So as we entered the next phase of our army grow round robin, I faced Andy again with his wicked Spire...
With the same 750pts, I merely added a fourth Werewolf and Big Blue, my Mountain Jotnar (seen here out walking his per wolf). So I had a Blooded as Warlord, with Aspect of the Bear, Reyngeir, the god Speir and Curse of the Vargr. Essentially, he is a Brute and hits hard. He led 5 Ugrs, with a second unit of 4 Ugr and a unit of 4 Werewolves now, as well as the Jotnar.
Andy's list had the addition of a Mimetic Assassin with Ablative Flesh and Adrenalin surge Mutations, leading 3 stands of bound clones. On top of his existing force of:
Pheromancer Warlord (205pts worth): Aura of death 6, Suppress survival Instinct
Cascading Degeneration, Plaguelord, Lvl 1-3 Flesh Retinue in 5 stands of Force grown Drones, with 3 Stands of Force grown Drones, 3 Brute Drones and an Abomination.
We randomly selected the mission, not suing a First Blood one as we did for the 750pts
Lots of ways to score points, but game would last a set time of 10 turns...
Andrew's force would be a tough one to crack given hi aura of decay, but I had a cunning plan and a Mountain Jotnar to aid me..
TURN 1
I kept my Werewolves off, and the only unit Andy brought on were his small unit of Force Grown drones
TURN 2
In Turn 2, i managed to roll to bring on my four man Ugr unit while automatically bringing on my Blooded's five strong unit. My Werewolves failed to show up, but that was ok as they were faster and better to deploy next turn with the Mountain Jotnar.
Andy went first this round, moving up his small FG drones, I then brought on my four strong UGR's centre left before Andy's Pheromancer and his big block moved onto my right.
I brought on my Warlord on the left, where Andy then deployed hi s Bound Clones with the Assassin. His Brute Drones went centre right...
TURN 3
We both played our Warlord cards to spend an activation, before I moved up my four strong Ugr's to secure a zone. Andy moved up his small FG Drones, then my large Ugr's went up securing a second zone. I brought on my Werewolves to boost my left, keeping them 3 wide to get between my Ugr's.
And so my cunning plan was revealed. While Andy had more activations, he had two units of lights but we tied on medium/heavies so I planned to avoid his Pheromancer and his Aura of Decay and outscore by controlling zones, and hopefully hang on until Turn 10.
I brought on Big Blue far left, with Andy bringing his Abomination to counter that. But with his Pheromancer's block off camera, and a few moves away, I had battlefield parity on the left...
I felt my smaller Ugrs would be the first to go...
END OF TURN 3
NORDS 7 VP's
SPIRE 2 VP's
TURN 4
As the mists rolled in (I don't know why the pictures came out a bit foggy, but I'll go with the sporadic mists rolling in). Battlefield at start of Turn 4, and I won the first activation.
I gambled, with a 4+ charge against the Abomination. And rolled a 1...
Ok, so my cunning Warlord feigned a charge to draw the Spire on, good plan... Andy let me mostly activate out, with his Warlord going then mine, be fore he moved up his Pheromancer block. My Ugr's moved a bit before being charged by the small FG Drones (who did 4 wounds surprisingly). My Wereolves were next, who passed their resolve to avoid their Bloodlust and moved up into the woods ready to counter next turn.
Andy had three units left to activate against my last, the Jotnar. His next unit was his Bound Cloneswho charged into my Blooded's Ugr's, but had to go through the woods so even with the Assassins attacks only scored three wounds...
Alas, Big Blue was just out of their charge arc but moved up and then went into their flanks doing impact hits, halving the Bound Clones strength.
Andy's next activation was the Assassin, who issued a dual challenge. Now I won't deny it, Andy's Assassin was rock!!! For every unsaved wound I would take two, and he had six basic attacks on 4 or less. He also could boost that to ten attacks (although the Assassin would die as a result of the boost, essentially overdosing on his psychoticness). And my defence was 2.
