March 1st Steamroller, part 2

My second game was against Khador on Outflank, with my opponent choosing eSorscha and I chose Hunters Grim.  My opponents list:

Forward Kommander Sorscha (*6pts)
* Behemoth (13pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
* Koldun Kapitan Valachev (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 3 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers (3pts)
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios (3pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)

My Hunter's Grim list:

 Hunters Grim (*4pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Pyg Bushwackers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Fennblade Kithkar (2pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)

Opponent went first (recurring theme).  From my perspective, he sent the Widowmakers and Winter Guard Death Star at the left zone, Behemoth dead center with A&H and Sorscha, and the IFP with Eiryss on the right zone.

I put my Fennblades center, one axer to either flank, the Mauler with Grim, the Gobbers, and the support staff in the center.  On AD I put the burrowers slightly right of center due to the IFP, and the Bushwhackers on the right flank across from Eiryss and the IFP, working off the assumption that I could most likely clear the IFP easiest to start getting CP's, because I was worried about the volume of attacks on an Iron Fleshed Winter Guard, but the burrow location would still allow me to react to the right side.

On first turn, my opponent just ran everything mostly straight forward, spreading the IFP out on their run, but managing to get a perfect deviation on a Behemoth trample + Shoot to take out a single Burrower.  Iron Flesh went on the Winterguard.

My second turn, I advanced my bushwhackers slightly and picked off 1-2 IFP with CRA's and a little luck on dice.  My Axer's advanced up to threaten either zone, Grim in the middle, and I somewhat cautiously advanced the Fennblades up with Tale of Mists, wary of threat ranges, and Mirage on the Fennblades.

My opponent chucked more shots around, originally trying to avoid Vengeance on the Fennblades, but after a high blast damage roll he simply decided to remove more from the board, taking out 4 of them in total.  4 IFP made it into the zone with Iron Zeal and the Winter Guard + Widowmakers flooded one zone.

I charged one Axer into the Widowmakers, taking out 2, and mostly just occupying space.  I got Mortality onto the IFP, and used the Sluggers and Bushwhackers, with help from 2 Fennblades, to reduce the IFP to only 2 more members surviving.  The Winterguard only had one member knocked down, but I was having trouble with DEF 17.  Grim was screened by the Gobber cloud again.  I claimed the zone with the other Axer and Kithkar to get 1 CP.

My opponent used Freezing Grip to hold the Fenns in place, then proceeded to blow all but 2 Fennblades and all but 1 Burrower out of the game.  Valachev and the remaining Pikemen and Eiryss contested to prevent me from scoring this turn.  Behemoth stayed mostly central, not overcommitting mostly due to the Mauler's presence.

Smelling a good chance at a CP victory, I simply went about trying to clear and clog the zone.  The Kithkar with +2 from the Fell Caller claimed both Valachev and Holt, while the Bushwhackers earned more points in clearing the last IFP with support from Grim.  Eiryss died to an Axer charge to clear the zone, with Grim reforming into the zone after his activation to dominate the zone to go to 3 CP's.  The other Axer simply held the zone, and bravely realized he was going to die horribly to the Great Bears.  The only potential "fail" on my part was forgetting to set the 5" trap which could have given Grim a little more protection on the next turn.

At this point, the only things that could contest the zones for my opponent were Behemoth, Aiyana, and a Winter Guard that could get in the zone, unless he ran all the Winter Guard, which could get approximately 1/2 of them in the zone, but would be able to hand out very little damage to any of my forces and would simply leave him in place for the retaliation.  Instead, he opted to feat and blow all the damage he could into Grim, resulting in two nearly dead beasts (thankfully DEF 16 is hard to hit, even on boosted attack rolls, for the WG!) and the other Axer reduced to meaty bits by the Great Bears.  The Behemoth, Aiyana, and a single WG contested, while he scored 1 CP.

I finished the game by clearing the WG and Aiyana, Mortality on Behemoth, and killing him with the Mauler, Fell Caller, and Axer to close out and get the last 2 CP's to take me to 5.