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Post by argentbadger on Feb 15, 2019 17:18:59 GMT
I’ve had a hankering to run Minions again, so I thought I’d set up another thread to document my ineffectual flailing through this wonderful game. Joe wanted to try out some of the CID Pirate stuff so we threw down. Game 1 - Invasion (scenario 4) vs Joe’s Mercenaries conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-0PjP4cjNjNjWbM7y7F4njD7gMinion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food [Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Swamp Horror [15] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Brun Cragback [16] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Rorsh [15] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Farrow Valkyries [8] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (max) [17] The basic idea of the list is to leverage Rage-d, Signs and Portents, Overtake Swamp Horrors because that sounds quite amusing. My main dilemma was what infantry to take for Jaga Jaga’s Feat turn. In the end I settled on Boomhowlers as they have decent armour and could possibly contribute in a jamming role even if I couldn’t get a good Feat turn out. I probably slightly prefer Nyss in the role but in this case the high defence / low armour is obviously less helpful. I had a Dr Arkadius list as a back-up that I’m also quite excited to try out but never really intended to use it here. Thanks to the extensiveness of Joe's collection, Calaban is a proxy for Jaga Jaga and a pair of Trolls are representing the Swamp Horrors. conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-0QnTnV8jnQnQnQnM8SnPnPnP8McaMercenary Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] The Talion Charter !!! This army contains CID entries. [Rahera 1] Captain Rahera, Terror of the Wailing Sea [+28] - Blockader [35] - Freebooter [9] - Swashbuckler [8] - Swashbuckler [8] - Swashbuckler [8] Bosun Grogspar [0(5)] Lord Rockbottom [0(4)] Powder Monkey [0(2)] Powder Monkey [2] Powder Monkey [2] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8] The Commodore Cannon & Crew [7] Scharde Pirates (max) [14] - Scharde Pirate Officer [4] I think almost everything here is in CID one way or another. I’m not going to comment on any CID game balance matters because a) I’m terrible at WarmaHordes and b) I have no idea what the Pirate stuff did before so any change is meaningless to me. Needless to say, there are a ton of proxies here but I think that most of them are quite straightforward; notably the Scharde Pirates are represented by some of my old Press Gangers and the Commodore Cannon is played by a Road Hog. Turn 1: Mercenaries Captain Rahera casts Escort and Rough Seas, then pretty much everything runs forward. Slightly to my surprise, Joe has the light Warjacks screening his Scharde Pirates and not the other way around. Turn 1: Minions I also run my stuff forward, though I’m a bit more circumspect about it in order to respect the threat ranges of Joe’s front line. I’m not so worried about the shooting elements as that has me outranged anyway. I’ve deployed the Totem Hunter in a stupid place so it has to run over to the middle to get Grave Wind (I’d planned to start with it in the centre and run to hassle the flanks). Battle Host is also cast. Turn 2: Mercenaries Rahera upkeeps Escort and allocates one Focus to the Swashbuckler on my left. The Commodore Cannon slams Lug back and knocks it down. Various Powder Monkeys Empower the left Swashbuckler and the Blockader so they’re both full. The Blockader saunters forward and vaporises the poor Totem Hunter (100% player error on my side) and a couple of random Boomhowlers. The Swashbuckler charges through the Blockader and kills another. Turn 2: Minions The Soul Slave upkeeps Battle Host on Jaga Jaga’s behalf. Lug stands up and runs toward the action. The Soul Slave puts ghostly on the Boomhowlers; four of them run deep in preparation for their untimely death at the hands of their employer (they’re mercenaries, they knew what they were signing up for) and the rest move to get in the Blockader’s way. Boomhowler himself sings Cacophony. I have a slight activation order issue in that I’ve blocked Jaga Jaga from moving forward so the Wrastler puts Rage on the right Swamp Horror and takes a nice chunk out of the Freebooter. Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents and Rages the second Swamp Horror. She also Feats on four Boomhowlers, killing Aiyana, Holt, Lord Rockbottom and putting a little damage onto Rahera. The Swamp Horrors go in with crazy dice; the one on the right finishes the Freebooter and drops the Swashbuckler while the one on the left kills its Swashbuckler and smacks the Blockader a little. Finally, the Valkyries ding up the last Swashbuckler and Brine finishes it off. Sadly, I’m an idiot and don’t move the third Valkyrie into the right zone which would have allowed me to score. 0 – 0. Turn 3: Mercenaries Rahera allocates nothing but upkeeps Escort. The Monkeys fill up the Blockader again and the Commodore Cannon slams Lug to the ground again. Rahera Feats, charges Boomhowler through the Blockader and sprints back behind the house where she started. The Blockader repositions slightly and kills the last Boomhowler, Lug and the Swamp Horror. The Scharde Pirates use No Quarter and slam into my front line. 0 – 0. Turn 3: Minions Battle Host is upkept. Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents and backs nervously away from Rahera and the Blockader. The Valkyries begin the process of clearing out the Scharde Pirates (and are careful to all end up in the right zone this time) and Rorsh contributes too. Brine charges across and kills Bosun Grogspar and overtakes nicely around to deal with some more of the Pirates. The Wrastler kills even more to heal up and clear the Swamp Horror. Orin hits the Objective with Chain Lightning and the electroleaps kill all three Powder Monkeys. One of them kills him in return after falling from the sky from halfway across the board which was quite surprising. The Soul Slave puts Rage on the Swamp Horror and it goes all in on Rahera. Sadly for me she toughs the last attack and I have nothing left to finish her with. Turn 4: Mercenaries Rahera drops Escort and stands up. She then charges Jaga Jaga and burns through all my transfers. The Commodore Cannon slams the Swamp Horror but I’m less annoyed this time because at least the Horror has Steady. The Blockader walks round but can’t finish Jaga Jaga. 2 - 0 Turn 4: Minions Brine annoyingly Frenzies into the Wrastler, taking out its mind. We discuss whether it is worth casting Signs and Portents and eventually decide that it is not. So Jaga Jaga kills Rahera on the first attack; she doesn’t get tough this time. Minions win by Assassination.
I really enjoyed that game, and of course each time I play Joe it is a pleasure. The Swamp Horrors were just as entertaining as I had hoped, though the dice were really on my side in my turn 2. Things I learned: - Lug is probably best when he is actually standing up instead of being constantly knocked down and slammed back. I’ll try him again.
- My deployment and positioning need a lot of improvement. In particular it cost me the Totem Hunter before it could do anything more useful than waste some precious Fury casting Grave Wind on it.
- Boomhowlers were adequate as Feat targets in this list; they were good enough to contribute while also being high enough armour to make the Feat effective.
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mazog
Junior Strategist
Walking and talking
Posts: 748
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Post by mazog on Feb 16, 2019 14:19:39 GMT
Many people make the mistake of thinking they can Spell Slave animi, but this is incorrect. You can only use works that are physically on the metaphorical card of the caster. Heck, I thought it would work at one point, too.
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Post by argentbadger on Feb 18, 2019 11:54:29 GMT
Thanks Mazog. I guess I had not understood the limitation here - the rulebook states 'the warlock whose battlegroup the warbeast is part of can treat the animus as if it were one of its own spells while the warbeast is in its control range' so I thought that applied for all cases. I see the difference in the wording now which doesn't allow this. I think I might also have been a bit mixed up as I think that the MK2 rules did say that the Animus can be cast as though it is on the Warlock's card.
I've apologised to Joe as I suspect that those two Fury might have been the difference between his assassination run succeeding vs not succeeding.
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mazog
Junior Strategist
Walking and talking
Posts: 748
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Post by mazog on Feb 19, 2019 0:02:41 GMT
Mistakes happen. I realized in the last month that fell callers are base speed 5. I have been playing them as speed 6. In my defense, I have been playing Storm of the North almost exclusively where the Krielstone can buff them to speed 6, but I feel certain that I have used them wrongly on numerous occasions since Mark III began. Hell, I don't even know, maybe they were speed 5 in Mark III and I never played them right!
