Week in HordesMachine

I played some games this week! It was good times. I played pretty badly in the first game and lost terribly.

I played pHaley with Stormwall and Storm Strider. My opponent played eVayl for the first time and top of 2 he feated and managed to triple Obliterate Haley for the win. It was actually pretty terrible play on my part.

In hindsight I think legion's shooting is just too good to play pHaley and keep her safe. Maybe with a sentinel. Anyway. Bad play by me. Good by Brandon and a good win.

I also took some pics of Brandon losing badly to Harbinger who then managing to get assassinated by incubi in a last ditch effort by Kallus. It was sweet as well.














I then played two games in Chicago at Unique Games and Gifts. My opponent was relatively new to the game. I spent a lot of time explaining things, and since I always play scenario that was another thing to try and explain. I think I did alright but I felt that it wasn't sticking. It takes some repetition.



He was a retribution player. In game one he played Kaelyssa, Shady Lady
Hydra
Daemon
Full Sentinels and UA
Full Strike Force and UA
Arcanist
Mage hunter assassin

I decided to play Nemo3, mainly because my other 'caster was Caine2, and I felt that the latter isn't very newbie friendly. I just painted up Caine2 and i was anxious to put him on the table. However, I also wanted to get some shots in with Nemo3.

Specifically I wanted to play Rowdy with him, because Rowdy is good. Rowdy with Failsafe is real good. Rowdy with Lightning Shroud kills things. Rowdy with a free focus from Finch is dope.

Rowdy is a baws.

My list was
Mid life crisis Nemo with new Stepmom
Rowdy
Thunderhead
Black 13th gun Mage toolbox
Gorman di Wulfe, Froke as Buck
Arlan Strangewayese
Rangers
Journeyman
Reinholdt



My opponent and I played Process of Elimination. We largely ignored the scenario. It's a tough one to win by a scenario. He won the roll to go first and went first.

He advanced a bit but was cautious. I almost bit. I decided to delay engagement as well. I shifted stuff around and put Failsafe on Rowdy and Lightning Shroud on Thunderhead. Arcane Shield went on Nemo.

He moved up again and missed a bunch of shots and whiffed damage rolls. He feated.

Gorman put the oil to the daemon. Rangers killed a bunch of strike force. Black 13th killed more. Thunderhead pulsed and killed nothing, but then crit disrupted the hydra and broke its shield.

I feated with Nemo and used lightning to kill like 5 sentinels. It was weak. Not a great feat. I didn't play it well.

My opponent crushed the thunderhead. He killed a few rangers. Kaelyssa killed Gorman. A player on another table convinced him to go to for my journeyman, but I felt that wasn't a good idea. The newer player listened and his Mage hunters did not kill Jr needing 8s to hit and dice -4 to damage.

It was a non-shocking non-turn of events.

I was losing a flank to the sentinels but my opponent couldn't kill Ryan. Ryan killed a ton of sentinels with a gunfighter mage storm.

Nemo killed all but one sentinel. Rowdy wrecked the Daemon in precisely the same way a Baws might. The rangers killed some more Mage hunters and they failed their command check.



I was winning on attrition but I'd left Nemo a bit vulnerable. My opponent was too green to see it, but the hydra and Kaelyssa could have shot at 14/16/14 Nemo and probably ended the game.

They didn't. Rowdy wrecked the hydra as well. I wound up winning on scenario because he had no non-fleeing models in the second zone. Reinholdt ftw!

There wasn't anyone else to play so we played again. I pulled out my first Caine2 list.

Caine 2, who has all the shots
Ol rowdy
Squire
Reinholdt
Rangers
Boomhowler and Co
Journeywomans
Black 13th
Gorman di Wulfe, Kung Lao Impersonator
Epic Elf



My opponent played

Vyros of the Bird
Hyperion (ruh roh raggy!)
Full sentinels and UA
Two Mage hunter assassins
And some other stuff? It seems light. I must be missing something.

I ran up. He advanced and killed 3 rangers with aoes and strafe. His mage hunters and sentinels moved too far forward.

Ryan dropped a Mage storm on the Mage hunters.
The rangers mugged his sentinels and then Caine himself moved up and killed 4 before casting Blur on himself and gatecrashing back (read gatecrash for the first time tonight OMG teleport good!).

Boomhowler called out super tough and then they ran up around the Hyperion, not engaging it but taking up real estate. The sentinels killed two trolls and Hyperion killed 5 more. No tough rolls for me.

However the sentinels were bunched up for defensive line and rangers and Ryan finished them. I repositioned and had Boomie rage howl. Eiryss tried to shoot vyros and died for it next turn. Caine and his retinue repositioned.

God rage howl is good against colossals. -2 to hit hurts so much!

Hyperion killed Gorman and Ryan with a well-placed sunburst cannon. Vyros killed elf.

I went for an assassination run, charged squire in the back and killed it, then bought shots on Hyperion to ramp up damage and never stopped. I almost went for some shots on Vyros, but I wound up doing over 30 damage to Hyperion and breaking both it's arms instead.

Boomie howled again.

Hyperion needed to hit a 14 on his sunburst cannon shot for the win, and didn't. Vyros charged rowdy and scratched the paint. Rowdy finished the game.


We played Close Quarters, but we didn't really go for scenario. It was a decent game, but sometimes newer players get too much advice in a single game. I'd never played Caine, and my boy Tmage showed up to kibitz during my feat. He walked away from the table while I was considering shooting vyros instead of Hyperion and only offered some advice after the game: "always buy, never boost".

Which was good advice. Rowdy did some serious work this evening. My first game with thunderhead and Nemo3 has convinced me that it's not so good a combo. Energizer and Locomotion are way good for that 'jack.

Good games at least. Nice opponents all.

-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Warmahordes Games

I went to the Gamer's Sanctuary in Flint last Saturday for a tournament that did not take place due to low attendance. I was still able to get in four games of Warmachine, two against a fellow I did not know, and two against the nemesis Ray.

John played Trolls and had only Grim Angus with him. He played Grim twice against my Constance Blaize list. The lists were something like:

Blaize
Gallant
Sylas
10 PKs + UA
10 Nyss Hunters
Epic Eiryss
Harlan Versh
Gorman Di Wulfe
Rupert Songman
Reinholdt

Grim
Dire Troll Mauler
Troll Impaler
Troll Axer
Troll Champ Hero
3 Long Riders
6 Bushwackers
Fell Caller
Some pig artillery thing, the razorback crew?

We played scenarios. In the first game, we ran at each other, I feated and left Blaize at zero focus trying to mug the Axer with Nyss, and then John managed to kill Blaize with an Impaler under Rage and a Long Rider charge.

