Cryx vs Retibution of Scyrah 35pts

Hello and welcome.

This will be a battle report against my Cryx force and my good friend and press ganger Matt Beer. He took his Retribution in this Killbox game. As there were a couple of games going on at Matt's house, we couldnt play on a full 4x4 table so the killbox was reduced accordingly.

My list is unchanged from the last report as I'm trying to get practice in for a few tournaments that are coming up in the next few months. I found last year that I struggled with learning different lists for different events so this year I'm working on a "go to" list that I know inside out which will form the main part of my lists. Hopefully this will work at multiple list events, hence the lack of characters due to the rumours around Steamroller 2012.

My list.

 The Witch Coven of Garlghast (*5pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Stalker (4pts)
* Reaper (7pts)
* Slayer (6pts)
Bloodgorgers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Soulhunters (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Darragh Wrathe (4pts)
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall (1pts)

Matts list.

Arcanist Ossyan (*6pts)
* Discordia (10pts)
Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
* Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard (2pts)
* Soulless Escort (1pts)
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Mage Hunter Commander (2pts)
Dawnguard Destor Thane (4pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

The battle of the lost wood.

The dawn was just breaking over the far hills, as light pierced the canopy of the Forest surrounding the smoking Cygnar installation. The three sisters of Garlghast walked slowly through the butchers yard that was a few hours ago. The Cygnar was the company of Trenchers, but had been slaughtered to the last man by the force led by the three enchanting witches in a short and bloody ambush.

Heallena stopped next to the gory remains of a Cygnar officer. She squatted next to the body as she looked over the the smoking wood, "Its not here", she hissed at her other two sisters. Morgaen broke the silence, "The thief lied to us, you should have kept him alive dear sister". Heallena stood up and glared at her sister; her fist clenched as she held back her anger, "He could not have lied, no human could have lied through that much pain and suffering". A sly grin flicked across her innocent face as she recalled the fear and screams of the young thief as she stripped his flesh from his body. "This isn't helping", Selene stepped between her sisters, "We need to work out what we should do next. Lord Terminus is already displeased with us for losing over half of our force to the blighted Legion, he has given this mission to prove we are still of use to him". "Well Lord Venethrax seemed pleased we managed to kill their prophet", Heallena interrupted, "If we did indeed kill him" Selene snapped. "We must recover this artifact; we cant rely on the favor of Venethrax to protect us from the anger of our Lord Terminus if we fail". Selene put extra emphasis on the words our lord reminding, her sisters that they were all sworn to his service.


She knew that any fighting between the sisters would only aid their enemies, particularly those within their own ranks. This though made her search the tree line for the figure of Darragh Wrathe, who always seems ready to use others weakness for his own advantage. Through the smoke, she caught a glimpse of something moving near the furthest Cygnar power sation. "Have either of you sent troops over that way", Selene pointed to where she saw the shape. Heallena and Morgaen looked at each other and back to Selene, "No", was the telepathic response. No sooner had Selene had this answer when she felt the familiar tingle that told of a warcaster. She looked at her sister who could also feel the warning, "Over there behind the Cygnar spire", shouted Heallena as she pointed. The words had just past her lips as the sister stared calling up their Jacks who where still searching the ruined Cygnar camp. The Slayer and the Reaper took up central postions as the small Deathripper came from a small building to stand on the right flank near the blood stained Stalker that had just raced forward. The sudden burst of activty alerted the Bloodgorgers that their mistresses were in danger. They ran from the pile of burning Cygnar corpses, with weapons at the ready to stand in front of the three witches, who had stepped back away from the frontline to be with their beloved Egregore. They stood in a perfect triangle with the strange orb in the centre. "Where is Darragh?" Morgaen asked her other sisters who could offer no response, "Do you think he has betrayed us?" Morgaen pressed. "There he is", pointed Heallena to the left flank where the Soulhunters were also with Darragh Wrathe. The last of the Cryx force to take up a postion on the battle line was the Necrotech and its Scrap Thrall; the Necrotech seemed more interested in harvesting Cygnar technology rather than getting ready to fight.

The foe was still unseen through the smoke and the early morning light was trickling through the trees. Then almost on cue, a gust of wind blew the smoke aside and revealed the battleline of the elves in the armour of the Retribution of Scyrah. The sisters had not faced this foe before but knew they had some highborne ideas about ridding the world of man from magic and there were whispers that a young Khador caster had something that belongs to them. All of this was, at this time, besides the point. Why were they here in this place of all places thought Selene. The shortening shadows in front of the Retribution force seemed to be moving, "They have already infiltrated into the camp. I bet they must be that strike force that were in those Cygnar reports you found". Morgaen nodded towards at Selene.

