Surprise, It’s America Hill!

Spontaneous America Hill, 350 pts.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

While Prorpger and I were finishing up some delicious food court delectables a couple local players asked me to set up an American Hill battle for them. Considering how long the last oversized America Hill game went I was surprised people still wanted to play but what the hell, right? So four of us sat down for yet another rumble for bragging rights up on high.

For those who haven’t read an America hill report yet, the rules are as follows:

At the end of each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gains 1 VP.
- A unit counts as 1 model, regardless of the number of members on the hill
- In the case of a tie, VPs are awarded to all players tied for most models on the hill
At the end of a turn where a player has his warcaster/warlock on the hill, the controlling player rolls 1d6 and gains the following bonus:

Immediately activate the Yellow Woldwomper

Immediately activate the Blue Woldwomper

Immediately activate the Red Woldwomper

Place any one model currently on the hill or within 3″ of the hill within 6″ of its current location. Model may not be placed more than 4″ above the table surface. There must be room for the model’s base at the destination.

Place 1d4 3″ cloud effects in play anywhere completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. These clouds remain in play for one round.

Place 1 3″ fire storm template anywhere within completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. The warcaster/warlock must make a magic attack roll against each model in the AOE ignoring LOS, cover, concealment, elevation, Stealth, Invisibility, or intervening models. Each model hit suffers an unboostable POW 12 damage roll and the Fire continuous effect.

I didn’t expect anyone to want to play American Hill this week so I left the Woldwomper models at home. For replacements we used some of my Protectorate warjacks: two Crusaders and a Vanquisher.

Red Khador (Garret)

Butcher
Devastator
Iron Fang Pikemen + Unit Attachment
Man-o-War Shocktroopers

Garret is a newcomer to Warmachine and his models are with another local whom he commissioned to do some painting. He was using a few borrowed figs and had to proxy a Juggernaut for the Devastator. His list was a pretty defensively-built, consisting of shield wall troops and the thick shelled Devastator. Pretty simply concept, but when you’re talking about Khador simplicity doesn’t necessarily mean inefficiency.

Legion of Everblight (Myself)

Saeryn
Angelius
Seraph
Shredder x3

I really wanted to try out Saeryn to decide if I wanted to use her in the 750-point mixed locally event this weekend but both she and her sister were still on my painting desk so I wound up using my recently painted Vayl to stand in for her. I decided to throw in a couple winged beasts – the Angelius to deal with hard targets and the Seraph to deal with infantry. I then tossed in a few Shredders to fill out.

Blue Khador (Mark)

Old Witch
Scrapjack
Manhunter
Gorman di Wulf
Man-o-War Demo Corp.
Widowmakers
Greylords

Mark brought out an infantry-heavy Khador list. He had the Old Witch for board (or hill) control, Gorman for cloud placement, MOW:DC as his heavy hitters and some lighter infantry for support. It was a fairly solid list, and the number of different units and solos meant he had plenty of models to claim the hill.

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

Horluk (proxied by Madrak)
Dire Troll Mauler
Winter Troll
Champions

Prorpger had initially built the list using Grissel, but wound up a few points over and had to sub in Horluk. Unfortunately that’s the only warlock he doesn’t own so he proxied in Madrak for the battle. Lots of hard hitting multi-wound models in that list; it’s performance was just going to be a question of getting to the hill.

Turn 1

Red Khador
Garrett went with a defensive tactic. The butcher only spared a single focus for the Devastator to run. Both infantry units formed up in Shield Walls and marched up field while the Butcher followed behind to drop Iron Flesh on the Shocktroopers.

Legion
Surrounded by hard-hitting Khadorans, I decided to concentrate on the Legion’s speed and maneuverability and try to get to the hill first to try and build an early lead. Saeryn dropped Respawn on the Angelius just in case and advanced before putting Tenacity on herself. She discarded 2 more Fury (leaving her with 1) and advanced to toe the woods. I forced the Seraph to run and toe the nearby woods then turned to the Shredders. The right shredder went rabid (for movement) and advanced, putting Tenacity on the Seraph. The center Shredder walked forward towards Saeryn, and the left Shredder went rabid, walked to the woods, and put Tenacity on the center Shredder.

+1 VPs Legion for models on the hill.

Blue Khador
Mark started his bid for the hill by running his Manhunter up onto the lowest level, tying me for most models at a whopping 1. The Man-o-War Demo Corp ran forward then the Old Witch advanced behind before dropping Iron Flesh on the Widowmakers and Wold Secrets on the Demo Corp. The Greylords ran up behind and Gorman advanced and dropped a cloud on the Old Witch.