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Post by argentbadger on Mar 1, 2019 11:39:41 GMT
Joe and I ran another game of Warmahcine / Hordes as we're both really enjoying it. He got a big load of second hand Cephalyx this week so that was an easy choice for him on what to play. I have a few ideas about things that I might to change from last week's list but I plan to play this one a few more times to see where I think it is weak (other than the player, of course). Game 2 - Spread The Net (scenario 3) vs Joe’s Mercenaries conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-0PjP4cjNjNjWbM7y7F4njD7gMinion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food [Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Swamp Horror [15] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Brun Cragback [16] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Rorsh [15] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Farrow Valkyries [8] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (max) [17] No changes from the list I played last time; it seemed to play well enough and anyway, there is not much point changing it up too often or I'll never remember anything. Orin, who I own but have left at home, is proxied by one of the Witch Coven. conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_Z07enelememei6iejehehcjcjckckchejMercenary Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Operating Theater [Thexus 1] Exulon Thexus [+29] - Warden [10] - Wrecker [14] - Wrecker [14] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [10] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max) [11] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max) [11] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Overlords [0(8)] Cephalyx Overlords [0(8)] Kayazy Eliminators [5] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Well, that is a lot of bodies, and if I kill them then they'll come back as Risen. I'm not really sure how I'm going to deal with them for scenario. On the other hand, Joe has to be super careful about his positioning otherwise I can abuse Overtake and munch my way through loads of them at a time with the Swamp Horrors. The Cephalyx Overlords are represented by Thorn Gun Mages. I win the roll-off and opt to go first. Joe chooses the table side that he's already sitting at, further demonstrating the depth of our tactical play. Turn 1: Minions Brun casts Stonehold, Jaga Jaga casts Battle Host on herself and Grave Wind on the Totem Hunter (who I remembered to put close enough to cast it on this time). Everything else rushes forward as fast as their legs / tentacles will carry them. I'm not too worried about Joe's threat ranges here; if he's willing to put Thexus up in range to TK something then he's welcome to do so. Turn 1: Mercenaries Thexus Allocates a Focus to each Monstrosity. All three move up and are followed by Eliminators, Overlords or the Agitator and poked gently to fill up on Focus for next turn. The infantry rush up and spread out to cover Joe's side of the board in a sea of bare-chested weirdos. Exulon Thexus floats up behind them and casts Psycho Surgery to heal up the chip damage that the Monstrosities took. Turn 2: Minions I upkeep all the spells. The Totem Hunter charges through the forest to punk a Mind Slaver Drudge and Sprints back. Rorsh and the Valkyries cap another couple on the right and the Boomhowlers gun down a few more on the left. Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents and sends in one of the Swamp Horrors which eats a few more of the leading Drudges on the left, though an annoying number of them Tough. Careful observers will note that I've neglected to contest Joe's flag or the right zone. Oops. Turn 2: Mercenaries Nothing is Allocated since all the Monstrosities are full anyway. Thexus TKs the right Wrecker forward a bit and Feats. The Totem Hunter gets moved into the forest, my clump of support models is pulled apart so neither the Soul Slave nor Orin are in range to do their thing for Jaga Jaga and the Boomhowlers are tidied up into a neat cluster. He ends activation camping 6 since he is so far forward. Both Mind Benders turbo charge a trio of Mind Slaver Drudges. On the right they hurt Brine (and contest my flag) and miss the Totem Hunter. On the left, join the Risen (and later, a Thrall Warrior) in punching the Swamp Horror but helpfully leave it with all aspects functional. My joy at having the Totem Hunter available is short lived as the Wrecker comes over and smashes it to paste. The other Wrecker gets buffed up by the Agitator and comes into leave Lug on three boxes and Beat Back in to contest my zone. The positioning required does mean that the Agitator isn't on the flag though. Finally, the Warden lumbers in front of Thexus to make it harder to assassinate him. Joe scores the right zone; 1 – 0. I'm not really sure why Joe clumped up all the Boomhowlers with Thexus's Feat; presumably he planned to spray them somehow. Turn 3: Minions Since the Soul Slave got moved away from Jaga Jaga, I have to pay to upkeep Battle Host like a peasant. On the plus side, I think I can take out Exulon Thexus this turn even through 6 camp. The Soul Slave moves across and puts Ghost Walk on the Boomhowlers. They mostly charge into the morass of Drudges and Risen in front of them but a few run through as deep as I can get them. Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents, walks round the Wrastler and attacks the Risen in front of it. Sadly it Toughs and I can't buy an attack as I need to cast Rage on the Wrastler. Instead, she Feats to kill off a couple of Cephalyx officers, a few Drudges in awkward positions and the blocking Risen. She hurts Thexus too because why not? The back Swamp Horror charges into the Warden at an angle to pull it clear of the Wrastler's charge lane and leaves it on about five boxes; Orin fries the Swamp Horror in the back and finishes the job. The other Swamp Horror kills a couple more Drudges and Risen to Overtake closer to Thexus and pulls him in for a good Beaking. Finally the Wrastler charges in and kills Exulon Thexus with the first bite. Minions win by Assassination. Another fun game with Joe. I think that he really suffered from this being his first time with Cephalyx and I don't expect that I'll get him playing Thexus so far forward again. On the other hand, if he'd played a bit further back I could have afforded to be a bit more cavalier with my own placement and could have cleared out a lot of his infantry in turn 3 instead of going in for the kill. Jaga Jaga's feat allowed me to scalpel out some of the tasty Cephalyx unit leaders which I think would neuter their impact quite nicely. I almost want to play turn 3 again and go for attrition instead to see where we end up. - Swamp Horrors are highly amusing into victim stat infantry like Risen and Drudges but Tough is really annoying when you want to use Overtake.
- The Totem Hunter really needs to stay away from things that cast boost to hit.
- Another bad day for Lug since the Wrecker out-threats him. I would have been interested to see what he could do in return once Brun healed up his crippled aspects.
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Post by argentbadger on Mar 7, 2019 11:08:38 GMT
Although there is a competent tournament scene in my country, there is also a whole load of people here picking up Warmachine / Hordes for the first time. I met up with a group of friends I know from Malifaux events who are at about the same level as I am for the game (i.e. terrible); the first was against Colin. Game 3 - Standoff (scenario 2) vs Colin’s Convergence of Cyriss conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-0PjP4cjNjNjWbM7y7F4njD7gMinion Army – 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food [Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27] – Blackhide Wrastler [16] – Swamp Horror [15] – Swamp Horror [15] – Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Brun Cragback [16] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Rorsh [15] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Farrow Valkyries [8] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (max) [17] No change to my list from the last few times. I’m back to proxying Troll warbeasts as Swamp Horrors and Lanyssa is representing Orin this time because I left him at home again. conflictchamber.com/?cc201c_-0id8dmd5d5d9d6dog5dCdfdfdgdgdzConvergence Army - 71 / 75 points [Theme] Destruction Initiative [Axis 1] Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer [+30] - Assimilator [16] - Galvanizer [5] - Galvanizer [5] - Inverter [15] - Mitigator [7] - Modulator [10] - Prime Conflux [37] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Elimination Servitors [0(3)] Elimination Servitors [0(3)] Reflex Servitors [0(4)] Reflex Servitors [0(4)] Optifex Directive [4] I’m not familiar enough to comment on the contents of Colin’s army, though he did mention later on that he would have preferred to have a couple of the battle engines present. I think that this force is actually a little under on points because Colin swapped from Iron Mother to Axis when he realised that one of Iron Mother’s spells only works on Warjacks and not Warbeasts (or maybe I just missed something out in my notes). Note that when I arrived the scenario had already been set up but with flags instead of objectives. Neither of us noticed so we just played it as they were. Colin wins the roll off and makes me move first. Nothing too special about my deployment but I did remember to put the Totem Hunter close enough to receive Grave Wind. The Valkyries are around my battle group on the right in order to catch any tow cables from the Prime Axiom. The Totem Hunter selects the left Reflex Servitors as his Prey. Turn 1: Minions Everything runs up. Brun casts Stonehold, Jaga Jaga casts Battle Host on herself and Grave Wind on the Totem Hunter. The Valkyries mill about in Shield Guard range where possible. Turn 1: Convergence of Cyriss One Focus is Allocated to the Diffuser. The Reflex Servitors all move up and Dig In a bit higher up the field and the Vectors follow them, sharing the Focus very neatly between them. Axis casts Onslaught, puts a Razor Wall in the middle of the forest and saunters up behind them. Turn 2: Minions Jaga Jaga and Brun Upkeep their spells. The Totem Hunter charges to the left and kills a pair of Reflex Servitors (engaging the third so it couldn’t Counter Charge) then Sprints back behind the forest. Brine kills the last one (Totem Hunter chooses the other set as Prey) and gets brought back with Souie, though I possibly mess up the positioning by keeping them too safe and both end up behind the cloud on the left. Brun misses a shot at one of the Reflex Servitors on the right so Lug charges in, tanks a Counter Charge from the one I couldn’t engage (which also blows up another of them), kills the last and uses Return to move back out of easy retaliation range. The Totem Hunter changes Prey to the left Elimination Servitors. Everything else just jockeys a bit for position. I don’t put anything in to contest the rear zone as it feels like it would be too easy to kill. Turn 2: Convergence of Cyriss Axis Upkeeps his spells and Allocates once to the Modulator. The left Elimination Servitors, Modulator and Diffuser gun down a few Boomhowlers. The Prime Axiom realises that ranged attacks are not a major strength under Axis as it misses both Tow Cable shots into Lug (though I probably could have covered them with the Valkyries anyway). A Galvaniser goes into my right Swamp Horror and Axis sits on his flag. We both score the rectangular zones and respective flags. 2 – 2. I did suggest that this might be a good time to use Axis’s Feat but Colin wanted to save it until he could use the bonus strength part. Turn 3: Minions Again Brun and Jaga Jaga upkeep their spells. The Boomhowlers move up; one of them tries to contest Colin’s zone but gets killed by the Counter Charge from the Diffuser. They do manage to kill all the Elimination Servitors on that side with their guns (Totem Hunter shifts Prey to the Diffuser). Rorsh uses Diversionary Tactics to move Brine somewhere he can actually see the Modulator and he goes in to cripple one of the arms and leave it knocked down. The Totem Hunter goes into the Diffuser and neatly leaves it with a single functional box in every system. Jaga Jaga moves round a bit (mainly I’m wary about the Prime Axiom) and casts Signs and Portents. I should have done this a couple of activations earlier but got carried away. The Soul Slave gives Orin Ghost Walk so that he can move through the Wrastler and kill all three Elimination Servitors on the right with Lightning. The left Swamp Horror charges into the Inverter but the counter charge from the nearby Mitigator cripples its Mind which is quite annoying. It does still take a good chunk out the Vector in the process though. Brun shoots the right Galvaniser hoping to kill the Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex behind it but misses the latter. Lug charges in, almost wrecks one of the light Vectors by throwing it onto the ADO (which does kill him this time) and actually finishes off the Galvaniser that Brun shot. My other Swamp Horror kills the Galvaniser right next to it and pulls in the Mitigator for the Wrastler to finish off. Finally, the Valkyries move into the right zone and deal the last few boxes to the knocked down Assimilator. I score three zones and we each score our flags. 6 – 3. Turn 3: Convergence of Cyriss Axis drops both Upkeeps and Allocates two to the Prime Axiom and one to the Modulator. He also Feats and beats Brine down to have only Spirit left, though the combined efforts of the Modulator and Diffuser don’t manage to kill my pig. The Inverter smashes the Swamp Horror down to a couple of boxes and the Prime Axiom walks over to kill it and Lug. I score my flag, my zone and the left zone. Minions win by Scenario; 9 – 3. It was terrific to play Colin at a new game and I’m sure he’ll get much better as he gets more and more experience. I’m not sure how much the flag / objective scenario error affected play but I guess it was the same for both of us. Things I learned: - Lug is lots of fun to play when he actually gets to do stuff
- I need to think about how early I can afford to activate Jaga Jaga in order to get more value from Signs and Portents.
