Gaspy3 battle reports continued

So it's yet another game with the same Gaspy3 theme list as the last 50 pt game.  Monday night, I played on Vassal again, this time against Tossy playing Irusk2.  First time playing against this caster, so it should be fun.

Here's Tossy’s list:

Points: 50/50
Supreme Kommandant Irusk (*5pts)
* Spriggan (10pts) (bonded for +2 DEF and immune to KD)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
* Koldun Kapitan Valachev (2pts)
Iron Fang Uhlans (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)

Random scenario gave us Diversion, I win roll, so I go first, deployment is pretty standard fair for my list, just pushing harder for the top flag so that I can control it and send some incorp models to the zone.

My turn 1, top of round 1:
One to the Kraken, Gaspy keeps the rest.  Run McThralls1 and Necrosurgeon1 up screen to the flag that I need to control, lose 3 dudes to formation, but not a big deal at this point.  Gaspy puts scything touch onto the Kraken, casts mobility, and moves up behind the barrels to cast Ashen Veil onto the top group of McThralls, where it will make a difference (unlike against the Nyss).  Cankerworm moves up and around the barrels, while the Kraken runs up to cover Gaspy’s left side and block some LOS.

 

His turn, bottom of round 1:
Move up, tac supremacy on shock troopers, FFE on another jack, Spriggan is bonded.  One Mortar puts 5 damage on Kraken.  Other Mortar shoots at top McThralls, killing 2 out of 3 hit (since out of range).

My turn, top of round 2:

Pull soul from vociferon, 3 to Kraken, upkeep both spells, 1 to Cankerworm.  Start the turn off, the Necrotech moves b2b and amazingly, heals all 5 damage! First time for everything here.  McThralls1 run up to try and keep his cav from getting near the flag, impacts need 8’s to hit, so hopefully that will slow him down.  One PW runs way up to hopefully get a bead on Eiryss next turn, while the other runs to take cover behind the barrels.  Necrosurgeon1 walks up and drops a Thrall.  I walk up McThrall unit 2 to just contest his flag and make it hard for him to score any points, but there’s not much chance of him getting to the zone right now, so I don’t have to commit to the flag very hard.  Walk Necrosurgeon 2 to try and get corpses, then Gaspy casts Mobility and jumps up on the barrels so that the Cankerworm will be able to come back after his attacks.  Canker then charges and AP’s the middle Shocktrooper for 4 health at dice-2. Going back thru the log, I realized that he didn’t do the AP right, instead put in the damage at dice-6 instead of dice-2, so that guy would be dead… ugh.  You really have to stay on top of people sometimes.  Anyways, Cankerworm backs off of things here, and the Kraken charges in with his P+S 21 chain striking chain weapon, so 4” reach at dice+4 against the shocktroopers.  The Kraken kills his charge target (who fails his tough) and boosts his Killshot at Valachev with concealment, hoping to catch Cylena in the crossfire.  Sadly, she’s not close enough, but at least the Nyss aren’t zephyring into my backfield.  Kraken takes his other arm on the next shocktrooper, and hits with boxcars then snake-eyes for damage, leaving him at 1.  I buy one last attack, boxcars, and then 11 for damage, and he fails his tough, filling the Kraken up with his corpses.  The Machine Wraith runs up to block off some real estate by the Kraken, in the hopes of helping him stay alive, then the Bile Thralls come and hang out behind him too.

 

His turn, bottom of round 2:

Upkeeps FFE.  Eiryss runs to the center PW and stands back to back with him.  L Mortar with FFE shoots at a McThrall in unit2 that’s out of range, but does some damage to 1 Brute and kills 1 Thrall.  Irusk moves up a little and pops feat, then switches FFE to the R Mortar.  He goes to shoot the PW behind the barrels, before I tell him that he probably doesn’t have a magical gun.  So instead, he airbursts the PW and does 2 damage, but he ends up killing Eiryss.  Anyways, that was pretty nice for me since I can now allocate focus to the Canker next turn if I feel like it.  Shocktroopers go next and shield wall, but only the bottom guy with one wound moves towards the Kraken and fails to damage.  A&H move up so that Holt can gun down to McThralls from unit1, while Aiyanna throws magical weapons onto the Uhlans.  3 of them charge, 1 at each PW and the leader at the Brute Thrall who is on the flag, while the last 2 run to provide extra ARM to their buddies.  The top PW is smushed pretty easily by the MAT 8 Cav charge, and the bottom PW is killed even at effective DEF 16 thanks to Ashen Veil.  At least Ashen Veil reduced the amount of dead McThralls from impacts, but the Brute exploded from the charge.  Nyss go next and kill a Brute and a McThrall, while one engages the Kraken.  R Mortar shoots at the last Brute in unit1 and kills him and a stitch thrall.