Heallena spoke quietly, "Maybe that elf has what we seek?". "It might have, they seem very good at sneaking; they could have taken it while these Cygnar troops died". Selene replied as she nudged one of the bodies of the Cygnar troop with her toe. "Well lets find out", grinned Morgaen, calling on her magical power to empower the Slayer and the Reaper to run forward through the smoking wood towards the Mage Hunter Strike force. As the heavy jack crashed through the wood, birds shouted theer difference as they were shaken from their perches by the speeding jacks. The brute of a Bloodgorger looked at the sight of the charging jacks and heaved his axe into the air and started to run forward screaming a blood curdling battlecry as they followed the jacks into the now brightly lit wood.
Thinking quickly, Heallena cast Occultation onto their troll bodyguard to shield them from anything but the closest of shots. Selene watched the runes of power twisting around Heallena's hands. She looked away from her sister, towards the Stalker and the Deathripper out on the far right flank. She closed her eyes and sent instructions to the two bonejacks; who on receiving instructions, raced forwards towards a raised part of the Cygnar Camp were the last of the Cygnar troops made a desperate last stand a few hours ago. Once Selene had sent the bonejacks off on their tasks, she turned towards Darragh Wrathe who had trotted his mount over to the three sisters. Selene looked up into the face of Darragh, in her most charming way, but still authoritatively instructed him to push up the left flank and try to hook to the right to encircle the now advancing elves. He nodded his head, understanding, as he spurred his mount forward, past his Soulhunters who galloped to the left as they were quickly lost from sight in the thick undergrowth.



The elves were moving quickly to take up their firing postions on the rapidly closing Cryx. Morgaen reached out with her mind to look through the eyes of the Slayer. She watched as the Invictors advanced forward and was surprised to see them bring their weapons to their shoulders, targeting the Reaper. Runes of power could be seen glowing around them. She scanned the ranks until she saw the enemy caster; he had his arms in the air calling forth all of his power that seemed to be empowering the shots of the troops surrounding him.
A glint of greeny light caught Morgaen's attention. She used the mechanical eyes of the Slayer to zoom toward the flickering light on the chest of the enemy warcaster. "I have found it!" Morgaen smiled at her other two sisters as she pulled away from the Slayer's cortex. As she spoke, an explosion shocked the Forest. The sister's stared shocked at the toppling Reaper as a massive hole was blown in the side of it's furnace."What in the abyss was that?!" shouted Selene. The jack was on the Forest's floor; fire and smoke flickering upwards from its ruined shell. Morgaen was about to connect to the Slayer when she saw the advancing elves stop and bring their crossbows to bear on the Slayer. She was not concerned about the jack as it had very heavy armour; she watched as the elves fired crossbow bolts which filled the air; some harmlessly hitting trees. One struck a Soulhunter who ignored the injury, but a number hit the Slayer and for a split second nothing happend, then the jack was torn apart by a magical explosion that ripped the head off the Slayer and sent it crashing into a tree where it slammed down and was cracked apart by a smaller explosion from its internal system. The shock on Morgaen face was reflected in her sisters faces; in a matter of a minute, their two heavy jacks were smoking piles of scrap metal. A thrill warning sounded in the minds of the sisters from the Stalker off on the right flank as it focussed their attention back to the battle; there would be time later to wonder what magical power could so enhance the power of mere bows and arrows.
Closing her eyes Heallena connected with the Stalker to see the charging Mage Hunter Assassin flick her whip towards the bonejack. Heallena forced the jack to the right just in time to aviod the powerful blow.

Heallena launched the Stalker back at the Mage Hunter. Its eviscerator slicing the elfs head clean off as blood spurted high into the morning air. The elf's body shook for a second before crumpling to the floor. Over on the left flank, a shrill scream pierced the sounds of battle. It came from the second Mage Hunter Assassin who was sinking to her knees as her soul was pulled fom her body by one of the undead Soulhunters. Selene relished the sound and then turned her attention to the centre of the battle to watch the brute of a troll smash the skull of the first elf it came to. The rest of the unit set on the elves, hacking two more down in wild blows of their axes. The battle was moving forward so the three sisters started advancing up to be closer to the action. They stopped next to one of the Cygnar Spires. "That caster over there has the pendent we are looking for dear sisters", said Morgaen to her sisters. "Well done, now we have a reason to gut that elf", a wicked grin spread across Selene's face as she spoke. They all watched as the rest of their army moved forward to be closer to the elves. The battle was far from decided but for now the sisters felt confident in the morning sun.

