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Turn 3 kicked off and Khador went into full “clear the pit” mode, and this time Khador killed stuff! Some Trolls they killed 2 or 3 times before they went down. The last Troll in the Mosh Pit managed to survive all the normal attacks and three more attacks from Feeling some Hate.. Turn 3 Trolls, an attempt to clean up Khador left the Doom Reavers mauled but alive, the Uhlans very mauled and Beast 09 a smoking wreck, on top of that Butcher took a few hits too. And that was with Madraks nasty feat kicking in too. Luckily the Singing Cow was too far back to do much and moved up and didn’t howl and screach…thankfully

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Turn 4 The Ice Queen turned on the ice maker and froze everything in the Mosh Pit and a fair number of models beyond too. The Doom Reavers mashed a unit of Champions bar one, which was awfully good fun. Drago then proceeded to hack to tiny pieces the Slag Troll, and The Butcher himself charged in to finish off the Last Kriel stone warrior…and blocked the charge lane of the last Uhlan who was needed to take out the last Troll in the Pit. Butcher cast a desperate spell, missed and it was left to the Behometh to nail the last Blue skin. Moves, fires, hits… the Troll toughs it, second shot, no repeat of limbs reattaching and it’s victory Khador!.

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Granted winning always makes a difference, but the Mosh Pit scenario is a blast. We played 12 minute turns with a 1000 point army, no time for over thinking. Trolls suffered from lack of time to move all the models, while the more compact Khador army generally managed to activate in full (plus had 100 points of Kossites off the board that never got used). Mosh Pit brings out the best in War Machine, full on heavy metal blood bath!

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Victory : Each side secretly chose a faction that was attempting to penetrate enemy lines, one VP was awarded for each model from the chosen faction that exited the opposite side the table. No VPs for kills or Caster elimination.

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Team Selection : As Kris plays no Hordes faction so he needed to be a WarMachine player, Each other player prepared in advance a 500 Point Hordes and WarMachine list, in secret. The draw was then done. Kris was Mercs, Chris was drawn next and was the Hordes faction to side with the Mercs, and he revealed Legion. Wuffy was drawn next and was the WarMachine faction for Team 2, he revealed Menoth which left Kobby as the Hordes player for Team 2, and he revealed Circle

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So set up was.

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Team One

• • Kris : Mercs
• • Chris : Legion

Team Two

• • Wuffy : Menoth
• • Kobby : Circle

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Deployment : Wuffy won deployment and elected to go first this was followed by Kris, Kobby and then Chris. Once deployed it tuned out that Circle was opposite Legion and Pirates opposite Menoth. No mixing of deployment locations with Team 1 due to the Abomination issues from many of Legion forces. Advanced deployment was a couple of wracks and lots of pirates.

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The game progress at a frantic pace, so many things to consider and with our new decision to use time limits, the turns really flashed by, mistakes made, models overlooked, much more “war like” than previous games of “all the time in the world to think”

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Combat didn’t take long to initiate , turn one the pirates hit the wracks and took them both out along with the attacking pirates. Turn 2 the Menoth fire bombers crisped a mass of pirates and Menoth and the Pirates went to war in fine style. Legion and Circle were a little slower but Kruegar popped his feat early and tried to nail the Blight Ogrun and War Mongers. No deaths though they were mauled. Next turn Gorton popped his feat, Landsided Kruegar and some Circle models as well as the Menoth Jacks. Killing off Kruegars feat and leaving Circle exposed as the Legion crashed in. Meanwhile Pirates vs Menoth was going badly for the Pirates and the Harbringer also waded into combat for good measure. Legion (Team 2s yet to be declare running team) got into a slug fest with Circle and proceed to decimate the entire army. Sadly the Carnie that took out two Circle heavies without a scratch got Tornadoed into a crevice and died! Next turn Kreugar met the sharp end of the last Blighted Ogruns spear and died. However the crushing of the Circle force was all for nothing as the Pirates folded up on the flank and the Menites rushed through the break in the line. There was little that the remaining mercs and Legion could do other than take grim satisfaction in moping up the remaining Menites and Legion forces as Wuffy lead his strike force through the shattered line of Pirates and off the table, including the Harbringer!

