Same List for Me.
Opponents List:
Durgen Madhammer
* Ghordson Earthbreaker
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
First Mate Hawk
Goblin Tinker
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Taryn di la Rovissi
Thor Steinhammer
Scenario: Destruction
Terrain: Wall on his side central, forest in the center, nothing else really of consequence.
Having played against this list before, I knew what was likely: a really, really nasty assassination run with the EB and Durgen. I'd been almost killed by it just a little before, so I wanted to be extremely careful. This game is also one of the haziest, so the details may have slipped some.
I won the roll to go first. He swapped sides to achieve the terrain lineup above - mostly to get Durgen right behind the wall. I put up a similar lineup to previously; I put Grissel in position to get behind the forest, Champs central, some warders left, some warders right, Mulg with Grissel, the rest behind.
The Earthbreaker was central, Nyss left, Press Gang right, Hawk with the Press Gang, and the other solos scattered around.
I ran forward, dumping 5 into the stone and dashing. Pretty much everything went straight forward from where it started.
He mostly advanced pretty much straight forward, also, as best as I can remember. He spaced the Nyss and Gangers out heavily, EB took a central position just running (no Redline), while Durgen tucked behind the wall.
I can't remember specifically whether it all started on his turn 2 or his turn 3, but everything prior to that was skirmishes; putting random damage into random places. Whichever round this was, I had moved Grissel up, 3 camped after Dash, and had shot a pirate or two off. I had screened Grissel with the forest and a couple of Warders - and I believe the feat - but I forgot that the Earthbreaker had an AE 4 knockdown, not AE 3. Crap. Guess where this goes.
After clearing some space, Durgen popped feat and started pounding away at Grissel, who he could get due to Arcing Fire. I can't remember if I transferred both shots or not, but there was at least one. Then the Earthbreaker opened up (after a Thor tuneup), rolling 2 shots on one gun and 3 on the other. One shot knocked the Warder in front of Grissel down, catching her too, and then he blew her halfway to hell. The only reason it was halfway? Two passed Toughs by Grissel. Holy crap.
My two big mistakes here: I boxed Mulg in so he couldn't Protective Fit up to try and help out and block LOS, and the Warder placement. That really, really sucked.
He tried to get some Nyss 2 and 3 mans on Grissel, but the dice crapped out and he failed to break armor each time, leaving me with 4 Fury to pull in, Grissel seriously damaged, but still alive, and Mulg was now in Rushed walking range of the Earthbreaker. I wasn't dead, although I was making a good show of it.
I leached the 4 I could get, and the Fell Caller walked up to stand everyone up. Grissel Dashed and walked to hide in the very back of the forest, I put up the Krielstone for Strength, and cleared some roads. Some Champs activated first, clearing out models (although I forgot to use one of them on the Earthbreaker - should've only been a few damage at D-8, but every bit helps). The Chronicler was still up, so I could at least get Charge of the Trolls off. Mulg got Rushed and went to work, and between him and 3 Warder charges, the EB went down.
From here on out the game was a pure slogfest, simply beating each other up and attritioning out. I won only because of the clock; a lot of time was burned on the one turn Grissel got shot up. He clocked out, sending me to the next round.
Now, in full disclosure: I made the bigger mistakes, and left myself open for a reliable kill, but made the Tough rolls. He deserved the win; he generally outplayed me, and I held in purely because the dice came up for me to keep Grissel alive.
Also, I had previously marked my guys damage boxes with dice, then moved to only marking on cards because dice kept getting left behind; I'm now going to try to do both. Because of the number of Warders and Champs on the board, there was a constant back and forth about the number of HP on each unit, burning some of my opponents time. I want to start using cards as a backup, but dice to make it more obvious where possible for them.
This was one of the least satisfying wins I have had in some time, I'll fully admit; I just didn't feel good about it. I'll take it, but winning by clock out and some dice help felt very unsatisfying. I left Grissel a little too far out for too little gain, and I should've lost for it.
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