 

My turn, top of round 3:

I just need to kill 3 horsies and to move something in to touch the zone to score.  Shouldn’t be that hard, the only issue being Irusk’s stupid feat catching 1 Bile Thrall and turning them all into DEF 3.  I hate those stupid model/unit feats that you catch one dude in the unit and they’re screwed.  Anyways, I start with Vociferon, who runs in order to try and snag some souls.  Then I realize that I forgot to allocate/upkeep scything touch, ashen veil I was at least planning to drop.  Good thing he killed Eiryss for me so that I could allocate.  That said, I could have ended the game right there with that focus on the Kraken.  15/15 are sad stats for casters.  Anyways, Biles go next, and are way shorter than where I thought because I figured that –2 SPD was only for models in his ctrl, not whole units.  I purge with 3 dudes, don’t kill any of his models, corrode the Canker and Kraken, kill a McThrall who is in his feat (yaay, something right!).  Gaspy goes next, casts Mobility, and charges one of the Uhlans, spends a focus for the boosted attack, then gets to cast Carnage for free thanks to Blood Boon.  Then he buys an attack on the other Uhlan in his reach, but fails to kill.  The Machine Wraith runs to be closer to the Spriggan, but away from pesky A&H, since I didn’t have the range to get to the Spriggan with the –2 SPD.  Canker then walks up and AP attack, boxcars the hit, but he toughs, so the Canker walks back out of the way.  Kraken walks away from the Nyss (who I expected to die to a purge), and he rolls 17 for damage on the 4 dice, dropping 8 damage and clearing 2 columns.  Kraken hits and kills at dice+4 on the wounded Shocktrooper, then killshots into the Mortar in the hopes of killing A&H, since I can’t hit DEF 15 without any focus.  As it turns out, I can’t hit DEF 12 without focus either, and the deviation only covers the loader, who toughs.  The R arm on the Kraken kills the other shockie, but he toughs it out as well.  McThralls 2 just move forward to contest the Flag and hopefully not be as terribly positioned so that I can actually get corpses.  That Necrosurgeon walks up and drops her 2 McThralls as well.  Necrosurgeon1 then walks up and drops her 2 dudes, and McThralls1 get to charge the cav.  I get 1 dude in b2b with the flag, and forget to run 2 dudes in to be within 4” so that I can own the flag and score here.  The injured horse dies easily, and gives Gaspy another soul, while 3 combostriking McThralls kill the other horse.  Necrotech runs up to hopefully repair the Kraken next turn, but that’s all I’ve got.

His turn, bottom of round 3:

He starts by upkeeping FFE (1 soul from feat, but 3 total), and allocates 3 to the Spriggan.  Corrosion kills 1 Shocktrooper and gives Vociferon a soul.  A&H move up, Holt kills 2 more McThralls while Aiyanna Harms the Kraken (5 souls total).  Spriggan then charges the Kraken, hits with an 11, then rolls 18 on the damage for total of 19.  His shield attack does no damage, but with his next two bought attacks, he rolls 8 and 9, for another 19 damage to the Kraken and 2 more souls on Gaspy.  At this point, I have 2 columns left and no arms.  FFE Mortar shoots at McThralls, but out of range and only kills one on the deviation.  I mention the CMD check on the Uhlans from last turn, and of course they pass.  He charges them into the McThralls around the flag, kills 3 with impacts, splats the necrosurgeon and another McThrall.  Irusk then back away and switches FFE to the other mortar, who shoots at a bile thrall, catching Vociferon and the Necrotech barely in the blast.  Vociferon lives on 1, but the Necrotech is dead, ruining any hopes of repair.  Nyss go next, kill Vociferon and some McThralls, but nothing major.