- Not using Jaga Jaga’s Feat didn’t feel like a big disadvantage. In this match-up there aren’t any suitable targets. Perhaps this is an indication that I should use a second list to cover such a match-up.
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Post by argentbadger on Mar 13, 2019 12:26:57 GMT
Following on from the game against Colin, I got the chance to face Paul’s Khador. I think I’ve never played a Khador force in either Mk2 or Mk3 so I was really interested to see what they did. Game 4 - Spread The Net (scenario 3) vs Paul’s Khador conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-0PjP4cjNjNjWbM7y7F4njD7gMinion Army – 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food [Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27] – Blackhide Wrastler [16] – Swamp Horror [15] – Swamp Horror [15] – Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Brun Cragback [16] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Rorsh [15] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Farrow Valkyries [8] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (max) [17] No change to my list from the last few times. Once again, the Troll warbeasts are Swamp Horrors and Lanyssa is Orin. conflictchamber.com/?c3201b76kWkWkUjy8t8y87fS8e7S7VKhador Army - 74 / 75 points [Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince [+28] - Juggernaut [13] - Juggernaut [13] - Spriggan [17] Kapitan Sofya Skirova [5] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4] Yuri the Axe [6] Battle Mechaniks (max) [5] Black Dragons (max) [17] Widowmaker Scouts [8] Winter Guard Infantry (max) [10] - Winter Guard Rocketeer (2) [4] Paul mentioned that this was intentionally an army of things he either owns or finds interesting. It’s not in Theme so no freebies for him (and either I've made a mistake with my notes or he's also playing 1 point down). Still, there seem to be quite a lot of Khadorans facing me. Paul wins the roll off and again makes me move first which is totally fine with me. I put Brun and Lug on the left hoping that Brun could camp on the flag while Lug abused the forest to threaten Pathfinder charges at whatever ended up on the other side. The Totem Hunter selects Yuri as his Prey, mainly on the grounds that with his bigger threat range he’d be able to drop one of the larger threats to him that Paul was fielding (apart from the Warjacks and Vlad himself, of course). Turn 1: Minions My whole list runs forward as fast as their feet, hooves or tentacles will carry them. Brun casts Stonehold, Jaga Jaga casts Battle Host on herself and Grave Wind on the Totem Hunter. The Soul Slave puts Ghost Walk on the Boomhowlers so that they can clear the rough terrain. Turn 1: Khador Everything runs forward, staying out of my threat ranges apart from a couple of Black Dragons on the right. Kovnik Joe tells the Winter Guard to be Tough and Vlad casts nothing. Turn 2: Minions I Upkeep all my spells. Brun saunters onto the flag. Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents and moves forward to cover where the Totem Hunter is about to go. He goes through the rough terrain, shanks a Winter Guard and then Sprints back to hide in the rough ground again. Rorsh caps a couple of Black Dragons and the Valkyries all make sure that they’re in the centre zone. Turn 2: Khador Paul realises that I’ve put both Swamp Horrors and Lug in range of his Warjacks if he Feats, so Vlad allocates 2 Focus to each of the Warjacks on the right. The Winter Guard move forward and those close enough to the Totem Hunter put a big CRA into him and leave him on a single box. The Rocketeers shoot the nearer Swamp Horror for some impressive damage and the Widowmakers gun down a couple of Boomhowlers. Vlad Feats and camps the rest of his Focus. The Spriggan goes into kill one Swamp Horror and the Juggernaut gets the other. Ouch. The left Juggernaut goes into Lug and leaves him on a few boxes. I score the right zone and Paul scores his flag; 1 – 1. Turn 3: Minions Jaga Jaga and Brun upkeep all their spells (I’m not sure if that was the right move for Brun since the only things likely to attack him were the Juggernaut and the Widowmakers). The Totem Hunter charges into Yuri and one-shots him to proclaim himself King of the Woods then Sprints off to engage the Widowmakers. The Soul Slave casts Ghost Walk on the Boomhowlers who kill a few Winter Guard. Then Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents and Feats, using only a single Boomhowler to kill Kovnik Joe. The Valkyries chip some boxes off the Spriggan, then the Wrastler Rages itself and kills it off. Sadly it can’t get the Juggernaut too; this is not helped by missing a bite even under Signs and Portents. Brun heals Lug and opts to stay on the flag; Lug maxes out on Fury and leaves the Juggernaut on two boxes; one each for Cortex and right arm… oh dear. Orin misses a Chain Lightning into the Black Dragons so Rorsh shoots a couple of them. I send Brine in for entertainment and he Overtakes through a few more. The store is closing and we’re out of time. I’m pretty sure I lose this on Assassination (or scenario if I want my defeat to last longer) as I’ll be out of things to hurt the Warjacks once the Juggernauts kill the Wrastler and Lug. Minions lose by Assassination (probably). It was really nice to play Paul again after such a long time and we had a really fun game. I made a lot of mistakes though. Overall, I think that the game was very playable but perhaps I need to make sure that a list pair has an answer for anything packing very heavy armour.
- The most important was giving him a chance to take out three Warbeasts on Feat turn. I should have either only offered up one and make him spend his Feat for it, or use the Boomhowlers as a screen in front of my Battlegroup.
- On the left, once Lug and the Juggernaut were engaged I should have used Lug’s Chain Attack to throw the Juggernaut out of Vlad’s control as that would have given me more time to score that flag. Alternatively, I should have abandoned the idea of scoring the flag that turn and charged Brun into the Juggernaut as well.
- After I lost the Swamp Horrors, I should have spent Jaga Jaga’s last two Fury of turn 3 to put Rage on the Wrastler. It was clear that I would need to fill the Wrastler up on Fury if I was going to have any chance to clear those Warjacks so I wouldn’t have been able to transfer anything anyway. Two extra attacks might have made the difference.
- I should have continued to keep Brine in the right zone since he was the one that was scoring it. On the other hand, perhaps denying Paul the flag was at least as effective (I could possibly have eaten Sofia too if we had the time).
