Empire vs. Azur

My Azur foes (also, best painted team winner from Gencon '11)

Before sitting down for the second game for the Anima campaign, had to roll for injuries from the last game. Daniella came out fine, but Claire was wounded. Funk. Swapped her out for this battle with an Imperial Agent (with one extra action point a turn, rolling a second die for Master Attack, and a speed of 8/12. Really just going to be a fill-in for wounded characters. Used a proxy of a Crab Clan Berserker from Clan Wars.) We also rolled for Aaron's ultimate goal for the campaign: "We Must not Let Them Succeed." Fair enough.

Tonight's battle, a 200 point clash. We roll on the chart, and get 'Albidion.' Which is a nifty scenario, except the Church Inquisitor shows up when a magic ability is used. And I had, uh, no magic abilities. And for my opponent, the Colonel had one. Which he didn't use. So, yeah.

As last time, I brought Kronen, Daniella Meris, the aforementioned Agent, and Tiamat. Aaron brought Azur, consisting of Maximo Ligori, Kyler, Kirsten, and the Colonel. He brought the Power Source, which combined with his orders meant he was never really short on actions. He also brought some Piercing Weapons, knowing that I would be running with the Imperial Armor.

Terrain was a few ruined buildings, but the majority of the action centered around the one in the middle, which was a conveniently large line-of-sight blocker we converged on quickly. First turn, primarily maneuvering and moving up.

Bad moon on the rise.

Turns two and three, dice start getting thrown in earnest. Daniella pops around a corner, throws an arrow at Kirsten, missing wildly. Kirsten returns the favor, poisoning poor Daniella (a trend that will last the rest of the game.) Kronen stakes a solid position in the middle, and solidly fails to seek any Prowlers nearby. I completely botch my sequence, through, and move up Tiamat to back up Kronen... forgetting I had already moved Kronen that turn, and thusly he can't intercept to protect the boss. Ligori makes sure Tiamat doesn't forget that lesson. The Colonel follows up, and Tiamat is off the table.

Turn four, the Agent tries to teach Ligori how the Master Attack really rocks, but no, another big miss. Ligori tries to return the favor, with a Raxxor Slayer, but duplicates the miss. Kronen throws a critical hit on Kyler, and Kyler is hurting bad. Daniella tries to conserve actions, only dodging while hoping to drain the poison, but is creeping down to three health at this point. The Colonel clears out the Agent with a Hephastios Crest. And, at the end of the turn, I concede, hoping to save my remaining characters from further insult and injuries.

Post-battle sequence, no new wounded characters. Aaron rolls for his reward, and lands "Curse," which is really one of the better ones.

Imperial Armor vs. "The Process"

They're, uh, camouflaged.

The Virginia crew has started an Anima Tactics campaign. Unfortunately, my gaming grinds to a slow drag come November and December, so I knew I wouldn't be able to really plunge into it with both feet. Nonetheless, David was willing to hike out to Dream Wizards to get me my first game into the campaign, and a good time was had by all.


We're using the "Dark is the Fallen Sky" campaign (PDF available free here.) Rolling for my team's ultimate goal, I got "That Which Should Not Exist." Meaning I have to win the 'Neo-Abomination' scenario five times. Thematic for the Empire, but a sight unlikely.


We rolled for a Clash scenario, and got "The Dark Forest." Short version, beginning of every turn, we roll for every character still standing. On a 9 or 10, that character suffers Seal lvl. 1. Ouch. We'd played it before, and it certainly adds an air of uncertainty to all planning.


200 points. I brought  Tiamat, Kronen (with Raphael's Gift,) Claire Adelheid (with Talisman of Eriol,) and Daniella Meris (with Supernatural Weapon.) Faction advantage of Imperial Armor. Kronen is the Juggernaut, a solid tank, slow, not likely to hit, but will smash some enemies if he connects. Claire isn't as tough, but she's meant to bring in the follow-up attacks, and clean out the weaker opponents with a well-timed charge. Daniella is the artillery, and Tiamat is... odd. He hits well, and has some tricks, but certainly can't stand up to any real damage.


David brought Wissenschaft, rocking The Process. Celia, Rayne, Veronica, and Lorenzo.

A good man with a mean left hook.

Game itself had a pretty good back and forth. My team was pretty fast, as Empire goes, but with Kronen, the pace is definitely on the slow side. As expected, Wissenschaft was able to set the terms of the engagement, picking where to fight. I just had to rely on my armor to wither the first blows to be able to return in kind. More or less worked.


First casualty was Daniella, who after getting off a couple shots, took  a Dual Buster charge from Lorenzo and his bionic arm on turn two. The second charge cleaned her out, but left Lorenzo hanging out there for a return charge from Claire. Veronica drew a bit more attention from me than she was worth, but also survived a lot longer than she should have.


Things quickly degenerated into an endurance contest, as I'd hoped for. We both kept swinging, but my Imperial Armor held strong. And once he was down to two characters, his Process-enhanced troops were armored up as well. So we threw lots of punches, but no one could effectively take out the other.


End of the game was a tie. I'd eliminated Veronica and Lorenzo, he'd taken out Claire and Daniella. No Influence reward for anyone. Hoping to sneak in one more campaign game before the end of the year, time and the fates permitting. And getting some of my unpainted figs, well, painted.


Side note: for the terrain, we added to the selection Dream Wizards has to offer with my newly-arrived ruins from Advanced Terrain (via the Kickstarter.) Attractive pieces that withstood getting hauled around in my backpack all day long. Highly recommended.

rolled

Fought a 200-point Anima Tactics game last week. Wanted to try out some Light figs (non-Samael) so I could get the basics down for my burgeoning Empire force. Brought Lorenzo and Rayne to back up Claire Adelheid and Daniella Meris. My opponent went Church and brought Marchosias and three other figs who helped Marchosias kill everyone. Seriously, even without the optional leader abilities, he proved to be a tough nut to crack. Hopefully in the future I will be able to bring more resources to bear on him, because short of getting in a solid hit after Seal-ing him, he's a combat machine. We'll see how it turns out next time, when I'll bring a more tuned force, and know what to expect.