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Ophelia vs Leviticus, November


Grenoir

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With news the Battle report competition was starting up again, I saved this from last weekend, and made a bit of an extra effort.

Post 1 is a narrative story, while post 2 is a usual style report. Hope you enjoy!

A chill wind blew through the empty town streets, banking the drifts of snow higher against the doors and windows. The winter had been long and hard, and the townsfolk had settled in for the evening, wrapped in blankets and huddled around their stoves for warmth. A great deal of warmth was suddenly created as a huge explosion rocked the saloon and general store!

******

Lazarus had come a long way, avoiding Guild patrols and Neverborn threats, to meet with the old man. The cold no longer bothered it but movement in snow was still difficult with this body. The old man had promised to share the secrets of his creations; that he could still improve on the“gifts” Lazarus had been granted by this new form. Hopefully something that would aid its traction on this damn ice…

The meeting place was a small town in Serenity Valley, and it was nearing its destination. Small trails of smoke from log fires hung in the air just at the edge of its vision, and the shack on the outskirts, where they were to meet, was just in view. It increased its scanning range, focusing on the nearby buildings and alleyways. All seemed quiet, and no one was about, but then two shots rang out in the darkness. Turning in the direction they came from, it picked out two heat sources lying in the snow. Something was happening here – those heat sources were two dying bodies turning the snow crimson, two bodies in Guild uniforms. While it could not feel the cold, or little of anything else anymore, the sight of dead Guild guards almost made it feel warm inside.

Strangely, as it watched, the bodies started to twitch and move. It was sure they were dead, nothing could lose that amount of blood and live, maybe Resurrectionists were about? Focusing further into the glume of the alley, it spotted an old, blackclad gremlin seeming to focus some sort of power on the dead men. The bodies writhed, then, fashioned into clumps of flesh resembling what looked to be small pigs, they started to come toward him.

“Get back!” yelled a figure from his right.

The old man had appeared from their meeting place, and, gesturing towards the pig-like puppets moving from the alley, cast a wave of necrotic power, dropping both as though by cutting their strings. Another gremlin had come running with the piglets, carrying a huge shotgun but it too was knocked aside by the wave. Suddenly the two piglets exploded in great plumes of fire and dirt, hammering the shops to either side, and blowing in windows. The use of such power to stop the flesh constructs was impressive but the cost was high. As Lazarus watched, the oldman collapsed into the snow – the cost was much too high.

*******

Raphael was cold. He hated snow and he hated havin’ to babysit that weird old gremlin. Fine, it had been fun takin’ out those two guardsmen (what were they doing sneakin’ around this backwater dump anyhow) but all the other boys were off with Ophelia and he’d been stuck fetchin’ this old coot. He’d go and search the bodies and see if they had anything worth stealin’…maybe some sparkly gems, or even soul stones, Ophelia liked soul stones.

“Hmm, nothin’ much on the bodies” he thought, but there was something sparkly over there, just at the end of the alley….wonder what it …..

“Ah’hell, that thing’s huge!.... Let’s kill it!”

Raphael sprinted for the metal monster standing in the snow, glancing back at the taxidermist to see him enthralled with the dead guards, before noticing another oldster hobbling into view. What was it with all these decrepit fools wanderin’ about this town? Just as he levelled his Big Honkin’ Gun, a wave of green energy swept from the man, hurling him from his feet and catching the two forms following him.

“Were those two piglets?” he wondered. Then the world exploded.

*******

Ophelia quite liked snow. She liked the swamps more but change was nice and a little expedition out in this stuff would toughen her boys up for taking on the Ortega clan. Still, there wasn’t really much going on here. She’d heard rumours of some sort of meeting the Guild were interested in but there didn’t really seem to be much happening around here at all. She wondered if Raphael had found that taxidermist yet? She’d hired one while Pere was resting up after his latest misadventure with explosives but she wasn’t really sure if he’d be much of a replacement.

KABOOOOOMMM

Or, maybe he would fit in ok……

********

As Lazarus watched, the old man’s body just seemed to just fade away, dissolving into the snow. The sole reason it had made its way out here was to meet with that man and nothing it’d witnessed so far was of any use to assimilate into its programming ; it’d come all this way for nothing! They might have killed those Guildmen but those gremlins were going to suffer.

