The Sith Kriels: Pre-Season Game 2: Grim vs. Prime Haley

Posted by D.Vader

Jan 29 2010

Shit! Here we go again thought Grim Angus. How the blazes did this happen? Moments ago, Grim and his entourage of trolls had been scouting a pathway to an old krielstone that Doomshaper had directed them too. According to the old miserable trollkin, this krielstone contained information on the location of several scrolls dating bake to the thousand cities era. This was suppose to be an easy task, just one that required his unique pathfinder abilities. He had contemplated coming alone or with just a single impaler. However, he decided against it since there had been rumors of increased Cygnar activity in the area. Now he was quite happy to have the additional support.

He had been laxed. Perhaps if he had been more on guard he would have been able to avoid this whole situation. As they came through a clearing he could see the ancient krielstone. Then right behind it, he saw the unmistakable sign of the Cygnar, the golden cygnus. Across the field stood five cygnar warjacks. Grim was well versed in the various cultures around the Iron Kingdoms. Despite the green and gold paint scheme of the jacks he immediately recognized a defender, a charger, a sentinel, and two hunters. He quickly scanned the horizon before the jacks saw him knowing that so many jacks must have a warcaster nearby. He spotted a young woman glad in cygnar armor with blond hair. He was familiar with this warcaster. Grim gave the mental command to his beast to back off, but the young Earthborn dire troll was obstinate. The beast let out a few grunts in protest. Grim quickly looked back to the Cygnar battlegroup. The jacks had now locked eyes with him and he heard the distinctive sound of rounds being loaded into the chamber of the numerous guns. Shit! Here we go again….

My second pre season fight club game was against one of my best buds, Aslainkheogg, or also known as AK. He was bringing a Prime Haley list with tons of guns so I knew it’d be a hard fought battle.

AK’s Haley list

Prime Haley
Defender
Sentinel
Charger
Hunters x2

Vader’s Grim list

Grim Angus
Earthborn Dire troll
Mauler
Axer
Impaler

We diced off and AK won the roll. He opted to go second so he could hopefully get some early shots on my trolls.

Round 1

With the sound of the Cygnar guns loading, Grim knew his only chance of survival was to close the distance quickly. He reached in to the mind of the axer to pull forth it’s inherent abilities. He then quickly magically enhanced the movement of his beast while giving the Mauler the ability to see through the forest. Grim then let out a fierce cry and charged forward. The Cygnaran forces, unfazed by the mass of trolls charging them, moved forward and fired.

Trollbloods Turn 1: Grim activated first used the Axer’s animus, Rush, on the Mauler and Earthborn dire trolls. He then placed Cross Country on the Mauler in anticipation of upcoming rounds. Grim then charged the Hunter straight in front of him for the extra distance. The Earthborn ran into the forest for the concealment and elemental communion benefits. The Mauler ran 12 inches to end up in front of Grim. The Axer and Impaler then ran to flank Grim on either side.

Cygnar Turn 1: Here comes the guns. AK allocated out his focus. The charger went first, moved into position and took a shot at the Earthborn in the forest. He was definitely shy but using the shot to gauge distance for the rest of his jacks. The first hunter moved up a bit and drilled a boosted damage roll into the Earthborn. The second hunter moved in and fortunately missed. The defender moved up and landed another boosted damage roll on the earthborn. The poor beast held in with having lost about have his damage boxes but having not lose any aspects.

Round 2:

Grim could feel the rage brewing within the wounded earthborn. His beasts had already taken hits. If he didn’t close the distance quick this battle would be all over. The Impaler used his innate abilities to increase the range of Grim’s rifle. Grim then walked around the Mauler who had been protecting him. He unleashed a wave of power to thicken the air around his adversaries, to slow their movements and reactions. He took careful aim and unleashed a single shot into the charger. He then prepared his rifle for incoming attacks. The axer lended it’s power to the Mauler who took off across the open field and laid into the charger. It landed to solid blows before picking up the nearly destroyed jack and hurtling it into the hunter by the krielstone. The earthborn came racing out of the forest to demolish the knocked down hunter in two hits. Grim then watched as it mended it’s wounds and as it’s flesh became more durable and rock like.

