Scalpel goes first to take Anvil out and take the Legendary off the table. Scalpel retreats behind Ghast. Fraser sends in Sledge to try to hold Ghast in place but I had put Second Wind on Ghast to get him out. Ghast knocks down Sledge and retreats, also pulling back Dirge. Fraser can’t get to anyone to generate MP. At the end of the turn I take a Hemlocke goal to go to 10-4.

I’m up on MP, Sledge is knocked down and on 12 hp while in cover, stood next to Iron. I play Seize the Initiative and move Scalpel up, Fraser can’t escape with Sledge, so he moves Farris up to give Sledge Sentinel.

Scalpel spirit bombs Iron and Sledge to move Sledge out of cover and away from Sentinel. Scalpel drags Dirge in and attacks Sledge, Dirge doesn’t quite make melee range for the first attack. I have 10 hp to get through with 4 attacks. Sledge is at 3/0 due to knockdown and Anatomical Precision.

I take the highest damage results I can, Voodoo Strings Dirge in for a Gang Up from and second attack and the last 3 attacks are all bonus timed. I leave Sledge on 1 hp.

Fraser charges Anvil into Hemlocke, if he can hit the While The Iron is Hot he can drag Sledge backwards, heal him with the MP, Legendary for Tough Hide, and this puts him in Anvil’s Sentinel. I defensive stance and Fraser gets only 1 hit to knock Hemlocke down, he heals Sledge, Legendaries, and has him in Sentinel but doesn’t get to retreat him.

At the top of the turn as Fraser was allocating, I noticed I’d put 1 too many influence out so quickly took one off a model without thinking. This was Graves, who was now my best chance at killing Sledge 🤦‍♂️.

Graves tools himself up and walks within range. He has 2 attacks to do 5 damage to a 3/2 model with 8 TAC. He leaves Sledge on 1 hp and bleeding...

Sledge stands up, heals, and the rest of the turn gets messy. At the end of the turn Sledge drops down to 2 again from Bleed.

Fraser wins initiative but can’t easily move Sledge backwards, Cinder kills Scalpel, heals Sledge, and runs away with the Ball. Graves has another chance to kill Sledge who is now 4/2 with 6 hp.

Graves Tools himself Up again, needing only 1 net hit on 7 dice, 3 times. I bonus time the first attempt and get 2 damage, completely miss the second attack... spike the third one to land Sledge on 1 hp for the third time in the game.

At this point I fail to leverage anymore chances on Sledge. Fraser exercises excellent momentum control and keeps his players healthy and safe. I’m fully engaged and need to bide time for Scalpel to return whilst keeping my players alive on minimal MP.

I clock before Scalpel can get back into the fight and Fraser wins 12-10.