********

“Wow” thought Raphael “this is becomin’ quite fun”. Picking up his gun, he sprinted for the end of the alley and hopped behind some barrels. That old dude had just collapsed out of sight in the snow but that huge construct still needed some dealin’ with. Drawing his aim down on the thing’s chest, he let go with two more blasts from his gun. Times like these, he always seemed to cause some horrifically impressive damage with the thing but this time this metal creature hardly seemed to have noticed. It had quite an impressive gun itself and, as he ducked back behind the barrel, more explosions rocked the alley and buildings. As he started to rise again, another apparition leapt from the night. Much smaller than the monster already firing on him, this thing came through the air landing at his feet on silvery, spiderlike legs, and lashed out, cutting his arm and leaving a rotting smelling slime coating the wound. It got both barrels in the face and was blown to pieces.

“Ha, much more easy”.

*******

Leaving Rami covering the main street, Ophelia, Francois and one of her young’uns made their way towards the fire and explosions coming from the closest side alley. Just as she made out, all wreathed in smoke, the taxidermist working feverously with two corpses she also saw movement in the trees off to one side.

“Allow me” grunted Francois as he jogged off to investigate.

He made good going in the snow, and dropped down between two barrels, just short of 3 strange girls, all stood watching the fires from the edge of a glade of trees. Peering around the edge of his cover, he aimed his gun on the nearest of the group.

“Ha, like shooting fish in a puddle” muttered Francois as he shot down one girl, the pistol’s report echoing through the trees.

“My go, my go!!” shouted the young’un as it came sprinting past Francois, aiming at the 2 remaining targets. Another loud crack sounded and staggered one of the girls.

“Woohoo, got one” he shouted, leaping for joy.

“Git down you idjit, they’re too weird lookin’ to be harmless” but the warning came too late as the tallest of the girls swivelled and returned fire with a Clockwork Seeker. The youngster was blown from his feet, collapsing in a bank of snow.

“Ooo, you’ll pay for that” growled Ophelia, watching the scene unfold. The shooter had bizarrely started to shimmer and was difficult to makeout hiding in the trees but once Ophelia had something in her sights she rarely missed. She charged forward, drawing both pistols on the run in a clean, fluid motion, and shot, concentrating all her fury, and willing the bullets home, right between the girl’s eyes.

********

That one gremlin was proving more hard work than Lazarus had originally envisaged. While the undead construct that had just attacked would have been an interesting study (and just what it’d have wanted for movement on this terrain) it too was now dead, its broken corpse lying in the snow.

“Time to finish this” it thought.

But, as it drew power to fire the grenade launcher mounted on it’s arm, the old man reappeared! How was this to be? It was sure it’d seen him die, and then fade away into the snow. Maybe it was a Neverborn trick, and just a copy, but the man was still engaging with the enemy, so it’d investigate once that gremlin was dead. Again, a pulse of energy swept the area but this time the gremlin was the sole focus, and it could not dodge the full brunt of the spell’s force.

“Finally” thought Lazarus, watching as it collapsed.

Turning back to the old man, it was about to speak when once more movement came from the alley. Another of those strange pig-like creatures came lopping forward and with the smoke covering its advance it was much, much too close! Inches apart, the fleshy creature detonated, hurling the old man’s body through the air and leaving it a broken, crumpled heap, devoid of any life.

Lazarus had had enough. There was no way the old man was returning from that, and it needed time to repair the damage it had taken. Perhaps it would come back to look for more of the spidery constructs once the gremlins had left…

*******

Glancing around, the final girl just seemed to have vanished, so Ophelia called Francois over and they started making their way back towards the fire, smoke, and continued explosions coming from the alley down the street. She spotted the taxidermist with a crowd of piglets heading her way but continued on, determined to see what had happened to Raphael. Clearing the end of the alley, climbing passed numerous smoking craters and walls scorched and burnt from fire, explosions, and magic alike, she spotted what looked like Raphael lying near some broken fence posts. Beyond him, disappearing into the snow, a huge metal construct was fading from view.

