Constance: the Blaizening

I was in IL again recently, and as I said previously I was hoping to help Tmage prep for Hardcore at Adepticon. Also, he said there was a 25 point tier tourney he might play in.

In preparation for these things, I packed my small PACK case with a 50 point eNemo list and a 25 point tier 2 Ashlynn list. My eNemo isn't great and I'm not practiced with either of those 'casters, but I hoped to give my opponent a decent match.

At the last minute he emailed me and said he would be late. I grabbed Constance impulsively in case I got a casual game in. I wound up playing her twice. I guess I just can't stay away. Why can't I quit you, Constance?

I played her as a merc in my first game. It wasn't a great list, as most of the models were cherry picked for other lists, mainly my Ashlynn list.

Army Name: Constance in the bag
Highborn Covenant
35+6 points, 25 models

Constance Blaize +6 points
* Gallant 9 points

Anastasia Di Bray 2 points
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6 points
* Gun Mage Officer 2 points
** Mule 8 points
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist 2 points
10 Precursor Knights 8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord 2 points

Additional Rules

Solos gain Advance Deployment.

My opponent was a cool local dude who I hadn't had the pleasure to play yet, as I waited for T to arrive. His list was Zerkova's new Vanguard tier from NQ magazine, or as I like to call it, "assassins LOL!".

Zerkova
Spriggan
Vanguard
Marauder
Min Kayazy assassins w UA
Kayazy Eliminators x2
Greylord ternien(sp)
Koldun lord
Gorman di Wulfe

The Scenario was Guidons, which can be a whack scenario, but it turned out to be a non-issue. In fact, no points were scored all game.

My opponent won the roll off and decided to go first. He set up his jacks in front of Z with the greylords behind for smoke clouds. Gorman was nearby. The assassins were spread out, some central and some on his left flank. The two units of Eliminators were sent to the two far flanks.



I set my gun mages on the right opposite most of his stealth stuff and within range of his guidon in case I wanted the Mule to shoot at it. My real problem with the Mule is that it's absolutely bananas with Ashlynn and way Meh with anyone else. I really don't like models that can only shine in particular circumstances. The PKs and Constance stayed in the middle of the board, but there was a forest near my deployment that caused me some grief. Gorman took the left flank, Anastasia the right.

I deployed to the scenario but then didn't really play for it, which was bad. Instead I should have played for the enemy (gunmages kill assassins dead) and worked that angle. Also, I forgot how ballbusting Z's feat is.



My opponent advanced and put up watcher. I advanced and put up Transference. He advanced again and feated (no initial ranged attacks for my gunmages, no charging. Sad). He also ran an eliminator into Gorman so that I couldn't toss black oil.

I advanced the PKs in shield wall, kept Constance back, managed to kill a few Kayazy with transference boosts, and gave my PKs terror for command check spam. One unit of Eliminators shat itself. Constance counterfeated. The Mule was ineffectual.

Z's force didn't have a lot of juicy targets, but my opponent did a good job of layering his attacks for maximum effectiveness during my feat (weakest power attacks start the round). The eliminator engaging Gorman missed him twice. Z moved behind the Spriggan. I Lost a lot of knights.

I was sitting on a pile of focus, trying to figure out how best to spend it. After a big feat turn where Constance loses a bunch of dudes she needs to counterpunch hard. I was down to 3 knights, 5 gun mages, and the jacks and solos.

I upkept transference. I had the Piper kill the eliminator engaging Gorman. With the 12 or 13 other focus I wasn't sure what to do. I could probably send Gallant in to the Marauder and follow up with Blaize to finish the job, or move a PK into the Spriggan and have Blaize flashing blade that half of the table.

I decided on the later option. The gunmages killed all kinds of Kayazy. The PKs killed a few with help from transference. The Mule went for a brutal devastation shot at the Marauder (hoping to throw it into Z) but failed. Gallant killed an assassin. Gorman put black oil onto the Spriggan, Blaize charged up. . .and my opponent used Watcher to move the Spriggan away. He'd used it earlier in the turn and mentioned that NOT attacking means the spell doesn't go away, but I hadn't realized that he could watcher move more than once per turn. It was good.