The second game was more interesting. We played the Revelation scenario, which has two flags, and both must be scored upon to win. We both advanced again, and again we clashed, but this time Gorman dropped Black Oil on the Long Riders and Blaize camped enough to be relatively safe from the Impaler. We chewed through each other's forces, and when the dust had settled it was 5 PKs, Gallant, and Blaize against Grim, 2 Bushwackers, the Axer, and the Mauler. However, I'd started off the scoring on flag #1, and Blaize was sitting on flag #2. John planned to camp his mauler on Flag #1 and thereby keep the score constantly tied while we jockeyed for position (Grim was Locking down Gallant), but I realized after a turn of this that each player can only score 2 points per flag. So I wound up winning by scenario.

Ray stepped in while John got Taco Bell and showed me the fury of Cryx.

I played

MacBain
Sylas
Gallant
Nomad
10 PKs + UA
Bloody Bradigan
Gorman di Wulfe
Epic Elf
Aiyana and Holt
Ogrun Bokur attached to PK officer

He played prime Skarre with a pile of mcThralls, full Soulhunters with Darragh Wrathe, a Slayer, and some other junk in the backfield.

We ran at each other, but I didn't feat the turn of engagement, and the PKs failed a terror test against Gerlak Slaughterborn (with the reroll; two 10s). So they were out. I managed to put some fear of God into Skarre by putting a Nomad into her backfield, but she just feated and the Soulhunters charged through my shit with Incorporeal and that was game.

Ray and I played again, and he played Venethrax with a pile of Bloodgorgers. This game was awesome.

I played something like

Ashlynn
Gallant
Sylas
ATGM + UA
Mule
6 PKS + UA
Harlan Versh
Gorman di Wulfe
Taryn di Rovissi
Reinholdt

We both ran first turn, but Venethrax also feated. I feated in response and promptly killed most of the bloodgorgers. He jammed up my lines in response, and things got ugly. Venethrax pushed forward on one flank, and the ATGMs met him and managed to not die, by having the Mule occasionally crit-toss him in an AOE backwards. Gerlak and most of the support staff got pimped by PKs on a weird flanking mission. The backfield got murdered by Taryn di Rovissi, who managed to kill a lot of stuff this game, including the Withershadow reroller.

The game came down to Ashlynn (with goblin and seeker), Gallant, the Dude, Taryn, and some PKs against Venethrax, darraghe wrathe unhorsed, and Malice (who was mugged). It was my game to lose at that point, because Admonition was keeping Venethrax away from Ashlynn while Gallant whittled away at him. But I decided to charge Ashlynn into Malice, doing some damage, but giving myself little means of escape from Venethrax, who was too far away to retaliate except for Wrathe's death ride. Which is ridiculous.

So I learned something there. That game needed to end tho, and I still feel it was my game to lose.

Overall some sweet stuff. I didn't take a pic of the games, but I've got something around here. . .

Ashlynn is pretty awesome

-Merlin out

WarmaHordes Game Sizes

There are quite a few levels at which the game can be played. The logical starting point is Battlebox games, which are (depending on the faction and contents of the box) 10-15 points. They're good for getting a grasp of the core battlegroup rules: how to buff your warjacks or warbeasts, allocating focus to power 'jacks, managing fury on beasts, keeping things in the 'casterlocks control area, popping the feat, and so on.





15 points: This is still a small game, and often features a prominent battlegroup element, but there is usually a solo and/or unit in the mix. For warmachine armies, often a jack or two from the battlebox will get dropped for more troops. Warcasters rely less on warjacks than warlocks do beasts, and powering jacks costs focus; one is often enough. Warlocks regain fury each turn from warbeasts, so they need them as fury batteries.




In this pic the sword knights represent steelhead halberdiers.

Games at 15 points tend to be quick, tense, and interesting. The Poor Bodgers series at my FLGS is always a single list, 15-point tournament. When I go I get to play 3 games in 3 hours. Since I play warmachine I can mix and match my troops, warjack of choice and so forth, depending on the 'caster I want to try. It's more difficult to do that with Hordes, but hordes runs multiple heavies better at low points, so there's some give and take.

The short, small games at this point level make the lose-your-king, chess, assassination aspect of the game less frustrating. It's super easy to lose at WarmaHordes. If the warcaster or warlock is left vulnerable (even only slightly so) it can mean the end of the game. At 15 points it still feels alright when I lose to a silver bullet assassination run.

25 points: this is kind of a no-man's land for WarmaHordes games. Most games are played at 35 or 50, and the quick, new player friendly tournaments and games are closer to 15. 25 is stuck between those game sizes.




I quite like this level as well, since it builds on the 15 point paradigm, but doesn't add too much more. An extra 10 points is another infantry unit and support, or an extra heavy warjack. Things are escalated, but not to a great degree. Early 'casterkill still doesn't feel too much like a nutpunch.

It's much easier at 25 to create a balanced list, with both ranged and melee forces, jacks and infantry, and a couple solos that support the force.

35 points: this is one of the standard tournament list sizes. At this level there are a lot of models on the board. If a cheap infantry unit like Sword Knights costs 6 points for 10 guys, fitting 25+ models onto the board can be easy.

It is at this level that deploying things correctly becomes a huge part of the game, IMO. Don't get me wrong, mistakes can be made at any level, but "deploy centrally" as a strategy works well up to 25. At 35 there simply isn't enough room. For warmachine armies that feature only one or two heavy jacks, the remainder of points will be spent on troops, meaning several units on the board. Hordes can run beast-heavy better, so some hordes lists will have 4 heavies in a list at 35.




Getting casterkilled early at 35 feels more like a nutpunch than at smaller levels. It takes 10 minutes to set up 30 odd models and get moving around. If the game is over before the armies clash because one player saw an opening and exploited it, that's good on them but disheartening for the assassinated.

I tend to build most of my lists at this level. It's fairly easy to cover most of the bases and plan out the first few turns still. Many times I use self-supporting modules to keep things moving nicely, since it's much harder for a caster to support a larger army with buffs than it is a smaller force. It's also at this point that warmachine and hordes can get seriously asymmetric. Hordes can have multiple heavies kicking around, buying attacks and wrecking havoc, dealing with the consequences next turn. Warmachine tends to get troop heavy because even though there are lots more opportunities for warjacks, the caster has the same amount of jack-powering focus that they did at 15 points. There are exceptions, of course, but in general this is true.

Nemo jack-heavy 35 PTA:



50 points: this is the standard game size for Hardcore events, where the whole army must be painted and turns are timed aggressively. Many tournaments also use this size for games. It's a big force. There are often upwards of 30 or 40 models on the board, and even lists with multiple heavies will have plenty of troop support.




Constance's infantry swarm.

Several of my friends prefer this game size to all others. It allows them to play huge modules and run piles of troops downfield, causing a ruckus. I tend to think that the board gets cluttered at this level, and since I'm still relatively new I sometimes make mistakes in deployment that ruin my game 45 minutes or more later.