My turn, top of round 4:

I start by allocating 3 to the Kraken and 1 to Cankerworm.  Corrosion disappears on Canker, but does another point to the Kraken.  The Machine Wraith starts things off by stealing his Spriggan, then the Canker walks over and eats the closer Uhlan by the flag (giving Gaspy his first soul of the turn) and repositions to score on it.  Gaspy casts Mobility next, walks 8, and kills the Shocktrooper for another soul..  With Blood boon, I’m just out of range for Hex Blast onto Irusk, so I throw it onto his Mortar, but both dudes tough again.  I buy and boost an attack on Holt, and get a 3^rd soul.  Kraken is no longer engaged, so aims and shoots at Irusk, who apparently gets elevation from standing on an obstacle.  10’s to hit, boosted on the big gun, and I miss.  POW 10 blast damage still gets him for 1 point.  D3+1 hellblasters, and I get 2 shots total… ugh. Dice-3 on the damage, so I figure I’ll boost both attacks and try and get some decent dice for damage.  First boosted shot hits, but no damage, then the second shot hits and does 7 damage.  So it almost averages out, but I’d rather have his dice.  McThralls 1 up by my Flag need 8’s to hit, and I get 2 charges.  Since there’s no DEF line, I figure not combo striking is the way to go.  One good charge attack should finish him.  Miss first swing, no damage on the non-charge.  Second guy hits on his charge, only rolls an 8 so leaves him on 3 life and I don’t score… again.  I should have cast carnage with blood boon here.  Oh well.  McThralls2 run/charge to engage as many nyss as possible, and kill 1 Nyss.  Necrosurgeon had run up to try and collect corpses too, but I got nothing.

His turn, bottom of round 4:
He forces out the Machine Wraith with Irusk, then upkeeps FFE on the bottom Mortar, who shoots at Gaspy, but misses and deviates to hit nothing.  Aiyanna moves back and goes for the Harm, but misses!  Irusk then backs up and switches FFE onto the other Mortar, who only needs a 12 to hit Gaspy, which it does.  Then he rolls a 13 for damage at dice-5 for 8 damage.  I remember in the middle of my next turn when I move Gaspy further forward that Mortars have a minimum range of 8”, and Gaspy was < 6” away.  Ugh, I really need to remember that crap.  The Spriggan pokes the Kraken at dice-1 and does 8 more damage! The Shield hits and does 2 more damage at dice-5, so now the guns are out.  The Uhlan missed 2 attacks at McThralls, which is kinda funny.  Then the Nyss walk up, giving me one free strike, which still misses.  He ends up killing the Brute, some regular Thralls, and the Necrosurgeon.

My turn, top of round 5:

I have 10 focus thanks to a bit of soul collection, so I allocate 2 to the Canker and keep the rest.  The Machine Wraith takes the Spriggan again.  The Cankerworm then moves over and does his AP attack on the Uhlan back arc and kills him dead with some boosted damage before moving back to control the flag.  Gaspy then charges Aiyanna and boosts the attack, but misses the 9.  He then buys an attack at the Mortar which toughs of course.  Both units pass their CMD check as well.  Totally forgot corrosion on the Kraken, so he’s now on 1 box.  He walks into the zone and away from the Spriggan.  I don’t bother much with bottom McThralls.  I score on the flag at this point, so I just have to survive to win.

His turn, bottom of round 5:

He successfully forces out the Machine Wraith, but fails another Harm!  The Spriggan walks up and tries to hit Gaspy in the back, but misses.  Irusk casts Battle Lust on himself, then walks over the obstacle to get at Gaspy.  Boosts the attack and hits, boosts damage, and rolls a 10 on 4 dice.  Buys an attack and hits the 8, then rolls a 14 on his 3 dice for 4 damage.  Nothing the Nyss do matters, so I score again at the end of his turn for my 2^nd point and the win.

So there were lots of things that I could have done better this game, but most importantly positioning.  Specifically, I mean not leaving guys out of formation/out of scoring and keeping all my dudes in corpse collection range.  I got lucky that he misplayed pretty heavily IMO, not focusing fire on the Kraken on his 2nd turn to kill it, especially without my feat popped.  That said, I think I did a decent job at controlling the pace of scenario, even with screwing up my own positioning and underestimating how spread out his cav could be.  Anyways, my dice probably weren't bad overall, but they were terrible on damage and key rolls.  Just abysmal luck it seems, and that stupid Mortar made it through 2 or 3 tough checks, which was way not cool.  Roh well, still a good learning experience.