunately some of these pictures aren’t all that great.

Turn 1

Everblight
Vayl moved forward and slipstreamed the Carnivean into the forest to get it near the Cygnar deployment lines. The GMAC had set up near my troops, and I didn’t want him taking pot shots all game so I decided to Assault him first turn. I didn’t want to get my Carnivean killed doing so though, so I decided to go ahead and pop Vayl’s feat first turn. It wouldn’t have the impact it could have later in the game but it was my first game and I wanted to try it out. After feating and throwing out a few Spiny Growths, she ended her activation. The Carnivean then Assaulted the GMCA, killing him with his breath weapon. The Blighted Swordsmen ran to the hill, the first two getting the front edge of their bases on it. The Seraph and the Shredders advanced as well and I was done.

Circle
Baldur’s fuzzies run on the hill and the Warden walks towards my troops, triggering Cat and Mouse. I take the opportunity to move the Carnivean back to my side of the forest, safe from reprisal from the Cygnaran forces. The Warden then throws out an Earth Spikes, hitting a swordsman and killing him.

Menoth
The Avatar runs onto the hill with his self-generated focus. The Reckoner advances and shoots the Warpwolf, scoring a critical hit and doing some severe damage to the beast. Kreoss follows behind and throws down Protection of Menoth on the Avatar.

I finally remembered to take pictures here:

Cygnar
Junior casts Arcane Shield on the Centurion and it advances towards the Avatar. The Lancer runs up onto the hill towards my troops. Siege fires a Ground Pounder and then a second shot (using Reinhold) at my blighted swordsmen, killing three more.

Score:

• Everblight: 1 (GMAC)
• Circle: 0
• Menoth: 0
• Cygnar: 0

Turn 2

Everblight
The Seraph wings its way up on the hill and shoots at the Warpwolf, hitting a couple times but falling just short of finishing it off. The two remaining Swordsmen charge the Lancer with the benefit of Chiller and total it. The Shredder edges on to the hill, giving me three models/units on the hill and a VP. Vayl and the Carnivean move up, but keep the edge of the forest between her and Siege.

Circle
The Warpwolf Regenerates and the Argus moves up to Doppler Bark the avatar. The Woldwarden walks up onto the hill and hits the Seraph once for some pretty good damage. Baldur gets to the hill and feats, then heals the Warpwolf for four. There’s now four Circle models in the hill, giving them a VP for that.

Menoth
The Reckoner shoots the Warpwolf again, doing some damage but not getting the second Crit. The Avatar uses Gaze of Menoth, much to the annoyance of everyone on the hill. Kreoss then repositions a bit behind the Reckoner to try to stay out of reach. Baldur’s feat meant Prorpger’s army wouldn’t have been able to move up and capitalize on Kreoss’ feat, so he didn’t use it.

Cygnar
Patman pounces. Siege feats and moves up, staying out of Baldur’s control area. He feats, then rains a ground pounder down on the Blighted Swordsmen, Seraph, and Shredder but misses them all. He then shot something else but I can’t remember what. Finally he cast Explosivo on Jr. Jr took a boosted shot at a Swordsman, killing him and his remaining unit member in the explosion. The Centurion, fully loaded on focus, charges up and around the Reckoner to get the spear on Kreoss. He gets the oh-so-important critical hit on the charge attack, all but guaranteeing Kreoss’s death. With Kreoss’s ARM dropped by Siege’s feat the first attack split Kreoss’s armor like a lobster shell and the second attack skewered the soft insides. Kreoss’ death deactivated the Reckoner, scoring Patman a load of VPs.

Score:

• Everblight: 4 (+1 from hill, +2 Lancer)
• Circle: 1 (+1 from hill)
• Menoth: 0
• Cygnar: 10 (+2 for swordsmen, +5 for Kreoss, +3 for Reckoner)

Turn 3

Everblight
Able to see Baldur from where it is, the Seraph takes some shots with the aiming bonus. The die gods decided Baldur was to live and the dice came up three boxes short. The Shredder moved up on to the hill next, angling because of Baldur’s feat. With Siege’s feat having been used, Vayl and the Carivean break cover and advance on the hill outside Baldur’s control radius.

Circle
The Argus tries to Slam the Avatar back off the hill but misses on the attack. The Warpwolf gets the +2 STR warping and charges, tearing into the Avatar furiously. When it’s all said and done the Avatar is left with three boxes, but they’re enough to keep his hull and right arm (with his sword) in tact. Baldur puts up the Woldwarden’s animus and sits on three fury defensively. His three models on the hill nets him another VP.

Menoth
The Avatar generated 3 focus and stood up (having been knocked down by Throat Ripper). Those three focus were enough to cram Burning Wrath down the Warpwolf’s throat, scoring Prorpger a kill.

