Critical Engagement: Mega Mikes Scourge

Critical Engagement (CE) is now resigned to history. Poets will write sonnets, there will be slow and brooding laments and joyous victory songs telling of courageous feats of valour! 

Believe it!!

Below is my recap of the day from the Scourge perspective, I will go through my list and go through my games and how I did. I thoroughly enjoyed myself; when is it ever not fun to have 3 games of DzC in a day?! 



As some of our regular readers may be aware, CE was a bit different to other tournaments that have been played before. We created our own missions for it, these were all objective based and relied heavily on troops. Most of the objectives were protected by A8 buildings and bunkers meaning that it was more likely to find objectives than having them blown up in a building.

My list
Desolator - Master, CV4

Hunters x3 Marauder

Hunters x3 Marauder
Reaver

Warriors x2 Intruder alpha
Ravagers x3 Harbinger (arc caster)

Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha
Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha
Prowlers x 8 Intruder beta x2

Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha
Prowlers x 8 Intruder beta x2

As you can see I have 3 units of Destroyers - this is just plain rude. Man I love destroyers! I chose them as it should give me a distinct advantage in the troop war. Destroyers are the cheapest of the exotic choices of all factions. They have the ability to shoot well and smash face in CQB. Plus a 4+ passive save. 
My main anti-tank comes from Prowlers and Hunters. This is backed up by all the dropships and Reaver. Unfortunately this left me very weak on the AA front. Ravagers are an excellent choice, 12 E6 shots on an A10 base plus the Harbinger's arc caster, but that is it...

First game was Back Breaker and my opponent (Nic) was drawn randomly. There are objectives as per ToO but the ones closest to your board edge are EMPs. You need to extract the EMP off your opponents board edge for more Victory Points. The EMP's were in bunkers too. 
I had played Nic in this exact mission the previous Tuesday at our club night (I narrowly won). Nic changed his list a little from then. 

Opponent: Nic Gaillat - Scourge
Desolator - Master, CV4

Hunters x3 Marauder

Hunters x3 Marauder
Ravagers x3 Harbinger (arc caster)

Warriors x3 Invader
Aged ones x2 Intruder alpha

Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha
Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha
Prowlers x 4 Intruder beta

