Introduction
Next list I really wanted to try with Asphyxious 4 was Deneghra 2. My usual Merc opponent was up for the task and so we played the Asphyxious 4 vs Asphyxious 4 matchup seen below.
https://conflictchamber.com/?c4201b_-1T0B1wd-1fj6hCpY2t2t2Bpzd4nSi01K
Cryx
[Theme] Black Industries
[Deneghra 2] Wraith Witch Deneghra [+28]
– Deathjack [23]
– Inflictor [13]
– Nightwretch [7]
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5]
Hellslinger Phantom [0(7)]
Master Gurglepox [7]
Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
Pistol Wraith [5]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Asphyxious the Sanctified [14]
– Diffuser [6]
– Swabber [13]
Mechanithralls (min) [6]
– Brute Thrall (3) [0(6)]
VS
https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-209pnpnqpb7jpkoToRfCprpz1h1h3G3Hch
Mercenaries
[Theme] The Irregulars
[Damiano 1] Captain Damiano [+28]
– Nomad [12]
– Rocinante [16]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [7]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Boomhowler, Solo Artist [0(6)]
Grand Master Gabriel Throne [7]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)]
Widget, Tinker Extraordinaire [3]
Asphyxious the Sanctified [14]
– Stalker [8]
– Stalker [8]
Idrian Skirmishers (max) [15]
– Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [5]
Kayazy Eliminators [5]
Battle
The Prey of the Idrians is the Inflictor, which I’m actually fine with at ARM 23 against shooting.
He of course wins the rolloff again and comes forward aggressively with both Stalkers hiding somewhere behind the obstruction in the middle (see picture below) and his Idrians spread out not to give me a great Hellmouth.
I could however Hellmouth an Idrian and catch 1 of the Stalkers. Knowing from experience how fragile Stalkers actually are, I think this is a good plan, but it will probably cost me the arc node, so I park the Inflictor behind it to at least eat 1 shot. The Stalker takes a bunch of damage, but sadly only loses its movement system, and thus is still fully functional for all intents and purposes.
I move up Deathjack into the trench to cast Breathstealer at a Servitor and then put clouds in front of him with Asphyxious, so his Asphyxious will be more manageable.
My Diffuser doesn’t manage to go forward very far as it tries to stay out of range of Rocinante, and Gurglepox is just behind Deathjack. Other things are also trying to either stay out of range or behind obstructions.
Now Damiano feats and pushes forward aggressively. The extra ARM and no moving makes this an effective time walk against my army. Both Stalkers makes it to Deathjack and deal heavy damage, which I can’t heal because of Grievous Wounds.
Gurglepox gets reduced to a few hitpoints by Rocinante’s gunfire and the Nightwretch only takes some scratches from the Idrians shooting it with Deadeye, though Alexia on the other hand manages to put some serious damage in with a (unboosted) Hellfire and leaves it at 1 box (of Movement).
I can’t do too much about the Idrians with Surefoot putting them at DEF 15 and I don’t want to kill Asphyxious’s Servitors because it will just give him Vengeance due to Death March. Alexia doesn’t have souls yet, so a Hellmouth sounds tasty until I remember that his feat would stop the pushes from happening and it is extremely unlikely to kill her. Deneghra starts the turn by using Wraith Walker.
So Deathjack, with only 1 arm and no Cortex takes out a Stalker with some decent rolls, with the Warwitch Siren taking care of the already crippled one. Gurglepox serves as an arc node to put another Breathstealer into one of Asphyxious’s bots. I feat this turn because my opponent doesn’t actually have that much magical weapons. I roll a 2 and catch Deathjack, the Nightwretch, Asphyxious and his Swabber, and the Warwitch Siren. The Nightwretch moves towards the flag on the right to be annoying, the Swabber and Pistol Wraith assume a similar role on the left and I still have DJ, which I again put clouds in front of, contesting the middle flag. The Swabber shot Boomhowler off the face of the earth.
I didn’t feat on the Inflictor so it can move next to my objective to potentially shield guard off a big Idrian, or Rocinante, shot.
We both score our own zones.
Damiano upkeeps Death March and Surefoot and allocates 1 to the Nomad, then casts Road to War. The Nomad received a magical attack from the objective and through a Road to War trigger makes it with a walk to Deathjack. A boosted attack and damage roll takes my heavy hitter off the table.
Gurglepox dies to Rocinante, and Throne finishes off the Nightwretch, while Alexia takes care of the Warwitch Siren, that was also contesting the middle flag. 2 Idrians charge the Inflictor and ping it for a few damage. One of them ended in my zone, so my opponent scores 3 while I score nothing, which is bad.
Deneghra wants to do all the things, but I decide not to get too greedy by going within 8″ of Alexia to cast Hellmouth, she did get the Treasure Chest buff and the Inflictor got Puppet Master, because it has some Idrians to kill.
Denny moves up and shovels the poor Nomad off to the side, where Asphyxious will kill it momentarily. I then try to cast an unboosted Breathstealer at one of Asphyxious’s Servitors again and roll a 3, twice with the reroll. I then get to spray Widget, who was scoring the middle flag, without catching said Servitor with a Venom (don’t want Vengeance), boost to hit and still have a reroll for the damage, needing a 6. I of course proceed to roll a 4 twice, so I just Shadow Step back. Asphyxious’s Servitors run to at least contest the flag and one of them manages to deal 1 damage to one of the Eliminators.
The Pistol Wraith on the right aims to shoot 2 Idrians, in an effort to gorge Alexia on souls so the Hellslinger can get some work done. but fails at both. So instead the Hellslinger just runs to contest the right flag.
The Inflictor manages to kill 2 Idrians, but I can’t really contest the opposing zone, so my opponent gets to keep his advantage on scenario.
Anastasia comes to stab the failure of a Pistol Wraith in the back and everything else happens as expected; the Servitors get killed, my zone gets contested and the Hellslinger Phantom on the right also bites the dust, so my opponent gets ahead by enough to finish the game.
Epilogue
The game ran away from me when I lost DJ without him having done anything meaningful and then the attrition just never swung back my way, because we were both playing a fairly cautious around threat ranges. Especially the fact that my opponent used his feat in an excellent matter so I couldn’t leverage Hellmouth very much helped as well.
I didn’t feel like ambushing because I could never get to anything meaningful. Though in hindsight I probably should’ve done it anyway to contest the flag on the right. In the end it didn’t matter as the difference on scenario was over 5 anyway.
I do actually like the list. It’s not particularly good at anything, but it’s resilient enough to resist shooting, has tools to remove chaff infantry, and actually quite a surprising amount of shooting in general, and asks some hard questions to opponents. It’s also a good excuse to play Asphyxious 4.
The main weakness of the list, like every army with low model count, is that I really need every piece to pull its weight. My opponent did a good job at neutering my options here, but perhaps I should lead with the Swabber more centrally for instance.
Smeerlapperij 