Cygnar
After upkeeping Arcane Shield on the Centurion, Junior charged it and by some good die rolls managed to actually kill the Avatar. Siege walks up to just out of melee range with the Argus and attempts to Shockwave it back towards Baldur but doesn’t push it far enough. With the Woldwarden full on fury, he decides to take two shots (with Rinehold), one to kill the Argus then one to try and finish Baldur but the first shot on the Argus doesn’t quite finish it off. Patman thought about shooting the Argus again to kill it, but doing so would mean on my turn Baldur wouldn’t have anything to transfer to and I’d be in a better position to kill him, so he left it on the table for me to deal with. The Centurion advanced towards the hill to end the round.

Score:

• Everblight: 4
• Circle: 2 (+1 Hill)
• Menoth: 3 (+3 Warpwolf)
• Cygnar: 14 (+4 Avatar)

Turn 4

Everblight
I actually had a great chance to kill Baldur. Vayl advanced to within 8” of him and put Chiller on the Seraph, raising it’s effective MAT to 9. The Shredder was forced to go rabid and circled around the Woldwarden staying out of melee range to finish off the Argus. Then the Seraph circled the Woldwarden (ignoring the free strike) and prepared to impale Baldur... until I realized Vayl forgot to heal him and he was missing his Spirit and Mind. That mistake cost me the ability to force forcing and one attack die. I still could have hit on a 5, but I rolled a 3 and missed. The Carnivean ran up to engage the Woldwarden, positioning itself so that if it wanted to move to attack Vayl it would receive two free strikes and a Dark Sentinel attack to boot and ended my turn.

Circle
The Woldwarden turned and smacked the Seraph around, taking out its last few boxes. Baldur then charged Siege. Tritus was a pretty mean weapon, but Siege’s ARM proved a bit too high and Baldur couldn’t quite finish him off.

Cygnar
With Baldur at 3 wounds left, it was just a matter of hitting him before he died. Siege had take a few swings, but once he connected the rest was trivial. In addition he scored a VP for most models on the hill at the end of his turn.

Score:

• Everblight: 6 (+2 Argus)
• Circle: 4 (+2 Seraph)
• Menoth: 3
• Cygnar: 20 (+5 Baldur, +1 Hill)

At this point we decided to call the game. The mall was almost closing, and a quick tally showed I had the Carnivean, Shredders, and Vayl left on the table and Patman had the Centurion, Siege, Rineholdt, and Junior (10 VPs) and Eye Tyrant had his Woldwarden (3 VPs). Even if I ran the table on my turn I’d at best tie the game (with the 1VP for models on the hill). It would have required above average die rolls, and any mistake would have meant the game. So we decided to pack up and clear out before the security guards came by the store and hassled the owners.

My Thoughts

Everblight
I hung back too far and didn’t get into the game enough to really kill much. I don’t’ think I got a lot of use out of Vayl’s feat, but considering Baldur’s feat was up through the middle turns I probably wouldn’t have gotten much more later in the game. As it was I kept GMCA off my flank, which was good enough. Last thing I needed was my beasts getting thunderbolted around the table or my Shredder and Seraph Blazed to death. Blighted Swordsman are mean... with fearless the last few will always stick around and with Weaponmaster they can really wreck someone’s day. Or at least their Lancer.

I think that had I healed the Seraph I would have had a shot at winning, but I just didn’t think to look at his card before the turn and didn’t. Oh well, next time I’ll remember.

Circle
Eye Tyrant had a streak of bad luck. He did a lot of damage to multiple models/units, but just didn’t finish many off, denying him VPs. He really should have gotten the Avatar at the very least, which would have bumped him up to second place. Baldur’s feat would have been extremely useful in this scenario except that there were so many targets out there. Patman was able to attack Prorpger without having to enter Baldur’s feat, so while it did keep anyone from taking the hill they wound up just directing their attention elsewhere.

Menoth
Taking the turn after Eye Tyrant hosed Kreoss on the second turn. Baldur’s feat meant he couldn’t get to the hill to capitalize on his feat, so he held off. In hindsight using it would have knocked the Centurion down and saved him, but I don’t think he expected the jack’s reach to make it around the Reckoner. It was a gamble to hold off on the feat, and unfortunately he lost that wager. But now he’s faced a Centurion and can draw on the experience later.

Cygnar
Patman was really frustrated when his GMCA died first thing then he lost his Lancer to the Swordsmen, but in the end he didn’t need them to finish everyone off. The Centurion served him well and Siege’s gun just proved a pain to anyone on or near the hill for three turns. Rinhold did what Rinehold dies and the Arcane Shield battery actually brought down the Avatar (with just a little help from the Warpwolf). All in all he rolled well and pulled off the win.