Online Heroscape Season 3 - Congrats to FOUDZING!

[Foudzing]

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

So.... will the victor of the Sparkle vs. Foudzing match be the winner of the entire tourney?!

No, If I lose Kevindola is the champion, if I win there will be a final match between Kevindola and me.

[Filthy the Clown]

dalu and I are kicking off now.

[The CEE]

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

So.... will the victor of the Sparkle vs. Foudzing match be the winner of the entire tourney?!

I don't think so, kevindola is already 5-0.

[Rosencrantz]

Which tool symbol do I use to hide text under a "spoiler" so that I don't post a huge post?

[Filthy the Clown]

Played a great loss against Dalu. In short, I opted to keep him away from the Wannok, while he grabbed the relatively uncontested Valda glyph. I hinged a lot on DW8K's special attack, but it sputtered on attacks, only killing one Mezzo before failing to defend against a 3 skull attack. The hydra soon followed. The Mindflayer was able to kill a couple of Mezzos and steal some OMs, but the move-boosted Borgs surrounded him and killed him..>Game over.

Great game, dalu, and congrats on your 4-1 record. We hope to see you and your friends in the next online tournament!


Rosencrantz: just surround your post in [$poiler]what you want to hide[/$poiler] tags (where $ is an 's').

[Typhon2222]

Wah, so sorry I missed the Dalu/Filthy match.

[Vydar]

Typhon2222 and I just completed our game. He's a great sport and I really enjoyed our pre- and post-game conversation.

I won the dice roll and was given first choice, so I selected Typhon's Havech army as I felt it was the strongest of the lot. Typhon countered with my Charos army:

Havech Eradicators x4, Su-Bak-Na, Isamu
versus
Charos, Syvarris, Greenscales x3, Theracus

Round 1:
I began by advancing my Havech, fording the river and claiming the two adjacent height 4 snow hexes along with the Glyph of Wannok. Typhon advanced with his Greenscales and claimed the Glyph of Valda. My Havech were able to make a few attacks from height on Charos, putting 3 wounds on him before being engaged by the Greenscales.

Round 2:
Charos maintained his position on the the height 3 terrain near the ruin at the bottom of the map while the Greenscales finished off my Havech and claimed the high ground. This enabled me an occasional ranged attacking from across the river, though Charos had height advantage. Eventually, Charos flew across the river and engaged several Havechs, which enabled me to get height and put some more wounds on Charos.

Round 3:
In a key turn, one of my Havech managed to make a double attack (the only one of the game) and finally finish Charos off. Theracus then brought Syvarris across the river, but dropped him in a location where I could close in and attack him from range. I put 3 wounds on Syvarris and lost two of my Havech to Plasma Surge. By the end of the round, I was down to 1 Havech, Su-Bak-Na, and Isamu. Typhon had Syvarris (with 3 wounds), Theracus (with 2 wounds from Wannok), and 4 Greenscales spread out throughout the map.

Round 4:
Su-Bak-Na forded the river and landed on the height 4 snow. He managed to defend Syvarris' attacks and then land adjacent - had these done significant damage the outcome of the game would have been different. SBN then landed next to Syvarris and finished him off. This cost Typhon an Order Marker and SBN closed in and killed Theracus. A Greenscale managed to engage SBN, but failed to damage him. The 4 remaining Greenscales were scattered across the map, so Typhon conceded. I had an unwounded SBN, 1 Havech, and Isamu remaining.

The dice rolls were certainly interesting this game. I won all 4 initiative rolls, including two times when I rolled a 6 and Typhon rolled a 3. Going back through the record, I found thatout of the 15 ranged attack rolls I made, 6 resulted in Plasma Surge killing a Havech (i.e., dying 40% of the time versus the expected 25%). In fact, I lost more Havech to Plasma Surge than Typhon killed! I only managed to double attack once (i.e., a 6.7% success rate versus the expected 20%). That said, my attacks were doing well and I even managed to wound Charos a couple times when I only rolled 1 skull (including one where I was engaged and could have died to counterstrike).

A big THANK YOU to the tournament organizers! It was great being able to play this year since I was unable to attend a NHSD gathering.

[Typhon2222]

Everything Vydar just posted is a LIE!

