See also Bernd's YouTube channel: TalesFromUrcaen.
Forces
Circle Orboros (Bernd)
Battlegroup
-6 pts
Baldur
9 pts
Wold Guardian
5 pts
Wold Wyrd
10 pts
Warp Wolf Stalker
9 pts
Pureblood
Units
2 pts
Shifting Stones
1 pts
Stone Keeper UA
2 pts
Shifting Stones
5 pts
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
5 pts
Tharn Bloodtracker, min
Solos
2 pts
Druid Wilder
3 pts
Tharn Ravager Whitemane
3 pts
Thrullg
Khador (Matthias)
Battlegroup
-5 pts
pSorscha
11 pts
Beast 09
9 pts
Devastator
7 pts
Juggernaut
Units
6 pts
Winter Guard Infantry, max
2 pts
Officer & Standard Bearer UA
2 pts
Rocketeer (2) UA
6 pts
Winter Guard Infantry, max
3 pts
Winter Guard Mortar Crew
4 pts
Widowmakers
3 pts
Battlemechaniks, max
Solos
2 pts
Widowmaker Marksman
free pts
Kovnik Josef Grigorovic
The Game
Deployment
The Tharn Blood Trackers chose the Widowmakers as their Prey.
Turn 1
Khador Turn 1
Sorscha allocated 1 Focus to each the Juggernaut and the Devastator.
The Mortar Crew opened the battle by sending a shell the Bloodtracker's way. It was out of range and deviated back towards the Khador lines, lightly damaging a poor peasant's cottage.
Josef delivered a speech concerning the Courage of the Forefathers to the Winter Guard unit in the center, who then advanced and spread out to cover the Widowmakers from the advancing Bloodtrackers.
Sorscha cast Fog of War.
All other models advanced as fast as possible.
Circle Turn 1
The Wold Guardian ran forward, remaining in the trianlge formed by one of the Shifting Stones units. Then he used his animus Flesh of Clay on himself.
The Warp Wolf Stalker warped Prowl and advanced.
Baldur advanced and cast Solid Ground. He then continued doing the magic and cast Stone Skin on the Wold Guardian before he finished with casting Rapid Growth to create a forest.
The Tharn Ravager Whitemane ran forward and used the just created wood as cover.
The second unit of Shifting Stones slightly repositioned. The Pureblood warped Spellward and moved up to the wall the Stalker was already hiding behind.
The Woldstalkers advanced, the Druid leading them keeping at their back. The Tharn Bloodtrackers advanced and threw their spears at the Winter Guards, but were out of range.
Turn 2
Khador Turn 2
Sorscha kept all Focus for herself and upkept Fog of War.
The Marksman moved up to the corner of the cottage and hit a Bloodtracker right between the eyes (being within 5" Stealth did not apply). The mortar targeted the Bloodtrackers as well but he automatically missed due to Stealth, nevertheless after the shell deviated still one Bloodtracker was caught in the blast and killed.
Josef gave a speech For the Motherland and the Winter Guards attacked forward. Using mostly the grapeshots gained through the officer, they killed 3 Bloodtrackers and 1 Woldstalker. They damaged two Shifting Stones, but it was not enough to destroy them.
All other models advanced.
Circle Turn 2
Baldur upkept Stone Skin, Solid Ground and Rapid Growth.
The Ravager Whitemane moved through the treetops, bypassing the two Winter Guards who tried to block his movement, and charged the Winter Guard behind them. That Winter Guard he missed on a double one…
The Wold Guardian was teleported by the Shifting Stones towards the Devastator. He hit the Khador heavy with Ram and knocked him down. Additionally he caused six points of damage with a boosted damage roll. He attacked again and causeed three more damage, again boosted.
The Druid advanced and sent a Rockhammer amidst the Winter Guards led by the officer. Of the three hit two died.
The Pureblood was shifted forward by the second units of Stones…
… warped Spell Ward and killed three Winter Guards (includign a Rocketeer and the Standard Bearer) as well as the Marksman with Death Howler.
The Woldstalker forfeited their movement to gain the aiming bonus, and were then placed forawrd by the Druid's Zephyr ability. They killed another three Winter Guards.
The Bloodtrackers also engaged the Winter Guards, spearing two.
The Druid Wilder advanced and noticed he was unable to do anything.
The Wold Wyrd advanced and used his shooting ability, but missed with a miserably roll of 1,1 and 2. He was forced for an additional attack, and this time he hit. For damage he rolled 1 and 2 so the second Rocketeer still lived.
Baldur advanced and used his Feat. He then cast Earth Spikes on the Rocketeer who just survived the attack of the Wold Wyrd, killing him.
The Warp Wolf Stalker warped Prowl and advanced. The Thrullg also ran forward.
Turn 3
Khador Turn 3
Sorscha upkept Fog of War. She then allocated three Focus to Beast09 and one Focus to the Juggernaut and Devastator each.
The Mechaniks repaired 3 points of damage on the Devastator.
Beast09 tried to charge the Wold Guardian, but had to much ground to cover that was affected by Baldur's Feat.
The last remaining Winter Guard up front let loose with a grape shot and damaged the Wold Wyrd (three damage) but missed Baldur.
The Mortar missed the Stalker and the template deviated. It hit the Pureblood, but due to Solid Ground the 'beast did not suffer any blast damage.
The Winter Guards left the forest template and CRAed Baldur, but missed him.
Circle Turn 3
Baldur upkept Solid Ground and Stone Skin.
The Tharn Ravager Whitemane killed and moved and killed and moved… until all of the Winter Guards left of the wood were gone.
