This battle report uses a modified version of Race for the Crystal that does not include the sandstorm effect. Although it is not very useful in understanding the scenario, we've kept it available because it's an excellent example of what happens when Fireburst gets out of control.
The key thing here is that a unit with green-circle figures sitting on the control point gets to issue two special orders without pushing. So, if you have three ready figures with Fireburst, you can do six automatic damage.
Nate played a Han Army and I played Romans.
The heart of this army is three fast-moving sorties with triple Fireburst capability. Any one of these that can get to the control terrain will be able to deliver six points of Fireburst damage per turn.
This army has five units with Fireburst capability. Of the remaining two, the Master of Steel can use Artificer to heal itself 4 hit points per turn if it's sitting on the control point.
The scenario has a single large Crystal Control Terrain in the center (which you can print from this page) surrounded by four large blocking terrain items (representing debris from the meteor impact). The crystal itself has a red border and acts as a small piece of blocking terrain in the center of the control point. The crystal is a powerful x-ray source, so it looks like it's glowing in the photograph.
Nate placed a Kyudo Annihilator on his right with a Flame Strikers and the Hustle-powered Flame Runners. On his left, he placed the other Kyudo Annihilator, two Flame Strikers, and the Immortal Steel with Nuwa's Irregulars to support it.
I put the Flamma Coniciens and a Hammer Incendia on Nate's right with the Master of Steel. In the middle I had the other Hammer Incendia and the slightly less Fireburst-y Hammer of Vulcan with the Igneus Defenders in front of them. On the far left I placed the Sagitarii Column.
I won the dice-off and took the ambush turn.
Nate and I both had the same idea for this scenario: push Fireburst sorties into the middle and flame the daylights out of anything that approaches. This is an obvious concept, especially when you've got a lot of Goryos and Vulcan Priesteses in your collection; however, it is completely terrifying to realize you're facing that sort of army on the other side of the board. I had this vision of a long complicated dance followed by a single mistake that would initiate an orgy of mutual destruction. Nate suggested perhaps that the sanest approach would be for both of us to remain in the deployment zone until someone was driven by frustration into a suicidal rush.
Eventually, I decided to use the ambush turn to move up my two turtle units, counting on the blocking terrain to protect them.
Nate used his full turn to move the bulk of his army to either side of the blocking terrain on his side of the field.
Nate had taken a gamble here. He had placed the Flame Runners slightly ahead of his other units, where it was in range from a Fireburst strike from one of my sorties. The Flame Runners have a commander, so they were tempting bait. I knew that if I attacked, it would start a protracted unit-killing exchange; on the other hand, I had a larger supply of Fireburst-throwing units, so I felt it was worth the risk.
I pushed the right side Hammer Incendia onto the control point within range of the Flame Runners.
Using the power of the crystal, I made two Fireburst attacks, doing six damage to the unit. Nate opted to remove everything but two of the Goryo figures. This gave me a victory point, but the resulting unit could still move 4 steps and do a double Fireburst.
I knew retribution was coming. With my remaining four order points I moved up my two fire-throwing formations-- the Flamma Coniciens artillery unit and the Igneus Defenders turtle unit.
Nate began his retaliation by moving the Flame Runners onto the control point.
Using the power of the crystal, he double-Fireburst the Hammer Incendia for four damage, reducing it to three figures. Next, he pushed the nearby Flame Strikers to get them access to the power of the crystal.
A single 3-damage Fireburst from the Flame Strikers killed the Hammer Incendia, tying the score at one victory point each. Nate then threw a Fireburst at the Igneus Defenders, doing three damage to them.
With his last order point, Nate moved the Butterfly Squad forward.
It was my turn again. Nate's sorties had the potential to throw 10 points of Fireburst damage per turn, which was a really bad thing, so I had to get rid of them. I first moved the Igneus Defenders onto the control terrain.
From here I could Fireburst the Flame Runners to kill them. Using the power of the crystal, I sent a second Fireburst to the Flame Strikers, doing two more damage.
To finish off the Flame Strikers, I pushed my second Hammer Incendia into position behind the Igneus Defenders.
Two Firebursts from the Hammer killed the Flame Strikers. I now led 3 victory points to 2.
Three units had been killed by the end of the fifth turn and there hadn't been a single die roll. That was about to change. Nate decided to use Call the Iron Rain to make a Way of the Bow attack on my Igneus Defenders. Under the new rules, Way of the Bow only applies if the attacker has not previously moved or attacked during the turn. This is easy to arrange if you have Call the Iron Rain extending a unit's range across the battlefield.
First, he had to move the Butterfly Squad out of the way. This had the additional benefit of contesting the control point.
Next, he pushed the Immortal Steel to get it into base contact with the Igneus Defenders.
The shot from the nearby Kyudo Annihilator was 8 dice to 10. Nate did 4 damage. It's worth noting that had it been a normal ranged attack it would not have done any damage at all.