Prowlers x 4 Intruder beta
Annihilator

I had a plan for this mission, I knew I had the superior troops (just), so I waited for Nic to place his AA and was relieved to see he opted for his left flank - opposite my EMP bunker. I guess it was to stop me from extracting my EMP off his board edge. My plan was simple, get a squad of my destroyers in his bunker on turn 2 and get my prowlers round his Annihilator on turn 2. It was a good plan - but Nic had the same idea!!
I put my Warriors in my EMP bunker and my 3 units of destroyers went to the centre, it gave me options. Nic put his Aged Ones in his bunker and drove his Invader with Warriors to the same bunker (they were too far away to get in this turn). One squad of his Destroyers moved up my left the other went to the middle. Nic landed his Annihilator behind a building and put 4 prowlers around it to help protect it.
On turn 2, Nic put his destroyers in my bunker after I failed to find my EMP. This left me no choice but to send a squad of my own back to help out. I sent another squad of Destroyers into the middle building and the last squad into his bunker. Nic also sent his Warriors and a squad of Destroyers into the bunker, and the Aged ones failed to find the EMP and I used Razorbirds on them which killed 6. My prowlers surrounded the Annihilator and the Intuders took out a couple of his prowlers. There was gonna be an almighty bust up on turn 3! 
Turn 3 = Lots dead! The prowlers did their job and took out the Annihilator, Hunters killed Hunters. Ravagers were dropping and my Reaver exploded. CQB in my bunker was tasty, I only allocated my Destroyers to repel, this freed up my Warriors to search for and find my EMP - they quickly got out and into their Intruder. So Destroyers vs Destroyers - it's basically like the rock'em sock'em robots (well that's how I imagine it anyway). In Nic's bunker - after learning about 'allocating to repel' he matched his Warriors and Destroyers against my Destroyers. His Aged Ones grabbed the EMP and skedaddled back to their Intruder (unfortunately this shouldn't have happened as Aged Ones have the 'Bloodthirsty' rule - which means they must always allocate to repel). Neither of us were aware of this at the time and it really helped Nic as you will see. I killed a load of Warriors and a couple of Destroyers. My Destroyers were tanking a few wounds. 
The battle raged on and hinged on a couple of pivotal rolls. My Intruder carrying my Warriors and an EMP had to wait for Nic's Ravagers to either fire or be destroyed, while waiting, a Harbinger managed to creep up behind them. Oh crap! Nic rolled a 1 - phew! I managed to take out the last Ravager and flew off with the EMP. Nic had his Aged Ones on his back board edge, and bombed them forward - along the board edge of the left flank. This was a mistake as I still had my Harbinger to activate. I moved it the full 18" to make sure I could at least reaction fire the following turn if I didn't get 1st activation. In my bunker his Destroyers were winning, by a long way. In his bunker I was smashing face against the Warriors and his Destroyers. My last squad of Destroyers were searching for an objective. 
I won the next activation and shot the Aged Ones' Intuder, I hit and blew it up, it crash landed and destroyed the last base of Aged Ones; leaving the EMP stranded - or so I thought. On turn 4 Nic's Destroyers wiped mine out - I could not make a 4+ passive grrrr! so on turn 5 they got into their Intruder moved to the EMP ready for extraction on turn 6. I still had my Harbinger in the vicinity. Ready for a reaction fire if I failed to win activation. My Destroyers failed for the 3rd time to find an objective.
Turn 6, Nic won activation. I needed a 4+ to hit the Intruder with the Harbinger, I failed - but no worries I had Assisted Targeting (I'd been holding on to it for ages!). Re-roll and still fail. Nic safely extracts his EMP off my board edge. My final roll to see if I can win the game, Destroyers still searching for the objective for the 4th turn, needing a 3+........
Drum roll please........ I rolled a 1 and we drew!
The game was utterly brutal. We absolutely smashed each other, the only surviving ground units at the end were 2 of my prowlers! We both had a ton of aircraft left.
Really good game against a great opponent.

The second game was Security Breach, probably my favourite of the 3 missions.

Opponent: Dan Folly - UCM
Kodiak - Lieutenant, CV3
Praetorians x2 Raven A
Longbow x2 Raven B x2

Sabres x3 Condor
Rapiers x3 Condor

Legionnaires x2 Raven A
Rapiers x3 Condor

Legionnaires x2 Raven A
Legionnaires x2 Raven A
Ferrum

Longbow x2 Raven B x2
Gladius x2 Condor

I have played Dan a couple of times before, and it's always an enjoyable game. For this mission you had to find 2 pieces of Intel before you could enter the central buildings and search for the objectives. The central objective buildings were A8 with the middle on worth 4 vps.
To start I put 3 unit of troops into intel buildings, incase of the dreaded '1' roll and I placed a unit of Destroyers centrally but with enough space to make it to any of the objective buildings (and far enough away from drones). Dan placed only 2 units in intel buildings and this was his downfall. I found my intel straight away and went to the central buildings, meaning I was the occupier. Dan found 1 piece of intel and another one blew up in his face, this delayed him by a turn. I also managed to take out his praetorians Raven before they could be any use. We both devastated each others units, and I had to be really careful with all my aircraft as 2 units of Rapiers and a Ferrum is a shit load of AA!!
My prowlers went steaming for the Ferrum, and managed to take it out early(ish) but then the longbows took out most of them. 
I managed to find and extract 2 objectives and stop Dan getting any and won 9-2 giving me a healthy win. 
If Dan had found his intel as early as I did, it would have been a different story. I think I had the best chance with the objectives as 2 units of Destroyers is boss! Maybe I will try 3 units soon........

So onto the last game, Seize and Control. I will be playing Edchopp, we are both on 27pts and on table 2. ZombieState (Dan) and GettodaChoppa (James) are both on 30 points on table 1. We both need a good win; it was an epic and very tactical battle.

