This past Sunday was the first
session in my FLGS’s crossroads of courage campaign. Since most of the players are new, the T.O.
kept the minimum points down to 15. If
you and your opponent wanted to raise the bar that was up to you. “Weeks” are actually months for us—so week 2
will be played in January. I am talking
to the T.O. about moving to a rumble format since I feel that better fits the
community’s skill level and resource count.
He seems open to the idea.
I spent the previous night
organizing my models and equipment.
Measuring sticks—check.
Focus/fury tokens—check.
Objective markers—check. Models
and cards—check. I had the T.O. review
my gear just to be careful before riding over.
I was hopped up for this game—new caster, new campaign, real scenarios—I
wanted this session badly.
My list:
·
Holden Courage
I got to the event early. I was not sure when we would begin; so spent
my first hour clearing out one of those green felt 4x4s with a diagonal gravel
road. The table started not just
cluttered but brimming with terrain. By
the time I was done, it looked like a proper abandoned manufacturing
center. From my perspective, the left
side of the board had a castle rampart, complete with gate and guard tower,
running the length of the table. If you
got behind the wall, you could climb it using a pile of rubble on the far side
while the gate was closer to my deployment zone. The center of the board featured a fortified
position in each deployment zone and a central crater field. On the right, 3 large block buildings ran the
length of the far side--forming a beautiful ruined city-scape for anyone with
the means and motive to grab some elevation.
This would funnel attackers into a central killing field if they chose
to go head-to-head while providing strategic advantages to those willing to
break to the sides. Note, I should have paid
more attention to my own design theory but at the time I just wanted a pretty
war zone.
It turned out only one other
person had shown up—near-holiday gaming attendance being what it is. I had talked to him about other systems and
pickup games before but this would be our first time going head-to-head. He admitted straight up that this was a
demo/learning game for him—which was fine what with this being my first time
playing Zerkova I.
Mike’s list:
·
Holden Courage
We spent a couple minutes familiarizing ourselves with the
scenario and each other’s abilities. I
am ashamed to admit that I am not as familiar with convergence as I should
be. I looked at their original release
specs, saw that they required precise positioning/turn order, and ran screaming. We took our time since we were only going to
get one game in and the store closed in 4 hours. He went Sewer. I went with Reapers.
The blizzard
scenario is an odd duck. It is
essentially a caster kill game with random LOS distance (3d6 inches rolled at
the beginning of every turn) and 3 flare markers placed by each player before
deployment. Anything within 4 inches of
a flare loses stealth, concealment, and is fair game for LOS regardless of the
blizzard roll. I think Mike had a better
plan. I set up a lit field where I
estimated we would make contact. My hope
was that with Zerkova’s cloud wall, spells, and the decimator’s gun, I could
get some decent shooting done turn 2. I
didn’t want a poor range roll to stop me.
Mike set up an interlocking field of illumination with mine—turning the
center of the board into a giant spotlight.
There was nowhere to hide around the 24-inch mark. At the time I explained the scenario
conditions and assumed that he had some Rube Goldberg plan in mind. Note to self, give professional programmers
more credit for planning in future.
1.
I lost the starting roll. Mike decided to go second. I deployed in 2 cohorts. Zerkova set up as far to the left as I could
get her between the castle wall and the far-right ruins. She had the decimator on her left and the
juggernaut on her right. Rorsh, Brine, and
Holden went as far right as I could get them in that central band. Without any major ranged presence, there was
no point in working for an elevated view.
Plus, I was pretty sure my start of turn blizzard roll would fail me
even if I stuck Rorsh and CO. on a roof somewhere. Caster kill was not just the scenario win
condition; if I could get-er-done by turn 3 I would earn a bonus point. I hoped Rorsh could flank the enemy battlegroup
and take out the forge master turn 2 or 3.
Mike set up his vectors facing my jacks with his caster almost against
his board edge. The attunement servitors
were as far forward as he could get them in front of the vectors.
2.
Turn 1, Zerkova casts watcher. She walks forward
and drops a small cloud wall. Everything
else runs forward. Mike puts Hot-Shot on
the modulator and Reconstruct on the cipher.
He moves the servitors up at speed while his battlegroup barely
advances.
3.
I do some quick measuring and find that Mike’s
cautious movement means there is almost no way for me to get to his caster by
turn 3—well played sir, well played. Zerkova
upkeeps watcher and allocates 1 focus to the decimator. The juggernaut runs forward again. The decimator walks forward, misses its first
shot, and blasts a servitor into scrap with its second. Zerkova walks forward and tries to hex blast
a second servitor into its component parts.