My plan was scrapped, and I had Blaize way up in the mix. Gorman was close to her. He had to die. She fired Sunburst at him, missed, and the blast damage didn't hurt him. Spending more focus was bad. Gorman had to die. Fired again. Missed. Blast damage didn't kill him.

Terrible. Constance was like 5" from Z with 2 focus and there was a Spriggan and Gorman RIGHT THERE.

I conceded.

2nd game I played Cygnar Blaize against T after watching him play a painful battlebox game:

Army Name: Constance in the bag 2
Cygnar
35+6 points, 25 models

Constance Blaize +6 points
* Gallant 9 points
* Squire 2 points

Journeyman Warcaster 3 points

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6 points
* Gun Mage Officer 2 points
** Charger 4 points
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4 points
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist 2 points
6 Precursor Knights 5 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points

We had to play fast b/c it was late. So we stuck with casters we were comfortable with. T played epic Caine

Caine2
Rowdy
Squire
Reinholdt, Gobber Lumpkiner
Gun mages with UA
Black 13th
Boomhowler and Co
Stormsmith
Epic Eiryss

T's list has a huge assassination threat. Caine's feat allows him to ramp up his pistol attack's damage to heavy warjack or dire troll levels. It's nuts.

I lost the roll but T asked me to go first. We were playing a radial scenario called diversion. The basic idea is that each player needs to control a flag on their right and run a model to contest a zone on the far side of the table. It's difficult to stop the last from happening but not the former.

I parked my gunmages and charger "module" with arlan over near the flag T had to control for points. There was a wall there for cover. Constance, the Squire, Gorman, and the B13 hid behind a building on the opposite flank. The PKs had to work around a water hazard in the middle of the board. Gallant stuck near Blaize. Jr put arcane shield on Blaize and moved into a different time zone.

T put Blur on the gunmages, Heightened Reflexes on Boomhowler & Co, and had Caine take the center. His B13, epic Eiryss, and Stormsmith hid in some woods across from my gunmages. I got the chance to alpha strike on my turn two.

My Black 13th moved up and Ryan got a weird deviation from her Mage Storm, but it blocked line of sight from T's gunmages to them. Lynch and Watts killed a Boomhowler troll twice (he made a Tough roll the first time).

My gunmages managed to kill T's Ryan in the woods, which was both lucky and good for me. I could ignore them for a bit. The Charger killed a Troll and the Stormsmith. Constance didn't do much. Gallant got into position about 10" from Rowdy. I screened him with PKs and Blaize had popped feat.

T did what some players do and ignored most of my troops during the feat turn, instead focusing on Gallant and key solos. This didn't work out for him in the long run. Lynch and Watts failed to kill Arlan. Boomie took the center some more. Rowdy moved up into countercharge position. T's gunmages dropped a massive power 17 CRA on Gallant but only did 4 or 5 damage to him. A lot of stuff just repositioned instead of killing my doods.

I went for the scenario. The black 13th took the flag and Ryan got a BONKERS deviation on Mage storm. T had bunched up his gun mages to CRA gallant, and while I couldn't hit them with blur on them, the deviation was great and killed 6 out of 7, leaving only the dude. The dude abides.

I allocated 2 to gallant and had him kill 3 trolls (only one tough roll made. Killed that one twice). I had the Gunmages and charger kill a LOT more trollkin, leaving only two of them left. Gorman moved up to Black Oil Rowdy. Rowdy pasted him with counter charge. The PKs attacked Rowdy and I ran one across the table to toe into the zone. I scored a point.

T decided he had to go for it. He knew it was a long shot. He dropped his upkeeps, gave 2 focus to Rowdy and had Rowdy tremor to knock down most of the stuff I had screening Constance. Eeiryss went for her shot but missed by being 2 inches out of range. Caine popped his feat, charged up to kill a PK, shot a bunch of the guys who were knocked down to jack his damage up, and wound up with three shots on Constance. All of them hit, but he was at dice-5 because I'd left her on 5 focus with arcane shield for 24 armor. He did 1 damage, and 1 damage, and 4 damage. She had lots of hit points left. He still had the dude, two black 13th, and a couple trollkin to activate, but conceded. Caine was flapping in the breeze.

