Warmachine Action: Stryker vs. Epic Deneghra

As neither Marc nor I could make it to Saturday geek night this weekend, we decided to get together and have a few games on Friday night instead. I had just finished painting the last couple of Stormguard models in my collection, so I was able to field Stryker with a full unit. I was hoping that with Arcane Shield running, as well as Stryker's Invincibility feat, I should be able to work my way into the heart of the Cryx force and tear it apart.

I moved the Stormguard out aggressively in my first turn. As mentioned above, they were protected by Arcane Shield, and I decided to save the feat for the following turn (which turned out to be a mistake).


Stryker held the flank with the Centurion and the Black 13th.


On Marc's second turn, the Deathjack charged out, killed a couple of Stormguard, and then proceeded to kill a couple of more by casting Hellmouth.


Then, Deneghra herself charged out, did some more killing, cast Hellmouth, and feated. During my next turn, none of my units could move and Deneghra was incorporeal. I essentially did nothing.


The mechanithralls charged in and pretty much finished off the remainder of the Stormguard on the next Cryx turn. Obviously, I should have feated on my first turn, but as it turns out, Marc had very little success with the rest of his turn. The bulk of my force was well intact.


This is where things stood at the beginning of my last turn. The Stormguard were essentially annihilated, but Deneghra, in spite of being in the midst of a mob of thralls, was not incorporeal.


After the Centurion advanced and cleared some mechanithralls out of the way, Stryker cast Earthquake and knocked down Denehgra and the remaining thralls.


Once she was knocked down, a combination of shots from the Journeyman Warcaster and a Gun Mage Captain Adept dropped Deneghra's wounds into the danger zone. The nearby Lancer finished her off easily. It was one of those games where I felt like I was losing until I started winning.


She's a caster that Marc is still learning, but even though he lost again, he was more fluid with her than the previous two games we played. As all Warmachine players know, mastering a new caster is only a matter of time and patience.


And the Fun Didn't End There...

Marc received enough 15mm models for Xmas to field a 400 point English army for Impetus. Since he is going down the medieval Impetus road, we decided to play a couple of 200 point games to whet the appetite. I used my Free Company units to field a small HYW English and HYW French armies.


Marc played the English while I led the French on a steady march into longbow fire. It's a tricky situation, and I'm not sure that I'd want to play a HYW French army as my main force. At a higher points level, I would include more generals, but in our small games I fielded only one general, which can be very challenging for an army with a Poor Command Structure.

Anyway, the important thing is that we played and that Marc enjoyed the games (which he won, by the way). Although, in my own defense, I almost won the second game :)

Thanks for reading,
JET