Grim could feel a wave of power hit him as the Cygnar caster moved out from behind the kreilstone, as if she were somehow manipulating time around her. The remaining hunter moved forward and landed it’s first shot right into Grim’s chest. He quickly used his power to shunt the damage to the nearby axer. The hunter quickly loaded a second round and fired once again at Grim, this shot whizzed past his head but did not connect. The Defender moved in on the wounded earthborn and began delivering blow after punishing blow with his hammer……

Trollblood Turn 2: Ak is always such a nice opponent to play against. He didn’t put up temporal barrier and the trolls where going to make their move. The Impaler used it’s animus, Far strike, on Grim and moved towards the remaining hunter. Grim walked around his Mauler protector and landed popped his feat. He then landed a single shot on the charger to bait the line. Grim placed rush on the Earthborn. Before ending his turn he placed return fire on himself. The axer then gave the mauler his rush animus and the mauler charged 12 inches (SPD 5, + 3 for charging, +2 for rush, + 2 for bait the line) forward to meet the charger. After landing two solid blows to the -3 defense charger he picked it up and threw it into the nearby hunter destroying the charger and knocking down the hunter. The earthborn dire troll then charged 12 inches (SPD 5 ,+3 for the charge, +2 for rush, and +2 for transmute) to smack around the knocked down hunter. The earthborn then healed 2 boxes and took advantage of the nearby obstacle to increase his ARM to 20.

Cygnar Turn 2: AK could sense the kill. He allocated out the focus and activated Haley first who moved a bit out from behind the krielstone and popped her feat to get her entire battlegroup. The hunter went first and nailed Grim with an armor piercing shot. Grim transferred the damage to the nearby axer and then used return fire to do a bit of damage to the hunter. The hunter then took his second shot and fortunately missed. Morrow was not with AK this day. Sensing that the assassination run was not going his way, AK changed his tactics and sent the defender after the earthborn. With his 20 ARM it was a bit of a fight but eventually the poor beast succumbed to his injuries. The sentinel threw a few shots into the mauler but did no damage.

Round 3: The tide of this battle was beginning to sway in Grim’s favor. The beast were on the verge of losing control, thankfully the lone impaler was able to keep his aggression in check. He reached into the mind of the mauler and used his power to strengthen the beast. He then placed another well aimed shot directly into the hunter but the jack still stood. Mauler unleashed a fury of attacks that first ripped the defender apart and then the sentinel. The great beast roared with a combination of anger and enjoyment. The impaler wade through the trees and made a wild throw with it’s javelin at the wounded hunter missing. The axer ran towards the hunter to engage it.

The blond cygnar caster moved into the fight. She managed to land a blow with her magical powers on Grim but failed to hit with her measly hand cannon. The hunter darted out of combat with the axer and made a final shot…

Trollblood Turn 3: Grim activated first again and used the mauler’s animus to give him a set of power+strength 19 meaty fist. Grim landed another blow on the hunter but failed to cripple it’s gun arm. After blowing through his fury, the mauler, managed to reduce the defender and sentinel to rubble. The impaler made a wild throw to try and down the hunter but missed. The axer then ran to engage the hunter.

Cygnar Turn 3: Haley managed to land a boosted arcane bolt on Grim for a bit of damage. She unfortunately missed with her follow up hand cannon shot though. The hunter used parry to disengage the axer and took another shot at Grim doing some damage, but not enough to down the caster.

Round 4: Grim could no longer keep all his beast in check. He desperately tried by the young axer lost control and charged into the cygnar caster landing a solid blow that drew blood. Grim didn’t want this, he didn’t want her blood on his hands. He hoped if he could remove all her support that perhaps she would surrender. He used his magical prowess to make the air thicker around the lone hunter. he then stood still and delivered a single shot to the hunter’s main body structure. the shot tore through the chassis carrying bits and pieces of the cortex out the back. The jack slumped over. The Cygnar caster seeing she could not hope to win, overcharged her power field to flee. It mattered not, thought Grim. They had what they came for.

Trollblood Turn 4: I had been fortunate with fury management until now. I simply had way to much on the field. I chose not to pull the fury from the axer in case Grim failed to kill the hunter. This would give the impaler a chance to do so. However with leaving the fury on the axer he frenzied and charged Haley. This might have been find except that also denied me access to the axer’s animus. Without rush for the pathfinder and +2 movement, the mauler had no way of walking through all the rubble to engage Haley. Grim used Marked for Death to reduce the hunter’s defense and then landed a final gunshot on it that took the jack down.

Here’s a couple of pictures from the battle. First we have the Earthborn and Mauler double teaming the Cygnar battlegroup.