[Lost Hemisphere Challenge 2013] Update and tournament report

I've been slacking a bit with my Lost Hemisphere Challenge, but I knew that was going to happen. The end of February and first two-thirds of March were always going to be pretty much a write off owing to the RLSS Speeds, conferences, and organising the BULSCA Champs eating up all of my free time for nearly a month. Then I came home and had to observe for a week! But this week I've been getting back into the swing of it, with some painting progress and my first games with Venethrax!

Before I went on my road trip I managed to get all of the new models for the 35pt list built and based. It took me quite a while, as I was trying to vary the weapon load out on the Bloodgorgers; that made some of the joints a little dodgy, but some green stuff sorted those out. I also tried converting the two additional Brute Thralls that I bought to give them a bit of individuality. That's not quite finished, as they need a bit of green stuffing to fill out the musculature.

This week I started on getting some more of the list painted. Since the Mechanithralls also make an appearance in my Deneghra theme force, I decided to start with them. 13 small based models plus my original Brute Thrall have been primed, and I've base coated and washed the skin on all of them. I'm nearly through the first layer on the skin now - only two more to go! The skin is easily the biggest time investment on the Mechanithralls though, so once that's all done I can hopefully get them finished off fairly quickly.

Today I travelled to my 'local' game store to take part in my first tournament in quite some time. Highlander Games in Dundee is about half an hour's drive away from where I live, but I've never managed to get to their gaming nights or previous tournaments. Just bad timing really, as they usually seem to clash with my weekends away. But I found out about this one a couple of months ago, and immediately blocked it out in my diary! Stupidly I forgot to take my camera though, so no pictures of the games I'm afraid.

It was a 35pt, standard Steamroller format tournament, with 27 players. One list required, with a second list optional. My Venethrax list was obviously going to be one, but what to take for the other? I was set on taking Deneghra as a more familiar warcaster, but was torn between her theme force and a dedicated anti-armour list to take on the multitude of colossals that I was sure were going to be present. After much deliberation I eventually went for the anti-armour list, but only ended up playing it once. My lists were:

Venethrax                                                                   Warwitch Deneghra
*Seether                                                                      *Ripjaw
*Nightwretch                                                              *Ripjaw
*Skarlock                                                                    *Cankerworm
                                                                                    *Skarlock
Full Mechanithralls
*3 Brute Thralls                                                           Full Bane Thralls
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls                                    Gorman di Wulfe
Full Bloodgorgers                                                       Warwitch Siren
Gerlak Slaughterborn                                                  Warwitch Siren
Pistol Wraith                                                                Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith                                                                Machine Wraith
                                                                                    Withershadow Combine

Game 1 (Supply & Demand) vs David Flynn (Retribution)

I've met David several times before at tournaments, and played him once before at Skirmish 2011. He's a decent player, and tends to favour the heavy Retribution infantry. He had a very small Ravyn list featuring both a Colossal and Battle Engine, and a Vyros1 list with Dawnguard, Halberdiers, and three Hydras. Now this is exactly the situation that my Deneghra list was designed for, and the heavy stealth/incorporeal skew of that list would also have been a benefit. But I picked Venethrax; I'm not entirely sure why, other than that I wanted to test him against a tough match up, and was fairly sure going into the tournament that I wanted to run him as much as possible. David picked Ravyn; his list was:

Ravyn
*Hyperion
Full Mage Hunter Strike Force
*Unit Attachment
Arcanist
Mage Hunter Assassin
Arcantrik Force Generator

This was going to be tough. I won the roll off, and chose to go second. I had a house on my left, and some woods on my right. On the other side of the zone was a large hill on my right, and a field with some hedges on my left. David deployed the AFG and Hyperion to go up on the hill, the Strike Force to take the field, and the Assassin wide out on my right. I deployed with the Nightwretch to go wide left around the house, the Mechanithralls skirting the other side of the house, the Pistol Wraiths taking the woods, and the Bloodgorgers central to take the zone. Venethrax and the Seether were positioned between the two units.

It was a close game. I lost the Nightwretch turn 2 to the Strike Force, before engaging some of them with the Mechanithralls later in the game. The Bloodgorgers flooded the zone, but couldn't do much against Hyperion which was parked there to contest. Gerlak charged the Strike Force, but missed. Then it started to go downhill. Ravyn feated, and the AFG, Hyperion, and the Strike Force all managed to draw a bead to Venethrax despite my screening, and took off half his health (mostly through the strike force). However it took them a further three turns to kill him! The Strike Force just couldn't break armour without the extra feat die, even ignoring his focus, and the AFG and Hyperion were bouncing off my focus camping and soul stack. I think the AFG poured 12 shots into him over three turns, and none did any damage! I was helped somewhat by Gerlak, who managed to get a Killing Spree chain going and munched through four Strike Force members and the Arcanist to make it to Ravyn. Sadly he counted hit her as well. Eventually though the torrent of fire proved too much for Venethrax, and he succumbed, although not before my Pistol Wraiths took out David's objective.

