Hierarch Severius VS Old Witch PART II

Menoth (Mawi)
----------------------------

Hierarch Severius 6

Revenger 6
Reckoner 8
Vanquisher 8
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) 2
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) 6
Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer 2
Vassal of Menoth 2
pEiryss 3
Rhoven and Co. 4

Khador (Dick)

----------------------------


Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador3
Destroyer9
Destroyer9
Man-o-war Demolition Corps (Leader and 4 Grunts)9
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)4
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios3
Kell Bailoch2
Sylyss 2







The Hierarch is looking for some payback this game, and the 15 points win bonus was very tempting indeed. I learned a very important lesson last time around and decided to bring Rhoven in this game (funnily enough, he wasn’t needed lol). 

Early game

Menoth deployed slightly to the left of the table and the Old Witch took prime position near a forest to make full use of her prowl ability. The widow makers deployed near an elevated terrain waiting for an ambush on the Zealots. Khador started first and ran up the jacks to take up some good positions to get a bead on the Hierarch. Old Witch stayed back but allowed scrap jack to move up the field. The Zealots predictably ran up the center of the table and popped mini feat early. The widow makers would have otherwise made mincemeat of them along with Kell. Khador knew this was going to happen so the MOWs ran up to engage as many zealots as they can with their reach weapons. Most of the front line zealots are now tangled with the MOWs. Niuuuu… 

Mid game

Hierarch Severius popped feat in order to disentangled the MOWs from the Zealots line. He then tactically dropped back :D, a move that made the Khadorans angry. The MOWs charged and hit each other from the back etc and it was bloody murder. Despite their hard hitting weapons and high mat, a few did survive, only to be bombed to death by the Zealots. Awesome zealotry guys! 7 virgins indeed! I learned from previous games with eSev that assassination is not the only way to win with him. He might not be able to support the army like his prime version, but he still has 8 focuses to burn. The reckoner assaulted one of the destroyers (actually both of them were next to each other so it’s good that I get to engage both of them) and did a lot of damage to it. However, it’s arm 20 is too much for the Reckoner. Still, the axe weapon system is damaged, which means the counter attack might not be as painful. The vanquisher took a random shot at scrapjack hoping that the blast template would deviate to old witch but failed.

End game

Old witch felt that the old man from menoth is too far back and so ran scrapjack all the way forward and teleported next to it. She casted iron flesh on herself and camped on 2-3 focuses. All of my jacks were out of position, with backs turning away from the enemy caster. The only way to deal with this is to get rid of scrapjack. She is not as mobile without her pet jack. The vanquisher took shots at scrapjack (one with vassal) but didn’t manage to hurt it that much, catching the old witch on fire. I was hoping that either the cortex or the movement would be out to prevent it from running. I had another backup plan. Eiryss took a shot at scrapjack, but I rolled double ones!!! Oh noes!... Scrambling for ideas, I ran the Zealots back to provide some cover but 12” wasn’t enough to block a straight line to eSev. eSev decided to tactically retreat once more, upkept Holy ward on himself and sat on I think it was 2-3 focuses. The Rhoven bodyguards moved back to screen him. Dick told me that when Old witch is hurt scrapjack gets an additional 2” spd… :o It ran the full 16” but the bodyguards block its movement. Old witch teleported 2” within SJ, but was about 1-2mm short of Hierarch Severius. Phew!! That was lucky! eSevvy cast the “Old man gets crazy” spell on himself and proceeded to kill Old Witch for the win.

Lessons from the game

I decided to play attrition this time, staying as far as possible from the destroyers 18” threat range arcing fire. Hierarch Severius control area of 16” made that job a little easier. I also learned a new motto “When in doubt, charge a jack”. The destroyers have blasted my casters so many times, so taking them out is priority number one. I also know now that the scrap jack is key to playing against old witch. When there’s an opportunity to take it out, a player should always do it.

More random pictures of my models

The menite stuff is obviously mine. The others are commission work for other people.

Painting the Menoth Battle engine - Vessel of Judgement

Here are some random pictures of my battle engine - Vessel of Judgement. It carries a the body of a dead body that fuels its lasers.

Battle report - Hierarch Severius Vs Old With of Khador

Menoth (Mawi)
----------------------------
Hierarch Severius 6
Blessing of Vengeance 7
Reckoner 8
Vanquisher 8
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) 2
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) 6
Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer 2
Anastasia di Bray 2
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord 2
Vassal of Menoth 2
Vassal of Menoth 2


Khador (Dick)
----------------------------
Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador3
Destroyer9
Destroyer9
Man-o-war Demolition Corps (Leader and 4 Grunts)9
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)4
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios3
Kell Bailoch2
Widowmaker Marksman2

I've had about 8 games with the Hierarch and so far the win / loss ratio is 50%. Not so bad all considering. As you can see from the above list, I've made a big mistake from the get go by not bringing Rhoven into the army to negate the stealth issue with the old witch. I've also realized that at 35 points it is very hard to create enough fire power to take down the enemies. I couldn't remember the game that much so this will be a bit brief.