Opponent: Edchopp - UCM
Kodiak - Lieutenant, CV3
Ferrum
Praetorians x2 Raven A

Sabres x3 Condor
Longbow x2 Raven B x2

Katana x6
Eagle

Archangels x2

Fireblades x3 Condor
Legionnaires x2 Raven A

Legionnaires x2 Raven A
Legionnaires x2 Raven A

So I face UCM again, but a very different army. Ed is sporting my patented Katana/Eagle uber combo of building death, but he also has Archangels (long time readers will know that this is the model that got me into DzC) and no Rapiers. 
My plan was simple, I would keep the Infantry off for as long as possible, try to take out the Ferrum and come at him from behind. Then on turn 5 bring on my infantry to steal focal points etc. 
I made Ed place first, and he sent me a juicy bone by placing his Sabres and Fireblades in their Condors right in the middle. Unfortunately I couldn't resist so I landed my Ravagers ready to pounce. They were out of range, but if I got 1st activation then I would be laughing. 
I sent my Hunters and 8 Prowlers down the left almost hugging the board edge out of the drones effective range. The other Prowlers went up the right.
Turn 2, I win. I activate my Ravagers and blow the living crap out of the Sabres Condor. I then rolled a 1 and the Sabres landed safely! Then I realise my mistake. I have just used my only AA and basically done fuck all. A combination of the Kodiak, Eagle and drones wipe out my Ravagers and I'm left scratching my head.
No Archangels yet so I push up 8 of my Prowlers and Hunters, I deploy them ready for turn 3. I forgot about the longbows. WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING!!! My prowlers were bunched up to stay out of line of sight from most of the army, but the drones could still see them. Longbows both hit and wiped the 8 prowlers out in 1 go. Turn 3 my hunters took out the Ferrum in 1 volley - a touch lucky. This helped a lot! I picked away at the Katanas and Sabres with Prowlers and the other hunters and used dropships to try to take out longbows. The Archangels arrived and didn't do much.
Eds Fireblades were still loaded, but there was nothing I could do about it. We both kept picking off each others vulnerable ground units and I was doing damage to Eds troops. There were no ground units left by the end (apart from Ed's Kodiak and Fireblades, and 1 or 2 hunters plus a couple of Prowlers for me) and when my troops eventually came on they could spread out. 

I won the game - narrowly. I think more down to the fact that I kept my troops off - meaning they were undamaged when they came on, in turn 5. I made a lot of mistakes in this game; which is very unlike me. Again most of the units were destroyed and I suffered in the AA department. 

Overall I came 2nd. My win against Ed was not enough to overhaul Zombies lead (he also won his last game).  I was the top Scourge player too (out of 3). The missions were really good fun. I think that the last game could have had a couple of objectives added in, which would mean that troops would have something to do. The mission would then basically be Hawks 'Secure the Flanks' mission, which is a great mission.   

I liked my army, but would I choose it again?.......The simple answer is no. 
The list was very offensive. It absolutely brutalises the enemy, but is also gets brutalised. There is one major flaw though. Nowhere near enough AA, but to get more AA I need to drop some of the anti-tank and it's finding the right balance. 

With this in mind I have come up with the following list, which I plan to use at Invasion; let me know what you think in the comments.

Desolator, CV4 Master
Minders x4 Intruder beta

Stalkers x3 Harbinger with Mini Arc Caster
Reavers x2

Hunters x3 Marauder

Warriors x2 Intruder alphaAged Ones x2 Intruder alpha
Reapers x3 Marauder

Minders x4 Intruder beta
Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha

Prowlers x8 Intruder beta x2
Destroyers x2 Intruder alpha
The AA coverage is good. In the couple of games I've had with it the minders have been solid. Reapers are boss, they will unceremoniously destroy what they shoot 99 times out of 100. If I had 4 points more I would have had Destroyers instead of Aged Ones. The list is a lot more balanced
Stay tuned for my next Scourge piece 'Are Scourge the hardest army to win with?'