Except the bit about me being a good sport, of course. That's very very true. My good-sportitude, along with my humility, are my best qualities.

Oh yeah, and that bit about him winning. That's also, sadly, the truth.

No, in all seriousness, we had a blast. He CLEARLY has the better memory than I do for details of the battle, so there's nothing I can add to his detailed report. Will just echo his thanks to the organizers, and the pleasure it was to play him.

[dalu]

Originally Posted by Filthy the Clown

Played a great loss against Dalu. In short, I opted to keep him away from the Wannok, while he grabbed the relatively uncontested Valda glyph. I hinged a lot on DW8K's special attack, but it sputtered on attacks, only killing one Mezzo before failing to defend against a 3 skull attack. The hydra soon followed. The Mindflayer was able to kill a couple of Mezzos and steal some OMs, but the move-boosted Borgs surrounded him and killed him..>Game over.

Great game, dalu, and congrats on your 4-1 record. We hope to see you and your friends in the next online tournament!

Thanks Filthy.

You have forgotten to say that the dice were in my favor during this game.
The Hydra should have last longer.

The key of the victory is Valda.
The only weakness of the Incendiborgs is their slow move.
You can't escape them when they have move 6.

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

Wah, so sorry I missed the Dalu/Filthy match.

We were on a Hangout with dok.
I'm sorry you have missed the match.

[Vydar]

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

Everything Vydar just posted is a LIE!

The winners write the history, right?

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

He CLEARLY has the better memory than I do for details of the battle, so there's nothing I can add to his detailed report. Will just echo his thanks to the organizers.

I went and trudged through the dice log because I really wanted to know if Plasma Surge had actually been worse for me than normal or if I just perceived it that way since I hadn't ever played the Havech before.

PS - In going through the record, I did find one mistake we made. It looks like we forgot to roll Plasma Surge a second time for the Havech managed to shoot a 2nd time at Charos.

[Rosencrantz]

Spoiler Alert!

this is just a test

test run

[Rosencrantz]

Warning: Extremely lengthy and probably unnecessary battle report.

Spoiler Alert!

I do not know for certain why Commander Drake sent me to intercept one of the many battle groups rumored to be maneuvering to assault the Fortress. It is in my opinion that it would have been wiser to await the enemy behind the safety of our stone walls. I'm sure Drake has his reasons, but they elude me as daftly as the clockwork rats of Utgar.

If I had to guess at his reasoning then I would gamble that it was two-fold. One, Drake was wanting to weaken the long range forces of the enemy and hoped to give me and my warriors an advantage by engaging them on clutered terrain. The second reason I believe factored into this assigned ambush was because of our two new allies. Just a few days ago a soulborg of notable size and an abomination of notable hideousness surrendered to the forces of Jandar. The machine told us that he was Major Quetin. He claimed he was discouraged by recent alliances that his commander Carr was making with the forces of Utgar. It was at a treaty signing between Carr and Cyprien Esenwein that Quetin met the once nobleman turned beast Marcu Esenwein. I am still unclear as to how Quetin could even communicate with that poor, disfigured creature, but somehow they formed an understanding of their mutual disgust with what was happening and they wanted to take a stand against their former leaders. I guess the concepts of irony and hypocrisy are lost on the the mechanical and the undead.

The whole thing seemed like an attempt at trickery on the surface. But true to their name the soulborg do have what the humans call souls. As does Marcu. His may be a twisted, broken, dark soul, but a soul nonetheless. And Jandar's insight guided me to believe these two unlikely allies were sincere in their intentions to do battle against all that would side with Utgar.

I was given command of four squads of the warriors of Massachusetts. There was much concern among them about fighting beside the mechanical man who once served Vydar's army but even more unrest from even being near the cursed Marcu. Behind his back they called him Marcu the Monster. At least they did until I learned of it. I told them that such disrespect was not welcomed by me and that anyone wishing to continue it could report back to Drake and explain to him why they were no longer welcomed to serve by me. I will not tolerate the denigration of any soul, be it of one infused with machine, or one of a reanimated form, or even one that is an enemy. There must be honor in combat, and when it is necessary to kill that care is taken that it is done humbly.