+1 VP Legion/Red Khador for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
Prorpger ran most of his models first turn to try and overcome his speed deficiency so he could try to claim and defend the hill. Both the Dire Troll and the Winter Troll ran forward, followed by the Champions. Then Horluk advanced and put Freezer on the Winter troll for a bit of defense.

Score

Red Khador: 0
Everblight: 3 (+3 Hill)
Blue Khador: 2 (+2 Hill)
Trollbloods: 0

Turn 2

Red Khador
Second verse, same as the first. The Red Khador continued to advance under shield wall while the Devastator ran back to the center of the line, staying near the Butcher.

+1 VP Legion/Red Khador for models on the hill.

Legion
Having claimed the hill, it was time to try and start eliminating the competition. First I leeched all the fury on the board and let Respawn expires since I planned on having a different beast be in danger at the end of my turn. I started with the Angelius who shifted to the side to get line of sight on the Manhunter and took a boosted ranged attack at him. Unfortunately the boosted damage roll came up 1-2-2, doing a measly 3 damage. I just had to cross my fingers and hope he didn’t do do much damage next turn.

Saeryn went next and cast slipstream, shifted towards the Seraph, then moved back and forward. I placed the Seraph 2″ forward with Slipstream, then Saeryn put Respawn on the Seraph and Tenacity on the Angelius. The Seraph then activated, flew to the hill, and took a boosted shot at the Scrapjack. That was my real target – I wanted to get the Old Witch’s arc node off the table to try and cripple her a bit. My first shot wound up doing 9 damage but I didn’t take out any systems. The second shot did a couple more to a clean column and the third and final one missed. Not what I was hoping for, but it was a start.

The shredders went last. The left shredder stepped out of the woods and advanced, the center shredder put Tenacity on Saeryn and moved forward, and the right shredder advanced and put Tenacity on the Seraph. I knew I’d have a couple extra fury on the table the following turn but I figured it was worth the risk to help out in the defense area.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Blue Khador
The Old Witch upkept Iron Flesh on the Widowmakers for free using her staff, then the Manhunter slipped around the Wold Womper staying out of melee range and engaged my Seraph. The first hit failed to break armor but the second did about five points but didn’t take out any aspects. The Demo Corp ran for the hill, forming a line of metal just off of the bottom layer. Scrapjack ran forward up onto the middle of the hill. Gorman advanced and dropped a smoke cloud on the Old Witch who then used it to teleport to the small round woods near the hill’s base. She then advanced to tag the bottom of the hill, put Iron Flesh on herself, and ended her turn with one focus left, giving him the most models on the hill. Finally the Greylords advanced towards my Seraph and thought about trying to Ice Cage it until Mark realized my DEF was 20 counting elevation and being in melee with the Manhunter.

After ending his turn Mark rolled for the random hill effect and wound up getting to activate the Wold Womper nearest Prorpger’s Trollbloods. He decided to have it charge down off the hill at the Winter Troll and pounded on it twice, leaving the beast with just three health before becoming stationary due to Freezer which Horluk had put on the Winter Troll.

+1 VP Blue Khador for models on the hill

Trollbloods
Wounded, Prorpger sought Vengeance. Madrak advanced behind his beasts, cast the Dire Troll’s animus on the Dire Troll then dumped his remaining fury into healing the Winter Troll. The Dire Troll executed a two-handed throw on the Wold Womper, targeting the Old Witch. With his strength boosted by his animus, the Dire Troll was able to throw the Wold Womper up to 7.5″… which happened to put the witch just in range.

Between being elevated and having Iron Flesh, the old witch was sitting on a DEF of 20 so it was no surprise when the toss, even boosted missed. But deviation roll came up 1″ long, placing the airborne Womper right on the Old Witch, knocking her down, and causing 9 points of damage to her. The Winter troll then advanced and unleashed its Ice Breath spray, boosting the damage roll but only doing another 5 points, leaving the old witch with 3 health left. Unable to reach the Old Witch, the Champions ran for the hill to start laying Trollblood claim to it and ended his turn leaving the Old Witch knocked down and near death.

+1 VP Blue Khador for models on the hill

Score

Red Khador: 0
Everblight: 5 (+2 Hill)
Blue Khador: 5 (+3 Hill)
Trollbloods: 0

Turn 3

Red Khador
Garret was finally able to reach the hill this turn. The Shocktroopers advanced under Shield Wall again and stepped up on the hill. The IFP received the Run order but the Standard Bearer also popped his mini-feat – the troops surged forward then formed up a Shield Wall in front of the Shocktroopers to get a second model on the hill. Finally the Devastator and Butcher walked forward, the Butcher camping on focus for armor. However with two model/units on the hill, Blue Khador still held the lead with three.