While we are reviewing the card it turns out that this model came with
the MKII documentation (facepalm.) The
store has updated cards so after a little delay to resleve the new materials, Zerkova
finishes blasting the servitor. I leave
her on 1 focus. Rorsh and Brine run
forward. Holden tags the third servitor
wiping the unit. Galvanizer moves
base-to-base behind the Cipher. The
Cipher lobs a blast template at Zerkova.
It misses doing no damage. His
Holden takes a shot at the Kommander and misses as well. The modulator takes 2 boosted shots at
Zerkova for 6 damage total after she spends a focus to over boost her power
field.
4.
Top of 3, I allocate 2 to the decimator. We do a bunch of measuring and
referencing. Zerkova can only use one of
her artifacts per spell so there is some question as to how to maximize her
damage output. It turns out that I am
only going to get one casting at this due to how far back his caster is
placed. I figure it is probably better
to go for the attrition now since there is no way I can assassinate his caster
this turn. Zerkova lets watcher
expire. His vectors are never coming in
range so might as well save the focus. The
Kommander hex blasts reconstruct off the Cipher. She pops feat sitting on 3 focus. The decimator nails the Cipher with 2 boosted
dozer shots but I roll terribly and it still has half its boxes left. The juggernaut runs into charging distance of
his vectors next turn. The pigs keep
running. Holden takes a shot at the
Forge master but misses. The forge
master’s ability kicks in and starts repairing the cipher. Syntherion advances and casts convection twice
at Zerkova, hitting her once for trivial damage after boosted power field and leaving
him on 0 camp. The galvanizer does some
work on the cipher. The modulator moves
up to block the juggernaut from getting any ideas.
5.
Top of 4, clobbering time! Zerkova allocates 1 focus to the
decimator. She moves into LOS of
Syntherion and misses with her first hex blast.
Her second boosted casting hits for minimal damage. The decimator boosts and hits with both shots
but flubs the damage rolls. Holden takes
a shot and misses the forge master. The
juggernaut walks up and smashes the modulator down to half its boxes despite
not having been allocated any focus beyond powerup. I have one remaining shot at this. We check some non-linear movement options and
find that Brine can make it into combat.
Rorsh uses diversionary tactics, almost kills Holden (oops), and sends
Brine into charge position. Brine
activates, Charges, boosts to hit with the gore, and splatters Syntherion. Game-Zerkova or Rorsh? Who gets the credit when you have a lesser warlock/Jr.
warcaster?
Post-game
musings:
1.
What is this no speed, accuracy, or damage buff
nonsense? Zerkova is a lot more about
control than directed aggression than I am used to. Part of that came down to Mike holding
back. By turn three I wanted to yell
“get over here.” I was lucky I brought
Rorsh & Brine or Mike could have kept me sprinting after him for another
turn. Thank god I had the decimator.
2.
Zerkova really does-not-like-to share
focus. I mean _really_does_not_like
it. Ignoring watcher and ghost walk, her
main tech is cloud walls, frost hammer, and hex blast—which in this Meta means
hex blast. She can cast HB twice with 2 allocated
boosts using her full stack and focus sphere.
I picked up Sylys back when I decided on the Kommander. Looks like I need to get him on line pronto.
3.
This game highlights the challenge in playing
under 35 points in this edition—especially with a non-battlegroup centered
caster. Zerkova wants tools to damage
and control the field. That means jacks
like Ruin, Behemoth, and Conquest. I
would like to try her with Hutchuck, gun carriages, and field guns too—maybe a
couple Kodiaks when I get them up and running.
At 15-points, I do not have the resources to make full use of her
toolbox.
4.
I really need to get my hands on a
conquest. I am not sold on Victor but
conquest solves the 4 floating WJ point problem Z1 has with Behemoth and gives
her some needed board control. If she
bases up with the big guy he can even make P+S 22 watcher attacks for her. I feel the same way about Hutchuck—got to get
her some board control options.
5.
R&B are not clutch pieces but they sure do
have nice reach. I wish Brine had better
game against warjacks. Still, that nonlinear
14-inch threat is hard to defend against.
I’ll leave them in for now—maybe a gunboar?...hmm.
6.
I like playing something other than straight caster
kill. The flares added unexpected depth. I cannot wait to try a full on S.R. game at
75 points.
7.
Mike might have just got lucky but his plan
worked very well. Had my assassination fallen
through, I would have been sitting on 0 camp in front of most of his army. There was some difficult terrain and the
juggernaut had the modulator locked up but I am pretty sure Syntherion could
have gotten the job done on his own. He
delayed me long enough to keep me from earning a bonus point and gave himself
an extra round of shooting. If I had not
popped feat on turn 3, he probably would have taken me out. It does not help that his entire army is
built on giant constructs without easy targets for Zerkova’s rod.
Good times were had by all. Next month we will hopefully end up with some
more people. Here is hoping.
No comments:
Post a Comment