Khador consisted off Vlad, six Iron Fang Pikemen with Officer and Standard Bearer, Greylord Ternions, four Mechanics, Man-O-War Kovnik and three 'Jacks: Juggernaut, Spriggan and Marauder. Cygnar brought Haley, full unit of Sword Knights with Officer and Standard Bearer, three Storm Lances, three Storm Smiths and three 'Jacks: Stormclad and two Lancers.
The Mosh Pit scenario requires that an army must hold the center circle (diameter 16") with no opposing models within the circle beginning at the end of the third turn. Khador deployed first. Spriggin on left flank, Marauder and Kovnik on the right and the rest a hard little knot in the middle. Cygnar deployed the Storm Lances on their left flank along with a Storm Smith and Lancer. Right flank consisted of another Storm Smith and Lancer. The rest of the army with spread out in the middle.
First turn saw Khador moving forward in shield wall being covered with blizzards from the Greylords. Flanking 'Jacks either ran or charged forward. Cygnar's turn saw them moving forward also and ranging out on their left flank with the Storm Lances with a big hunk of impassable terrain between them and the bulk of the Khador army. An arcane shield spell was cast on the Storm Blades as they moved up the middle.
Second turn and the Khador army tried to surge forward. Vlad went first and popped his feat and cast signs and portents for what I thought would be some good melee. Kovnik successfully attempted to drive his Marauder and added an extra die on attack. Juggernaut moved to intercept and harry the Storm Lances. Spriggen moved forward and sent off a couple of grenades, one taking out a Storm Smith on the right flank and put a serious hurt on the Lancer on the left (with boosted damage.) Iron Fangs moved forward in their knot, Greylords threw more blizzards on the Iron Fangs. Mechanics just stayed behind the Iron Fang wall with Vlad. The Marauder was last and I thought it was going to be great. It was probably ten inches away from the Lancer on the right flank and I thought I was going to charge in and combo slam him away. Wrong! I didn't realize that Vlads feat only affected those 'Jacks in his battlegroup and since the Marauder was marshaled by the Kovnik I was screwed. All it could do was move forward eight inches and look menacing. Cygnar continued the dance by moving up the Storm Smith on the left flank and disrupt the Spriggin. The accompanying Lancer moved back behind an obstruction. Haley moved through some woods and popped her feat, giving every model in her control area another attack as well as arcing chain lighting through the Lancer on their right flank. The lightning hit the Spriggin easily but caused no damage and then arced into the Iron Fangs and another five models. Paul had some terrible damage rolls and I think only managed to kill one Pikeman. The Lancer on the right moved into melee with the Marauder, doing some cortex damage with the shock shield as well as giving a poke with his spear. The middle Storm Smith tried to blast an Iron Fang but missed. The Stormclad charged at the Marauder and did significant damage with that giant sword and pimp slapped it with the open fist. The Storm Blades received the assault order and charged at the Iron Fangs. Only one of them got into melee with the disrupted Spriggin but the assault order allows them to use their ranged weapons as part of a charge. Surprisingly the Spriggin gets pretty well beat up by the storm glaives, two columns of hull damage as well as taking out the shield on the melee strike. The rest of the storm glaive shots either missed or did no damage to the Pikeman, I think taking out one more. More poor rolls for Paul. The Lancers swooped around their left flank and one got to safely engage the Juggernaut with reach and did a little damage, knocking of some bolts and scraping the paint.
Round three! Vlad again moved up and cast signs and portents. The Kovnik moved forward a little and blasted a Storm Lance with his shield cannon. The Marauder did a little something to the Stormclad but not as much because of a crippled arm. Juggernaut moved into a Storm Lance and hacked him down. Greylords moved up and did a spray attack on some of the Storm Blades killing two of the three. Spriggin just hammered the Storm Blade in melee with it, spitting him on his war lance. Then the Iron Fangs charged in and decimated the remaining Storm Blades. On Cygnars turn there wasn't much to do. The Stormclad finished off the Marauder, leaving a pile of scrap. The Storm Lance, I think, charged into the Juggernaut doing some more damage. The Lancer on Cygnar's left moved forward and arced chain lighting onto Vlad, doing him three damage and then it proceeded to jump around and kill most of the mechanics. A Greylord was taken down by a Stormsmith and the second Stormsmith took out another mechanic.
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| Cygnar's turn (round three) |
Thoughts: Paul, get rid of those GF9 faction dice! Those things let you down at the critical moments! I have been trying to play Khador simply, move forward and don't worry about losing troops. I did have some traffic control problems in the back during the first two turns but that is to be expected when the board is crowded with terrain. Not understanding fully how Vlad's feat worked caught me off guard. The mechanics are a big deal. Since MKII I have fielded them in most every list and they never let me down. Just enough repair to keep the 'Jacks going. The first time that the Kovnik did something and didn't die. I like the way that 'Jack marshal works now especially with the Kovnik's drive ability. The Iron Fangs are becoming my go to unit. They have great survivability in shield wall and the movement to balance out the slow 'Jacks when it comes to threatening areas of the board. Plus with the Officer and Standard Bearer they are a tough nut to crack.
To be fair to Cygnar, the strategy was sound. If the lightning would have been more effective on the Iron Fangs it would have been more of a game.
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