Darragh Wrathe was pleased with his Soulhunters; they had already killed one elf and were moving quickly to outflank the whole of the elven force. He steadied his horse and peeped through the smoke filled, death-ridden wood. He watched as a elven knight charged forward from the line, its horse's hooves sending mud flying as the rider steadied its lance, aiming directly at Darragh.
On seeing the threat, Darragh called his Soulhunters forward to meet this lone knight. As they closed on each other, magical fire shot out from the tip of the elf's lance, blasting one Soulhunter into oblivion. A second shot hit a tree just over Darragh's right shoulder, another three inches to the left and it would have been Darragh's head that was blown apart.
Heallena watched as the battle unfolded in front of her. She saw the Soulhunter eviscerated by the shots of Destor Thane. She noted a tinge of annoyance when Darragh's head was not blown from his shoulders. "Don't worry about Darragh dear sister" Morgaen thoughts entered into Heallenas consciousness, "We will deal with that man when the need arises". Heallena was about to reply to her sister when a fusillade of shots rang out from in front of the witches. Instinctively they called on their arcane power to bolster their armour; they quickly saw however that they did not need to. The Necrotech who was fighting with some of the cloaked elves had two massive holes blown in his chest; green tainted blood pumped from the wounds as it toppled backwards onto the forest floor. On seeing its creator fall, the Scrap Thrall rushed forwards in an attempt to avenge his master. As it came forwards, it was hit by a rifle round. The thrall staggered and then tore itself apart in an explosion as the self distruct system kicked in, leaving a smoking hole in the ground as shrapnal spun outward hitting an elf in the chest and lower leg. The mortally wounded elf dropped to the floor where he gurgled bloody bubbles and died. From behind the dead elf, a ball of flame licked out over the forest floor from the heavy elven jack that stuck to anything it hit. A Soulhunter galloped away from the battle bathed in flame as the undead felsh burned with a green and black smoke. The Soulhunter got no more than twenty paces before it collapsed to the ground in a pile of still burning flesh and metal.
The Bloodgorgers were fighting  in the center of the field  but the long knives of the elves were taking their toll on the Bloodgorgers. One lay on its back with it's throat sliced open, blood pooling around its body. To the right of the body, an elf leapt off one the Bloodgorgers slashing its knife across the hamstring of the Bloodgorger. It bellowed in pain and anger as it dropped to one knee. The brute was quickly silenced by a flick of the elf's wrist as she brought the blade back and over the throat of the downed Bloodgorger; bright red blood sprayed in the air and splatted over the face of the elf. The great brute of the leader was fending off blows from two assailants; one darted to his right while the other went to his left. He manged to block one attack but the second elf hacked  downwards with two hands, the Bloodgorger tried to dodge the blow but he was too slow and the short steel knife slid into his thigh; roaring in range he fell to the forest floor with the blade lodged in his leg.
Over on the right flank the Stalker was hit by bombardment of shots from a small group of Invictors  buckling its leg and destroying its cortex. Stubbornly the bonejack remained standing  and started moving slowly towards the new threat, dragging one of its back legs behind it, leaving a trail of oil across the forest undergrowth.

The damaged Stalker closed towards the Invictors who moments before had shot the bonejack. It pulled itself on to the top of the fallen tree that the elf warriors were covering behind. The jack  raised its right arm and crashed down onto an elf that was too slow to see the danger, the skull shattered from the blow as the Stalker dropped down the other side of the fallen log only to be greeted by two well aimed shots from the remaining Invictors. The shots impacted dead centre on the light jack, flinging it backwards back over the log in a smoking pile of scrap metal.
The battle hung on a knife edge; it could go either way and the sisters could sense it as they pressed forward to where the wreck of the Reaper lay smoking. Selene reached out with her mind to connect with the small Deathripper calling over to the witches side. It came running over the Cygnar camp  and stopped next to Heallena and awaited further intructions. In front of the witches, the massive brute of a Bloodgorger heaved himself upwards and pulled the elven blade out from his thigh and tossed it towards the elf that had inflicted the wound, catching the elf in the shoulder spinning him round as he fell. "FORWARDS" roared the Bloodgorgers leader as he limped towards the second rank of elves as the remainder of his unit surged forward. To the left of the advancing leader a Bloodgorger lunged at an elf running it through with his wickedly curved knife. As that elf died on his blade, the Bloodgorger smacked his club in his right hand over the skull of a second elf who stood in his way; the club impacted with a sickening wet crunch. The limping Bloodgorger leader was overtaken by the quicker members of his unit. He watched with some pride as they crashed into the rear rank of elves. He saw one slash of a knife at one of the small camouflaged elves who lent away from the cut as it whistled harmlessly past the elf's neck.
On seeing the carnage of the Bloodgorgers, Darragh orderd his remaining Soulhunters into the attack. They ghosted forward, the bodies going incorporeal thanks to Darragh minor magical ablity. The most forward of the Soulhunters drifted through the shadow realm and reappeared right next to the enemy caster. It hacked downward with its Scythe, cutting a deep wound over the caster's chest. The undead horseman was about to finish the job with its curved hook when it was smashed sideways by an elven jack that had come to the aid of it's warcaster. The rest of the Soulhunters had closed with the elf knight that had shot one of thier unit moments earlier. Sharpe Scythes hacked at the elves and as he died his soul was pulled from his still warm and bloody body by the Soulhunter that had finished the knight off.
The three sisters looked on as the Bloodgorgers took the fight to the enemy. Selene knew, as the other two did, that the next few minutes will be the difference between victory or death. She called on the power of the night and her own magical ablity to cover the bright forest in an all consuming darkness, protecting the advancing troops of cryx from the elven fire that was taking a steady toll on the Cryx forces. Heallena watched with pride at her sister's magical feat, when she was distracted by the sight of rapidly advancing Invictors that were marching through the trees towards the sisters. On seeing the threat, Heallena called on her own power as the mist formed around her feet, she blew gently toward the advancing Invictors and the mist obeyed handing in front of the elves like a veil.