My group was dispatched before first light. We made our way to where Quetin assured us enemy forces were to be passing on their way to unite with other battle groups for assault on the Fortress. The rolling hills, the glacier outcrops, and the large remains of fortifications would prove useful in avoiding attacks from over distance. And not too far from where we were was a blessed artifact shrine to Valda. If I could get one of my warriors to it then we would be smiled upon by Valda and would be blessed with a swiftness of foot. There was another shine near by. Although I could not see it I could feel the evil radiating from it. Wannok. A shrine in tribute to pain and death.

Although it might seem wise to have claimed one or both shrines before the battle I will point out that both shrines were in spots highly vulnerable to attack. So instead I positioned my forces so that we would be able to quickly lay claim to Valda's blessing once combat was initiated. I would have nothing to do with any praise to Wannok. It is not the way of my people. Well, at least those of us Kyrie that value honor.

The fastest and most maneuverable of my warriors was Marcu. He is also fairly resilient. My first command once combat would commence was to be to test Marcu's loyalty. At least, that was my plan. The human Field Marshal Moltke once told me, “No operation extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main body of the enemy”. My experiences in the battlefield have proven this, and this battle was also another where I was forced to rethink my original tactical maneuvers.

Upon the by, I've noticed that humans have a strange quirk of skewing words spoken by others. I've heard Drake say something similar to Moltke's observation, "No plan survives contact with the enemy". This common distortion of material that is passed down from generation to generation makes me question the accuracy of the ancient documents of the humans.

I heard the enemy before I saw them. It was the distinctive whining of the clockwork engines of the soulborg. And by the sound of the ground being crushed by tremendous metal feet I could tell one of them was much larger than the others. I suspected it was a few sections of Gladitrons and a few sections of Blastitrons being lead by Major Quetin's equal, some say better, Major Quenein. No doubt seeking revenge for my new allies' betrayal to their former masters. Then it occurred to me that possibly I had been the Queen of Fools. I just might have lead 16 men to an ambush. We may have walked right into a situation with Vydar forces assaulting from the front while we were tangled up fighting the deceivers in our group. Luckily my warriors were braced and ready to fire, which meant I only needed to give the order and rows upon rows of rifles would unleash their fury and smoke. I hate the smell of those weapons.

And this is where my plan was to meet its forced adaptation. I saw the enemy. That unmistakable white and blue armor that is both the skin and armor of my soulborg allies. From were I stood I could see it was a mix of the mechanical forces of Jandar. There were Repulsors, which are tiny clockworks that resemble fat, flightless avians and there were Snipers, the ones that especially favor height with which to fire upon their targets from. And right behind them, standing like a mighty oak, was the newest member of the Jandar soulborg forces, Omegacron.

For a moment my head felt light and confusion swarmed my thoughts. What kind of trickery was at hand? Was this some plan by Utgar and Vydar to have their enemy destroy each other? Was this some illusion? Whatever was happening, I knew sending the vampire out to claim the shrine of swift movement as a first action would be an unmistakable act of hostility, and if this was a battle group serving Jandar I did not want to take up arms against them. Being certain that a walking rack of armor and cannons that once served Vydar was a poor choice of a diplomatic speaker for this situation and that a blood-thirsty, ferocious, disfigured beast was an even poorer choice I choose to send forth my warriors in blue coats to see what the soulborgs intentions were. This of course was not the most advantageous choice because the men had to leap into the small river that separated us from the battlefield. Without Valda's assistance we would be slow to taking up a defensive position. But my hopes were that this was a misunderstanding and that there would be no violence that day.

I found those hopes were to be fleeting. The Jandar soulborgs opened fire on the warrior who had just stepped out of my view and my protection. The smell of the rifles the minutemen use may be repulsive but the smell created by the weapons of the soulborg when used on living flash is ten times worse.

Either out of reflex or fear the advancing warriors returned fire. I shouted for them to hold their fire. I still wanted to believe this was some kind of mistake and that it could be settled with words instead of weapons. Luckily the returning fire didn't strike true and there were no casualties for the soulborgs. There may still be a peaceful resolution. I shouted as loud as I could, "Withhold your fire! We are not your enemies and intend you no harm! We are faithful servants of Jandar." Well, in truth I was interrupted by the sound of more weapon fire by the advancing soulborg that last word.