+1 VP Blue Khador for models on the hill

Legion
This was the turn I decided to see what Saeryn could do. I leeched all the fury of the table I could but left two on the Seraph. I figured I’d use the last one to boost an attack against the Manhunter and kill him but I failed my Threshhold check and the Seraph frenzied then missed the Manhunter with its boosted attack. Great way to start the round.

First things first the Angelius flew up to the top of the hill and took a boosted attack on the Old Witch (I wasn’t trusting my luck this turn). He hit and the boosted damage finished her off and causing the Scrapjack to go inert. The left Shredder went rabid and ran, using it’s increased speed to wind up in the middle of the pikemen. The right shredder then went Rabbid and walked up and ate the Manhunter.

Saeryn then advanced onto the lower level of the hill and dropped Blight Bringer on the Shredder that had engaged the Iron Fang Pikement. I wasn’t able to kill their leader even boosting, but even in Shield Wall I was able to kill five pikemen. She then Feated; with only 6 models on the table I was easily able to select all of them to be untargetable by melee attacks next turn. Somewhere I spent one more Fury – maybe to boost a damage roll on Blight Bringer? And Saeryn ended her activation with 2 on her for transfer. I knew I had overspent Fury again this turn, but no matter. I figured I could draw from the beasts that really need and if the others frenzied it wouldn’t be a gamebreaker. My final Shredder walked up and stood in front of Saeryn to screen her.

After I ended my turn I rolled my random effect for getting Saeryn to the hill and got a 5. I placed one smoke cloud on the Angelius, one on Saeryn,and one in the space between Saeryn and the IFP to block line of sight, just in case the butcher decided to try and shoot or spell her.

+1 VP Legion for the models on the hill.

Blue Khador
Witch he Old Witch killed, the rest of the Blue Khadoran forces went to work avenging her loss. The Demo Corp received a Charge order and two charged the Winter Troll, finishing it off. The other three ran forward but trailed back so as to not get caught by the Trollblood forces’ retaliation the following turn. Then the Greylords and Gorman ran to get in the middle of his army so they could contribute the next turn. Finally the Widowmakers advanced into the woods and started shooting Horluk, doing a total of 7 points of damage to the elderly shaman before Mark ended his turn.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill.

Trollbloods
My feat put Prorpger in a bad spot. He had the nearly pristine Red Khadoron his right who was going to gun for him next turn since they couldn’t do anything to my forces and the vengeance-hungry Blue Khador on his left. He decided to split his forces – the Champions received a charge order and rushed into the Red Khadoran lines. They butchered a pair of pikement and dented the armor of the one Shocktrooper they could reach but the Man-o-Wars’ shield wall saved them.

On the other flank the Dire Troll Mauler charged the Man-O-War line and killed the two exposed Demo Corp. Then Horluk advanced into the woods with the Widowmakers and took a swing at the nearest but missed. Prorpger decided to camp on his Fury instead of taking extra swings and ended his turn there.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Score

Red Khador: 0
Everblight: 16 (+3 Hill, +5 Old Witch, +2 Scrapjack, +1 Manhunter)
Blue Khador: 8 (+1 Hill, +2 Winter Troll)
Trollbloods: 0

Turn 4

Red Khador
After finally reaching the hill, Red Khador was trapped between the tough Trolls and the untargetable Legion, so he turned on the only models he could hit. The Shocktroopers turned and engaged the Champions but with the trolls +2 DEF for being in base-to-base with each other the Shocktroopers wound up missing their attacks. One wound up staying too close to the Shredder’s Blight Bringer cloud and took a point of damage.

The Devastator ran towards the Legion flank to engage on the following turn using the 1 focus the Butcher had allocated him. The Butcher advanced up on to the hill and cast Iron Flesh on the Shocktroopers to help them handle the Champions. He then cast Avalanche on the Angelius but missed. The AOE drifted directly over the Shredder next to Saeryn and it lost its Mind and most of its Body on the blast damage roll. Then the Butcher ended his activation on the hill without any Focus. Finally the surviving four Pikemen fell back out of the Shredder’s Blight Bringer cloud so they wouldn’t die, but one was killed by a free strike leaving just three.