I told him to make me finish it. I had the PKs move to engage, moved Gallant out of the charge lane (he was down to 3 boxes), and had Constance cast Crusader's Call and charge. She needed 8s to hit, so I could have lost to dice, but she hit. And her charge damage roll with flank was 6 6 6 4. So Caine did not make it. If my assassination run failed I still could have won on scenario I think.

Overall they were two great games that expanded my understanding of more models. I don't think I've dealt much with Kayazy before now, and eCaine commands a chunk of the board with his threat range. It was interesting.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Grayslake, IL

Hardcore prep prep

I'm not a tournament WMH player, but I prefer to play my casual games in a competitive format. Further, several folks I play with like to keep their tournament edge. To this end I'm practicing up a bit for the Hardcore game format: 50 pt games, fully painted, with short time limits on turns and a standard scenario called Close Quarters.

I decided that if I play hardcore I want a light model count, which means a lot of warjacks or warbeasts. Further, since my Trollblood and Mercenaries collections are still light, I should go with my main faction, Cygnar.

Now, if I'm going 'jack heavy (and/or with heavy 'jacks) Cygnar doesn't have a lot of warcasters who support that build. Don't get me wrong, Commander Douche can help, and Captain SloMo is still a ball buster under any circumstance, but fueling warjacks with focus takes. . .well, focus. That really leaves only a few options in Cygnar:

Warcasters with "focus multiplier" spells or feats. Captain Darius has Full Throttle which gives all his 'jacks boosted melee attacks, and Captain Kraye has Guided Fire, which gives all his 'jacks boosted ranged attack rolls. Kraye's feat also gives his 'jacks boosted melee attacks. Kraye ALSO gives his warjacks some cool cavalry rules.

I don't own either of these warcasters.

Focus in spades: Haley2 has the most focus in Cygnar, but she also likes to spend it, and I don't own her either. Nemo1 has a big focus stat and he can gain extra when models cast spells in his control area. He also has a couple great 'jack buff abilities. He's fragile as a kitten though. Lastly, Nemo2 is still fragile, though less so, and his feat gives all his 'jacks 3 focus, which is quite a focus multiplier if he has a lot of 'jacks.

I decided to try Nemo2.

My plan was to abuse the sweet abilities on Cygnar character 'jacks.

My list was:

Army Name: Tonnes Of character
Cygnar
50+6 points, 14 models

General Adept Nemo +6 points
* Gallant 9 points
* Ol' Rowdy 9 points
* Thunderhead 12 points
* Triumph 11 points
* Squire 2 points

Journeyman Warcaster 3 points

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4 points
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point
Stormsmith Stormcaller 1 point



In prepping for a game in Chicago I played my skilled and competitive friend Ray in two games. He cleaned my clock in both, but I needed to know my limitations. Keep Nemo way back is rule number 1.

Ray's first list was

Gaspy2
Cankerworm
Deathripper x2
Deathjack
Full Bane Knights
BLT
Min Bile Thralls
Skarlock
Withershadow Combine

Something else I forget? Seems like there should be more there. Maybe cankerworm is pretty expensive.



I won the roll and went first. The B13 took cover in the woods, everything else ran except Nemo and Jr, who put up some buffs. Thead got Failsafe, rowdy got arc shield, and Gallant got Lightning Shroud.

Gaspy put up Hellmouth and advanced everything up.

I decided to play a bit coy, and try to put some hurt on the Cankerworm and his arc node this turn. I allocated 3 to thunderhead and 1 to Triumph. The targets were behind a wall, but Thunderhead doesn't care. Nemo repositioned my stuff with Energizer for better attack angles and then Thead moved up and pulsed, hitting both of the Cryx 'jacks and then doing two sustained attacks on Cankerworm. I didn't roll much damage tho, so he didn't lose any systems. Triumph got a focus from Arlan and blasted the arc node off of the deathripper in a single devastating shot. Everything else just moved around.

