Introduction
So, while we’re all confined to our homes and we, as war gamers, have itches that need scratching, I figured I might as well have a game on Vassal.
Now that Asphyxious 4 is finally out, and I don’t have him yet, seemed like the perfect opportunity to actually try him out anyway. My first try-out is as below with Skarre 2, while my opponent played Fiona in Irregulars with Nemo 4.
https://conflictchamber.com/?c4201b_-1W0I1c1f1uq0kr2xoNpznV1Nke
Cryx
[Theme] Scourge of the Broken Coast
[Skarre 2] Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast [+26]
– Helldiver [6]
– Nightwretch [7]
– Seether [13]
– Doctor Stygius [0(4)]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
Satyxis Raider Captain [0(4)]
Void Archon [8]
Asphyxious the Sanctified [14]
– Blockader [33]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
– Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]
VS
https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-20oHlLlLpb7jpkdHppoRfCoI73capvlL
Mercenaries
[Theme] The Irregulars
[Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27]
– Toro [13]
– Toro [13]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [7]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Boomhowler, Solo Artist [0(6)]
Gobber Tinker [2]
Harlowe Holdemhigh [0(5)]
Hermit of Henge Hold [5]
Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)]
Ragman [4]
Croe’s Cutthroats (max) [16]
The Commodore Cannon & Crew [7]
Artificer Prime Nemo [18]
– Toro [13]
Fight!
The scenario was Bunkers and I apologize for not taking a picture.
I lost the roll-off, because that tends to happen with a +1 to the starting roll with a reroll, and went second, which was not great in this matchup. My opponent pulls a Steelhead Ironhead out of Nemo’s… gate and runs everything closer. Croe and his companions Prey the Seether.
I do alright on the right by keeping Asphyxious out of range of the Ambush module, but brain fart on the left, where I have the Archon and Seether in range, though the Seether has Admonition at this point and is behind an obstruction, hiding from the Cutthroats.
So, Hutchuk goes to charge the Archon after which the Seether triggers Admonition to block the landing zone for Anastasia. One Befuddle, Curse of Veils, and 3 crossbow bolts later, the Seether is no longer an issue. The other 3 cutthroats are sad that they don’t get to do anything. On the bright side, Ragman lost his life to arc the necessary spells.
Anastasia then proceeds to make up for it by leaving my Archon on 1 hit point.
I don’t want to feat yet, so reposition the Blockader away from Nemo’s Toro and into the middle, where a single Toro on Fiona would be able to get to it, which I figure I should survive. I mostly use the Raiders to jam the Cutthroats. The Helldiver pops up outside of control, but still manages to eat Holdemhigh with the help of the back strike bonus and Gang Fighter from a Raider. He drags the unfortunate dwarf into the ground and repositions towards the flag on the right. Neither Watcher nor Counter Charge from Nemo’s Toro gets triggered, because that would mean that Asphyxious could get to it. The Void Archon takes revenge on the ambushers.
Next is the turn where my opponent feats and after craning and repositioning the Hermit in the direction of the Blockader, landing Curse of Veils and Chastening off Death Ward, the colossal is left on a handful of boxes by the Toro. Then promptly gets finished off by the Commodore and a shot from Nemo. Now Nemo’s Toro does go in to kill the Helldiver so it would stop contesting the flag.
Score is 2-2 now.
Asphyxious manages to charge Nemo’s Toro just outside Fiona’s feat and easily kills it. Skarre herself charges the Toro that took out the Blockader with the help of some Dark Shroud from a Servitor and takes out about half of its boxes by Life Trading a bit through the feat. I feat on Skarre, Asphyxious, Nemo, Fiona and the Toro that is near the let flag that is in mint condition. I put the Captain on that flag, in range of Skarre to make sure she doesn’t get knocked on her ass and engaging the Toro. Skarre isn’t camping but has Admonition.
I get one ahead on scenario but I can’t contest Fiona’s zone in the back.
My opponent looks for an angle to slam a Toro across Skarre with the Commodore, but killing the Captain is already going to be difficult, let alone play around Admonition to get a good angle so he gives up on it. Instead Boomhowler moves up for Cacaphony to limit my options next turn.
Fiona manages to clear all the Raiders near the middle flag, so only Skarre is left, meaning he can score the flag. His cutthroats manage to get into my back zone to contest, though I trigger Admonition near the end to get a free charge on the Toro again. The Hermit is also in my zone, along 2 of Croe’s boys.
He gets 1 point ahead again.
So now Skarre can finally finish off the Toro, but she can’t cast Admonition again because of Boomhowler, she’s quite safe however as nothing that can kill her is in range.
I wanted to heal her with Stygius, but he was needed to clear my zone because I can’t fall behind on scenario. Between the Nightwretch, Gaspy, 1 Servitor that respawned, and Stygius, I barely manage the 7 wounds needed to clear my zone.
The Void Archon and Captain tag team to take both arms off the remaining Toro.
It’s however not enough as I can’t contest my opponent’s zone and he needs to clear only a handful of models and my objective to score 4 and win the game, which he does. Nemo and Boomhowler manage to destroy my objective after it gets hit by another Curse of Veils.
Epilogue
I actually quite like the list, though I wish I had Barathrum instead of the Seether. On the other hand, to be fair, Barathrum would’ve also died on the top of 2, so that’s a wash. Axiara wasn’t super useful, just giving some Dodge or Reposition here and there, but she’s great utility in this list, especially with a cagey living caster to support. All the other pieces felt like they needed to be there, so I don’t really get the feeling that I can spare the point.
One thing that is for sure is that the list rides the wave of the Blockader; if that thing doesn’t get 2 good turns of work done, the list falls behind quickly. The long threat ranges and the fact that I couldn’t afford to feat first really blunted what it could do and I hadn’t expected it to die to basically a single heavy.
So, I do like the list, but testing is inconclusive. My opponent had a tightly tuned list with a super strong caster that takes effort to play into. Skarre is good in theory because I can counter feat, but losing first turn against a list with such long threat ranges did immediately put me on the back foot.
Maybe I’ll break it out at another time, but I have other plans for my next game.
Smeerlapperij 