Brawl: Karchev2 vs Ossrum

Hello, and welcome to my first blogpost. 

This is my first time taking Khador for a spin since … 2012? Anyway, here’s the lists:

Here’s the terrain

He wins turn 1, I choose the side with some rubble for my Widowmakers.

Merc Turn 1:

He puts Snipe on the Croes, Bullet Dodger on Gastone, and runs the Croes up behind the forest. Kell runs into the left forest to avoid getting sniped.

Khador Turn 1:

Karchev tries to drift an AOE on to Croes, but it does nothing. He casts Death Ward on the Demolisher, and casts Locked Horns.

Sorscha0 casts Fog of War. The clamjacks move up, and the Rager sits ready to Shield Guard everything. The Widowmakers put chip damage into the Gunner.

Ol’ Grim has a bead on Gastone if he doesn’t aim, but Gastone has Bullet Dodger and camping 4, so Grim doesn’t take the shot.

End of Round 1 (with proxys labelled)

Mercenary turn 2

On the left flank, Anastasia ambushes, charges, and kills one of the Widowmakers. Kell tries to shoot another. The Gunner moves up and toes the zone.

On the right flank, Gastone Discombobulates the Devastator then shoots it, the Croes pepper it with shots then reposition back. The Blaster sprays it, and the Talon charges it. All together, they did about 15 points of damage (even with Backstab).

Ossrum feats, and the two Merc heavies cower behind the forest and block LOS to Gastone.

Khador Turn 2

If I had remembered my clamshells had Bulldoze, I probably would have feated this turn and used my jacks to shove the enemy lights out of the way.

Karchev allocates 2 to the Demolisher, waddles between his own warjacks, casts Locked Horns, and takes a potshot at … I forget what, then camps 2.

Sorscha allocates 1, casts Boundless charge on the Demolisher, and camps 0.

The fully stacked Demolisher charges the Gunner and fails to kill it through Ossrum’s feat – leaves it on 8-ish hitpoints. (I was using melee attacks because I forget the clamshell rule.) The 3 Widowmakers try and shoot Anastasia and they all whiff their shots, even the one that aimed. So I‘ve completely failed to clear the left hand zone.

The Devastator walks around the Talon (because I forgot I could just Bulldoze it), toes the zone, and does a little damage to the Talon. The Rager charges the Talon and finishes it off. Ol’ Grim still has no decent targets, so grabs the flag to earn me one point.

Score is 1-0 to Khador.

Mercenary Turn 3

On the left flank, the Demolisher is 4.5” away from the flag, so Kell walks onto the flag to claim it and takes a potshot at a Widowmaker. The Gunner inserts itself more firmly into the zone and tries to melee the Demolisher at dice -19 for damage 😉 (although it would have ‘only’ been dice -15 if I’d played the clamshell rule correctly). Anastasia gets fully into the rubble and kills another Widowmaker.

On the right flank, the Basher slams the Devastator out of the zone (we checked, and Steady + Sturdy doesn’t make it immune to slams). Gastone discombobulates the Rager, and everything takes shots at the Rager. The Croes reposition to the back of their zone, and the Driller positions itself to be out of LOS of the left Demolisher while still mostly screening Gastone.

Mercs score their zone and flag, contest mine, and the score is 2-1 to Mercs.

Khador turn 3

I check if the Demolisher can get a bead on Ossrum, but it can’t so I still don’t feat. Karchev casts Full Throttle and charges Anastasia to clear my zone, casts Locked Horns for free. The Demolisher charges Kell and pastes him, bumping the Gunner out of the zone on its way. The Widowmakers take some potshots at the Gunner which they can just get LOS to around edge of the forest, leaving it on 6 hitpoints.

One of the Croes has been left a little too close to Ol’ Grim so he apparates forwards, moves up, and gets within 5” of Stealth range. He lines up the shot … and whiffs it. He gets the kill with his second shot, and immediately spends the soul for +3 DEF to hopefully survive another turn.

My warjacks on the right flank move into his zone and do some damage to his jacks. They don’t manage to clear my flag, so Sorscha moves as far away from the enemy as she can, while still keeping the Rager in control range.

I get one point putting it to 2-2.

Mercenary Turn 4

Ossrum lets Snipe expire, and manages to get Stranglehold onto the Demolisher. The nearly-dead Gunner runs into melee with the Widowmakers to contest the zone. The Driller takes down the Rager. Gastone Discombulates the Devastator again, and Croes + ‘jacks continue to wear it down. Croe himself manages to walk into Ol’ Grim’s rear arc and kills him in one shot.

No points are scored, and it stays 2-2.

Khador Turn 4

Karchev lets Death Ward expire, gives the Devastator one focus, casts Full Throttle (for the boosted hits), casts Locked Horns, feats, and tramples onto the enemy flag, camping 1.

The Stranglehold-ed Demolisher sacrifices action, and uses a SPD 8 walk to get into melee with the Gunner.

The Devastator activates, gains another focus via the feat, and uses Rain of Death. The Blaster explodes from the POW 18, and Karchev casts Abbatoir allowing the Stranglehold-ed Demolisher to kill the Gunner. I’m very pleased with this Rube Goldberg move that has allowed me to a) clear my zone b) claim the flag c) move and kill something with my strangled ‘jack.

The Devastator uses its 3 focus to kill the Basher, clearing my own flag, so Sorscha runs over to claim it.

I score 3 points, making it 5-2 to Khador

Mercenary Turn 5

Gastone Discombulates the Devastator then walks into my zone to contest.

Ossrum Strangleholds Karchev then backs away.

The Driller moves up to contest my flag and attack the Devastator. The Croes finally kill the Devastator, clearing their zone. The Croes swap Prey to Sorscha0 but fail to kill her.

Mercs earn 1 point, putting the score at is 5-3 to Khador

Khador Turn 5

Sorcha0 runs into the enemy zone to contest. The Demolisher charges Gastone, bulldozing him out of the circle zone and more than 4” from the flag letting me claim 2 more points.

I don’t bother rolling any attacks, and the turn ends at 7-3 to Khador. 

Post-game thoughts

I feel bad about completely mucking up my own rules, but it was a fun game. To be fair, my opponent forgot his rules too (we played Stranglehold triggering on 'hit' instead of 'damage').

I was disappointed in my snipers' performance - some of that was bad dice but some of it was Ol' Grim being up against Stealth. I like Ol' Grim's rules, and I have ordered the model, so I think I'll try and 'fix' him by adding a Greylord Adjunct that can hand out Eyeless Sight.

I'm not sure about Jaw as a theme. I had only picked it because I had been toying with Behemoth in Karchev's battlegroup. On the table tho, I felt like I had an over abundance of Pathfinder; from the theme, from Boundless Charge, and from Onslaught. On one hand it meant I didn't never needed to cast Onslaught, on the other maybe a different theme will suit Karchev better.

I'm also not sure about Sorscha0 in a Brawl game. She and her 'jack are a big chunk of points and while the Boundless Charge + feat threat range is cute, I barely made use of Boundless Charge in this game.