Loss by assassination, chess style. (Credit: 

 0-1; 1 CP; 4 AP destroyed

Game 2 (Close Quarters) vs Chris (Cygnar)

I'd not met Chris before, but he seemed to have a decent amount of experience with his list. He had Kraye and Stryker2. Both of his lists had a good combined arms approach, so I decided to stick with Venethrax and his horde of infantry. Chris picked

Stryker2
*Centurion
*Defender
Junior Warcaster
Full Gun Mage Blazars
Rupert Carvolo
Full Sword Knights
*UA

I lost the roll, and ended up going second again. I had a hill on the right of my deployment zone, and a wood on the left. Opposite were a couple of walls in the centre, and a house on the left. Chris deployed the Blazars wide on my right flank, with the rest of his force between the house and the walls. I deployed the Bloodgorgers on my left to go against the main concentration of Sword Knights, and the Mechanithralls, Venethrax, and Nightwretch on my right. The Pistol Wraiths went to take the hill, and the Seether was central.

Chris was very aggressive with the Blazars, who rushed my right flank and shot the Pistol Wraiths down. I countered with the Mechanithralls, but they just couldn't hit the nimble cavalry, who gradually munched through them all using gunfighter electroleap shots. Thankfully the Necrosurgeon was able to keep the tarpit going long enough to stop them getting to Venethrax, who was dominating my flag.

The central battle was more interesting. The Bloodgorgers got to the Sword Knights and took out half the unit, but couldn't do anything against the warjacks who eventually killed them. Gerlak was a bit of a  failure, and didn't kill anyone before dying to the Centurion. I was gradually losing models, but managed to get the Nightwretch close enough to arc a Hellfire at Stryker2 (who for some reason wasn't going to dominate his own flag). Stryker promptly engage the Nightwretch but missed, so I backed it up to try again. The arc node survived the free strike, and another fully boosted Hellfire took him to 3 boxes. Unfortunately I'd had to move Venethrax away from my flag, and he was in range of the Defender and Junior. The Defender took him to five boxes, and Junior rolled just enough damage to kill him.

(Credit: dontpressstart.blogspot.com)

0-2; 3 CP; 8 AP destroyed.

Game 3 (Incursion) vs Ross (Trollbloods)

Ross was another new face, and a very friendly chap. I'd spent some time chatting with him before the tournament started; we'd discussed the merits of various theme forces, and he'd been intrigued to see that I'd brought Venethrax. He had two theme forces of his own, in the form of Jarl and Doomshaper, and picked the latter. He fielded

Doomshaper1
*Mulg
*Earthborn
Full Krielstone Bearers
Runeshapers
Runeshapers
Runeshapers
Runeshapers

Naturally I picked Venethrax; against Hordes, particularly Troll lists with lots of infantry, it was a no-brainer.

The left flag was on top of a hill, and the right hand flag was in the middle of some stone walls. The central flag was out in the open, but both Ross and I deployed to cover the flanks and left that one alone. Sure enough, it was the central flag which disappeared (as usual).

I sent the Bloodgorgers, Gerlak, and the Pistol Wraiths to take the left flag, and sent the Mechanithralls and Venethrax (with NIghtwretch) to my right. The Seether was rather ineffectual this game (I was scared of the two heavy warbeasts), and ended up stranded in no mans land. Ross had two units of Runeshapers on each flank, with the rest of the list central but heading to my left. He moved the Runeshapers on the left onto the hill to shoot the Bloodgorgers, but I was making tough rolls all over the place and he only killed a couple. In retaliation I wiped out the front unit, Death Chilled Doomshaper with a Pistol Wraith, and scored a control point. On my right flank I sent the Mechanithralls in to control the flag, and managed to land a Hellfire on the leading Runeshaper unit, killing one and forcing a command check, which they failed! Fortunately for Ross the second unit was just within 4 inches to contest.

Over the next couple of turns I managed to kill the second Runeshaper unit on my left, but Ross had sent in the heavies to contest. On the right I spent a couple of turns killing both units (the walls were really messing up my charge lanes), but eventually dropped the last Runeshaper using a boosted Hellfire. Venethrax then dominated the flag, putting me 3-0 up. At that point Ross conceded; he had nothing left on that flank to contest, couldn't get to Venethrax, and I still had a decent force on the left, so there was no way for him to catch my lead in CP.

1-2; 8 CP; 24 AP destroyed.

Game 4 (Outflank) vs Matt (Cygnar )

Yet another new face, Matt was one of the Highlander Games regulars. He was fielding Kraye, and a Haley2 list with Stormwall, and had some beautifully painted models in a Fort Falk scheme. He picked Kraye (who I've never faced before), and I picked Deneghra. I admit it, I lost my nerve. After one experience facing a colossal with Venethrax I wasn't keen to repeat the experience, but in hindsight it was a poor choice. In this scenario I didn't have the numbers to really go for CP, so was stuck with assassination as my only option. Matt also had a small model count list though, so was really in the same situation. He was fielding

Kraye
*Hunter
*Hammersmith
*Old Rowdy
Black 13th
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Gun Mages
*UA

This was a short game. I was forced to go first, putting the Bane Thralls, Pistol Wraith, and Machine Wraith on the hill on my right to swing into the zone there. Everything else went on my left, with the Cankerworm up against some walls just in front of the zone. Matt had the Hunter and GMCA in some woods, the Black 13th just behind, the Gun Mages spread across his line, and the Warjacks and Kraye in the middle. Matt advanced and shot up one of my Ripjaws. I retaliated by moving into the left zone, Death Chilling the Hammersmith which was toeing in, knocking it down with Scourge, then killing the GMCA with Venom. I then put Deneghra behind the Cankorworm, and dropped Gorman's smoke bomb on her head.

