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I managed to catch up with my buddy for a rematch on Tuesday night. If you haven't read my last post, check out the details of our first game of Warmachine before you read on...

Back? Right then - we left the last game wondering how Cryx could ever hope to hold their own against my seemingly superior Cygnar force. Unfortunately (for me at least) this time around, things went completely differently. I think we were both kind of astonished at the way the Deneghra's battlegroup got p0wned last time, and we both spent the interveining days focused on learning more about Cryx's bag of dirty tricks. Which means that while I understood my opponent even better than before, I still hadn't improved my grasp of my own army.

For the the glory of Cygnar!
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The game started with me charging straight in, the Ironclad in the lead, confident in his heavy armor and melee might. That confidence wilted as our our armies closed and Deneghra's crippling grasp stripped away the armor I had put my faith in, and I was immediately charged by two deathrippers, each well loaded up with extra focus. Boosting the inital charge attacks, both managed to hit. Then, with an extra focus each for a second attack, they roll out their sustained attack ability, for automatic hits. More damage. Next thing I know, my Ironclad has taken ten dice of damage in a single round, and he's now a mere three wounds away from being scrap.

Seeing things going sideways quickly, I hit his Slayer with Stryker's earthquake, and take it out for a round while I try to sort things out. Unfortunately, the crippled Ironclad can't get anything done, and my two lights don't fare much better. At the start of his turn, the Ironclad would be dead.

On my next turn, I drop earthquake on the deathrippers and try to get them out of the way so I can force the issue with his warcaster. I drop them, opening line of sight to Deneghra, so my charger pops off a shot. After I roll, he reminds me she has stealth, and can't be targeted from this range. Wasted opportunity. I charge in with Stryker, hoping to take out a deathripper, but he doesn't get the job completely done. Finally, I move my Lancer in to tie up the Slayer in melee hopefully long enough for me to clean this mess up... "I should probably pop my feat this turn..." I think to myself, but for some reason I don't.

I can still hear the footsetps...
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The next turn opens with Deneghra popping her feat and then ghostwalking a focus-laden Slayer right through a clump of impassible terrain right in Stryker's back arc. He tears into me with his combo strike, boosting both attack and damage and lays down a cruel thirty points of damage, killing Stryker instantly. Wow. Well played, my friend. Well played.

So, while our first game took almost three hours, the second took only 40 minutes. We left the first game wondering how Cryx could ever hope to win a game, I left my second game wonder how I was ever going to stop them. That's cool. I can't wait to play again.

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine