VS
@Sir Torin Brokenshield!
Death Chasers of Thesk x4
Ogre Warhulk
Me-Burq-Sa
Tyrian
Isamu
I’d been hoping I could finish out with another quick Crystal-assassination for the win, but that hope was waning as word of my quick victories got around, and then completely vanished when I got matched up with Sir TB. Not only was his army more aggressive than mine, meaning I’d have to be watching out for my own Crystal, but Orc Battle Rush meant that he would be occupying all of the lanes into his Crystal before the first round even started. I’d have to clear a way for the Warlord to do his work, but wasn’t sure I would win in a head-to-head battle.
I started by moving out Zogross and Armocs to block the most direct routes into my Crystal (the ones on my right — his Crystal was in a similar position on my left), and was being attacked by the second turn by Death Chasers that ran straight up the road to me. I wasn’t able to get Zogross in an optimal position before the first swarm came, so my potential defensive plays with Opportunistic Strike weren’t happening. Instead the first fight focused on trading Orcs for Armocs, but his Ogre was coming in fast. There was a bit of skirmishing happening on the other side of the map, and I took a turn to move the Azurite Warlord out that way on a turn I couldn’t move Zogross due to congestion, preparing to run for his Crystal when the chance came.
I had a moment of a breather between waves with an initiative switch, and ran out from my little clump where the Ogre was likely to win a battle of attrition, and instead took some high ground, trying to kill the Orcs holding it. I didn’t kill as many as I wanted (all of them), especially with my Armocs falling so quickly to their higher attack. Then the Ogre ran in to swing at an Armoc and Zogross, but luckily I got an Opportunistic Strike on the Ogre two turns in a row, which kept him from killing the Armoc, and thus from attacking Zogross. The Death Chasers were doing plenty of work anyway, including some heavy wounds to Zogross.
During this I had my other Armocs (I was down to four or five at this point) trying to clear out Death Chasers on the other side. At one point I ran one to the Crystal and put two wounds on it, but those Vipers were killed quickly and the battle wasn’t going well. I needed to get to that Crystal with the Azurite Warlord. STB rerouted some Death Chasers to that side, though, knowing his Warhulk could kill my Crystal on its own. He killed a couple of Armocs there, and got some strong attacks in on the Warlord, taking it down to only a few lives remaining. Meanwhile the Ogre finished of Zogross, but the Warhulk itself was sitting at only a couple of lives left.
As you would imagine, we had been holding our breaths for initiative rolls this game a lot, and this was another time we did. We diced off and I took it, which allowed me to kill the Warhulk and a couple of Orcs barring my way to the Crystal. STB had put his first OM on the Death Chasers, but only had one left with Me-Burq-Sa. The Marro took a shot at the Azurite Warlord, taking it down to a single life, but the last Death Chaser wasn’t able to make it next to any of my figures or my Crystal. On my turn I ran my Warlord forward, getting next to the Crystal on height, used Furious Wrath to throw 8 attack dice at the Crystal, knowing it would kill my Warlord, but also having dealt 4 and 5 wounds each of my previous attacks on crystals with this many dice. And like I said, the Crystal already had one wound on it, so I could end it here.
2 skulls.
The Crystal defended handily, and the Warlord died in a sad slump.
I had two Armoc Vipers remaining, and they raced to the Crystal, hoping to have some chance despite the Warlord’s failure. The first one rolled and landed 4/4 skulls! STB rolled one shield, and the Crystal was down to one life. So my second Viper attacked …
1 skull.
STB only needed one shield to stay in the game …
0 shields.
4-0
Suuuper close game. One shield, and Sir Torin Brokenshield! would have taken it, as his next OM was on Tyrian (and we rolled the attacks, he would have destroyed my Vipers with easy height/double attack).