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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Battle Report and VTES

Managed to play a game of WarMachine and one of VTES this weekend. I have been itching to play my Caine list again (well, one of them; I've got a few) and I just modified my African deck for the Qualifier next weekend.

Battle Report: Cygnar v Blindwater

I played a pretty basic PCaine list, with a few modules that I wanted to try out. For instance, I wanted to use the much-maligned Gun Mage Captain Adept to shore up Caine's terrible Command check. I also wanted to try The Dude Marshaling a Charger, with Arlan backing them up for bonus focus.

All that went fine. I still played pretty badly and my dice weren't helping out. I gave the Gatormen a run for their money, but on the turn that counted I tried to do something cute instead of winning outright, and it cost me the game. Matt played well, for sure, keeping his anti-range stuff up to stop me from mugging his caster.

Issues I had:

Occultation is a cool spell that prevents my ranged attacks from hitting a model/unit. Matt kept it on key units all game, and his warlock at the end.

Thunder Strike is cool and all, but not very reliable as a striking engine. Go with 4 pistol blasts where possible.

Terrain is a bitch.

Then we played a quick game of VTES.

Devin(Huitzi Baali Tend)--> Ray (John Woo Garou) --> Matt (g2 Gio Zombies)--> Me (Are you an African or an African't?)

This was an odd game. Devin brought out Huitzi and that's it for a while. Ray got Ramona and Guiliano, and merged Ramona fast.

Matt got out Gloria and Lia Milliner.

I got out Kenyatta and Urenna early, with Fish right behind them. I computer hacked and predator's mastery'd Devin for a three bleed early. I also managed a KRC to get my Ishtarri a Kholo title within the first few turns.

Ray did some weirdness. He got out TWO Renegade Garou (Ramona had two vessel on her) and gave one a .44. He then assumed he could bully the table at his leisure. He did NOT rush matt early, and when he did he deliberately did not knock Gloria into torpor.

I was a little bent about this. All while be was doing so he kept looking over at my ready region. I told him that he really shouldn't worry about me this early, but he wanted Matt to keep the pressure on me.

I ran out of forward steam with Matt rushing and bleed with all his guys each turn. I had to leave a healthy guy up to block the inevitable Zombie rush. All the while I was complaining to Ray.

Devin was lower on pool, but he got an Unleash Hell's Fury in play, which slowed me down considerably. He also began to bleed Ray for 5-6 with Huitzi every turn. Ray, who'd spent down to 10 to get his setup going, began to go full backwards. Devin had two Majesty for the two werewolves.

Ray pool cycled into 7 pool again so he had at least one more turn. Matt mugged me some more and summoned a fresh Horde after I killed the first finally (I was deliberately not killing it for a while).

I sacrificed my Kholo to Daring the Dawn bleed Devin down to 3 pool, but I did not draw the two stealth I needed (or the Strange Day) to oust him.

Devin bled Ray for 6 again.

Ray pool cycled back to 5 pool and rushed backward twice again. Again Devin had two Majesty. Ray was exasperated.

Matt mugged me some more. He Graverobbed my Kholo as well. Go Matt.

I bled Devin and lost another minion to Unleash Hell's Fury. Still no result. Devin bled Ray for 5 to oust him.

All the while I was telling Ray that if he'd kept on Matt early the table might have broken the other way. It was, after all, a four-player game.

Matt got Devin in the two-player after the table broke, the wrong way. ;)

Matt: 3VP and GW, Devin 1VP

MVP: Graverobbing. That hurt my game a lot and helped Matt's all at once.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

Location:Flint MI

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Warcaster Focus: John Woo (Anti-)Hero

I wanted to call him a "John Woo Film Protagonist" but everybody in a John Woo film has the same basic flavor.

Lieutenant Alister Caine is a two-pistol slingin', moody, insubordinate jackass of a warcaster. I decided to buy him because he was cheap, and he looked like a lot of fun. He is a lot of fun.

Stats:
Caine has some extraordinary stats. His speed is incredible at 7, making him one of the fastest warcasters in the game. His melee attack and strength are abnormally low, but this is offset by his awesome ranged attack score of 8. Caine hits even the fastest light infantry on average rolls, and he can hit other fast warcasters (16 defense is common on quicker 'casters) if he aims (forfeits his movement to get a +2 bonus to ranged attack rolls) most of the time. His armor stat is ridiculously low, and he doesn't have a lot of damage boxes, so any hits are going to hurt and even blast damage can get to him. His defense is unusually high at 17, which can make the difference against non-area attacks. His focus is the low end of average at 6, and because of this deciding how to use Caine's focus each turn can be tough.

Caine has a special ability called Range Amplifier. If he's the point if origin for a spell he casts (so any spell not cast through an arc node like the Lancer) it gains +5 range. That's awesome.