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Post by argentbadger on Jun 21, 2019 9:24:23 GMT
For various reasons I haven’t been playing Warmachine for several months, but I got the opportunity to head over to Joe’s place again and get another game in with my Minions. Game 5 – King of the Hill vs Joe’s Mercenaries conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-0PjP4cjNjNjWbM7y7F4njD7gMinion Army – 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food [Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27] – Blackhide Wrastler [16] – Swamp Horror [15] – Swamp Horror [15] – Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Brun Cragback [16] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Rorsh [15] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Farrow Valkyries [8] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (max) [17] It’s the same list as before, except that now I actually have the correct miniatures for everything (though some of them are borrowed). At least in theory I have a Dr Arkadius list to pair with it, but I haven’t actually put that on the table at yet and didn’t really plan to, regardless of what Joe was bringing here. conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-0JoHlLlL2Tj6nH6i3G3H3G3Hchch8McaMercenary Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] The Irregulars [Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27] - Toro [13] - Toro [13] Alten Ashley [0(6)] Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [0(5)] J.A.I.M.s [0(5)] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [10] Idrian Skirmishers (max) [15] - Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [5] Idrian Skirmishers (max) [15] - Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [5] Kayazy Eliminators [5] Kayazy Eliminators [5] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8] The Commodore Cannon & Crew [7] Joe is at least as much of a faction butterfly as me. In the time since I last played even a single game of Warmachine, he has spun through Khador and Circle before coming back to Mercenaries. I win the roll off and choose to go first. My vague plan is to hide Jaga Jaga behind the house, hold the right zone with the Wrastler and the left with the two lesser Warlocks, then bully the centre with anything I have left. My Totem Hunter Preys the right Idrians. They Prey the right Swamp Horror, the left Idrians Prey Brine and JAIMS Preys the Totem Hunter. This might get messy… Turn 1: Minions Everyone runs forward. Brun casts Stonehold, Jaga Jaga casts Battle Host on herself and Grave Wind on the Totem Hunter. Brun and Rorsh are a bit circumspect and decide to make some use of the cloud for this turn before being forced to advance into the teeth of the Idrian guns. Turn 1: Mercenaries Alten Ashley saunters forward and slaps Grievous Wounds on Lug, and some of the leading Idrians take pot shots at it too. Fiona puts Roth’s Mercy on the right Idrians and Occultation on herself. Everything moves up but Joe is careful not to offer me anything too juicy. Turn 2: Minions Jaga Jaga and Brun upkeep their spells. The Totem Hunter cuts down the two lead Idrians and Sprints off to hide behind the forest. Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents from the comfort of her little shelter behind the house (obviously I should have done this before using the Totem Hunter but I guess he didn’t need the help). The Boomhowlers mostly run; one misses an opportunistic swing at a nearby Idrian. Lug kills one and moves back to the edge of the Zone with Return, and finally Orin zaps three Idrians on my right. Turn 2: Mercenaries Fiona upkeeps Roth’s Mercy but drops Occultation. The Commodore Cannon kills a couple of Boomhowlers by slamming one into another. The right Idrians get a few models into the range to do a CRA on the Totem Hunter and roll the exact number of boxes to kill him in one go (JAIMS swaps Prey to the right Swamp Horror). Alten Ashley continues to pump bullets into Lug, crippling his Spirit and making me sad. Over on the left, the Idrian and a Thrall kill a few more Boomhowlers; Lug does get an entertaining Countercharge / Return combo to eat a cheeky Idrian though. Fiona goes quite far forward and Feats. No-one scores. Turn 3: Minions It would be quite nice to get at Fiona while she’s so close but I can’t think of any realistic way to do it under her Feat and with a bunch of Risen in the way. Brun upkeeps Stonehold (in retrospect, I’m not sure why I bothered since nothing was looking like knocking him down) and Jaga Jaga upkeeps Battle Host. The Soul Slave sticks Ghost Walk on the Boomhowlers and they move in and deal with a couple of Risen (the only targets they were likely to hit under Fiona’s Feat). Jaga Jaga casts Signs and Portents and uses her Feat to kill all five remaining Boomhowlers in exchange for some tasty damage on Alexia and all four Kayazy Eliminators. On the right my Swamp Horror clears all the contesting Idrians since it is far enough away from Fiona to avoid her Feat. Rorsh kills a couple of Idrians on the left but mainly I back off on that side. I’m going to lose Lug so I just end up leaving him in the zone to contest it. I score the right zone; 1 – 0 to me. Turn 3: Mercenaries Fiona drops all her spells. Alten Ashley takes his customary shot at Lug and eventually the Idrians on that side of the board kill it. Eilish puts Puppet Master on Fiona. She drops a Valkyrie to Tough with Chasten (burning the Puppet Master re-roll on damage) then puts Curse of Veils on the Swamp Horror and backs right away. Sadly, taking down the Valkyrie means that I can’t Shield Guard the Commodore Cannon’s shot so it slams the Swamp Horror back out of the zone. A random shot from an Idrian deals with the knocked down Valkyrie and JAIMS comes in to kill a second on the other side of the building. Joe scores for the left zone, centre zone and flag; 3 – 1 to him. Turn 4: Minions I finally realise the Stonehold is not helping me so drop it. Jaga Jaga upkeeps Battle Host though; it is free, after all. She heals the crippled system on the left Swamp Horror and casts Signs and Portents. The right Swamp Horror kills the contesting Idrians but apparently rolling an 8 und Signs and Portents to hit JAIMS is just out of the question so eventually the Blackhide Wrastler has to come in and deal with her. Orin zaps the Toro just to get an electroleap to kill a couple of Risen; I’m also sort of hoping that the Toro will take the bait to get Orin so I can have the Wrastler deal with it. The Soul Slave tags a Thrall with Bone Shaker but sadly a Risen free-strike kills it before I can take a cheeky swing at Holt. The other Swamp Horror comes back into the zone and goes through a highly satisfying chain of pulls and overtakes to eventually kill both Aiyana and Holt. I probably would have been better dealing with the last Risen within 4” of the Flag so I could score, but I was on a roll and probably killing Holt was more useful in the long run. Brun kills a few Idrians and gets a lucky critical Stationary on the left Toro; sadly Brine can’t do more than scratch the paint on it. I score the right Zone; 3 – 2 to Joe. Turn 4: Mercenaries Fiona upkeeps Curse of Veils and allocates two Focus to the left Toro, which then shakes Stationary. Alten Ashley, a load of Risen and the right Toro combine to kill the Swamp Horror in the zone. Eilish puts Puppet Master on Fiona and teleports to the Flag. Fiona swaps Curse of Veils onto Brine and the combined efforts of the Toro and Idrians kill him off (the Idrians choose the last Valkyrie as their new Prey). The Commodore blows away the Soul Slave. Joe scores the left Zone and the Flag; 5 – 2 to him. Turn 5: Minions Jaga Jaga upkeeps Battle Host, paying an actual Fury for it this time like a peasant; she then casts Signs and Portents. Orin has had enough of the Toro ignoring him and the Commodore Cannon blowing up all my stuff so he kills two of the crew and toughs the third. The Swamp Horror kills the contesting Thrall. The last Valkyrie (hidden behind the building in the photos) kills two of the Risen she’s surrounded by to clear a lane for the Wrastler to get to Alexia. It only takes a single bite to end Alexia, then the Wrastler overtakes to kill a third Risen (Joe let me do this after I’d activated some other stuff because I couldn’t actually see the Risen doe to the building). Brun, clearly not in the mood for anyone’s nonsense after Lug’s demise, walks into the centre zone and combines Frost Hammer and his gun to kill five Risen and Eilish and get a cheeky critical Stationary on the central Toro. Rorsh gets to be the contesting piece on the left; he does finally gun down Alten Ashley though. I score the right Zone; 5 – 3 to Joe. Turn 5: Mercenaries Fiona allocates two Focus to the central Toro, which shrugs off Stationary. She planned to put Curse of Veils on the Wrastler but Orin’s presence will stymie that plan. Instead the Commodore takes a shot at Orin but luckily for me it misses. Fiona instead kills Brun with Chasten. The left Toro kills Rorsh and the loaded Toro combines with the remaining Idrians to put some damage into the Wrastler. Joe scores the left Zone and I get the right Zone; 6 – 4 to Joe. Turn 6: Minions Hmm, I am feeling like I’m in trouble here with so much of my army gone. On the other hand, the Mercenaries force isn’t looking much better. Jaga Jaga drops Battle Host and walks round to apply Ghost Walk to the Wrastler. She also applies Signs and Portents just to be sure. Orin boosts some Chain Lightning into Fiona to burn one of her camped Focus (and kill an Idrian in the process). Finally the Wrastler charges into Fiona and eats her in a single bite. Yummy. Minions win by assassination. I’ve really missed playing Warmachine, especially against Joe. He was taking it pretty easy on me since I’m quite rusty and very kindly pointed out some obvious things that I was missing; this is really helpful for my learning as it allows me to see how things look from his side of the board too. Things I learned: - Lug is a massive bullet-sponge against Joe and yet again didn’t really get to do anything. I guess that I was taking those shots (especially Alten Ashley’s) anyway so someone was going have to take them.
- Contesting Zones seems to be a problem for me since most of my pieces are quite valuable. And the only jamming I have (Boomhowler and company) tend to get any survivors of the opening rounds evaporated by my own Feat on either turn 2 or 3. On the basis that I theoretically would use Dr Arkadius to cover a more elite Battlegroup-heavy match-up, perhaps I should consider dropping one of the lesser Warlocks to load up on some more infantry. I am considering either Nyss Hunters or yet more Valkyries for this role. I would be happy to read any advice from others.
- Positioning for the Valkyries (and Orin) is quite precise and important. I’m still working on this but I did feel that at least in this game Joe had to work around them a little; therefore they must be closer to being the right places.
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Post by argentbadger on Jun 28, 2019 15:16:22 GMT
Once again Joe and I went for a game of Warmachine. I wanted to try out a different list this time so I asked Joe to pick a slightly less ‘infantry swarm’ option for me to face, and he duly obliged me. Game 6 – Stand Off vs Joe’s Mercenaries conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-0P13fy0M0M1d1d0L0LjWbOfCjVnd4cMinion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food [Arkadius 1] Dr. Arkadius [+32] - Battle Boar [7] - Gun Boar [9] - Gun Boar [9] - Road Hog [16] - Road Hog [16] - War Hog [15] - War Hog [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Gatorman Witch Doctor [0(4)] Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)] Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers [0(4)] Underchief Mire [4] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] I love the idea of Dr Arkadius and played a handful of games with him in Warmachine mk2. This is probably the simplest list I could think of for him; basically 2 of most of the classic Warbeasts, Underchief Mire with a Blackhide Wrastler to apply Rage as needed and then fill up with free solos. I expect that there will be some changes but that is part of the game-playing process. Hutchuk is being represented by an Ironhead and Mire by Rask. This is theoretically the other part of the pair for my Jaga Jaga list; the idea being that I would use this against tougher (i.e. battlegroup heavy) options and Jaga Jaga against lighter, more numerous forces. It probably shows a lot about my experience in Warmachine that I haven’t really thought about this in much more detail. conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-0Jb_9o9o9o949494929292922T3W7mirirchchMercenary Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] The Irregulars [Ossrum 1] General Ossrum [+28] - Ghordson Basher [9] - Ghordson Basher [9] - Ghordson Basher [9] - Ghordson Driller [10] - Ghordson Driller [10] - Ghordson Driller [10] - Grundback Blaster [6] - Grundback Blaster [6] - Grundback Blaster [6] - Grundback Blaster [6] Alten Ashley [0(6)] Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios [0(7)] Kell Bailoch [0(5)] Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6] Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6] Kayazy Eliminators [5] Kayazy Eliminators [5] I did have a feeling that Joe would give me General Ossrum to face against. I find this Warcaster a tough nut to crack as his feat is really strong and that one turn of moving fast, hitting hard and being resilient has often been enough to force me out on scenario. The cannons are proxying for the Horgenhold Artillery Corps. I win the roll off and choose to go first. I skew slightly to the left, with some idea of parking Dr Arkadius in that nice trench near the flag and therefore having plenty of room for him to run away if things go a bit sour. I feel like there should be some clever tactics around exactly which order I deploy the warbeasts but somehow it still seems like I’m dropping them in an almost random order. Turn 1: Minions Surprisingly, everyone runs forward. I debate between Guardian Beast and Aggravator on Dr Arkadius, eventually figuring that the former will make Joe play around it a bit more and prevent me from getting over-excited and sending one of my Warbeasts to an early demise. Forced Evolution is put on the right hand Road Hog and Mire drops a cloud to slightly extend the cloud wall already in the centre. The Witch Doctor puts Shadow Walk on the Wrastler to help it though the forest. Turn 1: Mercenaries Ossrum uses Energiser for a bit of extra forward movement and casts Fire For Effect on the left cannon. After some deliberation, Joe decides to Feat early to blunt my attack. Alten Ashley and the first cannon shoot at the left Road Hog, crippling its spirit. The Basher on the left is in range of my lead War Hog over there (I knew that it could get to me, but I wanted to get some board presence on too) so it slams my Warbeast into the Gun Boar and damaged Road Hog for some nice damage across all three. The other Cannon missed the other Road Hog and it scatters onto Dr Arkadius for a couple of points of damage. Turn 2: Minions I debate for a while about how to approach this. I could back off a bit, leaving minimal stuff to contest the zones and then use my own Feat once Ossrum’s is out of play. Or I could just go all in now. In the end, I decide to back off and hope to make my contesting pieces at least awkward to remove. Dr Arkadius upkeeps both spells and I choose not to bring Hutchuk on (as opposed to normal, where I just plain forget about him). On the right, the Wrastler backs up slightly into the zone. Dr Arkadius casts Psycho Surgery and boosts Crippling Grasp into the Basher; the War Hog makes heavy work of killing it but does finally get the job done on the last attack. The left Gun Boar runs to toe the zone while lurking in the forest, the right one toes the central zone and misses an optimistic shot in the direction of the nearest Eliminator. Both Road Hogs miss her too. Mire puts a couple of clouds in front of the Gun Boar to stop the Driller from charging after being Energiser-ed though the first cloud. Kwaak moves to the flag and puts Enliven on both heavies. Turn 2: Mercenaries Ossrum allocates 2 to the lead Driller and upkeeps Fire For Effect. That Cannon and Alten Ashley are enough to kill the Gun Boar on the left so Joe can score that zone. Ossrum uses Energiser to move his wall of Warjacks toward me and the loaded Driller tramples in to kill the contesting Gun Boar in two attacks. I think that he had options to get more damage there but I was hoping that the little chap would last a bit longer. The Eliminators on the left charge in and smack the leftmost War Hog and then a Blaster comes over and sprays through it to kill Kwaak. Well, so much for him. The other Eliminators contest the right zone and claim the central one. Joe scores the left and central zones plus his flag; 3 – 0 to him. I was hoping not give up all three points this turn but Joe did exactly what he needed to do. Turn 3: Minions Right, now that Ossrum’s Feat is out of the way, it is time to hit back with my own. Both spells are upkept again. Hutchuk charges into Kell on the flag but misses him. Mire puts Rage on the Wrastler and the nearer of each Road Hog and War hog. The Wrastler kills the Driller but misses the boosted attack on the Eliminator after Overtaking into her. The right War Hog charges to scraps the Basher in front of it and maxes out smacking the Driller around too. Arkadius puts Primal on the left War Hog so it has a hope of hitting those Eliminators, heals everyone a bit with Psycho Surgery then Feats. First the Primalled War Hog eats one of the Eliminators. The Road Hog over there gets some nice damage on the Blaster that killed Kwaak and the other Road Hog finished the Driller in the centre. This frees up that War Hog to go into the next line of heavies (do they never end?) and put some tasty damage into the Driller. Finally, the Battle Boar charges in the general direction of the Eliminator to get a bit of range; in its own activation it walks into her back arc and boosts an attack to kill her and Overtake into the right zone. The Raged, Forced Evolution Road Hog finishes off the Driller in the middle and starts chewing up the Basher. The left War Hog moves as far round the Eliminator as possible, kills her and Overtakes into the Blaster to scrap it. The left Road Hog charges Alten Ashley, killing him in melee and getting an entire artillery team with the flamethrower. Unfortunately, some poor placement on my side means that this Road Hog is almost sure to be the War Hog’s Frenzy target. Finally, the Soul Slave moves to my flag. I score the left and right zone plus my flag; 3 – 3. Turn 3: Mercenaries Ossrum allocates two to the Basher. The Cannon can’t quite kill off the Soul Slave so the last Eliminator runs to contest the flag. Annoyingly, she ends up within 6” of Dr Arkadius but I forget about Guardian Beast; I could have had the Primalled War Hog walk over to her as a Frenzy target. On the right, two Blasters team up to kill Hutchuk and the last one moves into the zone to contest it while spraying the Battle Boar and Wrastler. The last Basher smacks a bit more damage into the War Hog in the middle and Ossrum sticks Bullet Dodger on himself and Energises around a little. Joe scores his flag; 4 – 3 to him. Turn 4: Minions I upkeep Forced Evolution but drop Guardian Beast. The left War Hog kills the left Road hog with its Frenzy attack and the Battle Boar Frenzies to tickle the contesting Blaster on the right. The Eliminator is going to be almost impossible to remove with what I have available; in the end I decide that she’s just going to have to live. The Witch Doctor starts a run for my flag because the Soul Slave is not going to last much longer. Mire puts Rage on the Road Hog and Wrastler; the latter wrecks the contesting Blaster and Overtakes to contest the flag. The War Hog finally deals with the last Basher then uses the Overtake to engage the Cannon and the Road Hog gets another Basher but misses Ossrum with the assault spray; he Dodges away to the right. I score the central and right zones; 5 – 4 to me. Turn 4: Mercenaries Joe is out of options so now it is down to a last gasp shot at Dr Arkadius. Ossrum drops Bullet Dodger. He puts Snipe on Eiryss who rolls the 10 needed to knock off Dr Arkadius’s Fury even in the comfort of his trench. The Cannon disengages from the War Hog by getting killed and allowing the unengaged crew member to Take Up (I will admit that I was quite surprised that was how the rules worked) but they can’t roll the 6,6 that would allow them to actually hit Dr Arkadius. Amusingly (from my point of view) the blast scatters onto the Eliminator and kills her. Joe has seen enough and concedes; Minions win… by scenario I suppose. It seems that I forgot to take one last picture. Wow, I really enjoyed that. Dr Arkadius is even more entertaining to play than I had dared to dream. Of course, it helps that Joe is a great teacher, guiding me to learn the game better every time we play. The whole game felt like it was on a knife edge until the end of my Feat turn when I think I understood that I’d done so much damage that I was really only likely to lose to an assassination (which, considering Dr Arkadius’s stats, is never out of the question). Things I learned: - The Soul Slave is not a good fit here. I mainly included it since I already have the model, but I think that I have to consider Targ instead as just allowing a free upkeep a turn is not a great return on the investment.
- Hutchuk continues to be a bit useless for me. I think that probably he is offering some value by affecting what Joe can put out on the sides but so far he’s done more or less what he dis in this game – run on and contest a flag, miss his single attack at something, then die.
- Kwaak will be an interesting piece to play more of. I think that perhaps I was a bit careless to let him get killed by that spray from the blaster here. Enliven seems like the kind of ability that could really change games if only I could learn how to leverage it.
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Post by Azahul on Jun 28, 2019 16:24:33 GMT
Yeah, the Soul Slave doesn't have a lot to do in an Arkadius list, whereas Targ's efficacy jumps way up when he's able to combo with Raw Adrenaline and make fully boosted sprays/high explosive shots Glad you enjoyed playing the good Doctor though.