I had two choices, as I saw it. Retreat, leaving our backs open to attacks and possibly failing Drake. Or advance and engage. Knowing that my warriors are like me in that they would rather die fighting than die fleeing I chose to order the Warriors of the Fourth forward.

A brave soldier charged the shrine of Valda so that his brothers in arms could move more swiftly. His name was Johnathon Dixon. Special note should be made for his bravery and sacrifice. His actions granted us the opportunity to take refuge behind one of the sturdy walls and retain a height advantage throughout the battle.

I saw there were some warriors breaking rank and heading to attack the enemy that was maneuvering to pray at the shrine of Wannok. Although I am frustrated at their failure to follow my orders and stay near me I commend their brave sacrifice in delaying the wicked wraith that would befall our troops from Wannok. Those soldiers were brothers by blood. Joshua Broughton and Thomas Broughton successfully removed the first Repulsor that was attempting to lay claim to the wicked shrine.

Fire was exchanged from both sides. At first we were granted the good fortune of the enemies' weapons not striking true. Something was not right. Beyond the strangeness that friendly forces were being so openly hostile there was something else not right. The combat tactics seemed different. Every time I had seen these machines fight in previous battles they always lead with the smaller ones racing forward to entangle the enemy so that they could use their science-magics to aid their taller brothers more accurate and deadly shots. But the smaller ones had split off to flank behind us. Flanking was a tactic used by warriors across time. It is a good tactic for most, but counter intuitive to how Jandar soulborg were trained. In addition, the first few minutes of combat the Snipers were missing their shots, which is uncharacteristic of them. But that fortune only lasted for so long.

Due to the superior weaponry of our foes they had us out ranged. This meant that my warriors were not going to get many chances to use the tactic they favored of patiently aiming and firing at their most accurate. If we were to survive this fight we would need to restrict opportunities offered to our attackers to shot at us. We needed to force them to come to us so that my warriors might find a chance to brace and fire. I told my forces that we would take the hill, fortify it, then if necessary advance the enemy.

While I watched the Bluecoats become pinned down one of the squad leaders, one of my warriors, Christopher Monroe, wished to follow in Johnathon Dixon's path and sacrifice himself for us to move more freely under the grace of Valda. He requested permission to take the shrine. I yelled to him from across the river for him to wait until I could protect him with my aura. I took flight and took a position behind the wall where my shielding aura could reach the shrine. Once I had done that I gave him permission to aid the fight with his risk. He held it just long enough for most of the remaining Minutemen to join us, and then I ordered him to return to cover.

I knew we didn't have the advantage of time. The longer we waited the better positioning the enemy would gain. I spoke to Sergeant Monroe. I told him I needed his men to do what damage they could but that I wanted them to do so while they remain under my protection and make what use of height and cover that they could. He barked some orders and it began. With forces dropping on both sides I knew I needed to stay calm and not charge carelessly into battle. The riflemen alternated from breaking cover, but not my protection, to fire at the enemy. Sometimes they lived to return to cover, sometimes they didn't.

I sensed a disturbance in the natural balance, and with that a bolt from the clouds above struck down to our huddled area. And to my dismay Marcu somehow drew that energy at himself. He convulsed and growled in pain, And then he stared directly into my eyes. Without words he told me I could trust him, and that he was ready to pay the ultimate price for Jandar's benefit. I accepted his offer and gave him free reign to act as he wanted. He leapt into the air and in one fluid motion laid claim to the shrine of Valda, where he remained, taking blow after blow from Wannok and eventually falling to the cannons of Omegacron.

With Valda's hand pushing him forward one of the Bluecoats, Roland DeWitt, who still remained behind on the far side of the river, broke into a flurry of motion. He ran across the ice eventually finding his way face to face with Omegacron. He was trying to cut the proverbial head off of the snake. Those that could see him held that moment in stillness, wanting this chaos and horror to end with this one shot. But the weapon could not pierce the armor, and DeWitt fell before managing to reload his weapon. His bravery was contagious. Others wanted to charge forth. I ordered them to hold the hill and allow our iron giant to take the fight to them.

Because Marcu found the grace of Valda for us I could order Quetin to get near me quickly. I wanted him to stay away from the flanking Repulsors and to benefit from protection through Gerda. I knew allowing the smaller of the soulborgs to engage Quetin in combat would be too risky, since their magic can cause others of their type to lose their will to fight.

