Fantastic Scuffles - playtesting in Italy part 2
As playtesting continues for Fantastic Scuffles, Giulio has sent in another beautifully illustrated game report that he's happy for me to share. If you missed his previous experiment, you can find it here. Giulio continues:
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The lists
My wife kindly offered once again to be my opponent for this game, so I created two 165-ish point warbands.
I've been testing fantastic scuffles for a while, now, using mainly two lists: a Witch Hunters warband and a "Villain" minion master who controls all sorts of evil creatures.
I recently painted Torgillius from Warhammer Cursed City, so I decided to use him as my minion master. He is a Sage, and I gave him the Erudite trait and chose three spells for him: Summon (to bring in some extra friends), Mystic Missile, and Transfigure, to transform him into a giant spider!
I also wanted to create a loyal, powerful warrior bodyguard character to accompany Torgillius, so I used a Kosargi guard from Warhammer Cursed City. I wanted him to be very tanky and do a lot of damage in combat, so I made him Large and gave him Bloodless, Slow, Robust, and Strong to buff his profile as much as possible. Then I also gave him a medium armor and a Polearm. This combination of traits and equips gave him a solid -5 buff to be wounded, making him very hard to bring down!
For the minions, I created 3 full minion units:
- A group of 3 skeletons with Bloodless and shields
- A group of 3 spiders equipped with Nets, to represent them throwing webs
- A unit of 6 rat units, which have Swarm and poisoned weapons, to represent their venomous and deadly bites.
Their leader, Haskel, is a warrior with Proud and Skilled Fighter. Since I wanted to make it more deadly in close combat, I also gave him Spiky, to represent that he is not someone to mess with. Also, I gave him a sword so he can ignore the -1 modifier when he makes opportunity attacks, so he can take full advantage of Spiky. He also carries a pistol, a torch, and medium armor.
Aemos is the “tough guy” in the Hexbane Hunters, and I wanted him to be the counterpart of the Kosargi guard. He is a warrior with Robust, Resolute, and Strong, and uses a Great Axe.
Brydget is a rogue shooter, and she’s equipped with a deadly Black Powder Brace Pistol, which allows her to shoot twice in the same activation.
Quiet Pock is equipped with a crossbow with flaming rounds, to represent the deadly crossbow with explosive rounds shown on the model, and Trapper.
The last two members of the Hexban Hunters are two dogs, Grotbiter and Ratspike, who are two minions with the Impulsive trait, to represent the fact that they are hunting dogs.
Since I still had some spare points, I decided they would be accompanied by Octren from Warhammer Cursed City, who is a Sage with Erudite, Bless, and Heal, who will try to stay away from combat as much as possible and buff his allies.
I was eager to try a mission with a hostile model, so I didn't roll the mission for the hunters, and I selected "Monster Hunters" straight away. I have a Vargskyr model from Cursed City, which was perfect. We didn't roll for his position and decided to deploy him at the center of the table.
For the Villains list, we rolled the mission and got 8 - Abduction!
As ever, I was genuinely surprised by how well these missions fit together to create a very thematic and engaging story! A group of monster hunters tasked to slay a fearsome monster that is causing havoc in the nearby villages, while a cunning necromancer seizes the opportunity to abduct one of them for his own dark purposes...
My wife decided she wanted to take the villain list, so I took the Witch Hunter. We deployed both the warbands on the same side but on different corners.
This is how the game looked after the setup.
Turn 1 - The Hunt Begins!
Unfortunately for the hunters, the first turn starts with the Vargskyr stalking far away into the shadows, making their task all the more difficult.
The hunters begin their advance toward the monstrous creature, firing off pistol shots as they close the distance. But the swarm of rats scurries forward, eager to intercept and prevent them from killing the beast and score their objective!
Torgillus raises a new skeleton warrior, and they head for the stairs toward Pock, and they plan to abduct him. Meanwhile, the two loyal dogs charge into the fray, locking the Kosargi Guard in combat to keep him distracted.
As the turn comes to a close, the Vargskyr charges into the rat swarm, killing one of them, but not without cost! Because of this movement, the monster ended up in the traps laid by Pock, who sprang into action and inflicted 3 wounds to the beast!
Turn 2 - Taking down the beast
The skeletons surround Pock and try to subdue him, but he holds his ground despite taking some wounds, refusing to be taken!
Seizing the moment, Haskel uses the chaos caused by the rats to strike at the Vargskyr from behind. But he deals no damage.
The Vargskyr activates, and the result is Hide, so it disengages and disappears into the dark.
Spiders activate next, trying to entangle the hunters in their webs, but they fail.
Octren gets closer and tries to empower his friends, but he fails his cast roll.
Pock, still surrounded by skeletons, makes a desperate dash to escape, taking some damage from the opportunity attacks.
The enraged Vargskyr lashes out at Aemos, seeking vengeance for the grievous wound. But Aemos, fueled by fury and using his bonus activation, finishes the beast off in a glorious, final blow! Objective scored for the hunters!
But disaster strikes elsewhere. I use the dogs to attack the Kosargi, but I make two critical mistakes.
First, their missed attacks provoke opportunity strikes, and the Kosargi uses these to kill both of them; with nothing left to stop him, he activates and subdues poor Pock.
Second mistake: I assumed the Kosargi had to exit through their deployment zone. Wrong, any edge would do. The Kosargi is encumbered because he is carrying a model, so his movement is down to 1”, but the edge of the table is not too far away...
It seems the match is likely going to be a tie.
With Pock still on the table, the hunters desperately focus their fire on the Kosargi, hoping to bring him down before he can escape. Since he’s still encumbered, he's easier to hit, but he is at full health and not easy to kill.
The hunters go again. In desperation, I send Octren charging the Kosargi, a reckless move I’d never normally make.
Then, it’s the villains’ turn. My wife, seizing the moment (and enjoying every second), refuses to activate the Kosargi. Instead, she sends the spiders in to wreak havoc, and they ensnare Aemos in their sticky webs.
But Aemos breaks free! With Brydget at his side, they start cutting down the remaining minions, with any hope of preventing the villains from scoring their objective is gone.
Torgillus continues summoning skeletons to stall their advance.
The Kosargi, just an inch from the board’s edge, turns to punish Octren for his boldness, inflicting 3 wounds before moving off the table with the unconscious Pock.
Turn 4 - No Mercy, Only Revenge
With the game in a tie, we decided to keep rolling dies and and press on. The hunters, full of righteous fury for the faith of their comrade Pock, cut down the remaining minions.
The real target, of course, is Torgillus. They want the necromancer to pay for taking their friend, and they still cannot believe they have been caught off guard so easily.
But Torgillus is not an easy prey, and as he flees, he keeps calling forth wave after wave of skeletons to block their path.
Blood stains the floor. The hunters press forward in a last, furious push, while skeletons keep rising.
Brydget suffers blow after blow and remains with just one wound left. Torgillus is still far away, and so the vile necromancer manages to escape.
The end
Since this wasn’t part of a campaign but just a one-off game, we decided to stop it there. The match was incredibly fun, even if everything happened fast. Moving a lot of minions around takes time, but it is also a lot of fun and very strategic.
We’re already looking forward to a rematch, and maybe even planning a narrative scenario where the hunters set out on a desperate mission to rescue poor Pock from the clutches of the vile Torgillus. This could be a perfect chance to bring some additional models in, like new minions, new evil characters, and most of all, some new reinforcements for the hunters (like a mighty Stormcast, for example).