Ray hurt the thunderhead pretty bad, sending in the Cankerworm and buying a lot of attacks. He realized that Failsafe was up on Thead about halfway through and decided it wasn't worth his effort to continue. The rest of his stuff repositioned for the next turn.

I had a bunch of Bane Knights in striking distance of my backfield at this point, and one had run forward to engage Ryan in the woods (stupid Ghostly). I needed to kill a bunch of them to alleviate the awesomeness of vengeance. Gaspy was way forward and close to Rowdy (who'd countercharged the second arc node when it advanced, a ploy Ray knew I would take because I kind of have to) and Thunderhead. My plan was to feat, use Gallant and electroleap with the b13 in the woods to clear out Bane Knights, and also try to put some hurt on the Lich. I decided to throw the Cankerworm at the Lich with thunderhead, then trample up Rowdy, but the wall in the way was a problem, and I only realized it after committing to the plan.

The other thing I considered was trying to get the Cankerworm and arc node off of Thunderhead using Triumph and Rowdy, then have the Thead pulse and autoshoot Gaspy for a Pow 12 and two pow 14s, one of them boosted.

That might have won me the game with some luck.

I didn't do that, and Gallant missed a bunch of attacks in the woods, rolling 3s and 2s against the bane knights. Triumph killed Admonitia from the withershadow combine.

Ray had Tarterus move up, curse Nemo, gave A reroll to Gaspy, stuck Parasite, and feated. He had about five Bane charges on Nemo, but the first one rolled fire and brought me low.

Game two Ray played his epic Sorcha list:

Sorcha2
War dog
Beast 09
Winterguard with all the trimmings
Joe too!
Full man o war shock troopers
Full man o war demolition corps
Great bears
Saxon orrik
Madelyn corbeau
Gorman di Wulfe



Ray won the roll but asked me to deploy first.

I did my first turn about the same as before.

Ray deployed beast way to one flank, supporting the winterguard. The beefy troops moved up the other side. Sorcha was in the middle with her support guys.

I had my storm caller kill Corbeau with a barely in range lightning strike. Triumph killed a winterguard rocketeer. Thunderhead moved up and killed two demo corps with his lightning coils, then Nemo cast energizer to pull him back out of reach. I positioned my jacks to terrorize his shock troopers the following turn and hopefully score a point.

The grenadiers killed the storm caller and shot a rocket into Arlan. Ray just advanced the rest of his stuff up.

I got ready to make some money but I played this turn pretty badly. I wanted Gallant to get his Lightning Shroud on all over the Shocktroopers, but they were in shield wall and he again whiffed some rolls. I had been hoping to not commit rowdy but wound up charging him in and tremoring the whole group down and then killing two with hammer attacks. I spent much of the turn trying to kill the great bears, who can each rip a heavy to bits on sorcha's feat turn. I Managed to kill them all. . .several times each as they were super tough. Two were finally dead at the end, but it took a pulse and two shots from thunderhead, and now he could retaliate with all his remaining demo corps.

I had Triumph murder a couple winterguard with his aoe shot. Harlan killed two as well (iron flesh just makes Harlan angry). The B13 tried to clean up Gallant's mess but somehow only killed Saxon Orrik between the three of them.

It was looking bad, but Ray would have to devote a lot to attacking my beef to clean it up.

He dropped all upkeeps, moved the war dog in a run past knocked down Gallant to the B13, and then had Sorcha Cyclone closer, charge Nemo (immune to free strikes because of the dog), get there with an inch to spare, pop feat, and two-hit Nemo dead.

So there's a bunch of tactics wasted by a long threat warcaster.

I almost had Jr recast arc shield on Nemo before ending turn, too. That would have saved me. Ah well.

I bungled up that turn anyway. Gallant and triumph aren't really pulling their weight and I think there will be some revisions to the list.

I will say that Triumph has been pretty good. He brings a super-accurate gun that ignores stealth to the party, and with Energizer Nemo can reposition him as-needed to get LOS or another couple inches while standing still to aim/be precise. I think ENemo is a good fit for him. I'm just not sure he's a good fit in this list. I need a few more models (the field was wide open for the assassination due to low model count).

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Flint