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Winner : The battle lasted just 90 minutes and 5 turns , with victory going to the Menoth / Circle army, though Circle celebrated with just 3 standing stones left. Menoth exited 6 models to win the game, even though there was one turn left, the Team 1 runner faction (Legion) had only 5 models on then board and could not surpass the 6 of Team 1. Victory Menoth / Circle.

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Summary : Great game, everyone enjoyed the fast pace, constant confusion and the time to relax between those turns to watch the other players go through their turns at pace, pondering on what the other players might forget. The Scenario based victory conditions also made the game fun than straight up caster kills.

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Game Highlights
• Menoth burning Pirates to a crisp, certainly showed that Menoth have the right weapons to halt the Pirate charge
• Carnie eats Tree and wolf. Turn 3 The Legion carnie charged and devoured a Legion Tree, and then Frenzied next turn (Shepherd assisted) and charged over and ate a wolk on the next turn
• Tornado. Total shock and horror of watching an unwounded Carnie get thrown into a Crevice by Tornado!
• Merc Driller, takes down Menoth Guardian with a drill kill.
• Chain lightening. Was scary but thankfully the Legion army was mainly high armour with hit points and survived the multiple shocks without too much harm

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Kobby set up his forces behind a long wall on a hill, meaning that even the Raptors would have a tough time hitting anything, though when it mattered they did hit and kill what needed to be killed.

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Expecting fairly slow turns from Kobby I was settling in for a 4 hour game, but Cygnar turn 1 took 10 minutes, though I swear nothing moved and so passed the first three turns as Everblight edged forward carefully and Cygnar shuffled their defences. The main excitement being me forgetting to dump Fury and having three beats risk Frenzy checks on turn 2, one failed, but I escaped due to the Shephards on the table.

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Turn 3 saw Everblight advance into range and the Cygnar gunners opened up and infantry moved in to engage.  Both the Carnivaeron and Angelus were hit hard but survived on Cygnar Turn 4. Turn 4 for Everblight saw the Gator men engage the Cygnar infantry to little effect and the Raptors shoot a couple of infantry but the death toll was very very light on both sides. Turn 5 saw Cygnar set up to give Everblight a kicking, but Kobby forgot to assign focus, and that hurt. While he killed one Carnivaeron and hurt the Angelus, the Carnivaeron respawned and the Angelus was left with enough points to stay up. Siege advanced from his bunker surrounded by mechanics to get better range and stood admiring the battle secure in the knowledge that the Everblight forces were not going to get near him.

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Turn 5 for Everblight saw Siege realize his error, Saeryn advanced from her bunker cast a few ineffective spells and left herself exposed and easy bate for turn 6. The Rapotors advanced and all shot at the from Mechanic in front of Siege, Gobber on a hill Def 17!! Needing 10s and 11s to hit, the second shot hit and killed the little green skin, opening up the charge lane for the Angelus.  “Free Strike” gasped Kobby as the Angelus launched, forgetting they are immune and watched in horror as it settled a nice inch from Siege over the wall. Granted an extra 2 Defence from the wall, it didn’t help as the Angelus hit twice and killed him with a wound to spare. It wasn’t pretty, it was desprate and if had gone wrong then it was all over for Everblight.

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All in all I got very lucky, I was getting nailed from long range, if Kobby had remembered to assign focus on his turn 5 I would likely not have been in a position to attack his caster.  But that’s the way it goes, some times a desperate do or die attack wins the game.  The battle took 2 hours, which I have to say was wickedly fast for Kobby

1. Wuffy – Cryx
2. Chris – Khador (P2 / W 2 / L 0 / D 0 )
3. Steve – Khador (P1 / W 0 / L 1 / D 0 )
4. Kobby – Trolls (P2 /W 1 / L 1 / D 0 )
5. Kris – Mercenaries (P1 /W 0 / L 1 / D 0 )

1. Chris – Menoth
2. Wuffy – Cryx
3. Chris – Khador
4. Kobby – Trolls ( W 1 – L 0 – D 0)
5. Wuffy – Skorne ( W 0 – L 1 – D 0)
6. Steve – Khador
7. Kris – Mercenaries

• Grim Angus
• Earthborn Dire Troll
• Axer
• Winter Troll

Chris Khador

• Butcher
• Behemoth
• Beserker

Terrain : Featured a lot of shallow water that was centered near a forest in the center of the map, other terrain (Ruins and Water) was to the Khador Left of the battle field.