Nate had one order point left, and he used it to move up Nuwa's Irregulars.
From this position, the Irregulars could reach the control point on Nate's next turn, enabling him to do double Artificer healing on the Immortal Steel. Unfortunately, the Immortal Steel would not survive that long.
The Steel had 11 hit points, and the Fireburst capacity I had available on the control point at the time was only 10 hit points. To kill the Steel, I would need to bring up another triple Fireburst unit.
First, however, I did two points of Fireburst damage to the Steel using the Igneus Defenders. Because the Defenders were in base contact with the Steel, they took a point of splash damage.
Next, I used the power of the crystal to do 6 more points of Fireburst from the Hammer Incendia. The Immortal Steel had taken 8 points of damage and the Igneus Defenders had been splashed for three.
To finish off the unit, I moved the Flamma Coniciens forward into range.
A final Fireburst from the Flamma Coniciens killed the Immortal Steel, netting me 3 victory points. I had, however, used my entire turn to do it.
The splash damage from all the Fireburst attacks had reduced the Igneus Defenders to a single hit point. It was no longer a serious threat; however, Nate had to get the Hammer Incendia off the control terrain. He moved the forward Kyudo Annihilator into position to shoot it.
To turn the game around, Nate needed to kill the Hammer Incendia in a single shot. This would enable him to push the Kyudo Annihilator to cripple the Flamma Coniciens, which was also in range. He had a 59% chance, and in fact did 9 damage, collecting another victory point.
Nate now pushed to shoot the Flamma Coniciens with the same Kyudo Annihilator. The expected damage for this shot, 9 dice to 3, was 6, which would only be an inconvenience to the Disciplined Flamma Coniciens. Instead, he did 9 damage, reducing it to a pair of Vulcan Priestesses with a total speed of 2 steps.
The two ranged attacks and the movement that made them possible had consumed six order points. Nate had two left. He regrouped the Butterfly Squad and used it to attack the Igneus Defenders. With the Defenders down to a single figure (which had two defense dice), Nate had a 66% chance of killing it and a 47% chance of taking 2 points of back damage. He ended up escaping unscathed.
The three victory points from this turn narrowed the victory point score to 6-4. I was still in the lead; however, Nate now had sole possession of the control point and I had a nearly-dead formation in range of his Kyudo Annihilator.
I spent some time analyzing my options. I could not get the Flamma Coniciens onto the control point without pushing, and that would reduce it to a single figure, allowing me to do only two damage. I could do two damage from where I was at the cost of only a single order point.
So, I started my turn with a Fireburst attack from the Flamma Coniciens, doing 2 damage to the Kyudo Annihilator. Next, I pushed the Hammer of Vulcan to base the Butterfly Squad.
From here I could use the power of the crystal to Fireburst the Kyudo Annihilator twice more. This reduced it to only 5 figures; tragically, it could still shoot at full power in that condition.
I had used five order points. With the sixth, I attacked the Butterfly Squad using the Hammer of Vulcan. The Hammer of Vulcan does less Fireburst damage than the Hammer Incendia, but it has 8 attack dice instead of 7. This gave me a 65% chance of killing the Butterfly Squad. I needed 6 hits and I got exactly that.
I had two order points left. I used them to move up my remaining artillery unit, the Sagitarii Column.
In order to be able to Fireburst the Kyudo Annihilator, I had to get into range. This meant it could shoot back at the Hammer of Vulcan without moving, and that meant that Way of the Bow would apply. This gave Nate an 81% chance of a one-shot kill. He needed 7 hits and rolled 8.
Nate now pushed to shoot the defenseless Flamma Coniciens. Way of the Bow would not apply, since this was his second shot with the unit in the same turn; however, he only needed 2 hits this time. In fact, he hit with all seven dice.
The three additional victory points from these kills tied the game at 7 each.
The two ranged attacks had consumed 4 order points. Nate used one point to move Nuwa's Irregulars onto the control terrain.
Nate still had two fresh units in his deployment zone. He used his last three order points to move these forward.
I was now in a pretty terrible position. I had an artillery unit on Nate's left and a turtle on his right. If the two units had been in the opposite positions, I would be fine; however, if the artillery unit moved up it would be clobbered by Nuwa's Irregulars and the Flame Strikers on that side of the field. The Master of Steel turtle unit could withstand a lot, but the Kyudo Annihilator was in position to use Way of the Bow on it, and I could expect 7 damage a turn under those conditions. Rather than prolong the agony, I opted to concede.
This game was a lot of fun, but also an excellent illustration of why you have to pay a small fortune in build points to put more than three Fireburst icons on a base.
It's also worth noting that when you can Fireburst twice in one turn, three flaming figures is a whole order of magnitude better than two. I really wished I had put in a third Hammer Incendia instead of a Hammer of Vulcan.
The real report for this scenario can be found at the Sandstorm Battle Report.