A whole new monster – Scourge v UCM

Because even monsters need to relax sometimes

Good day fellow zoners! This is a post of new beginnings for me, as the other day I played my first game with my Scourge and bloody loved it! I had the privilege of playing my friend Snowman (real name disclosed through cause of the Scourge witness protection program) in a 1000 point targets of opportunity (three objectives in three central large buildings), using a Clash army structure. This was his second game ever (after beating our Edchopp in his first) and although the battle may have ended a little one sidedly (spoiler alert) my way he did the marines proudly! Hoorah and all that jazz.

Before I get into any the meat of my battle report I will say how much of a breath of fresh, squidy air it was to play the jellys. I have only ever played with Shaltari, and the out and out aggressiveness of the Scourge was unbelievable! Also this is a longish report in comparison to the size of game, and I have been fairly specific as I thought it may help new players to understand certain mechanics of the game.

With that said lets see some army lists:

My Scourge

Command

Desolator, CV4

2 x Reaver

Standard

3 x Hunter (Marauder)

3 x Reapers (Marauder)

Here come the Hunters!

Infantry

Warriors (Intruder)

Warriors (Intruder)

Infantry

Warriors (Intruder)

1 x Reaver

Snowman's UCM

Command

Kodiak, CV2

Ferrum

Standard

3 x Sabres (Condor)

3 x Rapiers (Condor)

Infantry

Legionnaires (Raven)

Legionnaires (Raven)

Infantry

Legionnaires (Raven)

Heavy

2 x Gladius (Condor)

Looking at the lists we can clearly say that Snowman's is more balanced than mine. It covers AA, has considerable AT and has 5 battlegroups. His commander was only CV2 however, which turned out to be a problem. My list doesn't follow my own rules in a way as I used only 4 battlegroups, but I guessed I would be playing against a Ferrum and needed to bring some speed and punch to the army in the form of the Reavers. I would have had all 3 in my command slot but forgot that CV points don't count towards to the battlegroup points cap – Schoolboy error!

Turn 1

As we both had an even CV in the first turn I lacked my CV edge, and Snowman won the dice off letting me go first. Deployment was fairly quick for both of us: I hid my Reavers and Hunters (in Marauder) a third of the way up the board, brought my Desolator forward, disembarked my Hunters to marshal my deployment zone and brought my Intruders on within roughly 10”-12” of the main building. Snowman drove his Kodiak on behind a building, with his Ferrum the opposite side and disembarked the drones moving them to the middle of his deployment zone. His Gladius in Condor moved up his right flank and his sabres deployed around the middle. He didn’t drop his rapiers though, which surprised me due to my Reavers bearing down on him.

Turn 2

Now big squid was on I was CV 4 and won the initiative comfortably. As I had less battlegroups than him and none of our units were in killing range, I let him go first. He moved two squads of legionnaires into the central building to become the occupier, but had greatly underestimated the demo capabilities of the

Decisions, decisions...

Scourge. I then moved my Desolator next to the building and took a focussed shot, dealing a whopping 14 damage points (removing a few DP of the squads inside)! I also moved the two Reavers in the battlegroup
up my right flank, to within 15 inches of his Ferrum but hidden behind a building. Next his Gladius deployed up his left flank, then my Hunters and Reapers activated. The Hunters flew out of the Marauder to the middle of his deployment zone to pose a direct threat to his Ferrum and Kodiak, and the Reapers and their Maruader came up to the central building holding the legionnaires and shot it, removing a further 7 damage from it. This time the masonry squished a base and hurt some others. Next Snowman deployed his third squad of legionnaires in his right building, to which I responded by moving two of my warriors into it. This meant that I was the aggressor and he was the occupier, so he rolled for objectives, but with my superior numbers (not to mention some crafty cards) I was confident I could wipe the squad out in the following CQB next turn. Next he deployed his Rapiers into a defensive position to move onto my Reavers for turn 3, and the Sabres shot down one Hunter. In my last turn I moved my third squad of warriors into my right building to become the occupier, and my third Reaver moved up the flank to join the other two. Next was Snowman's command. His Kodiak did more or less nothing, but he still had his drones. He had the decision of shooting the Hunters, moving toward the Reavers and taking a few pot shots at one (but potentially being in position to jump them next turn) or moving up his right to intercept the two Intruders belonging to the Warriors in CQB. He chose the warriors and moved them 30”, which unfortunately turned out to be the wrong move.

Turn 3

I won the initiative again and activated my Desolator and Reavers. I mentioned before they were in the army to hammer the Ferrum and by not deploying his AA early and moving his drones away it meant I had free run on it. I moved two round the corner and shot it with all 6 guns and scored...4dp! I could have really done

Reavers about to drop the hammer

with that fifth as it meant the drones were still about for now. The Desolator shot the central building again and reduced it to a mere 3dp, killing the lone base and wounding another. Because of this Snowman had to play sensibly (as troops win games) and instead of activating the drones he withdrew the damaged squad

from the central building and jumped in the contested left hand building via their Raven. As he had joined this activation though, it mean he couldn't be part of this turns CQB. I used the two Hunters to finish of the Ferrum removing the Drones from the game, and the Reapers shot down a Condor for funsies. I also used Jink and Weave on the Hunters meaning Snowman needed a big 6 to hit them. The Sabres shot the Hunters and missed, and the Rapiers moved towards mid-table as the Reavers were out of reach. My occupying warriors failed to find the objective and the Reaver zoomed 24” towards Snowman's Kodiak. Next up was the big fat CQB on the legionnaire activation. First he rolled to find the objective, for which he failed, and then the combat rounds began. I used the Enemy Within card and robbed 3 dice from his 10, and in a fine display of awful he caused one wound with the remaining 7 dice. In return Lady Averages shone for me and my 23 dice wiped out both bases of Legionnaires. He did however have that other squad in the building so he was still the occupier! To finish up the turn his Gladius moved up the left.

Turn 4

Snowman won initiative against the odds this turn, but we both knew the game was slipping out of his hands. He shot down a Marauder and a Reaper, with his Rapiers and Sabres, and then my boss milled about the middle of the board to get use out of his SoI and the two Reavers zoomed 24” to join the other near the Kodiak. The Kodiak shot, and incredibly hit and vaporised one of the Hunters on a 6 to hit. The lone Hunter moved up to his boss and the Reavers did very little (all of his Condors had sensibly moved away and there was nothing to shoot at- I know right, how unfair was that!). The CQB featuring the wounded unit and my two bases occurred, with Snowman using an Espionage to counter my Razorbirds card. The Legionnaires valiantly killed a base of warriors and wounded another, but were trod under foot by my 20 dice back. As there were no more Legionnaires my Warriors then became the occupiers. The Gladius shot something and missed, and my other squad failed to find the objective.

Turn 5

I got the intiative this time round and my boss squad went first. The Reavers hammered the Kodiak down to one wound. Snowman redeployed his Gladius to avoid any potential loses (which was clever). The Hunter then finished the job and reduced the Kodiak to a puddle of molten slag, so Snowman had no commander (and no SoI) left. A couple of activations later (and a few Sabres and Reaper deaths) my lone warrior squad found the objective they had been searching for and we decided to call it there as win for me, as Snowman had no troops left to claim objectives and it was very late.

All in all it was a great game, as we both learned about our armies. As Snowman was a new player he learned about a few nuances and techniques that may not have occurred if I hadn't played my A game, and I got a nice learning experience to my new army.

That's all for now,

Toodles!