2/25/03

It's been quite a while since anyone has played Mage Knight in this group, and it looks like that will have to continue. Everyone is so busy that it's hard to fit in any battles, even on the normal Sunday afternoon. But Dan and Bob were lucky today, in that they were both able to squeeze out a couple hours to have a match. Bob is trying out one of his "Neo-Bone Toss" armies he put together, and Dan is fielding some Atlantis. He is going with a new AG philosophy of army construction, "mixing some new in with the old."



DISCLAIMER: Bob wishes it to be known to all that he did not dye his hair yellow, nor did he purposefully do anything to his hair to make it appear yellow. The lights that were used in the room that the pictures were taken for this battle sometimes cause things to appear yellow, and there was one directly over Bob's head.

Look at how big his hands are!!!

Bob's Army:

  • Zombie Baron - 82
  • Soul Stealer* - 35
  • Skeleton* - 10
  • Skeleton* - 10
  • Stalking Skeleton** - 23
  • Stalking Skeleton** - 23
  • Crystal Protector*** - 17

    TOTAL = 200

Dan's Army:

  • Xandressan Boarder - 57
  • Blade Golem*** - 36
  • Technomancer* - 37
  • Battle Queen*** - 47
  • Solonavi Channeler* - 33

    TOTAL = 200

There is one special rule regarding terrain that I think I will clear up before you see the picture of the set-up of the board. Bob chose one piece of water terrain & one piece of blocking terrain, and dan chose one piece of water as well and a bridge to put over the water. The bridge is marked as "Special Clear Terrain." It was placed so that it crossed the water entirely. It was treated as clear terrain for movement and lines of fire, etc.

Both armies include Magic Levitation, with Bob's strategy revolving around the Ability and Dan's army using it as merely one tactical option. The two sides advanced straight for each other on the first two actions of the game, Dan going first because he had win the initiative dice roll. Both were waiting to see if the other would make the first move, take the first step towards total carnage. It turned out that Bob would make the first engagement, but it was in the form of a not-so-smart move. He moved and Magic Levitated a skeleton (which will hereafter be known as a "fling,") into Dan's Technomancer. He hoped that Dan would not remember that ML could be a defensive special ability as well, but Dan did remember. He immediately flung Bob's Skellie into his Battle Queen and finished it off in one turn.

Bob decided that he would have to move his Bone-toss engine closer to the action. He made a bad decision, though, and moved it too close to the opponents. He was now only 10" away from Dan's figures and his Technomancer, a move that would come back to haunt him later. Dan took advantage of this and Magic Levitated his Blade Golem into Bob's Zombie Baron (which had a token on it from moving.) The Blade Golem did not have a token because it was MLed, so Bob could not count on it pushing next turn, giving him a free Weapons Master shot.

He instead flung the Blade Golem into one of his Stalking Skeletons (also with a token already,) with the Golem's rear arc facing the skeleton. Using his second action, Bob attempted a capture. He needed a 7, and got it. The Blade Golem was now captured at full health, and Bob's Stalker still had quickness, so the idea was to make a bee-line to the starting area. His plans were quickly dashed, however, as Dan had a clear shot at the remaining Stalking Skeleton. He attacked it using Flame/Lightning, and made it through the Dodge. Bob's Stalker, Zombie Baron, and Soul Stealer all took one click of damage, and the Battle Queen took one for pushing and one from Magic Retaliation (courtesy of ye olde Shyft figure.) Dan saw the opportunity presented by the pushed figures, and promptly pushed his Technomancer to ML the Xandressan Boarder into the Zombie Baron. He again took advantage of the fact that he was only 10" away and set up the Boarder for an attack that would not cause pushing.

A couple of turns later, this is what had gone on: Bob's Zombie Baron pushed once more attacking the Boarder, but missed the roll. Dan attacked the Baron, putting it right into its Regeneration slot. Bob also based the Boarder with one of his Skeletons, and the Battle Queen with a Stalking Skeleton. Bob had moved his other Stalking Skeleton, the one that captured the Blade Golem, but it was not quite in his starting area yet.

Twice, Bob regenerated the Zombie Baron for the maximum of 4 clicks. Dan's Xandressan was on one of its late Dodge click, and three times in two turns it Dodged attacks. Bob finally got through, though, and demoralized the Boarder. It was captured on the same turn by a Stalking Skeleton. Dan had retreated his Battle Queen to his healer, and healed it to its second slot. On his next turn after he had done this, he moved and then Magic Levitated the Queen so that it could base the Stalking Skeleton that held the Blade Golem as its captor. Bob failed his break away roll, and the Stalking Skellie was soon done in by the Battle Queen, which was pretty bad for Bob because if you recall, that Golem was at full health.

It was getting towards the end of the battle though, and it looked like it would come down to whether or not Bob got that captured Boarder into his starting area or not. If he did, he would probably win, and if he didn't, he would surely lose. On Dan's last turn of the battle, he based the Stalking Skeleton, and on Bob's last turn, he successfully broke away and made it to his starting area as time expired. Both players agreed that they should count up points anyway. Dan killed four regular skeletons and two stalking skeletons during the course of the match. It was a fight to the finish, and could not have been much closer. The final point total was:

Dan: 227 pts
Bob: 248 pts

WINNER: Bob

This was the first time Bob had playtested his "Neo-Bone toss" strategy, and there were a couple of valuable lessons learned. The biggest one was that the Bone-Toss engine needs to keep its distance from the opposing army. Even though the Zombie Baron has Limited Invisibility, that does not make him completely safe. Going along with this, another lesson to be learned is that blocking terrain can greatly aid the Bone-toss army. We'll see how this strategy evolves, so keep checking back to the site for new 'Toss reports.

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