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Post by argentbadger on Aug 1, 2019 21:52:08 GMT
Azahul - Thanks, I decided to take your advice. Great work on your own exploits too; I really love to read your thread on here. I've learned a lot considering the massive difference in skill level between you and me. Oblivion has gone live and so my lists needed changing. On top of that, we have a fairly big tournament here in my local area this weekend and I wanted to get one more game in against Joe before it so that I wasn’t going in with completely unpractised lists. Plus, most importantly, I really love to play this game and Joe is a truly lovely opponent. Game 7 – King of the Hill vs Joe’s Mercenaries conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-2n13fy0M1d1d0L0L0L0YbO4nnd4cMinions [Theme] Will Work For Food [Arkadius 1] Dr. Arkadius [+32] - Battle Boar [7] - Gun Boar [8] - Road Hog [15] - Road Hog [15] - War Hog [14] - War Hog [14] - War Hog [14] - Targ [0(3)] Gatorman Witch Doctor [0(4)] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Underchief Mire [4] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] Thanks to all the Oblivion changes to Farrow, there are lots of options open now to modify the Dr Arkadius list from last time. In the interests of simplicity dropped Kwaak and Gub (not free any more) and a Gun Boar, then took advantage of other points drops to add a third War Hog. I have a feeling that another version of this list which keeps closer to original one but adds a Bellows Crew for a unit would be better, but this one looks easier to pilot and that is a big consideration for me. I intended to use Hutchuk here but left him at home, so I tried the Totem Hunter instead. conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-20oHnV9v2Tj67yoI7F72chch8MoEoFMercenaries [Theme] The Irregulars [Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27] - Blockader [33] - Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4] Alten Ashley [0(6)] Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [0(5)] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Ragman [4] Rorsh [15] Croe's Cutthroats (min) [10] Kayazy Eliminators [5] Kayazy Eliminators [5] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8] Precursor Knights (max) [14] - Precursor Knight Officer & Standard [4] Oblivion and recent CIDs have changed a lot for Mercenaries. This is an experimental list for Joe, also with an eye on the weekend. Note that Dahlia and Skarath are representing Rorsh and Brine here. I end up going first and aim more or less for the middle. Ideally, I want Dr Arkadius to hide behind that house in the centre. Mire and the Wrastler get sent out left as I guess I’ll want to make some effort to score that zone and I can’t cover all three with my Battlegroup. The Totem Hunter goes on the right with the hope of using the forest for some cover. The Totem Hunter picks Alten Ashley as Prey. Croe’s Cutthroats select the unpainted Road Hog, and are also chosen as Fiona’s Cultists. Turn 1: Minions Everyone runs forward. Dr Arkadius puts up Guardian Beast (spoiler alert: Aggravator was the right choice) and casts Forced Evolution is put on a Road Hog. Mire drops a cloud in the centre and sticks Weald Secrets on the Blackhide Wrastler simply because it would be free later on. I think that Joe can’t get anything serious on me here so both Mire and Dr Arkadius end the turn on zero Fury. Turn 1: Mercenaries Alten Ashley starts us off by sticking Grievous Wounds on the Gun Boar. Eilish puts Puppet Master on Fiona and Sylys gives her Arcane Secrets, then she knocks Forced Evolution off with Chasten through a Cutthroat and follows up to put Veil of Mists on that Road Hog. The advance is a bit more cautious to respect my Feat threat ranges. Turn 2: Minions I don’t think that I can get anything interesting with my Feat this turn, and I probably need it to deal with the Blockader. Dr Arkadius upkeeps Guardian Beast. The Totem Hunter misses both swings at an Eliminator (how I hate those ladies!) but the Gun Boar gets me smiling again by vapourising Alten Ashley, along with a Precursor Knight who was standing too close. My Battlegroup mostly shuffle round to avoid giving up too much to the Blockader while still being relevant to the scenario elements. Dr Arkadius puts an adrenaline needle into one Road Hog and it sprays down a Cutthroat and a couple more Precursors, and Targ uses Ancillary attack to get a few more. On the left, I put the Wrastler into the zone so it’s contested, and Mire clouds in front of it to give Joe something to play round. Turn 2: Mercenaries Veil of Mists is upkept for free and two Focus go to the Blockader. The Eliminators have no trouble dealing with the Totem Hunter. Aiyana puts Kiss of Lyliss on the lead Road Hog and Holt shoots it a few times; the Blockader finishes it off. This allows Prey to be moved to the Wrastler. Eilish and Sylys turbo-charge Fiona and she Befuddles and Veils the Wrastler before the Cutthroats and Rorsh finish it off. Fiona also feats, covering a whole load of the board. The Precursors jam the centre in Shield Wall. Brine scores the left zone; 0 - 1. Turn 3: Minions I don’t fancy ramming my Feat into Fiona’s, so it’s another turn of playing cautious for me. The Gun Boar moves into the right zone and shoots the Eliminator at a short enough range that the scatter will still hit and kill her. Most of my Warbeasts durdle around just outside the Blockaders melee threat range but Dr Arkadius needles the other Road Hog and it sprays a couple of Precursors. He puts Forced Evolution on the far left War Hog and positions so it’ll be in control when it gets to Brine. The Battle Boar Primals it for good measure and I send it off. The War Hog isn’t quite in range to get directly into Brine so it smashes the Objective and Overtakes into Brine and tear him to bits. It felt good not having to force for Aggression Dial. 3 – 1 (left and right zones plus the objective). Turn 3: Mercenaries Another two Focus are allocated to the Blockader. On the right, an Eliminator storms in and kills Targ and Aiyana Kisses the central War Hog. The Precursor Knights use their mini-Feat but can only get a few onto the War Hog and mostly roll very low, doing a pleasingly small amount of damage. The Blockader kills my Objective and leaves the Gun Boar on a couple of boxes and on fire. The Sylys and Eilish pit crew do their tricks for Fiona and she Befuddles and Veil of Mists the far left War Hog who is then shot down by Cutthroats and Rorsh. Fiona moves right back to the edge of the Killbox. Ragman runs to the Flag, the score goes to 3 – 3 (flag, objective for Joe). Turn 4: Minions Sadly, the Gun Boar burns to death, leaving only a delicious bacon smell to remember him by. Dr Arkadius continues to upkeep Guardian Beast. Mire charges over and kills an Eliminator as I decide I need to start thinning out Joe’s forces a bit more effectively. The Battle Boar moves across and Primals the left War Hog then the Witch Doctor charges the Eliminator in the back and hits her… but rolls 1,1 for damage. The Road Hog aims and clears out all three Precursor Knights gumming up my lines. Now for the fun time. Dr Arkadius maltreats a Fury back off that Road Hog, casts Forced Evolution on the Primalled War Hog and Feats. The frenzy charges get me some position and Lady Aiyana, plus the Battle Boar finally deals with the Eliminator on my right. Then the super-charged War Hog uses Aggression Dial and scraps the Blockader from full, even having a spare Fury to Overtake across and eat another Precursor. My back-up War Hog sheepishly kills Holt and Overtakes into the right zone, scoring me up to 4 – 3. Turn 4: Mercenaries The left Eliminator kills Mire and the other one moves to contest the right zone. Sylys, Eilish, Fiona, the Cutthroats and Brine repeat their cool Befuddle and kill trick on the Road Hog; no one scores. Turn 5: Minions The War Hog Frenzies and kills the Precursor Knight officer. The Battle Boar move to the right zone and kills the Eliminator there and the other War Hog runs to the centre to be relevant next turn. Dr Arkadius heals with Psycho Surgery and kills a Cutthroat with Primal Shock. I score the right zone again; 5 – 3. Turn 5: Mercenaries Sylys and Eilish power-up Fiona again and she Chastens Forced Evolution off one War Hog and Befuddles the other. Some bad rolls from Rorsh and the Cutthroats (and also because I’ve actually killed some of them now) mean that the War Hog survives. Orin runs to contest the right zone, right at the back where I’ll never get near him. No-one scores; 5 – 3. Turn 6: Minions Again, I upkeep both Forced Evolution and Guardian Beast. I realise that I’ll never deal with Orin so the Battle Boar abandons the right zone and moves to the centre, casting Primal on a War Hog when it arrives. The Witch Doctor runs onto the Flag. Dr Arkadius misses a Primal Shock into Sylys but does heal the Warbeasts with Psycho Surgery. The War Hogs combine to clear the zone. I get the Flag and centre zone; 7 – 3. Turn 6: Mercenaries Orin zaps the Battle Boar for a small amount of damage and one of the leaps lands on Dr Arkadius too. Rorsh kills the most damaged War Hog and hurts the Witch Doctor. Fiona Befuddles the other one and kills the Witch Doctor with Chasten once she arrives in the left zone. The remaining Cuthroats can’t manage to kill the last War Hog. Sylys runs to the flag; 7 – 5 (left zone and flag). Looks like I forgot a photo on this one. Turn 7: Minions The War Hog smacks Rorsh in a frenzy but he Toughs. The Battle Boar kills Sylys and Dr Arkadius kills another Cutthroat with Primal Shock (in retrospect I would probably have been better going for Rorsh, though this did clear the zone for me). The score moves to 8 – 6 (centre zone for me, left zone for Joe). Turn 7: Mercenaries Orin hurts the Battle Boar a bit more with lightning. The last couple of Cutthroats shoot at the War Hog and Fiona finishes the last couple of boxes. Rorsh, who is now free, shoots the Battle Boar and kills it on his last shot. Joe scores the left and centre zones, bringing the score to 8 – 8 and wins on army points destroyed. Minions lose! What a game! I don’t think that I’ve had such a close game before; it literally came down to the last activation of the very last turn. Farrow Warbeasts, and especially the War Hog, feel really nice now that you don’t have to Force for their dials. The game was filled with entertaining things but I really loved the Feat turn for Dr Arkadius. Things I learned: - I should have cast Aggravator instead of Guardian Beast as it would have meant that I could avoid losing a Warbeast per turn to the combination of Befuddle and Croe’s Cutthroats. To make matters worse, the one time that Guardian Beast could have been relevant (letting the Battle Boar attack Sylys when he ran to the Flag on turn 6) I forgot about it until we’d started the next turn anyway. Unfortunately, this didn’t occur to me until the following morning.
- The Totem Hunter needs slightly easier victims than Kayazy Eliminators. The chance to miss and get stranded was just too high. Alternatively, I guess I could have put Prey on them but I was worried that they were fast enough to just run laterally and avoid the Totem Hunter entirely.
- The wide scenario is a bit of a problem for a Battlegroup based list like this one. I didn’t really want to put the Wrastler out for scoring purposes but I felt like I didn’t really have a choice. I suppose that my plan will be to use Hutchuk to stymie scoring by Ambushing into a zone I’m not committing to; at least he’s a lot cheaper than a Warbeast.
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Post by Azahul on Aug 1, 2019 22:48:40 GMT
I'm glad you spotted the Aggravator trick, even if it was too late for this game It's such a good tool against TK 'casters, Backstab models, and so on One suggestion list-wise, if you're still coming to terms with Arkadius, might be taking the triple Feralgeist option as a Requisition Slot in place of the Totem Hunter. They not only give you useful contesting/scoring pieces, but they're superb for manipulating Arkadius's Feat turn to maximum efficiency. You can run them into position, frenzy at them without worrying about killing them, and then activate the Warbeasts and charge straight through them. I'm currently tossing up between them and Hutchuck for my own Arkadius list (going with Hutchuck for the moment because I don't actually own three Feralgeists, but they're on a shopping list). Plus, now that War Hogs can Aggression Dial without being forced, I feel their potential output goes up a good bit on the off-chance they end up possessing a Warbeast.
