The battle between Ed’s Cryx and Hungerford’s Minions was a fierce one.

Taking place at the Ironhead Station, both forces soon found themselves taking losses from the trains steaming through. This scenario featured levers as control points, with the controlling party able to redirect the path of the oncoming trains. However, each lever only worked once, that is, until all the levers had been pulled. With a central location, and a healthy amount of supply points on the line, this fight would be a major factor in how both player’s planned their next round.

I decided to make a run at Hungerford by traveling underground to his Ironhead Station hex. Although he had no banners on it, I had a hunch he was going to move in to defend the key point, as it seemed he was becoming a bit paranoid. So, it was no surprise to me when I got word that I would be throwing down against his banner, but I certainly didn’t expect a Cephalyx force.

And the scenario? Let me tell you: the Ironhead Station scenario was bat-Shick crazy! The table had so many tracks running across it that you needed to plan your movement around them to avoid the possibility of getting run over by a train every round. Even with the assist from Simon’s Khador force, it was my overcautious movement that ultimately left me open for Hungerford to move in for the scenario win. As is always the case with Hungerford, it was a great game, and in the end my banner took no lasting penalties aside from being scattered.

WARMACHINE fun aside, one of the aspects I’ve been having fun with in this campaign is the politics between rounds. We plot and hold secret meetings, hoping the other party will hold up his end of the bargain. We spy and connive, and at some point Shick pulls back the curtain for us to fight it out on the tabletop. Pretty awesome.

My first battle of the campaign was at a key strategic point I had captured early on, Ironhead Station. This railway tile gave me bonus supply points each turn to strengthen my armies and recoup my casualties, so losing it wasn’t an option. I knew, of course, that I would be an inevitable target in this campaign, so I made some bold moves in the beginning by capturing two important resource tiles. It was only a matter of time until someone tried to make a move against me.

Not to my surprise (thanks, Secret Agent), Ed struck against me first at the railway, and he brought backup in the form of a small detachment of Winterguard and Widowmakers piloted by Simon. Of course, I had my own surprise for them when the game began. I wasn’t just playing Minions during this campaign; I was also playing the shadowy puppet masters controlling their actions. That’s right—I am playing Cephalyx as well!

The battle for the railway was utterly insane. The table was crisscrossed with 4˝-wide railways that all met at a central scenario zone. Each turn, there was a random chance a train would come barreling through and hit all models along its path with a POW 20 damage roll that caused Grievous Wounds! Along the outside of the zone were switchers that a model could interact with to potentially change the path the trains would travel along, so the railroad annihilation wasn’t completely random.

Ed and Simon gave it a good shot, but in the end I achieved victory at Ironhead Station via a scenario win. Deneghra and her Cryxian horde, along with some terrified-looking Khadoran allies, couldn’t stop the waves of drudges and monstrosities flooding the zone. And now that Ed and Simon are in retreat, it’s time to decide just how I want to punish them for their bravery. I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve for this campaign…