The Wold Guardian hit the Devastator and knocked him down again, and caused 2 points of damage with a boosted damage roll. With his second attack, he caused 9 damage, again with a boosted damage roll. This crippled one arm, reducinf the Devastators massive armour.
The Wold Wyrd also shot at the Devastator, causing one point of damage with a boosted damage roll.
The Thrullg charged Beast09 and caused two points of damage, which disrupted the Sorscha's pet.
The Bloodtrackers advanced and threw their spears again. The Winter Guard officer was missed, but one of the Widowmakers was hit and mortally wounded.
The Pureblood advanced and warped Spell Ward before using Death Howler on the Devastator. He hit with a boosted attack roll and then wrecked the already badly damaged 'jack. The Mechanik, the target of the attack, was missed.
The Warp Wolf Stalker warped Prowl and killed another Winter Guard.
While the Shifting Stones slightly repositioned, the Druid again cast Rockhammer on the Winter Guard, but thanks to Fog of War the template missed and deviated harmelssly.
The Wold Wyrds advanced and moved even farther forward through Zephyr before they zapped the Winter Guard Officer and another Widowmaker.
The second unit of Shifting Stones repositioned to block attack lanes.
The Druid Wilder removed Fury from the Wold Wyrd.
Baldur advanced and cast Earth Spikes on the two Winter Guards on the flank, killing one.
Turn 4
Khador Turn 4
Sorscha dropped Fog of War and kept all Focus for herself.
The Mortar Crew targeted a Woldstalker but missed, the shell deviated and killed a Bloodtracker in the blast.
The Widowmakers missed the first and killed the second Woldstalker.
Beast09 slightly advanced, smasehd a Shifting Stone to pieces with his fist and then killed the Thrullg with his Ice Axe.
The Mechaniks charged. The Wold Wyrd is missed and two Shifting Stones are damaged but not destroyed.
The Kovnik advanced and destroyed one Woldstalker with his hand cannon.
Sorscha then advanced and used Wind Rush to get into a position where she could see Baldur. She feated and made a lot of Circle models stationary.
She then easily hit the stationary Baldur with her hand cannon, causing two points of damage.
She cast Razor Wind and caused five points of damage.
She cast Razor Wind again for another five points of damage.
Then the last survior of the Winter Guards moved up besides Sorscha and shot Baldur with his Blunderbuss. He easily hit and caused six points of damage. This would have killed Baldur, so he used his last Fury to transfer the damage onto the Wold Guardian.
Circle Turn 4
Baldur leached as much Fury as possible and then cut himself to exchange one health point for anoter Fury. He dropped all his upkeep spells.
He removed stationary from himself, and forced the Stalker, Pureblood and Wold Wyrd to do the same.
The Wold Wyrd moved out of the way and then shot Sorscha, but missed her even though the hit roll was boosted. Thanks to Wind Rush Sorscha was now on DEF 18. For the same reason, its second attack missed as well.
Then Baldur charged Sorscha. He boosted to hit but missed! His second attack was also boosted but missed as well! With the third boosted attack he finally hit her and caused three points of damage. Due to his sword, Sorscha lost 3 DEF and was now on 15.
The Pureblood warped Strength and moved in base contact with Sorscha. He slashed at her with a boosted attack roll and hit her (he would have missed, hadn't Baldur lowered Sorscha's DEF). He boosted the damage roll and caused one point of damage more than Sorscha was able to take.
End of Turn 4
Aftermath
Bernd (Circle)
Not only was this our first 50 points game, but I used a new Warlock and a couple of new units and solos.
When I saw Matthias' force I was a little bit concerned because his Winterguard's high defense value in combination with the high armour of his Warjacks.
But somehow the game went very good for me. His Winterguard didn't do enough damage and were nearly completely wiped out in return and his Warjacks were not able to get into combat due to my feat.
Therefore Matthias was forced to go for an assassination attempt. And he nearly succeeded! To leave Baldur with just 1 Fury and no other protection from ranged attacks was maybe the biggest mistake I made, and it nearly cost me the game.
Next game I think I will use "Flesh of Clay" on Buldur himself more often.
And I will try to get more models in Baldur's control area so that they can benefit from "Solid Ground".
Concerning the new models themselves, the Bloodtrackers didn't do very much (except dying). The Woldstalkers were able to kill some guys and performed ok. Models of the match for me were the Whitemane who wiped out 8 Winterguard infantrists in one activation and the Woldguardian who was able to dish out some good damage on the front line without receiving a lot in return.
Matthias (Khador)
For the most part of the game, I was not able to act much, only to react in the small confines allowed to me by the enemy. Baldur's Feat made me almost immobile, then the Devastator was gone, the Juggernaut was too far away guarding the objective, and Beast09 was disrupted.
My worst mistake was to forget to move the Winter Guard on the flanks on turn three and kill the Ravager Whitemane - that would have left me with a substantial flanking force which might easily have CRAed Baldur a turn later.
I again had bad luck with the Widowmakers - like I had from the first time I used them. At the beginning, they had no targets they could hit, and when I moved them forward, half of the time they missed although they have a quite high RAT of 7!
My last turn was what I view as a typical Warmachine/Hordes turn: The underdog, who received a constant beating the turns before, suddenly finds an open lane which allows him to attack the enemy Warcaster/Warlock. And I nearly succeeded!
Had I been able to do one more attack Baldur would have been done. Unfortunately he had this one point of Fury left which was enough to safe him.
Although she had a hard time, he did then managed to kill Sorscha.