After the end of his turn Garret rolled for a random effect with the Butcher on the hill. As luck would have it he got to activate the Wold Womper next to Saeryn. Fortunately for me Saeryn’s feat meant the Wold Womper couldn’t hit her so Garret walked it over and engaged her so she couldn’t go anywhere on my upcoming turn.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Legion
I leeched what Fury I could off the my beasts, leaving two on the Shredder that had been the Blight Bringer and one on the Shredder that had killed the Manhunter. That Blight Bringer Shredder failed it check and charged a nearby Champion, missing him. The other beast passed. My Seraph moved up to the top of the hill and launched a boosted ranged attack at the butcher but missed. Saeryn then moved ever so slightly to the side and threw Breath Stealer on the Butcher (I really should have done that first) to lower his Defense. Then she used Mirror Magic to put Iron Flesh on the Angelius to raise its DEF to 17. Finally she cast Respawn on the Seraph.

The Angelius then flew down over the Shocktroopers to engage the Butcher. I boosted the first attack roll on the Thrust special attack just to be safe then boosted the damage, doing 14 points past the Butcher’s halved armor. I then forced for an extra attack, hit, and forced to boost doing another 11 points past armor, killing the Butcher and rendering the Devastator inert.

I shifted my right Shredder up a bit and ended my turn, rolling another 5 for my random effect. I put a cloud on the Seraph, a cloud on Saeryn, and a cloud on the Angelius.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Blue Khador
Mark was making a fair showing without a Warlock. His Greylords Ice Caged the Dire Troll to cause it to be stationary and the Demo Corp charged. They all chose the dual-swing option and finished the Dire Troll off with the last swing. Gorman advanced and the Widowmakers shifted away from Horluk, losing two on the free strike. The remaining members made their command check and shot at Horluk, missing him.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Trollbloods
Unable to afford to leave Horluk exposed, Prorpger chose not to have him stick around and attack the Widowmakers. Instead he ran up to the hill behind his Champions. The trailing Champion then fell back to protect Horluk from the Demo Corp and the others started attacking the Shocktroopers. The first couple champions were able to hit but not do much damage through armor, but the third one was able to finish off a Shocktrooper before the fourth one killed my Shredder.

For his random effect Prorpger rolled the Firestorm which he dropped on the Demo Corp. He did five damage to the two on the outside and lit all three on fire in an attempt to protect his flank.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Score

Red Khador: 0
Everblight: 29 (+4 Hill, +5 Butcher, +4 Devastator)
Blue Khador: 11 (+3 Mauler)
Trollbloods: 1 (+1 Shredder)

Turn 5

Red Khador
Garret’s Shocktroopes swung back at the Champions but both missed. He decided not to even bother with his Pikemen and ended his turn.

+1 VP Legion for models on the hill

Legion
Saeryn leeched all four Fury from the Angelius and one from the rear Shredder. The Seraph Frenzied and charged the Angelius but missed. The two Shredders passed their check. Saeryn let Iron Flesh drop on the Angelius so it would have extra movement and it flew behind Horluck, boosted to hit with a Thrust special attack, and boosted damage to finish off the last warlock.

Score

Red Khador: 0
Everblight: 35 (+1 Hill, +5 Horluk)
Blue Khador: 11
Trollbloods: 1

Summation

Red Khador
Garret’s a new Warmachine player. He likes the Butcher and the heavy armor of Khador but unfortunately got to stuck in the shield wall train of thought and didn’t get to the hill quickly enough to make an impact. He seemed unsure what to do with his Devastator as well, moving it back and forth a couple times over the course of the game. I expect his skill to improve as he gets a few more games under his belt.

Legion
The Angelius was unquestionably the MVP of the match, brining down three warcasters/warlocks. I added him to my army since I had been using Carniveans the last few times we played the hill and I stumbled onto Legions exploit of the scenario – their speed lets them get to the hill first, the elevation of the hill lets them see to their opponents’ back lines, and their wings let them past their opponents without having to go through them. Combined with the fact that both Prorpger and Mark had medium base warcasters it looked like I brought paper to the group’s collective rock this time.

Blue Khador
Mark made quite the showing after he lost his caster. I think that his turning point was not feating on turn 2. That would have really messed with Prorpger’s and my movements and may have kept the Old Witch alive. He probably wanted to do it the next turn and get the whole hill under the effect but sometimes you need to blow a feat just to stay alive.

Trollbloods
Prorpger’s Womper-lobbing was the coolest thing in the game. It was a perfect through and by all rights he should have gotten the kill on the Old Witch. That seemed to be the theme for the night for Prorpger… he was weakening both Khador players but didn’t get any finishing blows in.