Spells:

Caine has two awesome upkeeps in Blur and Snipe, both of which I talked about in my Stryker post. Blur adds defense against ranged attacks for a unit, and Snipe adds range to a unit's guns. Caine can of course use them on himself as well. Blur would give him a whopping Defense 20 against ranged attacks (great against ranged armies), and Snipe makes his guns even more effective.

Caine also has the Deadeye spell, which gives a model or unit an additional d6 on their first ranged attack roll that turn. This isn't an upkeep, so it can be cast on multiple units per turn and will stack with an upkeep spell on the unit. So Caine can give an extra attack die to every shot the Black 13th make, for instance, and all while under the influence of Snipe.

Offensively, Caine has a spell called Thunder Strike. It costs 4 of his 6 focus, but it's an impressive attack. It hits a model with a power 14 attack and it slams that model d6 inches directly away from Caine. Models that are slammed and models hit by models during a slam are all knocked down, so Caine can get an accuracy buff to his troops to hit the slammed model or whatever was hiding behind it (warcasters should be wary of hiding behind their 'jacks with Caine lurking around).

Lastly, and most irritating for opponents, Caine has a spell called Teleport. Teleport moved Caine to a spot within 8 inches of his position and ends his activation. So Caine can hit and run like crazy, walking his 7 inch speed and then teleporting back to safety behind a screening unit after making some pistol attacks. This particular spell irritates the hell out of some players.

Weapons:

Caine has a sword, but he's terrible with it and should never ever use it willingly. His real bread and butter are his twin spellstorm pistols, a couple magical-weapon hand cannons with 12 inch range, power 12, rate-of-fire 2 stats. Using his focus and impressive 8 RAT, Caine can fire 4 reasonably accurate and decently damaging shots each turn. That clears out a lot of infantry. If he gets a bead on an enemy caster he actually has enough focus to boost 4 damage rolls as well, and "boosted power 12s kill 'casters" is an idiom that experienced players often chant to newer players.

So Caine himself can be a decent assassin.

He's like MAT 4 with a power 8 sword, so if the enemy can engage him, chances are he's in some serious trouble.

Feat:

Caine's feat is called maelstrom. His front arc extends to 360 degrees and he makes one normal spellstorm pistol attack against every enemy model that he can see within his control area (focus stat x 2 or 12 inches). He ignores intervening models, so squishy units hiding behind tough units are getting shot as well. All of these attacks are boostable.

It's a lot of infantry hate, really, though I have seen Caine wreck a light warjack with decent damage rolls on his pistols. He's a one-man show during the feat, and it can gain accuracy bonuses just like other shots: he can forfeit his movement before the feat to get a +2 aiming bonus. It also suffers normal penalties, so shooting into melee will be at the usual -4 penalty (represented in game as a +4 defense buff for units engaged).

Normally the feat gets popped early, so Caine's troops can focus on other problems. Also,Caine will hit more than half of most enemy forces on his feat turn, so he's good at attrition battles. If the forces have already clashed then he loses some accuracy, which could make it fougher to win the attrition war.

Overall:

Caine's kind of a dick. There's a couple irritating strategies that Caine has available to him that can seriously frustrate opponents. Using his high speed and teleport spell, Caine can "kite", moving forward to take a couple shots and then teleporting away. He's great at hit and run for this reason.

He can also support a ranged army quite well with spells. Any unit that has some kind of critical effect (roll two of the same number on an attack roll to crit) on their guns will love his Deadeye spell, and he can "hotswap" Snipe in addition. Hotswapping is when a 'caster puts an upkeep buff like Snipe on a unit on turn one during the advance. Then the next turn Caine pays to upkeep the spell on that unit during his maintenance phase.

During activation, the unit with Snipe takes their go early. They benefit from the enhanced range. Then Caine activates and puts snipe on another unit who could use some range. This removes Snipe from the first unit. However, through careful turn ordering two units can gain the benefits of a single upkeep spell.

I haven't had much success with Caine, but he's still lots of fun to play.

Melee Power: F, None to speak of. If Caine is stabbing something with his pathetic sword, something has gone terribly, horribly wrong, and you are losing.

Ranged Power: B+. I'm tempted to go higher here, since Caine can quite easily get 5 accurate power-12 shots per turn, and many more than that on his feat turn. However, there are a few Cygnar 'casters that simply have more stopping power than Caine. He's got a lot of shots, but against a warcaster camping several focus  or a heavy they won't do much.

Magic Power: C. Caine has a tough go of his focus each turn. He's either shooting the crap out of enemy models himself and using focus to help, or he's supporting his army with Snipe and Deadeye all over the place, or he's casting one ThunderStrike. It costs 4 of his 6, and he nearly always wants to boost, so we're talking 5 focus minimum most of the time. That can be a tough choice. If Thunderstrike slams Caine's target to oblivion or knocks down the enemy 'caster for ranged assassination, then it's bananas. If something goes wrong, Caine is boned and his army isn't feeling the love either.

Melee Support: C-, Caine's Blur spell helps deliver a low-defense unit like Stormblades or Stormguard forward. With Snipe and Deadeye Stormblades can Assault across 14", which is butch. It's ranged support for a melee troop, however.

Ranged Support: A, Caine has Snipe _and_ Deadeye, which are two of the best ranged buffs in the game. Only 'casters with Guided Fire and eHaley do ranged support this well for Cygnar.

Magic Support: D, Caine's Blur can again be used defensively against magic-heavy opponents, but Caine doesn't support his own spellcasters well.

Tricksiness: B-. Caine has a few modes, and his startling speed and pile of magical gunshots give him a lot of threat vectors. Thunderstrike can keep his opponents away from screening warjacks, lest he slam one into the caster and fill them full of spellstorm shots. Even when he's cowering in the back, his buffs are likely making a huge difference on the battlefield.

Rating: 3.0

Lists with pCaine:

15 points:

pCaine Ol' Rowdy (9), Stormblades + UA (8), Black 13th(4)

Caine + Defender (9), Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + UA (8), Reinholdt (1), Gorman di Wulfe  or Squire(2), Stormcaller (1)

25 points:

Caine + Rowdy (9), ATGM + UA (8) + Hunter or Arlan +Charger (6), Rangers (5), Reinholdt (1), Squire (2)

Caine + Hunter + Hunter (12), Stormblades +UA + WA (11), Archduke Runewood (3), Black 13th (4), Reinholdt (1)

35 points:

Caine + Rowdy (9), ATGM +UA + 2 Hunters (20), Archduke Runewood (3), Stormblades + UA + 1 WA (9)

Caine + Defender (9), Squire (2), Stormblades +UA+ 3 WA (11), Reinholdt (1), Stormclad (10), Arlan Strangewayes (2), Black 13th (4), Gorman di Wulfe (2)

50 points:

Tiered, Caine +Stormclad (10), ATGM+UA (7) w Hunter and Defender (15), ATGM +UA (5) w Hunter and Defender (15), Black 13th (4)

Caine + Rowdy (9), Squire(2), Reinholdt (1), Stormblades + UA + WA (11) + Stormclad (10), Arlan (2), Rangers (5), Black 13th (4), Journeyman (3), Runewood (3), Gorman (2), Harlan (2), GMCA (2)



-Merlin


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, May 27, 2011

Daft Duffin Draft

Sometimes the wife and I like to play two-player games, and as I'm a CCG type of dude I've roped her into playing those. We occasionally play starter-deck VTES (relatively level playing field) two-player, and I even got her to draft Magic: The Gathering a few times with me. That's a lot fo fun.

I managed to get a box of 3rd edition boosters for $30 around these parts, and it's been sitting around for a few months gathering dust. The little lady asked if we could draft them somehow and I jumped at the chance to play some VTES with her. I suggested the Duffin Draft format, though we didn't follow it exactly. She hadn't played that way before, which took some explaining, but we got going eventually.

The variations we used were twofold: 1. Players have unlimited transfers to influence out vampires, and 2. We didn't actually draft. We just opened a pack and played it. Drafting with only two players is lame anyways, as both people know what everyone's playing after the first pass, so it removes some of the surprise inherent to draft.

We played three games, but the first was friggin' epic in scale, lasting the better part of an hour, which is insane for two-player Duffin Draft.

The packs:

Me: Paolo De Castille (4-cap Las pot ani dom), Luca Italicus (10-cap Las POT OBT NEC FOR DOM tha) Archbishop kung fu special, Klaus Konrecht (8-cap !Tor AUS CEL PRE pot for Cardinal), Chiropteran Maurader (draft = Fake Out), Decapitate, Pushing the Limit, Rafastio Ghoul, Instability, Leather Jacket, Corrupt Construction (useless in this context), Sibyl's Tongue (useless).

I thought that this was actually pretty hot. Not only did I have a Master Card, but as long as i didn't have the edge in a two-player game, I could play Instability to gain two pool and recycle it every turn. I also had two permanents in the Leather Jacket and Rafastio Ghoul. Having an extra bleeder might be nice, and protection while I'm trying to use the FIST cards I drew would be welcome.

My wife, unfortunately, got an amazing pack:

Jonathan Gursel (3-cap !Tor aus pre), Ulrike Rothbart (3-cap !Ven for dom), Mugur Sabau (9-cap !Gan PRO OBF NEC CEL vic Archbishop diablerie special), Stealth Ritus (strong in draft!), Stunt Cycle (useless), Templar (Relatively useless), Helicopter (amazing), Direct Intervention (christ), Restoration (draft: dom as for), Guard Dogs (draft: basic wake!), Art Scam (draft: burn the edge to gain 2 pool as a +1 stealth action)!

My master plan of pulling up Luca for his giant diamond FISTing skills and then getting a Leather Jacket as insurance and defending my pool while gaining via Instability was awesome. But the wife pulled up her two three caps, bled every turn with stealth so that she didn't have to fight Luca, and got a Helicopter on Ulrike. Every turn thereafter she'd take the extra Helicopter action to gain two pool with Art Scam.

So in a format known for the lack of pool gain, I was gaining a net of one per turn even with her bleeding (only one could sneak past Luca safely, and she correctly didn't take any chances), and since I couldn't bleed if I wanted to force her to play Stealth Ritus she was gaining a net of three pool per turn. I was losing the long game, and in Duffin Draft normally the guy with the long game (if he's lucky enough to have it) does pretty well. Worse, when I tried to even the odds by recruiting my Rafastio Ghoul, she'd DI it!

I made a play by getting Paolo out once I thought I had enough pool to outlast her. Then I was actually bleeding every turn as well, and he could play my fist cards at basic to bully her guys. Funny thing was, she thought that she needed animalism to play the draft version of Guard Dogs, so she never tried to block me. At this point I thought I'd have her, but then she also realized she could influence out another minion, and she had12 friggin' pool (three per turn is a lot since I was giving her the edge with Instability and then she'd burn it for Art Scam). So she got up Mugur with only 3 pool on the side.

I managed to get her down to one, but she was bouncing back every turn since she could outbleed me. I did finally punch someone for 3 with Luca (she DI'd the Pushing the Limit so I had to Decapitate him), but it was fresh Mugur so he didn't hit the bin.

I still was doing well until I told her she should check her down cards (she'd set her useless cards aside so they wouldn't distract her) now that she had another minion. She told me she couldn't play any of them. I reminded her to check the draft text. She asked if she needed animalism to play the drafty version of Guard Dogs. When I said she could my fate was sealed. Now she essentially had a two-minion advantage AND a Helicopter to keep her poolgain moving.

I didn't last much longer after that.

Hilarious game of Duffin Draft, though.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Quick VTES rundown

We played three VTES games yesterday. Things went south from the start rather quickly.

Game 1:

Matt (G2 Gios w Zombies)>>> Me (are you an African or an African't?)>>> Ray (Lucretia Trophy)>>> Robb (Nergal is a pretty good minion)>>> Sean (G4-5 Malks)

My deck has three weenies from each of the Laibon clans and 10 Abombwe skills. I use the stealth and bleed from Abombwe to weenie bleed a bit, and eventually I get a couple Kholo titles and call votes.

My crypt draw was not so good. It often isn't, and i'm considering modifying the deck to remove one of the four clans now that KotEK has increased my small-cap selections. I got two each of the Osebo and Guruhi.

This was a pain because it meant the Akunanse Kholo in my hand was dead and needed to go. I guess having a confident discard is good?

Anyway. Ray got Dimple early, Robb got a bad crypt draw and had to influence up Eurayle and use an Anarch Convert to dig for Nergal, Sean got Keller Thiel and Bloody Mary, and Matt got Ambrogino.

I got Ismita and Urenna Bunu, and eventually Lumumba and Kamaria. I beat up Dimple and bled Ray for quite a few with my weenie bleed tech.

I had an early Consevative Agitation, but without Kholos to go with it the table conspired to fail it.

Ray was on the ropes, but he managed to get up Lucretia and Tusk. Robb got Nergal. Sean got Morel, and Matt got Andrea Gio.

I did what I usually do when playing against Shambling Hordes decks with my Laibon, which is luckily draw one of the two Legend of the Leopard early and then use it to steal my foe's first zombie minion. Matt was pissed. He summoned another Horde the next turn, but as usual I find that hordes decks don't do well with their first horde heisted.

Ray got some crosstable con boon love from Sean unnecessarily, which I felt was not in Sean's best interest, as Ray was not predating efficiently upon Robb. In fact, Ray Red Listed my stolen Zombie, but then I got it killed by rushing Matt's second horde with it.

Then Ray Red Listed Urenna and did the Red List mark, Carrion Crows and diablerie. The table again voted for Lucretia's life. He got a lot of crosstable help for being a shitty speed bump. All the while, Robb was bleeding for 3-6 with Nergal each turn, and he eventually got an Enkil Cog to go with his Rutor's Hand.

So i thought it was weird that Ray was getting all that love when I could be bleeding the hell outta Robb, but alas, my voice of reason involved me getting a VP, so my opinion was discarded as biassed.

Which isn't a terrible assessment, really.

Matt had trouble doing anything. He did bleed me for 5 with Ambrogino once. Then Sean Kindred Spirits'd the hell out of him. Every turn.

Matt was first out, and then I got Ray. Sean went next, bled for 9 by Nergal in a single go-round, 6 on Robb's turn and 3 on Sean's.

By the time the game had got this far Robb had 15 pool and I had 10, and I lost the attrition war, though I did put a hurt on him in the end.

Robb 3VP and GW, me 1VP Sean 1VP

Game MVP: probably Enkil Cog. Which is insane on a +2 bleeder.

Game 2:

Robba had to leave, because he had to go make porn.

Ray(Big Gay Al's Aggravated Fisting Assault)>>> Me (She Smote on the lyfte honde and on the rigght hande)>>> Matt(!Brujah badass voters)>>> Sean(Nahkthorheb villainy)

My deck is a silly White Lily multirush monstrosity. Ray's deck is an Al Muntaquim Domain-for-Aggs and then punch for LOTs deck. Matt's deck seemed to be a modified !Brujah starter. Sean's seemed to be a modified FoS starter.

Ray didn't pay much for doodz, Al and a few Caitiff don't cost shit. I was worried he'd come wreck White Lily despite her Ak-47. I also got Banjoko, so I paid 18 pool to get started.

Matt got Hektor and Armin Brenner. Sean got Nahkthorheb and Abdelaobek.

Ray basically rushed right every turn in an attempt to stay alive. Nahkthorheb got a Heart of the City early, and with that and a few Enticement he was a 6-pool bleeding machine most turns.

My deck has some card flow issues, and I did not get any of the 4x Freak Drive, 4x Forced March, or 4x Tattoo Signal in the deck. This severely limited my capacity to wage war. The fact that I didn't want to hurt Ray or Matt because they were both going at Sean also limited my actions.

Sean eventually got Ray, at which point Matt and I tried to conspire against Sean. I only backrushed and I managed to enable a Vendetta via Deflection so that Matt could crush Nahkthorheb. I would then contest Fame with Matt and bleed him for the oust, and rush Matt into oblivion.

But it turns out Nahkthorheb is a resilient bastard. Despite our two-front assault Sean's last minion rescued Famous Nahkthorheb from torpor, who then hunted with a Perfectionist and bled me for 5 with a Legal Manipulations. I had 5 pool. My blocker didn't have the intercept to stop him.
Sean managed to oust Matt shortly thereafter, as Nahkthorheb drew a couple Majesty and Matt didn't have a lot of Grapples in his deck.

Sean 4VP and GW.

Game MVP: Nahkthorheb easily.

I will never speak of what happened in Game 3, and any comments pertaining to the details of said game may be censored from the record.

It was a stupid game.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

Friday, May 13, 2011

'Jack Marshals

As warmachine is a game that is ostensibly about powerful giant robots, it's kind of a pain that warcasters have such a limited pool of focus to power their mechanical death engines. Warjacks can (with some exceptions) get three focus at most each turn. Even high-focus 'casters (7-9 focus) can only super-power three 'jacks per turn. Even if they do, they aren't casting spells or boosting their own attacks.

Granted, three focus on a 'jack is a lot. It means that a melee-oriented machine can buy 3 extra attacks, or boost accuracy and/or damage on two attacks. Since warjacks need to spend focus to charge, often a "fully loaded" warjack will charge into combat by spending one focus, then boost it's first attack to make sure it hits (depending on it's chances). Often it uses the last focus for an additional attack with the main weapon again.

Ranged warjacks use focus differently. Guns have a rate-of-fire stat, which determines how many shots they can take each turn. So a Hunter light warjack, for instance, with it's ROF 1 Long Arm gun, is only firing one shot per turn. The Hunter has an axe as well, so it can technically mix it up Kung Fu style, but the gun is often better than melee options for ranged 'jacks. Considering this, the Hunter is operating at peak ranged power with only two focus, one to boost the attack roll and one to boost damage. Maybe less if the intended target has a low defense or armor stat and both rolls don't need to be boosted.

Other guns are different. The Thunderhead character heavy warjack has a ROF 3 Electro Coil weapon. That baby can fire three times per turn, so the T-Head likes having a lot of focus for buying attacks.

One way to get "extra focus" in an army is to use 'Jack Marshals. JMs are troopers or solos that can run a warjack outside of the 'casters main battlegroup. This has advantages and disadvantages.

Pros:

1) JMed 'jacks gain a focus-like ability once per turn. They can run, or charge, or gain an additional attack, or boost a single roll (either attack or damage but not both).

2) JMed warjacks can operate independently of the main battlegroup ('jacks must be in the warcaster's control area to be allocated focus from the 'caster)

Cons:

1) JMed warjacks can't get a full load of three focus. Since a heavy can often one-turn another heavy (kill it in a single turn before it can retaliate) when it has a full load of focus this is a huge problem.

2) Jack Marshals can be slain, thereby denying the 'jack any support, and a (pseudo-) focusless 'jack isn't coming close to its full potential. Most 'jacks need a focus or two to even operate at decent efficiency.

3) JMed warjacks aren't part of the warcaster's battlegroup, so any battlegroup-wide spells or effects won't affect JMed 'jacks. Some 'casters have awesome battlegroup spells and Marshaled 'jacks get none of that love.

So there's a bit of a trade-off.

The general consensus seems to be that JMing warjacks isn't worth it. This is due to several factors. A big one is that the game favors melee attacks significantly. It's fairly easy to rack up cover and shooting into melee bonuses and push defense up to a level that makes shooting difficult. Further, a ranged warjack often doesn't have a large rate of fire, so the biggest ranged weapons in the arsenal can most often be only fired once per turn. Conversely, a 'jack can buy as many melee strikes as it has focus, and many of the penalties to attack that cover and concealment grant against ranged attacks are meaningless to melee attacks.

Of course, getting there to beat face can be a problem. Warjacks (heavies especially) are pretty slow.

Still, the armies inevitably engage, and then melee is the dominant mode. Even 'jacks with good guns will have trouble counterstriking a heavy in their face, as they can't fire while engaged, can't disengage without getting a free strike in the face, and even if everything works out chances are the ROF 1 gun isn't going to put that heavy down in a single shot.

Similarly, a JMed melee jack is only going to get one extra attack in the same scenario, while 2 or 3 extra attacks (such as an engaged 'jack fully loaded with focus might have) are usually the right amount to end the argument. JMed warjacks simply can't finish the deal some of the time.

Further, a melee 'jack which is JMed needs to be near its marshal to get a JM bonus anyway. Precisely within the command stat of the Marshal in inches. Some marshals have a 10 command, and some have a 7. So the marshal needs to be close enough to his 'jack to be effective, and as he's essentially making a deadly combatant more deadly savvy opponents will murder 'jack marshals as early as possible. Let's take a look at a few 'jack marshals and compare them.

Captain Arlan Strangeways:

Arlan is a cool dude. He's so cool he can calmly smoke a pipe and wield a giant comedy wrench in a wartorn hellscape.




Arlan's a solo, meaning he can operate independently of his army. He's got a lot to offer faction warjacks, including the 'jack marshal ability. He can also forfeit his attack action to give a focus to a Cygnar 'jack, to give a 'jack evasion so that it can't be hit by free strikes, or he can repair a damaged warjack.

That's awesome. He's a great dude to have around. Thing is, he does all this whether he's the JM to the target 'jack or not. If he's also JMing a 'jack he can effectively give it two focus: one from his action and one pseudo focus from the JM bonus. He's so useful opponents will seek him out and ruin him as early as they can, so any JMed 'jacks will go autonomous if he dies (not part of 'caster battlegroup but not JMed).

And when he dies his JMed jack loses a lot of efficiency. Without focus or the JM pseudo focus 'jacks can't run or charge, rendering their range of threat limited. I've already gone over what a lack of attacks does for warjack efficiency.

So solo Jack Marshals are asking for it.

The range on his stuff is pretty short, so if he's supporting or marshaling a melee 'jack he's in the thick of the action. A smart opponent will take offense at his nonchalant pipe smoking and end his life.

Rutger Shaw:


I'll write more extensively on Shaw at a later time. For now, I want to mention that he's a solo mercenary 'jack marshal. This is cool because merc' JMs can only control merc' 'jacks, which actually means that using him allows me to take death machines not normally allowed. Alas, they aren't in my 'caster's battlegroup.

Shaw is a melee oriented 'jack marshal. He has a special "Drive" technique which allows him to make a command check and give his JMed jack a reroll on a missed attack roll (ranged or melee). He also has the flank ability with his 'jacks, so if he's running into close combat himself with a target engaging his 'jack(s) he gets some hefty combat bonuses.

He's also Tough. The Tough ability allows a model to roll a d6 when it would die, and on a 5 or 6 it doesn't. That helps a bit.

Rutger's still a target, and since he's in the thick of combat if he's using all his a abilities he's gonna get slapped as well. Maybe he'll make his Tough check.

The Dude (Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer):

So named because if his resemblance to a pop culture icon from the 90s.



The Dude is actually a unit attachment, an officer who must be taken with a unit of Arcane Tempest Gun Mages. This would be a shame if ATGMs weren't awesome, but they are so good on that. The Dude is interesting in that he's actually a JM who is better suited to marshal ranged warjacks. He has a special Rune Shot ability that allows a 'jack marshaled to him to fire one of the special ATGM spell-bullets every time it makes a normal attack. So a gun with a ROF 2, like the Charger's Dual Cannon, can fire two special bullets per round.

Further, since the Dude is a ranged JM, he's farther away from the action and his survivability goes up. On top of all that, when a unit attachment who is a JM is slain, his JM status actually passes on to the unit leader. So even if The Dude is killed that Charger is getting the JM bonus until the unit is all dead. Since The Dude grants Rune Shot, after he's gone that special is not available, but still having the JM bonus through the whole unit is nice.