Game length is another factor. With 35 models on the board even the first turn advance can take time, and losing to an easy assassination really sucks after setting up a huge array of warriors. There are also an incredible amount of things to take into account at this level. A misstep can have serious consequences, and with 3 units of differing speed and combat abilities, and several large jacks or beasts, there is a lot going on all at once.



Perhaps I'll enjoy larger games more as I get more experience. I'm of the opinion that 35 points is a real sweet spot for WarmaHordes games. It's not enough to cover everything, and the troops don't clutter up the board, but there is enough stuff to have a huge tactical game.

75 and 100 points: these games are off the chain. Sometimes they're played with multiple casters. In the team tourney it was 100 points with two casters. Talk about attack vectors. These games can drag on a bit as well. Privateer Press has recently released a new set of rules for extra large games that make them look more fun, but we'll see about that. Games at this level would take several hours to complete.

I quite like the fact that WarmaHordes scales around at several levels. I'm fond of 15-35 points myself, but 50 is still alright.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

The Latest Poor Bodgers Event

Last Monday there was another 15 point tournament. I decided to play that Constance Blaize again. I quite like the way she plays. I wanted to try a Stormclad with her instead of Gallant, for more heavy-hitting crunch. This meant Stormblades instead of other infantry. I think the list is better against heavies, decent against other infantry (high-defense troops might be an issue), but will suffer against ranged lists.

I played:

Still with the facestabbing.

Constance
Stormclad
Stormblades with Unit Attachment Officer and Standard and a Storm Gunner Weapon Attachment
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One (flanker for Constance)

Game 1 vs. Mortenebra Cryx

My opponent was playing a Morty tiered list, so his 3 heavies all cost a point less. His list was

Morty
Character Skarlock dude
3 Slayers
2 Warwitch Sirens

The warwitches are bananas. They ignore free strikes, they can freeze a model in place with their reach melee attack, and they have several good magical attacks. Oh, and they can give a 'jack a focus if they don't do any of the other stuff. Just ridiculously strong. 

I saw their magic attacks and put Banishing Ward on my Stormblades. Harlan has Sacred Ward, so that meant my opponent could only target my warcaster and warjack with his magic attacks. This proved to be an issue for him.

The scenario was Overrun, which features a large scoring area in the middle of the board that's difficult to control.

He set up and went first after winning the roll. He put Spectral Steel on a Slayer to give it ghostly (walk through stuff, ignore free strikes), and everything advanced. I counteradvanced but left my stuff a little bit out of his charge range with Morty and her hookups.

He tried to cast some spells with the sirens, but that wasn't going to work. Instead he advanced his 3 heavies up toward my lines and hid everything else behind the building in the center of the table.

So his stuff is all up in my grill, but I haven't lost a model, so I struck hard. The Stormclad wrecked a Slayer easy. I Think my opponent knew that would happen; it was a sacrifice. However, he wasn't planning on Harlan Versh firing four essentially fully-boosted shots into the Slayer with Spectral Steel and rolling well to do nearly 20 boxes of damage to a second heavy. And he certainly wasn't planning on my Stormblades Assaulting and finishing off said second heavy, _and_ killing his third heavy as well. Stormblades hit really hard; their issue is not being able to get to the fight alive. Having a full unit of dudes to hit those heavies was huge. I moved my 'caster back behind the building and her troops and she popped her feat.

I moved the Storm Gunner into the control zone to contest, but that was the only model I put in.

Morty's force was decimated. My opponent used her feat and spell list to charge a Stormblade, kill it, and then Overrun over to my caster and attempt a long-shot assassination. It was his only chance. He had rerolled attacks with his feat, but he chose not to boost his first two, and he needed 9s to hit. That cost him a lot. He did 6 damage to Constance, but he then conceded the game, as he was out of options.

Game MVP: Stormblades _wreck_ shit.

Game 2 vs Ashlynn Highborn Mercenaries

My opponent played

Ashlynn
Mangler
Gun Mages
Blythe and Bull
First Mate Hawk
Reinholdt

I was worried about Ashlynn and her feat, which is awesome for my opponent and terrible for me. I think the scenario was Close Quarters, which has two control zones close to each other near the center of the table, but offset slightly. To score one must control the zone on the opponent's side of the table. I won the roll to set up and go first, and I wanted to go first.

I figured Ashlynn would feat turn 2, and I wanted to try and offset her feat with my own. I moved my stuff up and cast Transference, thinking that maybe with boosts I could still get hits on her feat turn. He cast Admonition on the Mangler and Quicken on Ashlynn (which I see a lot; not a fan of Quicken on her, as I think Admonition needs to be on the 'caster), and moved up aggressively.

I saw a chance to try and wrong-foot him by charging my Stormclad diagonally at the Gun Mages, which would put a big patch of rough terrain between our heavies. I activated Blaize first and cast Crusader's Call to lengthen everything's threat and popped her feat. The 'clad killed two gun mages with his charge attack. I then had the Stormblades Assault, and they hurt Blythe and Bull a little, but didn't hit a lot. They aren't terribly accurate with their lightning-sword blasts.

I moved Harlan up a bit to take four potshots at the Mangler with his Purgation quadiron, Malleus. He managed to roll well once, and did 8 or 9 damage with his four shots. Not bad.

Then my opponent surprised me. He dropped Admonition, gave the Mangler 3 focus, and then activated Blythe and Bull first to shoot at the Stormclad (their prey). They did 10-ish damage to it, wrecking the cortex. Then he activated the gun mages and did a CRA into a Stormblade, killing it. Then the Mangler charged in and threshered two Stormblades (3 tasty souls). What I was confused about was why my foe didn't use Ashlynn first and pop her feat? She makes her whole force super accurate, gets more crits with the gun mages. . .it's all good. Anyway, she got an extra shot from Reinholdt and Ashlynn moved up toward my warcaster. He planned on shooting Harlan, but forgot that the cheeky bugger has stealth. So auto-miss. Instead he took two shots at Constance, and did a few damage. Then Hawk charged the Stormclad and did some wounds.

So my turn starts and Ashlynn doesn't have Admonition on her to save her from my charge, hasn't popped her ridiculous feat which would protect her from my charges, and is 8 inches away from Harlan and Constance. I had Harlan charge in to give Constance her Morrowan flank bonus to melee attacks, and he managed to hit (needed a 12 on 3 dice) and do a crapload of damage. Constance charged in and finished Ashlynn off easily (with 8 focus to spare).

Game MVP: Harlan Versh. Dude brought the pain.

Game 3 (finals) vs. Harbinger Menoth

Sadly, my opponent was playing an illegal list in the finals and I noticed right away. We asked the judge about it and he was disqualified. We still played the game, and I played sloppy as hell because I already technically won, but I learned alot from my mistakes. I decided to split the first-place prize with my opponent because he won, despite the fact that I get the win on paper. He played a good game.

Caine v. Ashlynn

The scenario is Capture the Flag, which is essentially "assassinate!"

I used an iPhone app to randomly determine which 'casters would be playing this scenario. From Cygnar it landed on Caine, and from the mercenary 'casters I own it dropped on Ashlynn.

Ashlynn is pretty amazing, but ranged armies can give her fits. I had to proxy a lot because of duplications this match.

Army Name: That Caine has Character
Cygnar
35+6 points, 19 models

Lieutenant Allister Caine +6 points
* Ol' Rowdy 9 points
* Squire 2 points (Caine loves the focus from the Squire, and Rowdy is a great, focus-efficient 'jack)

Journeyman Warcaster 3 points (Arcane Shield on Caine is a must)

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4 points (rarely disappoint)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points (meh)
Dannon Blythe & Bull 4 points
* Captain Jonas Murdoch 2 points (I've been thinking of running this combo a lot. Murdoch gives the bounty hunters once-per game dig in, and access to the assault order [doubling their attacks, essentially]. Blythe gives Murdoch prey with the rest of the unit for a hit and damage buff against their chosen target. Caine can further boost their accuracy and threat with Deadeye and Snipe)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution 3 points
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist 2 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt 4 points
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point
Stormsmith Stormcaller 1 point
Viktor Pendrake 2 points

The basic idea behind this list is that Caine is a badass infantry killer on his own. So he doesn't need a lot of basic infantry. Instead I opt for many cool units, most of which are multi-wound models, which increases their survivability. I should probably drop Arlan for something else: a Gun Mage Captain maybe? There are a lot of options at two points. Maybe also drop the Stormsmith and add Runewood for pathfinder and charge bonuses?

Army Name: Ashlyn's Paperthin Armor Brigade
Highborn Covenant
35+6 points, 25 models

Ashlynn D'Elyse +6 points
* Nomad 6 points
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker 2 points

I wanted to try Sylas. He's awesome.

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6 points
* Gun Mage Officer 2 points
** Mule 8 points
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist 2 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
10 Nyss Hunters 10 points
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point
Taryn di la Rovissi 2 points

This is an interesting list, but area-of effect attacks will pick it apart fast. Most of the models here are high-defense, low armor. Luckily Caine's list had little access to aoes.

Caine won the roll and took the side of the board with the hill. He deployed with most of his stuff looking to get on the hill, though he and Rowdy (and their entourages: goblin, r2d2, Arlan) went more left of center.

Ashlynn put the Mule and ATGMs on her left flank across from the hill. The Nyss deployed to take the right flank forest, with Ashlynn, her Nomad and entourage up the middle.

Dannon and Bull opted for the Mule as prey. I was hoping to stack Aiyana's harm effect (kiss of Lyliss; +2 damage on all subsequent attacks) with the prey bonus for a net +4 and dice -2 against the Mule's armor.

The AD solos went near the middle. Caine moved up with Blur on the B13 and Snipe on B&b&m. Ashlynn moved up as well with admonition on herself and Quicken on the Nyss.

Caine's second turn was money. Eiryss tried to shoot Quicken off the Nyss, but missed. Harlan activated and managed to kill 3 Nyss with his purgation-havin' quadiron. The B13 moved up and Lynch's Fire Beacon missed but deviated nicely, ao that Watts and Ryan could kill 3 more Nyss and Gorman Di Wolfe. Rowdy moved up cautiously. Caine himself feated but didn't kill much other than Ashlynn's Harlan and Taryn the Gunjugs, and three ATGMs. He teleported back to safety. Aiyana and Holt moved up but most everything was out of range by now. B&B&M did several damage to the Mule and Bull pushed it back 3 inches, moving up himself.

Ashlynn responded with her feat, which made her troops' already-awesome defense even better. She also used Sylas to cast Gallows and move Rowdy up, which put him in charge LOS for the loaded Nomad. The Nomad mauled Rowdy and the remaining two Nyss nearby finished him. The last Nyss engaged Eiryss but missed.

The gunmages killed Bull,'but he was Tough. The
Mule, shooting at Murdoch on a hill, needed an 11 to hit. He got it, but not with a crit. Murdoch and Aiyana and Holt died from the shot, but Murdoch is Tough as well.

Ashlynn's force was decimated, but she'd taken out Caine's only heavy and had two of her own. He feat also made counter-attacking rough.

However, Caine himself was out of the feat, but within range to Thunderstrike the Nomad, and with enough movement he could slam it back into Ashlynn, knocking her down. After taking some basic attacks that is precisely what Caine did, and he managed to get enough slam distance to knock her down. The B13 then shot her to death.



Sad. Thunder Strike is very much a cointoss. If Caine had missed (not likely, but he needed to boost to hit the nomad near Rowdy's wreck and had to use the Squire reroll) he'd have had a tough fight ahead. Also, if he hadn't rolled the 3 on slam distance he wouldn't have gotten far enough to knock Ashlynn down. However, those are rolls and chances Caine has to take, and when he hits them it is game.

Game MVP: the Black 13th strike team. They rarely disappoint.

Lessons learned: don't let Ash get slammed. Even quickened Nyss in a forest will get picked off by Harlan Versh. Caine's feat is unreliable against high-defense models (maybe Rangers?). Rowdy gets scrapped too easy without AS. The B13 still rock. Blythe and Bull with Murdoch was hard to use, and they rolled poorly for damage. However, having some Tough guys around is nice.

WarmaHordes Team Tournament

Ray called me on Tuesday and said that there was a WH Team tourney on Saturday. He also asked if I'd team up with him, as he had theorymachined a bunch of Cryx/Cygnar villainy. I managed to find some family support and got to play, and the villainy commenced.

We played:
Army Name: Shootethrax 2.0
Cryx
50+6 points, 46 models

Lich Lord Venethrax +6 points
* Malice 9 points
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points

5 Black Ogrun Boarding Party 6 points
10 Bloodgorgers 8 points
10 Croe's Cutthroats 10 points
General Gerlak Slaughterborn 3 points
Necrotech 1 point
Satyxis Raider Captain 2 points
10 Satyxis Raiders 8 points
* Satyxis Sea Witch 2 points
Withershadow Combine 5 points
1 Scrap Thrall

and

Army Name: Stupid Caine Tricks
Cygnar
50+6 points, 30 models

Lieutenant Allister Caine +6 points
* Ol' Rowdy 9 points
* Squire 2 points

Journeyman Warcaster 3 points

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6 points
* Gun Mage Officer 2 points
** 2x Hunter 6 points each
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4 points
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution 3 points
10 Nyss Hunters 10 points
* Captain Jonas Murdoch 2 points
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord 2 points

The basic idea was that Caine's ranged buff spells Deadeye and Snipe make the units Ray was taking (Ogrun and Cutthroats) awesome, as generally speaking Cryx doesn't have access to ranged buffs and Cygnar doesn't have access to the dirty-tricks shooting of the more evil factions. It worked okay. Further, giving Snipe to Malice, so that he can harpoon a jack from like 18 inches away and drag them into your lines to get mauled, is gross.