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Post by argentbadger on Aug 13, 2019 11:29:40 GMT
Thanks, that is really good advice. I also don't own any Feralgeists so in the event below I went for Hutchuk. I guess most people will have tech for dealing with Feralgeists on flags (since it seems that Gremlin Swarms are also quite common for this) but if I can get them to work as Feat targets then do something else for me they'll already have been more effective than Hutchuk (and the Totem Hunter) ever seem to be in my games. I traveled to Common Ground Games in Stirling to take part in the Warmachine / Hordes (just Warmachine from here on in) Scottish Masters. Note that, despite the name being ‘masters’ it wasn’t necessary to be some kind of expert player; just as well really as otherwise I’d never get a look in. Just like the only other Warmachine event I’ve attended, this was run by Allan Gibb and all the organisation in the lead-up was smooth. I had been really looking forward to the tournament as it’s been a long time since I took part in a competitive wargaming event. My objective here in terms of performance is not to come last. If I can get two wins, I'll be delighted. conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-2njP4cjNjNjWbM7y7F4njD7g___-2n13fy0M1d1d0L0L0L0YbOfCnd4cMinions [Theme] Will Work For Food [Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Swamp Horror [15] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Brun Cragback [16] Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)] Rorsh [15] Totem Hunter [0(6)] Farrow Valkyries [8] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (max) [17] Minions [Theme] Will Work For Food [Arkadius 1] Dr. Arkadius [+32] - Battle Boar [7] - Gun Boar [8] - Road Hog [15] - Road Hog [15] - War Hog [14] - War Hog [14] - War Hog [14] - Targ [0(3)] Gatorman Witch Doctor [0(4)] Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)] Underchief Mire [4] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] My lists are the same two I’ve been using for Minions for the last few games. Dr Arkadius is there to threaten an assassination but can attrition surprisingly well against Warbeasts (because I can get a good alpha strike with Dr Arkadius’s Feat) and a limited amount of infantry (because Overtake lets me pinball around, and two Road Hog sprays can be quite effective. The Jaga Jaga list is intended to be used against infantry, and especially to use her Feat to take out annoying solos and unit attachments; it also has a bit of hit-fixing with Signs and Portents. Round 1 – King of the Hill vs Ross’s Retribution of Scyrah (game 8) conflictchamber.com/?c5201b_-1ohH1gms3y3y3A3J0w4L2wfW2zmo31___-1ndUhImx9v3y3y4141dP35363u3536hTRetribution [Theme] Legions of Dawn [Goreshade 4] Lord Ghyrrshyld, the Forgiven [+28] - Chimera [8] - Imperatus [20] Arcanist Mechanik [2] Arcanist Mechanik [2] Dawnguard Destor Thane [7] Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir [0(4)] - Hydra [15] House Shyeel Artificer [0(5)] - Griffon [8] Lys Healer [3] Dawnguard Destors (max) [20] Dawnguard Sentinels (max) [18] - Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard [0(4)] Retribution [Theme] Defenders of Ios [Issyria 1] Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29] - Hemera [16] - Hyperion [32] - Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [0(4)] Arcanist Mechanik [2] Arcanist Mechanik [2] Ghost Sniper [0(3)] Ghost Sniper [0(3)] Houseguard Thane [0(4)] Houseguard Halberdiers (max) [13] - Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard [4] - Soulless Escort (1) [1] Houseguard Halberdiers (max) [13] - Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard [4] Arcantrik Force Generator [17] I picked Dr Arkadius here as I was worried about how I would deal with the colossal in the Issyria list. Ross chose Goreshade, so that wasn’t helpful. I’m a bit worried about chewing through Dauntless Resolve, Steady, Tough Destors (or Sentinels, depending on how things go) as they seem tailor made to kill my Warbeasts. On the other hand, I think that Ross has to use his Feat early or play very cautiously with Goreshade unless he wants to risk a Feat / Overtake assassination. Ross wins the roll and chooses the board edge so I go first. I’m aiming most of my army for that bottleneck in the centre as I think I’ll need to get through there. The Gatorman Witch Doctor seems important here to be able to get through the terrain. Turn 1: Minions Everyone runs forward. Dr Arkadius puts up Aggravator in case of any cheeky late-turn shooting and casts Forced Evolution on the left Road Hog. Mire casts Weald Secrets on the Blackhide Wrastler simply because it would be free later on. Some of my Warbeasts don’t run as otherwise I’ll end up with too much Fury on the board and I’m not confident about leaving Dr Arkadius on zero camp. Turn 1: Retribution of Scyrah Most of Ross’s list also runs full-tilt toward me. Goreshade puts a couple clouds up in between the central forests to ensure that I can’t see his army. Dauntless Resolve goes on the Destors along with the Steady aura, so I can see that I’ll have a tough time getting through them. The Sentinels form a loose screen in front of Goreshade while the Griffon goes for the left zone. Turn 2: Minions I think that I can use a trick with Dr Arkadius’s Feat to get the assassination this turn since Goreshade didn’t use his Feat. Hutchuk runs in from the left and fails to do much of anything to the Griffon. The Gun Boar runs into the clouds to be a Frenzy target and the Witch Doctor casts Ghost Walk on the War Hog. Mire and the Wrastler put Rage on the right-hand War Hog and Road Hog while the Battle Boar and Dr Arkadius put Primal on the left pair. Dr Arkadius then Feats, sending the left heavies into the cloud wall (and banging up the Gun Boar in the process) and the right ones round the other side of the forest. Over on the right, the War Hog makes a bit of a meal of killing the lead Destor but the Road Hog gets an amusing charge which lights Goreshade on fire with the Assault shot and then Overtakes though a handful of Sentinels. The left Road Hog puts some more damage into Goreshade with its flamethrower and clears a path through the Sentinels before eventually Overtaking out of the War Hog’s way. The Primalled War Hog has Goreshade in its sights and puts the Warcaster down in the first swing. Minions win by assassination! Well, that went surprisingly well. Ross was a really nice chap, explained what his stuff did and took his Warcaster’s early demise with a smile on his face. I think that this was the narrowest win possible in Warmachine; I didn’t get any scenario points and the only thing I scored army point from was Goreshade himself. Things I learned: - I need to get more value out of Ancillary Attack and the Adrenaline option on Dr Arkadius’s Needle. I’m not really using either to any great effect.
- Taking down Destors with Dauntless Resolve, Steady and Tough is really hard to do. In general, I don’t have any tech against Tough other than just spending Fury and hitting them again.
- Cloud Walls are a bit of a problem as I have no way to see through them.
Luckily in this case I was able to Frenzy onto one of my own models to get through Goreshade’s clouds (see above for Azahul's helpful comment about using Feralgeists for this purpose), but if positioning had been a bit different that could have been off the table too.
Since that took such a short amount of time, we re-racked back to end of Ross’s first turn, and applied Goreshade’s Feat. I had to back off and cede some ground and lot of damage but eventually I managed to land a fully powered-up War Hog on Goreshade again and get a second assassination. No photos or clock from that game though, we were just chatting our way through options.