Out of all these marshals I've used The Dude the most. He actually can add 4 inches of range to a ranged warjack's shot with the special Snipe Rune Shot, and it costs the 'caster nothing to do it. The other bullets become more useful as the enemy approaches.

I'll be testing out Shaw in a few armies and we'll see how it goes. Perhaps it's not as useful as I think, but in a faction strapped for focus I think JMs might be the way to go.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Saturday Night Games

Ray asked to demo Devin and Robb at WarMachine and get in a game of VTES as well. I said that sounded good. Problem is, Ray spends most of his game store time chatting instead of actually playing games. I must just be too focussed on getting the games in.

Eventually we started a 5 player game of VTES, though Robb had to leave.

Me(new school nos royalty)>> Adam(Thucimia swarm bleed)>> Devin(Mission Impossible Anarchs)>> Ray (Petaniqua wall) >> Matt (Nergal wall).

Two blocky Baali decks at the table. Both of them were built by Ray as well. My Nos Royalty deck ignores 2nd tradition in favor of breeding and booning. I got Ben rose and petrodon, and both of them made a third trad early.

Adam, who never has good card luck, didn't get Thucimia in his draw. He got Bertrand, Alu, Sukainah, and Mike Dicarlo instead. He bled without stealth many times per turn.

Devin got Maris Streck, Maldavis, and an Anarch Convert in play. Maldavis was an anarch. She also Pulsed early for +2 bleed.

Ray got Petaniqua and Yvette, who is Hopeless. Yvette proved herself useful by getting a Heart of Cheating on turn two. Ray merged Petie early with an Epiphany.

Matt got Nergal. Then he contested Alu, but yielded the next turn (Adam was on the other side of the table and Matt didn't realize he was already in play). Then he got Lubomira.

The game played strangely. After I Parity Shifted Adam for 5 and got out my 5th minion I was identified as "the table threat", at least by Ray. To be fair, I'd stolen his Rack cross table to keep him honest. When I got up my 5th Nos (Slag), Petaniqua blocked his bleed cross table and made him Infernal and dead (Diabolical Lure and Petaniqua).

Matt then bled me for 5 every turn with Nergal. Nerg got a Bowl of Converging awesome early, but I Concealed it. Then Devin blocked Petaniqua getting the Bowl with Maldavis, which cost Devin his Maldavis. Devin got Maldavis out again, because Ray diablerized with a Rebirth. The Anarch convert had been knocked into torpor as well.

It was a confusing whirlwind of blocking and hitting.
While all of this was going on Adam was busy bleeding for one with all his guys and keeping enough pool to keep me honest. Devin was brought down to like 2 pool, but he Failsafe'd himself back into a reasonable amount.

Ray got Harzomatuili and put himself down to 2.

Nergal kept on me.

I realized that my Nos deck needs more oust. It tends to be Swarm-y, but it lacks lunge power. I drew an Anarchist Uprising and the Minion Tap I needed to survive calling an anarchist uprising, but when I went for it the newly-minted Kamaria hanging out with Nergal played Delaying Tactics.

I bled a bunch and Adam's new Sadjid al Musbah played a lot of Nest of Eagles to make me feel sad about things.

Devin had gotten Thaumatergy on his second Maldavis and now he was reducing bleeds as well with Detect Authority and Telepathic Counter. He actually had quite a racket going with his single anarch. He used the Anarch Museum to pull an Undue Influence or Power of One each turn, play them, and then pull the pool from Undue back to pay for next turn's Museum fish. Then he'd use PB:LA to untap Maldavis and reduce bleeds. It was not bad at all.

But Ray had the Ruins of Evil and PB:M in play, as well as a Vessel to go with his reacquired Rack. Devin bled a bit and Ray staved him off. It was a bit of a stalemate. Ray never bled Nergal at all. Probably because he built both decks.

I called my Anarchist Uprising the next turn without much resistance, and managed to oust Adam and piss off the table some more. Devin lunged at Ray for like the fifth turn running and didn't get the oust. Ray finally bled, and Nergal predictably misdirected the bleed at me, but I played Two Wrongs to cancel the bounce.

Nerg bled for 3. I tried to oust Devin but he Detected Authority and Telepathic Countered my chipping assault. He then left himself untapped after bleeding Ray for a couple. With Two Wrongs and bleed reduction flying, we decided that Robb was here in spirit. Represent.

Ray sat there, but played Smiling Jack. Nergal bled for 3. I ousted Devin with a bleed from Petrodon. Then, not having a lot of stealth, I discarded and ended my turn.

Ray played wall and did nothing. Matt bled for 3.