 In fact, the Black Ogrun also have drag, so the list was very "GET OVER HERE!" with Snipe and Deadeye to pull stuff in. We didn't get to do too much of that, but what there was was nasty.

Round 1 vs Constance Blaize (Cygnar) and Baldur (Circle)

Baldur was running a unit of bloodtrackers, a tricked out ravagers unit, two woldwardens and the Megalith, and the shifting stones with ua. Constance had a min Precursor Knights with ua, Gallant, a Charger, Jr with a Hunter, Squire, Strangeways, a min unit of Trenchers and a max unit of Sword Knights with UA. And a Stormsmith. Someone had Swamp Gobbers as well.

We won the roll, set up first, and deployed our mess of infantry all over the map. Caine gave Blur to the raiders and Snipe to Malice, and Rupert gave the raiders Tough. The raiders ran to engage the Trenchers (like an 18 inch run, ridiculous). pretty much evverything else ran. Venethrax cast Lamentation and upkept it all game. Soul Harvester is a hard counter to Blaize's feat.





Deployment photo!

The Circle moved up and Baldur feated, giving his entire army cover and making it difficult to fight them. We made some mistakes because of the feat. I had never played against it so I wasn't sure how it worked, and Ray misremembered it. Everything moved up, with the bloodtrackers (Prey= Satyxis) engaging some Nyss with a run. Nothing much happened otherwise; the Trenchers killed two or three Raiders with help from Transference, but it was expensive. Baldur had Solid Ground up and Constance had Transference up.

Ray and I realized we'd kept Caine too far back to feat this turn, so we just went our way. Caine dropped Blur but left Malice with Snipe, then the Satyxis Raiders murdered a bunch of Trenchers with Soul Harvester on them (Venethrax gets a pile of souls). Also got the Stormsmith. Venethrax feated, and the Nyss assaulted the bloodtrackers, killing a couple and making clouds. The sword knights on the far flank were engaged by a Nyss and a Raider.

The gunmages and Hunters managed to kill a Ravager and hurt another. Cutthroats engaged the other Ravagers in Baldur's control area and feat, and the trolls and ogres hung back a bit. Gerlak set up for a ridiculous turn. B13 did nothing.

The counterstrike was rough, with several Earth Spikes from Geomancy killing four gunmages and quite a few cutthroats. The ravagers killed more cutthroats in the woods (though they had some trouble due to Tough from the piper). The bloodtrackers killed a couple Nyss (poof! clouds!), and the Sword Knights killed the stuff engaging them. Constance managed to get a bunch of Raiders dead, but we were controlling the middle zone at this point, with only one Trencher and one Sword Knight contesting it.





Poof! Clouds!

Ray did something awesome and terrible, with Gerlak getting soul harvester and a reroll from the withershadow combine, and proceeding to kill the Trencher, the entire 12-man unit of Sword Knights, and a blood tracker with his berserker fury. Constance's feat was up as well, so all those tasty souls went to the Lich Lord instead of the Knight of the Prophet. It was amazing to watch. The Nyss killed all but 3 bloodtrackers and their ua. The remaining gunmages, B13, and Hunters killed another Ravager and put some damage on a woldwarden. The bloodgorgers charged up and wrecked the Hunter and engaged the other woldwarden. Malice and Rowdy didn't do a lot this game, but this turn they moved up to cover Venethrax's soul-gorged, ARM 30 advance.

Caine feated and killed 3 Percursors and put a bunch of shots into Megalith, doing 8 or so damage (without boosting, weirdly). Then he teleported behind the Ogrun. The last Raider ran away to deny the bloodtrackers a new prey target.

At this point we were winning the attrition war but our clock was running down. We were talking out a lot of strategy and we had a ton of models with a ton of attacks. We also had gained a control point.

The next counterstrike was pillowfisted. The woldwarden on the gunmage-flank charged up and failed to hurt them, then dropped earth spikes all over the place but didn't do much. Megalith did similar, also using his defense-debuffing animus. He killed two of the B13. The remaining Earth Spikes hit Malice, but didn't do much damage and he never got the crit knockdown.

The Ravagers finished Croe's but couldn't hit the gunmages. The bloodtrackers had trouble with the Nyss. The Precursors charged up, killing two trolls but getting countercharged by Rowdy in the process (splat). The gunmages moved up to contest the zone again and shot at the withershadow, killing one.

We had 20 minutes left. Venethrax used up like 12 of his 20 focus (SOULS!) killing Constance with Soulfire spells. That took some time. The Hunters killed the woldwarden on their flank. We tried to kill the lone precursor to survive the counterattack in the zone but he survived. only 1 control point. We hit the chess clock with 5 seconds left on it.

Now, here's the thing: we were playing death clock, which means that when the clock runs out you lose. We didn't realize that any work done up to that point was wasted. So Ray's caster-kill, and our control point advantage, and our huge army-attrition differences, meant nothing. The other team had like 30 minutes to mosey through their depleted-army turn, and when they hit the clock, we would lose.

Ray had trouble with the chess clock early, and it wasn't running during our first turn. He'd docked us like 20 minutes for it, but it was probably too much. Had we had 10 more minutes we may have been able to hail-mary Venethrax over to Baldur and win the game (or kill the 3 gunmages left in their control zone and win that way; they'd been ignoring the scenario).

So we lost.

Round 2: Vs Strahkov (Khador) and epic Goreshade (Cryx)

Strahkov had a Spriggan, Torch, Beast09, a min unit of Assault Kommandoes, a min unit of Kayazy Assassins with Underboss, the Great Bears, and a unit of Doom Reavers. Goreshade was a tier 4 theme list chock full of Banes: 2 full units of Bane Thralls with all the trimmin's, a full unit of Bane Knights with Tarterus to back them up, the withershadow, Skarlock, and a bunch of scrap thralls to feat into new Banes.

Strahkov had a bad game. We won the roll and went first again, deploying things better to move Caine forward turn one. We gave the Raiders tough and fearless and Blur, and they moved up a bit, we moved things up more conservatively against Goreshade's special ability "If a BaneNoun kills a living dude, it becomes a new BaneNoun!". We really just advanced up little more than a walk.

Again Venethrax upkept Lamentation all game, and again Malice got Snipe.

They moved up all their stuff conservatively as well, though the Doom Reavers charged up to the Raiders and killed one. Goreshade put Occultation on himself to gain stealth, and Strahkov could have done the same (he has the spell), but instead decided to put Superiority on Beast09 and run all his slow 'jacks up the middle.