As Quetin made it to my side he saw Omegacron advancing on our position. Our giant moved to the edge of my spear's enhancement and opened fire. Omegacron charged to take an equal height position across from Quetin. The roar of their weapons drowned out all other sounds save the sound of their armor repelling nearly every attack that the other could deliver. Quetin kept maneuvering from equal ground to fire explosive bolts at the other metal giant to retreating to high ground to get a better angle to fire some other weapon of his. I'm not sure of why he was moving so much but I suppose it was to confuse the enemy. Myself and the remaining four Bluecoats remained behind cover as the titans exchanged attacks. During that time was when Omegacron delivered the killing shot to Marcu.

I felt it, that feeling where the hair stands up on the back of my neck. It was another lashing from Wannok. Without the vampire to receive it I knew there was only one option. I held my spear high to direct the damage to myself. Because of this I start to lose track of the order of events. I'm unclear as to if it was before that or after that when I discovered there was a single, non-soulborg that was standing against us. And it wasn't until the battle was done that I learned that her name is Kira Jax. I do not remember if it was just before or just after Marcu fell that Kira made her presence known by climbing to one of the highest points on the battlefield and releasing a shot that brought about Quetin's first injury.

I had that sinking feeling. The giants seemed to be too evenly matched for either to make headway but this new enemy was now a very real threat to my giant. I needed to stop hiding and start leading. I ordered Quetin to focus fire onto the Repulsor that was sneaking around the corner. He hesitated for only a second before shifting his position to destroy the robot chicken. I suspect he hesitated because getting an order from a Jandar commander was new. Or perhaps it was him questioning my decision that a lone, tiny clockwork deserved that much attention when there was another metal giant that needed to be shot at and this new threat that had already stung him. But true and loyal he obeyed me.

More alternating fire from Kira and Omegacron was taking its toll on Quetin. I ordered him next to shift to equal ground and use the exploding bolts. They seemed to do less damage but could fire more rapidly than when he used his larger cannon. It was with the second shot that Omegacron finally fell.

Kira delivered another attack to Quetin but his armor held. He wanted to charge her, which would put him beyond my protection. I ordered him back. Back far enough that it would force Kira to wait for me to get the Bluecoats into a better position or force her to advance to us.

Reluctantly he took a few steps back. Kira leapt from her perch and advanced to where she could shoot. I suspect she could tell her weapon was sufficient enough to end Quetin and wanted to keep up the pressure, and with good reason. This shot, like her first shot, found a weak spot and did more damage. It was enough for Quetin to ask again for permission to engage. It seemed like this would be the time to finish this. Weighing the risks of allowing him to run out of my field of protection to gain two rapid shots on Kira against the option of him getting one shot and remaining guarded I decided for the riskier option. I yelled charge, and he was off. He ran right up to be face to face with his assailant. Two exploding bolts later and she was down.

At this point I was given the clue I needed into why Jandar forces would fire upon Other Jandar forces. The remaining Repulsor started to act erratically. It ran off in no particular direction and in a weaving, confused path. As far as I know it is still running aimlessly out there, somewhere.

Quetin was wise to what had transpired. He pried open the chest panel of Omegacron and showed me a mess of tiny, colored ropes. He explained that Kira was adept at manipulating the inner workings of machines and was the one in command of these soulborg. I am submitting with my report the inside pieces of these findings for others that understand such magic to examine more closely.

I am also submitting the shredded and burnt chest armor that was worn by Kira. The same armor that was found where we had thought her to have died. It would seem she cheated Quetin of his victor. I'm sure they will meet again on the field of battle.

It was the next day after the battle I asked Quetin about his maneuvering during his firefight with Omegacron. He told me that his changing positions were in someway to protect me, to keep Omegacron from attacking me. It feels weird, knowing I was the one that was being protected.


Names of the dead to be honored:

Jonathan Dixon
Philip Wills
Aaron Hammersmith
Jonas Weilheim
Oliver Buckler
Roland DeWitt
Carl Michelson
Jeremiah Thorne
Kurt Christensen
Joshua Broughton
Thomas Broughton
Alexander Claremont
Marcu Esenwein

Please see to it that they are remembered for their bravery and sacrifice.

*Report excerpt from Raelin's War Journal