I decided that if I was gonna do anything, I should just start taking actions with action cards to move them so I could maybe draw stealth. I did have a couple +1 stealth cards, buy Ray was sitting on KRCG and Harzomatuili at this point. I decided to essentially sacrifice my third traditions (named after former drummers of Pearl Jam by Devin's request) by taking actions.

I tapped "Dave Krusen" and declared a Parity Shift. Ray tapped KRCG and announced a block with Harzo, i played a Faceless Night, but Ray backed down after he realized he had less pool than I did. Harzomatuili was now tapped at least. I stole 3 pool from Matt. I had actually drawn a Cloak and an Elder Impersonation now. I tapped Ben Rose and announced another third Tradition ("Jack Irons"). There was no resistance. I tapped "Dave Abburzezze" and announced a Con Boon. Ray tried to block but I cloaked it. I gained six pool. I then had Petrodon call another Con Boon. I used some of my 15 pool to influence Zelios (I'd started last turn) into play.

Matt looked frustrated. Ray said we should play on and that he "had this", but I had a KRC at this point and Ray was down to only a few pool. I probably would have ousted him in the next turn or two.

I say probably because Ray called the game after his untap phase. Devin wanted to see some WarMachine and it was pushing 11 pm at this point, and the store closes at 12.

Ray showed me the 2 Forced Awakening and 2 Eyes of Argus in his hand, so he would have stopped D actions, but my votes were all getting to referendum, and they were all passing as well.

Called due to time, me 2.5 VP, Ray .5 VP, Matt .5 VP. MVP: Benjamin Rose. When I ran out of vote actions he called votes to get my hand size larger. That's some good shit there.

I demoed WarMachine using the Cygnar Battlebox for Devin's battlegroup and an identical 'jack lineup with a different 'caster for me.

He was playing Stryker and I was a dude named Alister Caine. Good name at least. Caine will get a more in-depth entry later, but suffice to say he's a two-gun wieldin', flapping trenchcoat wearin', hard drinkin' warcaster straight out of a John Woo movie.









I explained the basic rules and Devin and I went back and forth a bit. Caine managed to completely mangle Devin's Charger with only a couple shots from his pistols. I was impressed.

Devin went for a spell assassination with Stryker, and as Stryker has weak spells he fell a bit short. Caine finished him off with a couple gunshots to the face, but Devin was playing well. He used Stryker's Blur upkeep spell on the Douche himself, making him defense 19 against ranged attacks. Caine's a damn good shot at RAT 8, but he still needed 11s to hit! I had to boost all Caine's attacks to hit, but I did every time (lucky; average roll on 3d6 is 10.5) and managed to kill Stryker. Devin was looking at a different faction (Protectorate of Menoth) but as he's an artist he might paint some good looking' models.


-Merlin out

Edit: my decklist per Brandonsantacruz' request.

Crypt 12 doodz:

4 x Petrodon (+1 bleed is good w Warsaw Station in play)
2 x Baron Dieudonne (more untap, Prince)
2 x Ben Rose (Prince, good votey special for hand jam)
1 x Zelios
1 x Slag
1 x Jeremy Wyx (+1 bleed is still good)
1 x Ruxandra

The crypt is good; I nearly always get a Prince, Alonso, and a support weasel (or Zelios). If the game is going well I might want to dig for more guys.

Regarding the library, there are a lot of ways to make a good Nos Royalty deck. I decided to go breed and boon and didn't add any Second Traditions, because then I could try to avoid combat cards altogether. Cock Robin an his punchiness are better for the second trads IMO.

Master cards (21 but I probably won't play the skills):
4 Obf skills (third trads are better with basic black)
3 minion tap
1 blood doll
2 Two Wrongs
1 Direct Intervention (it's never bad, I don't play competitively without them anymore, and I've been testing this one for tourneys)
Parity Shift enablers:
Slum hunting ground
2 Warsaw Station
Monastery of Shadows
Labyrinth
Papillon
Bleeding the Vine
Accelerators:
2 Zillah's Valley
Info Highway

Votes:
I told the guys during the game that I "wasn't playing a Parity Shift deck". Clearly this was a lie, but since I hadn't looked at the deck in 6 months I'd forgotten what a filthy bastard I am. Helpful.

3 random praxis seizure
1 Nos justicar (for Alonso to use to enable cryptic rider or for a title if I don't get him
2 cryptic rider
6 con boon (should be more)
1 can't take it with you (I'm playing around w this and shift)
1 kindred segregation (prayer tech)
1 ancient influence
1 anarchist uprising
3 Krc
4 Parity Shift (all my jyhad-backed copies)

Prolly needs another 2 Ps and another 2 con boon. Could use a Reins of Power.

27 Stealth cards (whichever you like?)

1 Conceal
2 Old Friends

6 Third Tradition (may be all that I own)
3 Fourth trad (in case I have extra actions or need speed, might be able to drop)
1 Shreknet

That's it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


Location:Flint, MI