Ray looked at me after their turn and said "let's kill Beast09 and Strahkov." I thought it would give us an early advantage, so I said hell to the yes. The Raiders killed most of the doom reavers. Malice activated with some focus for boosts and walked up, using Snipe for a better threat range on Beast09 to harpoon him and drag him into our lines. Then he pummeled him with his fist a bit, and possessed Beast09 to present his back arc to the rest of our forces. Rowdy hit Beast good and solid, and the withershadow combine finished him and used their dark industries to make him into a fresh heavy warjack for Ray to use, a Harrower.

The Khador player was not happy. It got worse. Caine moved up and cast Deadeye and Snipe on Croe's Cutthroats, and Deadeye on the gunmages as well. Using the extra die on ranged attacks from Deadeye, and the incredible range of Snipe, and the extra die of Poison damage from Croe's poisoned weapons, the cutthroats advanced and managed about 6 attacks on Strahkov. One of them rolled high and it was enough to finish him (even on average rolls they'd hit 3-4 times for 5-6 damage, enough to kill the warcaster). They had a shot left over and killed a Great Bear.

I had the piper give pathfinder to the B13, who walked through some woods to get a clear shot at the Kayazy on the far flank. Lynch's fire beacon was outside the range of attack, so it deviated. . .right onto the middle of the kayazy, negating their stealth. The rest of the B13 killed 2 assassins and the Nyss killed 2 more with CRAs.

They failed their command check for massive casualties. So they were out of the fight a bit. Khador was having a rough go of it. With Strahkov gone his other two 'jacks went inert, and with the Kayazy fleeing he was left with two Great Bears and a unit of Assault Kommandos.

The gunmages shot at some Banes who were out of range. The hunters hit two but failed to penetrate their armor. The trolls and ogrun prepared for a charge next turn.

The Banes just advanced, though the Knights killed most of the cutthroats ad a pair of Nyss, and Tarterus actually made several new Knights in the process. The Great Bears managed to kill a cutthroat as well. We were down to two.

The Nyss countercharged the Bane Knights and killed 5 of them and another Kayazy (who'd failed their command check again to rally). The Harrower tried to clear out a shooting lane for the B13 to get to Tarterus, but missed the attack and the blast did nothing except kill another cutthroat (down to just Croe). I maneuvered Rowdy into the woods to get Caine line-of-sight to kill a Bane Knight in the way, but I failed to kill it with him as well.

I moved the B13 around to try and get shots at Tarterus, but Ryan couldn't get line of sight, so I had to Fire Beacon with Lynch, stick it, and hope to put some hurt on him with Watts. The Fire Beacon hit, then Watts rolled fire on his Brutal Damage shot (17 on three dice), one-shotting the Bane Lord. That let Ryan see past to some Bane behind, and she killed three with her Mage Storm.

Venethrax moved a bit and popped his feat. The Bloodgorgers moved up and killed a few banes, using their overtake move to escape the clouds (from V's feat) and counter-attack. The gunmages tried to help, and the Raiders managed to kill a bunch of Kommandos and they failed their command check for massive casualties (thanks for playing, dude, holy crap what a bad game for Khador, I think the doom reavers killed a Raider and then he only got to roll command checks the rest of the game).

The Bane Knights (down to three from 12) killed two Nyss with Vengeance and then their activation attacks. The Kayazy rallied but did nothing. Goreshade moved up and popped his feat, splooging Bane Thralls all over our mid-lines, and a few charged the Bloodgorgers on the far left flank, spewing yet more banes (MOAR BANES!).

The Nyss murdered everything on the right flank with assault. We had killed everything on one side of the board, but our objective was on the other side. The Raiders moved up and killed most of the Banes on the objective, and the Bloodgorgers and Ogrun killed the rest (and a bunch of the spawned Banes. The gunmages and Hunters mostly failed to hit things (cover from a wreck marker and engaged by Raiders made it rough even with Deadeye). Venethrax moved up a bit. Caine did as well.

Now we had a control point. The Banes countercharged again, killing a few Bloodgorgers, but Ray made a few too many Tough rolls, and the Ogrun crew have 8 wounds each, which made it tougher to kill them. Only three more Banes joined the force, and they were mostly on the far flank. After Goreshade's last turn, we had ten minutes to clear a Skarlock, a Scrap Thrall, and four Bane Thralls from the objective. We did so with 42 second to spare. Venethrax himself killed three of the Banes.

So we won. Third place. Of four teams. :p

Somehow I managed to forget to snap a pic of the bane thrall madness (MOAR BANES!) in the second game. My bad.

-Merlin out

Mercenary Blaize v. John Woo Shooter

Match 4 of round 1. Gaining Ground.



Army Name: Holy Mercenaries
Highborn Covenant
25+6 points, 22 models

Constance Blaize +6 points
* Gallant 9 points (again, Blaize needs the hookup on Morrowans)

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution 3 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points (I don't like merc utility solos in a Cygnar Blaize list, but when we're talking a merc list they're so much better because they benefit from all Blaize's buffs and she benefits during feat turn if they get mauled)
10 Nyss Hunters 10 points (pathfinder, weaponmaster, CRA, super fast, all good)
6 Precursor Knights 5 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points


Army Name: Caine Netdex (so named because a better player than I ran a similar list at Gencon and I modified it from his blog)
Cygnar
25+6 points, 22 models

Lieutenant Allister Caine +6 points
* Ol' Rowdy 9 points (Rowdy is one of, if not the, best 'jacks in the faction)

Lady Aiyana and Master Holt 4 points (at 25 I had to choose between the Black 13th and this duo. I decided that 4 5-man CRAs from the Long Gunners would be sick if they all hit a heavy for +2 because of Aiyana's damage buff; I lose the ability to deal with stealth tho)
10 Long Gunners 10 points (not great generally, but Snipe and Deadeye can make them murderous)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord 2 points
6 Stormguard 6 points (the last bits I'm not sure about. This might be better as 10 'guard and no Aiyana and Holt, but since the Stormguard are only in the list as a speedbump, to enable the LGs to get in some extra shots before being engaged, they might do the trick)

Blaize won the roll and again elected to go first. She chose the side of the table with the forest to abuse the Nyss' native high defense and pathfinder. The Nyss and Harlan ran into the woods. Eiryss ran along that flank to half-hide behind a building. The Precursors ran to the walls in the center of the table to use them as cover, and Gallant backed them up. Constance cast Transference and walked behind Gallant.

Caine had some tough choices to make. His game plan was to give Blur to the Stormguard to protect them from ranged and Snipe to the Long Gunners. He decided that was a good plan, but not wanting to waste his own gunshots he also advanced himself, a little too far. Then Rowdy moved up to screen him, but this put Rowdy in danger of a couple of Nyss charges.

The LGs managed to kill three Nyss in the woods with CRAs and Deadeye from Caine. Rupert gave the 'guard Tough in anticipation of the counterattack. Aiyana and Holt advanced along the opposite flank from Eiryss.

