The fall of Borstov Landing has given Cryx a foothold in the southeast region. As Khador's forces retreated towards Khardov, they were pursued by a Cryx force lead by a new and horrifying threat: Cryx has committed warcasters to the invasion. The Warwitch Deneghra caught up with the retreating forces and they were forced to turn and fight. Fortunately Froese had rebuilt his Uhlan Cavalry and built our most powerful warjack to date: the Kodiak. As the most productive and highest ranking officer in the region, Froese also drew the attention of the legendary cavalry leader Kovnik Markov, who joined the cause under Froese's command. Khador was lead in battle by Captain Josh Froese, Captain Rob Perkins, Captain Andy Schroeder and Sergeant Aaron Pauls, and their promotions are well deserved.
The Cryx force approached from the south, and the battle took place near a forest and a wall. Cryx had a unit of Mechanithralls with a full attachments of Brutes and a Stitch Thrall on their left flank, and the Warwitch Deneghra and her 4 warjacks on the right. Khador brought Matt's unit of officer-lead Iron Fang Pikemen and Schrag's Widowmakers to face the Mechanithralls. The center was held by Schroe2a's officer-lead Winder Guard Infantry and Ben's Field Gun Crew. Across from their warjacks we put Froese's Kodiak protecting Ben's Greylord Ternion.
Froese advanced the speedy Uhlan Cavalry around their right flank to try to setup a charge on the enemy 'jacks. Kovnik Markov is the cool looking one with the warhead tipped lance.
On their left flank we worked to get shots with the Widowmakers while protecting against a counter-charge with the Iron Fang Pikemen.
The Warwitch wasted no time in making corpses of our forces. She cast "Ghost Walk" on her 'jacks, allowing them to advance right through the wall and get into range. The Defiler sprayed right through my Winter Guard Infantry, cutting my food bills down considerably.
Not intimidated, Froese's Kodiak charged the much smaller Defiler and made a nice little wreck marker out of it. The Rocketeers and Field gun got some shots in as well, however the Helldivers were burrowed and could not be attacked.
On the other side, the Mechanithralls and the 3 Brute attached got up to the wall, making them harder to shoot.
On of the most effective guys for Khador this night was Ben's Manhunter. He has pathfinder and charged through the forest over the wall and delivered the hurt to the Brutes. With 2 axes each with weapon-master he killed 1 and badly wounded a second before they knew what hit them. The two survivors tried to hit back, but his high defense made them miss three out of four attacks, and he survived with 1 health. On his turn he finished of the last two Brutes. The remaining Mechanithralls moved toward the center to try and get some damage done there against the Winter Guard.
The Iron Fang Pikemen closed with the Mechantralls and the Widowmakers moved to get shots from the side. Froese moved his Uhlans further around to charge from behind.
On the right, the big Cryx 'jack - the Seether - ripped through the Winter Guard Infantry we placed like a meat wall in front of the Kodiak. The first Helldiver then surfaced and put himself in harms way to prevent the Kodiak from unloading on the Seether. The Greylords proved ineffective against the 'jacks in this case, although Froese had some brutal dice in there...
The Kodiak wrecked the first Helldiver easily, but the Warwitch had an answer. She moved forward and cast her "feat", which is a once-a-game ultimate. Her's reduces the stats of all enemies within 14 inches. She also cast "Crippling Grasp" on the Kodiak, and turned both the Seether and the second helldiver loose. The Kodiak's reduced armor gave way and he went down in a heap. The Iron Fang Pikemen also suffered heavy losses on this turn to the Mechanithralls, all of which just served to make the Mechanithralls stronger as the Stitch Thrall made new guys from all the carnage. At this point I thought things were looking bad for the home team.
Schrag's Widowmakers shoot the Mechanthralls needed to clear a path for Froese. Only the Windowmakers and Kovnik Markov had been out of range of the feat, and they came through big time. Kovnik Markov charged the Stitch Thrall, killing him to finally end the regenerating stream of guys protecting the warcaster. His warhead lance did AoE on some other Mechanithralls as well, and suddenly the Warwitch was looking very vulnerable.
The slimy cowards took a cheep parting shot before running away. Deneghra had the big 'jack trample the Greylords and the Helldiver ran to engage the Manhunter, clearing the way for her to make her gettaway into the forest. She's a jerk, and she dealt a costly blow to us, but she was ultimately turned away thanks to the heroic efforts of the increasingly renown officers of Southwestern Khador!