Then I lost. Kraye feated, and cast Mage Sight on the Gun Mages. He also cast Full Tilt on Rowdy, who charged and Quake Hammered the Cankerworm. Deneghra was promptly knocked down, and the Gun Mages and Black 13th promptly shot her to death. Stupid ignoring stealth. Ah well, it at least let me wander around watching some other games.

This is the only possible description of what happened in this game.

1-3; 8 CP; 26 AP destroyed

Game 5 (Into the Breach) vs Luke Mason (Skorne)
Game 5 was probably the best game I played all day. It was very tense, and incredibly close. I'd met Luke before at a couple of events, but he'd usually been playing Cryx. This time he was branching out into Hordes, and fielding Hexeris and Zaal. I knew that he was trying to get experience with Hexeris, so was fairly confident he'd choose him. Facing Hordes, I again picked Venethrax, and Luke did indeed pick his Hexeris list:

Hexeris*Titan Sentry*Titan Gladiator*Razor Worm*Basilisk KreaMinimum Beast HandlersFull GatormenPaingiver Task Master
Extoller Soulward

True to form, we both basically ignored the flag (which was on my right flank), concentrating on the zone. There was a small wood just in front of the zone on my side of the table, and a hill on my right which gave me a small window to work with. I sent the Bloodgorgers around both side of the wood, the Nightwretch around the far left flank, and everything else up the middle. Luke in turn sent the Gatormen to face off against the Mechanithralls and Seether, and rushed the zone with the two Titans.

There was so much poor dice this game that it was hilarious; fortunately it hit both sides equally badly, so neither of us got too frustrated. I feated on turn 2 with most of my Bloodgorgers in the zone, after which Luke counter-feated, and charged them with the Titans. He managed to miss most of the attacks, but still got a couple of good feat chains going which left only Gerlak and about 3 Bloodgorgers in the zone. The Gatormen too failed to kill many Mechanithralls themselves, but still wiped out half the unit and two of the Brutes with feat chains. I was in a bad way; the Mechanithralls and Seether were engaged by the Gatormer, the Pistol Wraiths were out on my extreme right flank, and I was low on numbers. I shoved the remaining Bloodgorgers into the zone, and moved the Nightwretch close enough to Hellfire Hexeris, doing five points that Luke didn't transfer. I also charged the Gladiator with Venethrax, but managed to miss despite needing 4s!

Then the Sentry killed all but my Bloodgorger leader, who just wouldn't die. Luke missed 3 attacks, and I toughed the last one. The Gladiator killed Gerlak, but again needed all of his fury to do it. Hexeris charged the Nightwretch, but left the arcnode and was only on one fury. He'd left me an opening, but I really messed it up. I knew that I had to back the arcnode out, but also wanted to kill the Gladiator otherwise I was fairly sure it would pulp Venethrax. I was so fixated on that, that I forgot to move the Nightwretch! Nevertheless, I destroyed the Gladiator (despite missing again!), and in desperation rushed an incorporeal Pistol Wraith at the zone, just toeing in. It was going to be close - I only had the Pistol Wraith, Nightwretch, and Venethrax in the zone.

Luke's Krea then frenzied, charging the Pistol Wraith! That was great for me, as it meant the Extoller was going to have a much harder time hitting it. Sure enough, the Extoller missed, so I was still contesting. Hexeris destroyed the Nightwretch though, and the Gatormen finished off the Mechanithralls with Vengeance and entered the zone.. But I was still in the game. I charged the Sentry with Venethrax, but dice down was called before I got to do anything. So close!

I'm not sure I could have killed Hexeris. I had enough focus for two Hellfires, or one fully boosted Hellfire. I could have tried to kill the Sentry and reave it's fury, but it was basically undamaged so would have needed most of my focus. In the end though it was immaterial, and I lost on tiebreaker to points in the zone.

(Credit: myapple.pl)

1-5; 8 CP; 34 AP destroyed.

Despite my poor finishing record, I had a lot of fun. My opponents were all great to play against, all friendly, and good sports who were happy to have a laugh and a chat. Highlander Games is a great venue as well. It's much bigger than it seems from the outside, although there's not a lot of space around the tables so at times it was a bit of a squeeze with 27+ people in there. Fortunately the shop and gaming areas are next door to each other, so we didn't have to deal with shoppers as well! It's a really well stocked shop too, albeit not necessarily in terms of Warmachine/Hordes. They've got a great range of board games, and a lot of Magic and other CCGs, but only a small amount of wargaming stuff.

I learnt a lot about Venethrax during the course of the tournament, but this post is long enough already so I'll leave that for another time.