So now Constance had a chance at an alpha strike, and things went quite well for her. She activated first and cast Crusader's Call to boost her troops' charge range. Then she put Banishing Ward on Gallant to keep Caine from trying any Thunderstrike shenanigans. She also upkept Transference and feated, ending on zero focus.

Harlan moved up and used his Purgation Quad Iron gun to kill 4 Long Gunners. Rowdy forgot to Countercharge. The Nyss moved in and hit Rowdy hard, with something like 15 damage on two charges (the third in range missed). Rowdy's hammer was out. The other Nyss killed three Stormguard, but one made his Tough check. Then the Precursor Knights charged in, using their minifeat to get a single charge on Rowdy at 4 dice, with the rest just running to engage the remaining Stormguard. That single Precursor Knight hit Rowdy like a ton of bricks, crippling right arm and cortex.

That was a huge loss for Caine. Worse, catching up on attrition was going to be rough against Blaize's diminishing returns feat. Eiryss moved into Caine's control zone behind a building, and Gallant backed up the troops engaged by the Stormguard.

Caine was in trouble. He needed to kill a bunch of Blaize's troops on her feat turn, and survive, while contesting the middle zone. The Stormguard activated first, but they missed their first attack (needed a 6, rolled a 5 on two dice) and then they managed to kill one Precursor Knight. Meh.

Rupert gave them Terror in an attempt to make the Nyss break, but they passed their command check. Then he ran to contest the cente zone. Aiyana couldn't do much this turn. She wanted to put the Kiss spell effect (+2 damage against target model) on Gallant, but Banishing Ward prevented it. She had to settle for the Nyss, but missed the roll. Holt charged the Precursor Officer, but missed 3 of his 4 attacks and then flubbed the damage on the fourth to barely scratch his target.

Rowdy moved away and ate free strikes, getting scrapped in the process. Caine stood still to aim and feated, but he needed 9s to hit many of the Nyss due to engagement. He did kill a few after shooting his own Stormguard in the back on accident. He managed to kill a couple and a whole bunch of PKs, but missed his attack against Harlan Versh. He also missed both of his initial gunshots against Versh. He only needed a 4 on two dice. He bought an attack, hit, and boosted damage, but Versh's armor was through the roof due to Constance's feat. Caine bought one more and managed to kill the witch hunter. Took four focus though. He then teleported behind his LGs.

The LGs dropped two big CRAs on Gallant, and rolled good damage, but not enough to hurt the lug. No control points scored.

Constance got 9 extra focus due to her feat and souls. She gave two to Gallant and upkept Transference. There were still 4 Nyss on the board and two PKs. The Officer killed Holt and the Standard Bearer moved to power Gallant. Constance activated and cast a fully boosted Sunburst at Rupert, killing him. The Nyss charged up and killed two LGs and the remaining Stormguard. Eiryss shot Caine for a few, and Gallant charged in to finish him off. Blaize wins.

Game MVP: Nyss Hunters. Those elves were bananas awesome.


Lessons learned: Nyss are awesome. Still. Constance seems strong so far, but she's won the roll to go first and chosen the side of the board that offers the most cover. I thought Caine had this one in the bag, but he didn't protect his heavy hitters, losing four LGs and Rowdy to the alpha strike. He should have played more conservatively.

Round 2 will be:

Merc Blaize going first against Grim Angus
Cygnar Blaize first against Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls
Ashlynn going first against Caine
Haley first against Stryker

I really don't relish the concept of a Blaize v Blaize confrontation. This exercise was an attempt to get a feel for various models, and while i like her playstyle running her in a "mirror match" won't teach me much, IMO.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gun Mage Fever

Cygnar Fluffernutters Vol. 1:

I've been considering the idea of tiered/theme lists in WarMachine for a while. Essentially, the idea behind theme lists is that you can only take certain models, units, etc. But, in exchange you get some benefits, whether it's decreased cost on units, or free models, or even starting the game with upkeep spells in play or focus points on 'jacks.

My buddy who got me into the game said "never do tier lists, it's like tying one arm behind your back." And in a sense, it is. The model selection tends to be extremely limited for most of them, and the benefits rarely outweigh the "cost" of limited model selection. That being said, I have always liked the idea of artificially limiting the building blocks for any given project, as an exercise. Call it theorymachine calisthenics. It's one of the reasons I like drafting in CCGs; I like being forced to use unpopular choices so that I have to reconsider them or otherwise _make_ them work.

So with that, I decided to at least work toward a few tier lists in warmachine. Flipping through the Forces of Warmachine: Cygnar book, I was looking for theme requirements that could be met by multiple theme lists. Two units show up multiple times (in multiples) in several theme lists: Arcane Tempest Gun Mages, and Long Gunners. I decided that I liked the ATGMs better than Long Gunners, and if I had to buy two units of something (most theme lists require doubling-up on certain infantry, which isn't often done; most players only ever want one of a given unit in their collection) I would buy those. Even better, the first unit was on sale used at my FLGS, and a resculpt came in April. So not only would I have two units, but they would look totally different.

When I actually got the units, I mixed the two sculpts a bit so that each unit has 6 unique figures (most units have 3-5 sculpts, with some duplicates). I also painted them in different colors, both for differentiation, and because ATGMs can be taken in one of the mercenary contracts. So then my merc ATGMs look different from my Cygnar ATGMs. Even better, the Forces of Warmachine: Mercenaries book has another tier list that requires two units of ATGMs, so now I'm working toward 3 theme lists with my purchase.

The lists:

Army Name: Gun Mage Fever 1
Cygnar
Theme Force: Sons of the Tempest Tier 4
35+6 points, 23 models

Lieutenant Allister Caine  +6 points
* Avenger or Defender 9 points

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  5 points
* Gun Mage Officer
** Hunter  6 points
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  5 points
* Gun Mage Officer  2 points
** Hunter  6 points
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team  4 points
2x Gun Mage Captain Adept  2 points each

I like this version because it has some symmetry, but after playing it a few times, I'll probably drop a hunter and both Gun Mage Captain Adepts for a Stormclad on Caine. Then I'll move the Defender/Avenger to the now 'jackless Gun Mage Officer for Rune Shot. Caine needs the Stormclad beatstick. Prime Caine's tier might be cool enough to actually play in a serious game.

Army Name: Gun Mage Fever II
Cygnar
Theme Force: The Huntsman Tier 3
35+5 points, 27 models

Captain Allister Caine  +5 points
* Minuteman/Firefly/Sentinal/Charger 5/4 points

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  6 points
* Gun Mage Officer  2 points
** 2x Hunter  6 points each
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  6 points
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team  4 points
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Rangers  5 points

This list is weird, and I don't actually own eCaine or several of his 'jack possibilities. I'll probably run it after I get epic Caine once or twice, but this is one of the theme lists that loses a lot for little gain. It'll still be fun to play, and Caine's epic version is pretty amazing even without his Squire and goblin buddy, but I'll just use it for casual play.


