Asphyxious vs Blood of Heroes

I played against my friend Pook in a trial 25 point game.  Pook doesn't have the 6 Uhlan models yet from the store, so we proxied his force to see if it worked.  I believe he was practicing for the 25 Point Stranded Forces event at Adepticon.


Blood of Heroes

• Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion +5
• Drago 8 [Proxied by a Rhinodon]
• War Dog 1
• Great Bears of Gallowswood 5
• Iron Fang Uhlans (3) 6 [Proxied by warjacks from Khador]
• Iron Fang Uhlans (3) 6 [Proxied by warbeasts from Skorne]
• Uhlan Kovnik Markov 4 [Proxied by Tyrant Rhadeim]

Blood of Heroes Tier 4 Theme Force allowed Pook 2" to his deployment zone, free upkeep before the game on his units, Great Bears got Advance Deployment, and the Uhlans became FA 2 and 1 point cheaper.

Asphyxious' Force

• Iron Lich Asphyxious +6
• Cankerworm 5
• Deathjack 12
• Skarlock Thrall 2
• Bane Thralls (6) 5
• Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3
• Bane Lord Tartarus 4

I did not play a Theme Force for Asphyxious as I was unaware this was the point. Whoops!

Pook won the deployment roll and deferred the choice to me.  I choose to deploy first.  We were playing one of the Steamroller 2011 scenarios from Privateer Press and we got Destruction.  The main objective is to destroy both of the objectives on your opponents side of the board, starting with the left and then the right.  Pook had to destroy the objective on my right and then left.  Largely, we ignored the scenario.

As part of Vladimir's Theme Force, Pook got to place some of his upkeep spells out.  He chooses: Transference on Vladimir, Hand of Fate on the Uhlans on the right side (from my point of view, also the warjacks), and Assail on Drago.

Terrain and Deployment

We had a building that was impassable, two forests on either side, two linear obstacle walls, and a ruin in the center that was just linear obstacles.

Asphyxious Deployment

Vladimir Deployment

Turn 1 - Cryx
Cankerworm gets a focus, Deathjack generates his two, Asphyxious keeps the rest (6).  Cankerworm runs to the center of the table behind the linear obstacle, and then I realize the Great Bears have Relentless Charge, so I utilize Cankerworm's affinity to advance him again back towards my lines.  The Deathjack, Bane Thralls, Tartarus, Asphyxious, and the Skarlock all run up near the walls.

Turn 1 - Khador
Vladimir keeps all of his focus (7) and upkeeps all of his spells for free! Damn tier benefit!  I couldn't get to him anyway.  Vladimir activates and feats immediately, rolling a 1 on the d3, selecting all of the Uhlans on the right side (warjacks) and one on the left side (Molik Karn model).  He then advances forward.  Drago runs forward for free.  Great Bears declare a charge on the Deathjack but fall short, so the rest of the unit runs.  Markov, both units of Uhlans, and the War Dog all run into position.  The warjack Uhlans get right in my grill, sitting at DEF 16 ARM 22, a tough nut to crack.

Turn 2 - Cryx
Gotta kill those Uhlans so they don't destroy the objective next turn.  Deathjack gets 2 focus from Asphyxious to give him 4 total, and the Cankerworm gets 1, leaving Asphyxious with 4.  My Skarlock immediately casts Scything Touch (granting +2 STR) on the Deathjack.  The Deathjack goes next, advances and kills two Uhlans gaining two soul tokens and then casts Scything Touch on Tartarus.  Asphyxious advances cautiously around the objective and stabs the one remaining Uhlan, boosting to hit and damage, and killing him. The soul goes to the Deathjack because it is closer to the Uhlan.  Tartarus goes next, Curses the Great Bears, charges in, boxes the two Bears he can see but they pass their Tough checks, keeping them alive.  CURSES!  The Bane Thralls charge in then, killing the Molik Karn proxy of an Uhlan and trying to kill a Great Bear, which fails.  The Cankerworm charges Markov, fails, and then moves over again thanks to the affinity.

Turn 2 - Khador
Vladimir upkeeps Transference, keeps all the rest of the focus (6).  The Great Bears go next and with two attacks each, the kill Tartarus, a Bane Thrall, and put some minor damage on the Deathjack.  The remaining unit of Uhlans go next and kill some of the Bane Thralls on the left side but my Officer survives due to Tough.  Drago kills a Bane Thrall as well.  Vladimir moves up and the War Dog runs up behind the Great Bears to provide a Counter Charge if needed.

Turn 3 - Cryx
The Deathjack doesn't get any focus due to have 5 total from the souls and Skulls of Hate. Asphyxious allocates 2 to the Cankerworm, keeps the other 5.  The Bane Thralls charge the Uhlans and Drago after the Officer stands up due to Dead Rise. They kill the Uhlans and put some good damage onto Drago.  The Skarlock goes next, casting Scything Touch onto Asphyxious.  Asphyxious goes in, gets Counter Charged taking no damage, kills one of the Great Bears and then uses his Teleport spell to retreat to safety.  Vladimir will destroy undead and Asphyxious does not want to get skewered by him.  The Deathjack goes next, killing the remaining two Great Bears after moving between them and casts Parasite on Markov with the remaining 4 focus (boosting to hit).  The Cankerworm goes next, declaring an Armor Piercing attack on Markov, boosting to hit.  The results are a dead cavalry solo.  The Cankerworm buys an attack on the War Dog and kills it too, then advances up near were the second objective would be.

Turn 3 - Khador
Vladimir doesn't upkeep any spells, give Drago 2 focus.  Drago tramples 3 of the Bane Thralls, killing them, and buys an attack on the Bane Thrall Standard Bearer who survives with a Tough check. Vladimir advances into the center of the ruins and kills the Bane Thrall.

Turn 4 - Cryx
Asphyxious gives 3 focus to the Cankerworm, Deathjack generates 5 focus.  Deathjack advances up the ruins to prevent Vladimir from gaining cover, casts Parasite boosting to hit, and rolls triple ones!  CURSES!  Asphyxious runs behind him, staying out of Vladimir's threat range.  The Skarlock casts Scything Touch on the Bane Thrall who attacks Drago.  The Cankerworm charges Vladimir, boosts to hit, hurts him for 5 damage.  Vladimir gets a blood token.  The Cankerworm makes two more attacks, missing both times, then scuttles away, again.  I'm sure Pook must hate that affinity.

Turn 4 - Khador
I didn't get a picture at the end of this turn, but I've included the one that would help illustrate what happened.  Drago kills the last Bane Thrall.  Vladimir casts Martial Paragon on himself, making him awesome in melee, then advances and DESTROYS the Cankerworm.  Poor Cankerworm, you went the wrong way.

Turn 5 - Cryx
Asphyxious keeps all his focus and the Deathjack generates 2.  The Skarlock casts Parasite on Drago.  The Deathjack runs between Asphyxious and Vladimir, staying out of Vladimir's melee range.  Asphyxious stays out of threat range.

Turn 5 - Khador
Drago runs up into the ruins.  Vlad runs forward into the ruins too holding all 7 focus.

Turn 6 - Cryx
Asphyxious gives the Deathjack 2, keeps 5. The Skarlock advances and casts Parasite on Vladimir from the back and succeeds! The Deathjack then advances into melee with Vladimir who doesn't Defensive Strike him.  The Deathjack casts Scything Touch on himself, and then kills Vladimir with a few attacks.

In Conclusion, it was a very interesting game trying to learn Vladimir's armies threat ranges, because they are pretty insane in this force.  It was a fun game and I'm pretty sure Pook learned a lot about his army.