“Check on ‘im” she told Francois, pointing at Raphael “The big one is mine”.

Judging from the direction it was going, it should run into Rami (if he was still where she’d told him to wait) and if all that noise, damage and fire was from that one monster, it was surely what the Guild were interested in. Maybe they’d be willing to pay for getting hold of it…with a few additional holes, obviously.

Rifle shots around the next building told her Rami had indeed waited where he was told, for once listening when she’d shown him a good spot that covered the view of the main street. As she peaked around the corner of the building, she was just in time to spot Rami, outlined in green flame, collapsing behind some crates, and an old man stagger and collapse into the snow some way off. Before she could take this in, she caught sight again of the metal monster, almost at the edge of town. Knowing this was her last chance, she drew one of her soul stones from her pocket and focused on the fading shape.

“Nothin’ escapes my sights” she muttered as twin shots sprang from her pistols and pierced the thing’s mechanical spine, dropped it, unmoving, in the snow.

*******

“Hmm, not as a productive a day as I’d originally thought it would be” mused Leveticus, watching the gremlins poking the prone form of Lazarus. He’d have to wait for them to leave before making any attempt to reinitialise its repair systems. Still, it seemed to have performed quite well and, if he could construct another Necropunk for it to copy its movement capabilities, it would probably perform better in the future. At least the gremlins were making such a racket that the Guild would blame all of this, and the dead guards, on them.

“I wonder where Alyce has gotten to?” he thought.

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Game number 3, this time with new crew additions (game numbers 1 & 2 can both be found in this thread:

http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?36454-Levi-vs-Orphelia-(20ss)

Following on from the previous games, feedback, and a furious bout of painting, the crews this time consisted of;

post-11257-13911925851333_thumb.jpg

Leveticus

Lazarus

Canine Remains (named him Gladstone)

Necropunk

Rusty Alyce

post-11257-1391192585174_thumb.jpg

Ophelia

Francois

Rami

Raphael

Taxidermist

1 Young LaCroix

We flipped for a shared strategy and got Turf War, then chose a scheme each – figuring I’d be heading for his deployment zone anyway I picked Stake a Claim on a tree just at the edge of it (announced), and he went for Gather Soul Stones (announced) seeing as he was starting with loads more than me…

Corner deployment looked like this;

post-11257-13911925852099_thumb.jpg

As both of us had models that could use Corpse counters, we added two in an alley in the centre of the table just to make it interesting.

Turn 1. The usual movement turn. My Necropunk and Lazarus ran (=walked twice) down my left flank, while Gladstone ran for the Corpse counters. I figured if I could get those I could keep him alive instead of turning him into my second Waif. Unfortunately Raphael with Reckless got there all the more quickly (with the Taxidermist right on his heels) so, as I couldn’t get them in time, Leveticus killed off Gladstone for the Waif after all. Weirdly, I felt quite attached to him and didn’t want to kill him off – must remember not to name models that are only around to make Corpse counters.

Ophelia drags the rest of her gremlin crew up using “ooo, a girl” and they spread out a little, making quite a large, fast group heading for my deployment zone.

post-11257-13911925852498_thumb.jpg

Turn 2. Winning initiative, Raphael moves forward to block the alley and access to the Corpse counters, and fires a shot at Lazarus doing very little damage. As I run my ex-Gladstone Waif into cover, the Taxidermist creates two Stuffed Piglets….neatly crowded in behind Rapahel. The next move is quite spectacular. I move Leveticus up, cast Desolation, and severely wound Raphael while killing both Piglets making some huge explosions! I also dealt enough damage that Leveticus died. Spotting an opening, the Ophelia group activated, got dragged up with “ooo, a girl” again and companioned. Francois is sent off after one Waif (the ex-Gladstone one, hiding from the action in the alley) and he shoots her dead. Then the Young LaCroix runs for the woods where the other Waif is hiding. With “ooo, it’s a girl”, good speed, and “reckless” it’s becoming very hard to keep the Waifs hidden and out of gunshot range! Luckily, this assassination attempt fails. Finishing off the turn, Lazarus adds more explosions to the alley with a shot back at Raphael but he still lives through it.