And now for the mercenary gun mage fever!

Army Name: Gun Mage Fever III
Mercenary Theme Force
Theme Force: Viva Le Resistance Tier 4
50+6 points, 35 models

Ashlynn D'Elyse  +6 points
* Nomad  6 points
* 2x Vanguard  5 points each

Anastasia Di Bray  2 points
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  6 points
* Gun Mage Officer
** Mule  8 points
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  6 points
* Gun Mage Officer  2 points
10 Precursor Knights  8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard  2 points
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord  2 points
Rutger Shaw  2 points
Taryn di la Rovissi  2 points


I generally prefer 35 point lists and games to 50s, but I feel that Ashlynn's tier list is so much better with the extra points for a Nomad or Mule and more Precursor Knights. If I had some serious gun mage fever I could even drop some support pieces like Rutger Shaw (who is there to hook Taryn up with Tough and Dodge) and Rupert for my GMCAs.


As you can see, I don't yet have all the models (don't want to play eCaine until I've got some more pCaine games in, and my FLGS hasn't gotten Anastasia in for months) that I need/want for my lists, but it's still cool to know that I can work toward three tier lists with one doubled unit. That's Cygnar and Highborn tier lists with some unit-purchasing efficiency.

I'm a huge fan of pCaine's tier because after setting up the basic (and awesome!) gun-mage framework of 16 points (2 units of ATGM at -1 pts, with a free UA, and the Black 13th), I have X points left over for 'jacks (25 in a 35 point list with Caine's 6 JPs), and as long as I can afford 3 'jacks I've hit tier 3 and 4. This allows me to tap into my stable of Cygnar warjacks with ranged weapons (umm, most of them) and play around with different combinations.


Or I could buy more gun mages. Probably not though.


Hunter Hunter Defender GMCA GMCA
Minuteman Minuteman Minuteman (or more gun mages?) Stormclad
Hunter Hunter Hunter Hunter
Charger Sentinal GMCA Minuteman Stormclad
Avenger Avenger Hunter
And so on.


Next month: Long Gunners, or how I learned to stop worrying and love dual shot CRAs.

Monday Night Combat

Well, warmachine games at the Gamer's Sanctuary in Flint, really. I went up for some casual games and played two new opponents.

Game one was my prime Caine tier/theme list (Gun mage fever!) against an epic Caine list that looked remarkably similar. My opponent was a newer player who still had a trick up his sleeve.

We played a 33 point game (that's all my opponent could muster). My list was:

pCaine
Defender
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
Hunter marshaled to Officer
ATGM unit 2 (tier requirement) + free Officer (tier bonus)
Hunter marshaled to Officer
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Gun Mage captain Adept



I didn't really have a lot of choices, aside from 'jacks, as the theme/tier list requirements are for all those gun mages. It's a thing I'm trying out.

My opponent, not playing a tier list, played:
Epic Caine
Squire
Lancer
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
Ironclad marshaled to Officer
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Now that I'm typing his list out, I realize that he didn't discount himself epic Caine's 5 warjack points, so he's actually only at 29. I got a free officer and GMCA out of the deal. Ah well.

Epic Caine is one of the most feared assassins in the game. His feat is called Overkill, and when he pops it, he does an additional damage with each successive gun shot he makes that hits. So he's all about getting more shots. Reinholdt can give a warcaster a reload for an additional pistol shot, and eCaine has one with each pistol to start. He can then buy 6 more with his focus, or 7 with the extra focus from a Squire. So his power-12 shots can be doing power 22 by the end of his run, if he hits with all of them. That's insane. And since it's ranged he can do it from 19 inches away, with his seven-inch move. His ranged attack rating of 9 seals the deal as an incredibly accurate assassination 'caster.

I knew this going in, and I planned accordingly. I used my gun mages to screen my advance and took some potshots at eCaine's forces. I was rolling very poorly, and I missed many of my approach shots. Eventually, I decided that hiding my pCaine was a waste of time. I put Blur on him to jack his defense against ranged and magical attacks to 20, daring my opponent to try his assassination run.

He took the bait and moved up eCaine after getting a focus from the Squire and a reload from Reinholdt. Now, he needed 11s to hit, so he boosted his initial attacks with focus to try and make one connect. The Caines have a low armor rating, so if he could land a couple shots he could have won the game. But alas, his three boosted initial attacks missed, and then he spent all his focus shooting but _not_ boosting. Then he ended his turn without activating any of his other troops, and conceded the game.

It was a most unsatisfying victory.

I managed to find another opponent and decided to try out the new Cygnar warcaster, Constance Blaize. She's a cool customer with a religious theme, and in the couple games I've played with her lend themselves to assassination-style play. She likes to finish games herself with her Sun Spear. Her feat and theme lend themselves to a melee-centric army, but I find that I really want a ranged element in all the games I play, so I've been adding in some ranged toys to help cover her advance.

Constance Blaize, knight of the Prophet
Gallant
Cyclone
Precursor Knights (full) with UA
Stormblades
Black 13th
Rupert Carvolo
Arlan Strangewayes

My opponent played the Iron Wolf, Harkevitch.

Harkevitch
Black Ivan
Destroyer
War Dog
Full winterguard with grenadier and UA
Widowmaker snipers
Widowmaker marksman

Kovnik Joe
Prime Eiryss, Mage Hunter

Harkevitch's list has tons of ranged attacks, and I wasn't sure how to approach it. It's entirely possible I should have popped feat and bum's rushed it first turn, as it went first and got decent board position. As it was, the warjacks dropped huge area-of effect bombards on my guys and killed a number of them early. The most effective thing in his list by far was the widowmaker snipers. They killed 3 of my Precursors on the top of turn two, and then shot several Precursors or Stormblades every turn. I simply didn't have an answer to 5 snipers in the woods (well, I did, but my Cyclone whiffed on his attack rolls, needing 6s on two dice he missed 4 times out of 6). That probably cost me the game, but I did have a chance.

He had moved Harkevitch up after feating, and I could have gotten Constance next to him, but I didn't realize that the war dog would not be able to countercharge (I knew it could do it, but I simply played sloppy and poorly) if I ran my last precursor next to it. If I had done so, I could have put Constance with 6 focus next to Harkevitch (or at least close enough to stab), and since she ignores upkeeps she didn't care about Escort. With flank she would have been MAT 9 rolling an average of 23 damage against Harkevitch's 19 armor with feat. SIX times. Chances are I would have ended the game then; if she hits four of those six times for average damage she wins the game.

But alas I did not do that, and then the wardog killed my precursor/flanker. The option was lost, and instead Constance was caught by pEiryss flat footed and without her shield guard Gallant. It took Harkevitch's jacks two turns to kill Constance, and it was sad that they were having such trouble.

Good game, and good loss for learning experience.

-Merlin out