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Post by argentbadger on Aug 13, 2019 11:31:15 GMT
Round 2 – Recon II vs Kyle’s Protectorate of Menoth (game 9) conflictchamber.com/?c2201b_-1qfZgS9xg9e49x9xlM9x9x2_2____-1r1l1q1rm3l-l-m03p7z2mbQ2m2jfV2jfVProtectorate [Theme] The Creator's Might [Malekus 1] Malekus, the Burning Truth [+30] - Eye of Truth [20] - Repenter [8] - Revelator [37] Initiate Tristan Durant [0(4)] - Repenter [8] - Repenter [8] Scrutator Potentate Severius [0(6)] - Repenter [8] - Repenter [8] Choir of Menoth (min) [4] Choir of Menoth (min) [4] [According to my notes there should also be a couple of Vassals of Menoth in here but for some reason it isn't working out in Conflict Chamber] Protectorate [Theme] Exemplar Interdiction [Vindictus 1] Vice Scrutator Vindictus [+29] - Dervish [7] - Devout [9] - Fire of Salvation [14] Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [0(5)] Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [0(5)] High Exemplar Gravus [8] Knights Exemplar Seneschal [0(5)] Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4] Exemplar Errants (max) [16] - Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [4] Exemplar Errants (max) [16] Knights Exemplar [9] - Knights Exemplar Officer [4] Knights Exemplar [9] - Knights Exemplar Officer [4] My knowledge of game match-ups is only at the most basic level possible. In this case, I looked at Kyle’s pairing and mentally broke it down to ‘lots of Warjacks’ and ‘lots of infantry’. Since we were playing a scenario that didn’t have any zones that could be scored by infantry, I figured that he would go for the Warjack list and selected Dr Arkadius accordingly. It was a bit of shock when Kyle picked Vindictus and I ended up facing a huge swarm of light infantry across the table, especially as I couldn’t set them on fire with Road Hogs. Kyle wins the roll off and chooses to go first so I pick the side with slightly less annoying terrain. His army is more or less evenly spread across the line and I do the same, except that Mire and the Dracodile are in the middle since they are Amphibious (and have Immunity: Corrosion in Mire’s case) and hence can get around that irritating corrosion swamp. Turn 1: Protectorate of Menoth A huge swarm of infantry races toward me, ably assisted by True Path. Defender's Ward goes on the Errants on my right, and Rhupert makes them Tough too. Everything other than the Infantry is a bit more cautious and hangs back behind the woods. Turn 1: Minions Everyone runs forward as usual. I don’t want to let too much of Kyle’s infantry get into me, but on the other hand I certainly can’t afford to get jammed out of the scenario. Dr Arkadius casts Aggravator in the vain hope that I can use it to shut down some cheeky potshots without exposing myself too much, then casts Forced Evolution on the nearer Road Hog. The Road Hogs put out a few sprays to minimal effect. Turn 2: Protectorate of Menoth Defender's Ward is upkept, the Vindictus strolls up and uses his Feat. The various Exemplars jam me hard, and I lose the Road Hog on the left to charging Knights Examplar. Turn 2: Minions We weren’t sure of whether Dr Arkadius’s Feat would allow me to charge into Vindictus’s Feat so decided to assume that I couldn’t do it. I un-jam myself as well as I can with Overtake moves, and the Battle Boar lives the dream by Primalling itself and then eating the entire unit of Knights Examplar. 1 – 0 to the Protectorate as I can’t clear my own flag and forgot to ambush Hutchuk on to contest Kyle’s. Turn 3: Protectorate of Menoth Defender's Ward is upkept again as Kyle judges that there are enough Errants left to be worthwhile. On the right, the infantry jam back in but I somehow don’t lose any of my Warbeasts. On the left, it’s less pretty as the War Hog is slammed out of the zone by the Bastion Seneschal (and eventually killed by Errants) and the Battle Boar is killed by the Dervish and Knights Exemplar Seneschal. Vindictus casts Admonition on Fire of Salvation. 3 – 0 to Kyle as he scores his flag again and the left zone. Turn 3: Minions Hutchuk makes an appearance and runs to contest Kyle’s flag. The Wrastler and Mire do some sterling work on the left, taking out the Dervish, both solos and a few more Errants. Dr Arkadius uses his Feat to get an extra few attacks out on the right and I’m feeling more comfortable about how much stuff Kyle has to come back to me with. One of the War Hogs heads for Fire of Salvation but it Admonitions away. Dr Arkadius gets on my flag; 3 – 1 to Kyle. Turn 4: Protectorate of Menoth Kyle throws all he has at me. Fire of Salvation gets fully fuelled and kills the lead War Hog. On the left, the Devout manages to leave Mire on a single box. No-one scores as everything is contested. Turn 4: Minions Hutchuk leaves Rhupert on a single box so the Gun Boar has to kill him from range (and a high damage roll hurts Hutchuk quite badly too). Mire and the Wrastler clear the Devout from the left zone and I think Kyle is out of things to meaningfully contest it. Over on the right, the War hog and Road Hog finally finish off the last of the infantry but I can’t pin down the Fire of Salvation with Admonition. I’m reduced to trying to block his route in, and Dr Arkadius applies Crippling Grasp to hopefully keep it out of my face. I score the left zone and both flags to bring the score to 4 – 3. Turn 5: Protectorate of Menoth Kyle is down to almost nothing on his clock. Vindictus personally polishes off my War Hog, then Fire of Salvation gets fully fuelled and just barely makes it into Dr Arkadius. Fortunately, my Warcaster survives the round and Kyle’s clock runs out. Minions win by deathclock. That was tight! Kyle was a really lovely man, and on discussion with him was probably about as experienced at Warmachine as I am (i.e. not very). So in that regard this was really a perfect game for both of us. Things I learned: - Positioning of my Warlock is of paramount importance. I could have moved Dr Arkadius to various positions of safety but ended up needing the dice to save me.
- The match-up into this cloud of light infantry wasn’t as bad as I expected. The warrior models need to clump up if they’re going to do anything of note to my heavy Warbeasts and doing so leaves them really vulnerable to sprays or Overtake chains in retaliation.
- Getting the Berserk attacks off with the Battle Boar was extremely satisfying. It’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to use that ability and it felt good.
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Post by argentbadger on Aug 13, 2019 11:32:32 GMT
Round 3 – Spread The Net vs Billy’s Protectorate of Menoth (game 10) conflictchamber.com/?c2201b_-1q0ylV7jlUk9e4lVlM1G1G3t2____-1pm11UlVme3k3k7jjCjClR3C2_3F3HnininiProtectorate [Theme] The Creator's Might [Kreoss 1] High Exemplar Kreoss [+29] - Judicator [35] Anastasia di Bray [3] Exemplar Warder [0(5)] Exemplar Warder Elias Gade [0(5)] Initiate Tristan Durant [4] - Judicator [35] Scrutator Potentate Severius [0(6)] - Redeemer [11] - Redeemer [11] Vassal Mechanik [1] Choir of Menoth (min) [4] Protectorate [Theme] The Faithful Masses [Harbinger 1] The Harbinger of Menoth [+27] - Crusader [10] - Judicator [35] - Hierophant [3] Allegiant of the Order of the Fist [3] Allegiant of the Order of the Fist [3] Anastasia di Bray [3] Champion of the Order of the Wall [8] Champion of the Order of the Wall [8] Hand of Silence [7] The Covenant of Menoth [4] Choir of Menoth (min) [4] Idrian Skirmishers (min) [9] - Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [5] Initiates of the Wall [0(7)] Initiates of the Wall [0(7)] Initiates of the Wall [0(7)] I’m well and truly in the shark tank here; Billy is regarded as a potential winner of the whole event, plays in WTC and so on. Both his lists have Colossals in them so I figure I need the sheer damage output of Dr Arkadius again. Billy chooses to play with Harbinger. I’m just hoping for a lucky opening to get a Road Hog onto Harbinger or something. Billy wins the roll-off and chooses to take first turn. Neither side has much to recommend it so I take the one with a wall that I can hope to hide behind a little. The Wrastler and two War Hogs go to the right in order to face off the Judicator; perhaps the threat of a long range attack from Raged War Hogs will make it play a bit further back. The Idrians pick the painted Road Hog as Prey. Turn 1: Protectorate of Menoth Billy tuns his stuff up in a brick, making sure that Harbinger is far enough back that I can't possibly land any assault sprays on her from the Road Hogs. Turn 1: Minions I move up and try to leverage my larger threat ranges. I've got Aggravator up in case I can get any moves out of cheeky shots from the Idrians that won't also involve the Judicator getting an easy route into my heavies, and Forced Evolution goes on the nearby Road Hog. [/img] Turn 2: Protectorate of Menoth The Idrians and Judicator drop one of my War Hogs at range, and Harbinger casts Purification to clear off my upkeeps. The Champion and some Initiates are careful to block me off from the Judicator. The Allegiants move to be annoying, one of them runs to the right flag. Turn 2: Minions Hanging back isn't likely to help me as I don't have any ranged threats so I figure that I need to pull the trigger now and hope to do enough chipping away at the infantry that Harbinger will slow down on the Martyrdom. I need to get that Champion out of the way, but I seriously underestimate how tricky it is to clear a model with high armour, Tough, no-knockdown under Awe, when Harbinger can just take a bit of damage to keep him up. Now that I write it, possibly this should have been more obvious! In the end, my heavies get completely hung up on this one model and I can't make any progress into the Judicator despite using my Feat, Primal, Rage and any thing else I could bring to bear. It didn't help that the Champion passed his first five Tough checks before even needing to be Martyred. I do set a few things on fire but Harbinger Martyrs away any significant damage. Over on the left, I dismount the other Champion but have to Primal the Road Hog to get anything done at all. Hutchuk ambushes over to contest the right flag and Targ scores me for the left one. Billy scores for the left zone; 1 - 1. Turn 3: Protectorate of Menoth Harbinger loads up the Judicator and it kills the Wrastler and another War Hog. The Idrians take out the right Road Hog and Anastasia comes on the left and Toughs Targ. Billy scores his zone again; 2 - 1. Turn 3: Minions There isn't much that I can do here. The Battle Boar kills Anastasia so that I can at least score another point. Just for fun I power up the last War Hog and it leaves the Judicator on a five boxes, so at least that was satisfying. Mire kills a few Idrians but I can't get the whole unit. I score the left flag and right zone while Billy scores the left zone; 3 - 3. Turn 4: Protectorate of Menoth It's just mopping up here. All but my rear-most miniatures are efficiently killed off with the Judicator and surviving Idrians doing most of the work. Minions lose on scenario (I think; from my notes I believe it was only 6 - 3 in Billy's favour when we called it... anyway, I wasn't coming back into this). Overall that went more or less as I expected. Billy was a classy opponent, always polite and friendly even when he was crushing all my stuff. Spoiler alert: he did go on to win the whole event, so I don’t feel bad about being comprehensively crushed by him. Things I learned: - Despite the result I think that I picked the right list to use here; at least, I think that Jaga Jaga would have been even worse. It seems to me that I would need to bring some very different tech to give myself a fighting chance here. But perhaps I’m wrong, and the difference here was simply the vast gulf in skill and experience between us and I could have done more by simply playing better. If you have any thoughts on how to approach this match-up then I’ll be really glad to read them.
- I need to get better at using power attacks. The Champion gummed me up completely trying to get my heavies into the Judicator. I think that it could have been possible to use one of them to throw him out of the way without messing about trying to kill him.
- As with the Destors in game 1, I don’t really have a good answer for Tough, Steady models other than hitting them lots of times. In this case, the combination of Awe and Martyrdom made it even harder to deal with.
With that, the first day ended and most of us went out of some drinks and a rather lovely Italian restaurant. It’s one thing I do really appreciate about two-day events – being able to make an evening of the tournament and get to know people outside the context of the game that brings us together.
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