Early game

Both armies deployed as usual and Anastasia is not deployed due to ambush rule. Actually I keep forgetting to bring her on until the end of the game lol. Wasted 2 points :D. Because both armies were shooty armies, by the end of turn 2, shots started to be fired and the reckoner took down one man-o-war with its gun. The destroyers decimated the entire choir squad due to their awesome arcing fire abilities. You can't really hide from anything at the end of the day. Only distance would save severius from getting shot in the early turns. Old witch popped her feat early, forcing the zealots to run backwards.

Mid game

Severius popped feat and took control of 3 man - o - wars (shouldn't have killed the first one) and a sniper. I ran the sniper into the 5 aoe murder of crow to kill it, and the 3 man - o - wars beat up one of the destroyers, but unable to take out any important systems. Cortex out would have been nice guys! The reckoner and vanquisher took shots at the other destroyer but did little damage. The blessing of Vengeance got drawn out by Eiryss and was out of position.

End game

It was a matter of time before the destroyers would start being in range of the Hierarch. Being in old witch battle group means that they ignore forests etc. So nowhere to hide lol. I was also unable to shoot the old witch due to stealth. After a couple of turns shooting at it, my caster died due to shell to face. 

Lessons from the game

I knew Dick was going to use old witch from the beginning so I should have factored Rhoven into my army. I feel at 50 points I could also include a devout to stop the Hierarch getting shot so much in the last few games. His defense is so low and his feat requires him to be in range of the long range guns.  A devout would ensure I get spell ward and one free hit taken away. However at 35 points I can't fit all that in unless I dismantle the Zealots and the support. I might consider bringing the TFG 6 man shield wall next time and see what happens. 

Battle Report

Date: 2/12/2011

League Game at Comics Corner Damansara Jaya

Menoth vs Mercenaries (35 points)

Menoth (Mawi)
----------------------------
Hierarch Severius 6
Blessing of Vengeance 7
Reckoner 8
Vanquisher 8
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) 2
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) 6
Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer 2
Anastasia di Bray 2
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord 2
Vassal of Menoth 2
Vassal of Menoth 2


Mercenaries (Farhan)
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Gorten Grundback 7
Ghordson Avalancher 9
Ghordson Basher 7
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 5 Grunts) 5
Thor Steinhammer 2
Rutger Shaw 2
Talon 4
Taryn 2
Eiryss 3
Gorman 2
Boomhowler & Co. 6


Pre-game thoughts


Interesting to note that, this is the third game for Hierarch Severius. I wanted to see how he would deal against tougher and harder to kill caster. Gorten’s natural armor of 19 makes him one tough cookie indeed. 


Early game


(See pictures for deployment)


Both armies advanced towards the center of the table, while the three solos for the mercs (eiryss, shaw, and taryn + random jack) flanked my left. I decided to ignore the flankers and advanced forward with the zealots blocking charge lanes to the jacks. The boom howlers did the same. Some bomb slinging ensued but not a lot of damage was done. Zealots popped mini feat to buy time for my army to move up the field.


Mid-game


Everything was in place for an assassination run for eSeverius. However the boom howlers decided to engage my jacks and got in the way. The random 4 point jack did too. Annoyance. But I still have my feat which is proving to be useful in these kinds of situation. I took control of 5 grunts and moved them away from my jacks and engaged units. The only downside from this is that eSev would have to activate first. And would no longer be able to arc his gun (not that it would do any damage to Gorten’s thick armour anyway). eSev casted awareness, and the two jacks took a total of 4 shots (another two un-boosted from vassals) Gorten was sitting on arm 21 and the shots did not deal enough damage to kill him. Even the continuous fire afterwards was not enough to cause any damage at -7.


Gorten popped feat and pushed things aside for the basher to slam through. Eiryss took a safety net shot at the menite caster in case he miraculously survived the assassination. The Avalancher shot eSev dealing a total of 11 damage or so. Basher slammed the vanquisher (which was about 2-3 inches in front of the caster). The collateral damage of vanquisher to face was too much to bear for poor old sevvy. 


Lessons from this game


eSeverius awareness assassination combo is always possible to pull off and it is not that hard. It is accurate (rat 7+boost) and the range is quite good. In some situations, the reckoner might not need to move giving it a +2 aiming bonus which in turn gives the consequent shots another +2 due to flare. Plus it doesn’t endanger the caster (I should have put eSev further back but I needed to pop feat and we were playing kill box). However, high armor casters will not die from pow 15 / 16 shots. With average boosted rolls 3+3+4 I am only looking at 4 damage from the reckoner, and 5 from the vanquisher. The vassal shots would not be boosted so with some luck I would be dealing 2-3 damage from both shots. Total about 12 tops. 


I also played another game afterwards with legion of the everblight and found that although again it is possible to land 3-4 shots on the warlock, the transfer ability totally denies this form of assassination. pThargrosh sat on 4 fury and laughed at assassination attempts lol. Kill my beast? I bring one back. I have to remember that you have to always kill the beasts first. The caster out in the open is a mirage. Unless you are Thyra and shit like that don’t matter. Hope you enjoyed the battle report!