Still, WE ARE NORDS!!! I took the challenge, as it was too risky to "break" my unit by declining and also, I kind of had to accept. With my Bear Aspect and Curse of the Vaegr I had seven wounds
Andy's assassin scored nine hits as he struck first due to his (as he had flurry allowing him to re-roll fails). I had to make six rolls of 2 or less... A valiant attempt, but at least I crushed the assassins head as I died (well, that's how I imagined it going down)
Andy's last activation was the Abomination flanking Big Blue, and with impact hits, flurry attacks and initial failed resolves, I took 12 of my 14 wounds...
Re-rolling the two passed resolve because of the flank attacks, I managed to successfully pass one to keep Big blue hanging on in the fight...
END OF TURN 4
NORDS 16 VP's
SPIRE 6 VP'
TURN 5
The battlefield at start of turn five was tense. Andy had swung his Pheromancers block around, and hung back to score 2 VP's with his Brutes, while I was scoring 7 (3 + 2 for an inner and outer zone and a bonus 2 for holding two zones). But first activation was going to be key...
I won with the help of -1 for fewer activations... Guess who I activated???
Dying of his wounds, the Jotnar's Spiteful Vengeance was well kicked in, granting him an additional attack and flurry.. With Cleave 2, I scored and impressive twelve hits...
And the Abomination fell...
Andy had the Bound Clones attack my Jotnar, taking his last wound and killing his pet too. The Spire are just evil...
And my next was an Ugr's card, but I used it to wipe out the small FG Drones
Andy then moved up and charged to engage rather than risk a 5+ charge (even with reroll) as he knew the value of his Aura of decay which kicks in when a unit engaged activates.
Good job i had already activated them, I just hoped I could hold them up for a while...
Alas, when i need to regroup and used my Werewolves as a speed bum unit, they succumbed to their Bloodlust, charging into the Pheromancers block flank before being flanked in turn by the Brute Drones...
Hitting the marsh negated the impact hits and lack of inspire meant Andy only killed one Werewolf. My left Ugr's then activated and wiped out the Bound Clones...
A very bloody turn, but I was still scoring 7 VP's from the zones so leapt ahead...
End of Turn 5
NORDS 29 VP's
SPIRE 8 VP's
TURN 6
Andy got first activation, and my Werewolves were cut down to a single stand by the Brute Drones.
I then activated my left Ugr's to reform and shift back away from the Spire. Andy's Pheromancer block killed two Ugr's, before I activated my Werewolf and took 8 hits from aura of decay. Amazingly, I passed five of them and held on with 1 wound.
Board at End of Turn 6
NORDS 32 VP's
SPIRE 10 VP's
TURN 7
Andy didn't inspire to kill the last Werewolf, allowing him a move with his Brutes.
To jeers from Andy, and a smiling head shake from Chris, I moved my Ugr's as far away from Death as I could. I put it down to them having looted and feasted on the Abomination and Bound Clones and being a bit fuzzy, but if I could survive, Andy would never catch me on VP's...
Sure enough, Andy came after me...
TURN 8 saw me turn at bay, and Andy's forces close in..
END OF TURN 8
NORDS 32 VPS
SPIRE 14 VP's
TURN 9
As the fog came back, I had first activation and made a charge into the Brute Drones...
I killed two, and left the other hanging on. I was flanked by the Pheromancers FG drones in turn...
And broken, losing half my unit...
END OF TURN 9
NORDS 32 VPS
SPIRE 17 VP's
TURN 10
I got the first activation, taking 10 hits from the Aura of Decay. This killed on Ugr of my already broken unit, shattering my unit and giving Andy a wipe out...
END OF TURN 10 (& Game)SPIRE 21 VP'sNORDS 32 VP'sSPIRE WIN via WIPE OUT
Have to say that was a really, really good game. Best game I've played against Andy that I can remember to be fair. Andy got his initial deployment wrong I feel, but his ability to increase move of his Pheromancers block by +1 helped negate it, and though he never came close to catching on objective scoring, he did run me down and wipe me out.
In any given game there are often "what if" moments but getting the drop on one wound with the Jotnar on the Abomination was pivotal, as indeed was the Jotnar surviving the Abomination charge. However, if I had passed the bloodlust check on the Werewolves I would have ignored the FG Drones and went for the Brutes, avoiding the decay of death unit until Andy came for me. That I think cost me the game more than anything else, as my tactics were right. The Spire attritional game was not one I could win, as was proven.
And I had to take the challenge...
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