Deployment : Trolls won the deployment roll and opted to allow Khador to set up and move first. The Butcher deployed far left away from the forest and water to avoid giving Angus free fire through the Forest. The Trolls set up opposit Khador.

Turn 1 - Both : Khador advanced up the table, Butcher cast two upkeep spells and stayed behind the Behemoth. Trolls ran up the table to just under half way.

Turn 2 – Khador : Butcher upkeeps spells and assigns focus to the Behemoth. The Behemoth fires at the Earthborn hitting once for minimal damage and missing with the second shot, Beserker advances, Butcher keeps the Behemoth between himself and Angus.

Turn 2 – Trolls: First of three tactical blunders sees Angus forget to leach his fury, and while this does not lead to any Frenzied beasts, it does mean that he has no focus and his beasts all have some fury on them, and his upkeep spells all expire. Second blunder comes shortly afterwards as the Earthborne using the rought terrain speed increase and the Axer Animus charges to attack the Behemoth, three attacks leaves some minor paint damage . The other Trolls have advanced to where the Earthborne was.

Turn 3 – Khador : Butcher upkeeps his spells, keeps all his focus. Activates pops his feat, steps up to within 2″ of the Earthborne and proceeds to decapitate it in two blows. Fury is lost as Angus forgets to reave in a fit of anguish. The Besrker charges the distant Axer to get itself between the Troll forces and the Butcher. The Behemoth fires at Angus and hits! Additional damage for the active feat, it could have been all over but the damage roll was feeble

Turn 3 – Trolls: Angus moves up into the cover of the ruins, fires at The Burtcher causing a minimal damage, then pops his feat to prevent the Khador forces moving away from a central point positioned 2 inches in front of The Butcher (which was to proove to be the third tactical error). Axer and charges the Beserker and damages it badly, Winter Troll charges and finishes it off.

Turn 4 – Khador : Unable to move far, but far enough, The Butcher charges the Axer directly across the teether point, and with his reach manages to reach the Axer, he’s made of tougher stuff than the Earthborne and it takes 4 hits to kill him. Behemoth fires at the winter Troll, taking out it’s Spirit

Turn 4 – Trolls: Angus moves Deeper into the ruins, shoots Butcher with a spell but fails to damage him. The Winter troll charges in, misses, hits with a follow up and the is forced to use Rime. Remaining engaged with The Butcher. Angus is looking a little desperate now as he is down to one Fury 3 beast!

Turn 5 – Khador : The Butcher keeps all his focus, casts his double up strength spell and goes for the all  in one kill on the Winter Troll, boosts the damage on the easy hit and turns the beast into a pile of blood and melting frost. The Behemoth doesn’t move (not moved since turn 2) and fires at Angus, missing twice

Turn 5 – Trolls: Angus has three fury and so cuts himself for another 3, he fires a spell at The Butcher , hitting him and knocking him down, shoots his gun hits but the damage barely reduces The Butcher to half hits. Angus sits behind the ruins, wondering if the Butcher can reach him

Turn 6 – Khador : While killing Angus would have been hugely satisfying, the reality was that it was an un-necessary risk. So The Butcher camped his focus. Then activating he stood up and moved away, The Behemoth finally moves and positions itself inbetween Angus and its warcaster. With Armour 24 and 11 wounds left, it’s looking good.

Turn 6 – Trolls : Angus cuts himself for 5, leaving him with 2 wounds. Moving out of the ruins and getting an angle on The Butcher, fires his gun , boosted shot, hits, boosted damage, just 5 wounds…The Butcher lives, Angus casts a final spell, misses and it’s all over.

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Post battle thoughts : This was my first victory over Angus, and it was hugely helped by some very uncharacteristic errors by Kobby, most of all his attempt to charge the Behemoth and both failing and ending up in The Butchers kill range. It was also nice to have the Butcher in the thick of combat, with him killing all three enemy beasts in melee.