post-11257-13911925852921_thumb.jpg

Turn 3. Leveticus wins initiative so I have the Necropunk “Leap” in and attack with “Flurry”. With some spectacular low cards, the black joker on a Rot trigger, and Raphael getting the Squeal trigger for his defence, he still doesn’t die! Instead he heals himself a bit, kills the Necropunk with his Big Honkin’ gun and takes another shot a Lazarus. Having had enough of Raphael, Levi walks over and burns a soul stone to turn him into a Steampunk Abomination. With exploded pig Corpse counters still filling the alley, the Taxidermist has another shot and remakes the Piglets. Hiding in the forest with the Waif, Alyce shoots and kills the Young LaCroix, made all the more difficult by how small he is and puts up Misdirection. That doesn’t impress Ophelia who, with” Right Between the Eyes” (I hate how that ignores cover) kills Alyce. Finishing the turn Francois runs for the Levi deployment zone and Lazarus runs for the LaCroix DZ.

post-11257-13911925853349_thumb.jpg

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Turn 4. Leveticus gets initiative and needs to activate first to deal with the pig speeding towards him. If I left it, it would follow me and explode catching 2 or more models, so I figured I’d make a move, melee strike, and then move on.… but Levi isn’t always that great in melee is he. Once the smoke had cleared Levi was on 1 wound but the pig was dead. I could have dealt with that a lot better….

The Taxidermist and remaining Piglets run for the deployment zone (you’ll see the about turn by the piglets in next turn’s photo, as he realises they’re Insignificant). Knowing that Leveticus will die in the end phase, the gremlins once again focus on killing Waifs. Ophelia gets the forest Waif and gives “Dumb and Lucky” to Francois so he can hopefully have multiple shots at killing the other. Thankfully he misses due to cover. With Lazarus still moving for the DZ (and that Claim tree) he finally runs into the sights of Rami, the end zone guard. With “Gremlin Sights” and “Reckless” Rami brings him down to just 1 Wd and would have killed him off if it wasn’t for the Black Joker flip on the damage for the last shot!

post-11257-13911925853861_thumb.jpg

Turn 5. I need to win initiative again, so burn my final Soul Stone to do so with a re-flip. I also need to kill Rami before he kills Lazarus so again it’s Leveticus that goes first. End of activation = dead Leveticus, dead Rami, and new Hollow Waif. With Lazarus still just alive, Francois takes a shot at him (in the back) but fails to take him down. The ex-Raphael SPA then attacks Francois and does 2 damage. The go-to girl Ophelia then walks twice, just gets LoS on Lazarus around the corner of a building and again with “Right Between the Eyes” kills another model dead (should be “Right Between the Shoulders” with that shot).

post-11257-13911925854325_thumb.jpg

Turn 6. Leveticus returns using the ex-Rami Waif, meaning he’s only a buildings length from the Claim tree and the deployment zone. By activating him and companioning the Waifs, I move him over to the tree and put two Waifs blocking LoS from any gremlins, while the third hides behind a building. If we can finish here, I could get a draw. Ophelia and Francois run forward to try and get better positions to shoot the remaining Levi crew next turn.

post-11257-13911925854807_thumb.jpg

Flip for turn 7 = no, game ends.

VP for Leveticus = 2 for Turf War + 2 for Stake a Claim = 4VP

VP for Ophelia = 2 for Turf War + 2 for Gather Soulstones = 4VP

If Ophelia and/or Francois had run the other way from Leveticus, running into my half of the table instead, they’d have won the game with an extra +1 for Turf War, so I really should have lost this game.

I enjoyed using the Necropunk and Lazarus though. If Lazarus wasn’t having to move for the DZ the whole game I’d have liked to have seen how he did with more combat. Might have another change with the next game as I bought some Undead models to change into the crew (bonus being if I buy McMourning, I have another crew all ready for another master), just depends on how fast I paint them. On the gremlin side, the Taxidermist and piglets were great fun too and a nice change from Pere. McTavish might join the Taxidermist in the future to get the piglets around even faster.

I’m currently working on a small graveyard to add to the town, so there’ll be another source of Corpse counters for the future.

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