  
Lord Arcanist Ossyan was wounded. He  clutched his left hand to his chest in an atempt to stem the blood that was oozing from a gash in his blue armour. He had to stop the forces of Cryx from taking the valuable artifact that the stupid Cygnar forces had dug up at this isolated outpost. Ossyan rasied his sword and chopped at the undead beast that had given him this new wound. The Soulhunter  dodged the attack only to be hammered in the head by the giant of a jack that had moved up to support his caster. The blow took the Soulhunter's head clean off in a shower of undead gory felsh and bone. 
Heallena watched the wall of mist that she had created. Happy that no threat was coming from that direction, she turned to Selene "I think we have them on the back foot now". Selene turned to reply to her, only to see Heallena fall to the side cluching at her abdomin as bright red blood poured from between her clenched fingers. "Heallena!" screamed Selene as she rushed to the side of her fallen sister, followed by Morgaen who pushed hard on to the wound trying to stop the flow of blood. Selene looked for the threat that had nearly kill her sister; seeing three Invictors reloading their guns behind some trees they had advanced through the magical mist unseen by any of the sisters. "We need to get out of here", called Selene to her sister over the noise of battle. "Over.... there", pointed the injured Heallena. Selene and Morgaen helped Heallena to her feet and half-carried her over to the ruined camp wall. The Egregore joined the sisters as they attempted to heal their wounded sister. Turning back to the battle, Selene saw the enemy warcaster was exposed in a tiny knot of his men trying to fend off a Soulhunter. She watched as the last of the Bloodgorgers were cut down by the blades of elves.

It was the wounded Heallena that first saw the opportunity to finish this battle. She called on her power and reached her mind out in to the void, ignoring the pain in her stomach as she connected with the small Deathripper. She sent the arc node running forward to threaten the enemy caster. She closed her eyes trying to block out the pain and reopened them in time to see Darragh moving up to the elven caster. He forced his horse past two elves, ignoring them; they however did not let him pass without a fight. The first one slashed at Darragh, missing him by inches. The second was more accurate, driving it's knife into the flank of Darragh's mount, bringing the undead mount to the ground. Darragh kicked himelf free of the stirrups as the necrotech horse fell. He rolled on the ground as he got to his feet; he looked for the elf caster, seeing him in the small group of his men. Darragh called upon his minor arcane power to blast the elf with hellfire hitting the already wounded elf, but only damaging the caster's ornate amour.
On seeing Darragh's attack fail, the three sister's called their magical power together and moved up the field Selene supporting her injured sister as they went. The Egregore moved with them gliding over the battlefield like a ship on a still ocean. Morgaen stopped the small group and called on her power as she saw the wounded elf caster; her hands glowed with power as she fired  a bolt of pure energy at the elf, hitting him. Lord Arcanist Ossyan fell to his knees, his armour twisted and burnt as blood pooled from his wounds onto the muddy ground as his eyes rolled back in his head. His last thought was of failure, because he knew the forces of Cryx will find the arcane pendent that still hung around this neck.

My thoughts

What a battle! It really made both of us think and it was anyones guess who would win, though I think Matt had a quiet confidence as I have been unable to beat him at Warmachine since I started playing so this win was especially sweet.

Seeing both your heavy jacks being killed in turn two is very unsettling. Having played against Retribution a few times I have learnt the hard way that mage hunters assassins need to be removed quickly as their 4" melee range is just not very nice. I also have been on the end of the ignoring line of sight tricks that the Mage Hunter Strike Force can do, so engaging them was a top priority in this game. Using occultation helped a lot in this game as well as the granted stealth from being in base to base with the Egregore. This match was however characterised by appauling dice rolls from both myself and Matt.
I look forward to seeing what Matt has got to avenge the loss of Lord Arcanist Ossyan; one thing will be for sure it would not be a nice fluffy list.



Painting


I have finally manged to finish this unit of Bloodgorgers. They took me about four months to finish (I really dislike painting units!)

Wreck markers, hopefully wont have to use them too many times!

Thank you for looking.

Richard.