gmonkey
Junior Strategist
I, for one, welcome our Infernal Overlords.
Posts: 313
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Post by gmonkey on Sept 25, 2017 15:40:22 GMT
Hey guys, I'm looking to play an actual Steamroller tournament for the first time next month, and I'm hoping for some advice. I've been playing warmachine for two years and have never done anything like a tournament. In fact, I've played exactly one game ever that wasn't against my three friends that I've known for 20 years. Because I have so little free time, I play very few games. As of right now, my last casual game was in July. My #1 concern is deathclock. As detailed in this thread, I'm not a fast player. I'll do whatever I can to play the game in a mad rush, so hopefully that's helpful. I'm also going to play Nemo1 as my primary list which should help for a few reasons. Firstly, it's the list I'm in practice with most. Second, it's lots of heavies, which means fewer models. Third, seventeen free points thanks to heavy metal is nice. So now it's all about the second list. I believe that Nemo1's weaknesses are hordes and heavy infantry, so I wanted to play something that was good into that. My first thought was a Stryker1 Storm Division list. Two centurians, some stormlances and stormblades, maybe a strider, maybe two chargers, and maybe two lancers to help arc that earthquake AoE for a pop-and-drop. But I had a chat with a friend over the weekend, and he is absolutely convinced that I should play Caine2. I know that Caine2 is out of favor right now, but he's an assassination caster, which could help a lot with clock. This is a very small local tournament, and I do have more experience with Caine2 than with many other casters. Tangent: I'd have to say that personally, my casters in order from best-to-worst experiencewise are Nemo1, Caine2, Stryker2, Stryker1, and then I guess Caine1? I own Nemo3 and Maddox, but have never painted or played either. So, Caine2. He's got lots of magic POW12s, so that's good if I need magic. He's got the grevious shot, which could be good into hordes. Lots of POW12s could also help with heavy infantry. It's too bad that besides some troll games and a few Circle games, I've never really played into Hordes, so I'm going in partially blind. With Caine2, I'd bring two hunters and Ace, as they don't want lots of focus. I'd bring rangers, a GMCA, and probably Eiryss1 to deal with camped fury. Probably also Rhupert for pathfinder, to give the rangers stealth, and protect Caine from shots. Now, my big concern becomes immediately losing on scenario because of this big gunline. (Can you tell that I never play the game but think about it lots?) So in this list, what else should I bring? Sword Knights to jam? Stormlances? Rorsch and Brine? The Storm Strider if I can finish painting and assembling it by then? This is a tiny tournament, and maybe I'm just overthinking things. My real goal here isn't to win. My goals are to #1: not clock out every game, and #2: win at least one game, which I'd think is feasable, given the low level of play. So basically, I'm open to any/all advice.
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Post by 36cygnar24guy36 on Sept 25, 2017 15:53:55 GMT
If the aim is not to clock then play whatever you are most comfortable and familiar with, if it is your first tourney it is probably better to just focus on having a good time than worrying about finding the perfect list pairing
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gmonkey
Junior Strategist
I, for one, welcome our Infernal Overlords.
Posts: 313
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Post by gmonkey on Sept 25, 2017 16:30:06 GMT
I guess I really don't need perfect. I'll settle for not stupid. Plus, there's the fact that I overthink everything, which is what you get when you think about Warmachine all the time and only get to actually play a few times per year. So this is me over-analyzing.
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Post by snarlyyow on Sept 25, 2017 16:30:10 GMT
Hey man! Congrats on doing your first tournament. Man, you're ssssoooo going to lose and lose hard. And that's great! It is! So I wouldn't worry about anything, this game has two outcomes, winning and losing, so losing is a perfectly acceptable outcome of your day!
Just play what you're comfortable with. I think Caine2 is prolly fine with Nemo1. Nemo1 runs a pretty jack heavy melee force. Caine2 does his Caine thing while his army works around him. If you know how to engineer assassinations, and focus on not getting Caine killed, you'll be just fine.
Deathclock? Don't overthink things. Pick two targets to kill every turn and get it done. Focus on not getting your caster killed. And, most of all, have a great time!
My recommendations? Lay off the soda, bring water, and bring a protein snack, like trail mix with lots of nuts. I play every game to win and laugh and that's my advice to anyone else. It's your first tournament? So my advice is focus on winning every turn. Your pairing is unimportant this time around.
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Post by Aegis on Sept 25, 2017 16:30:36 GMT
Yeah. If you are a casual gamer and you are worried by deathclock, it would not be beneficial to suggest you a caster that you never played or a list that you don't know how to move.
Also, if you play once every few months, I doubt you will have time practicing it.
Just play the lists you know better, with preference with the ones with less models inside.
Caine 2 for sure covers different matchups than Nemo1, so probably they will be fine as pair, and since they are the casters you practiced most, I would suggest to go for them.
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gmonkey
Junior Strategist
I, for one, welcome our Infernal Overlords.
Posts: 313
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Post by gmonkey on Sept 25, 2017 16:35:38 GMT
Hey man! Congrats on doing your first tournament. Man, you're ssssoooo going to lose and lose hard. Bwahahahaha! :-) Like I said, my goal is to win at least one. We'll see if I can pull it off. :-) I guess this topic is mostly about wanting to talk about the tournament. Since I spend so much time thinking about warmachine and so little time playing, this is the majority of the fun I get from my hobby.
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Post by snarlyyow on Sept 25, 2017 16:49:29 GMT
Hey man! Congrats on doing your first tournament. Man, you're ssssoooo going to lose and lose hard. Bwahahahaha! :-) Like I said, my goal is to win at least one. We'll see if I can pull it off. :-) I guess this topic is mostly about wanting to talk about the tournament. Since I spend so much time thinking about warmachine and so little time playing, this is the majority of the fun I get from my hobby. Can you share your lists and briefly what you think each one can and cannot play into?
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gmonkey
Junior Strategist
I, for one, welcome our Infernal Overlords.
Posts: 313
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Post by gmonkey on Sept 25, 2017 17:22:05 GMT
Why not? I honestly don't have the Caine2 list finalized, as I'm not sure I'll have the time to finish the Storm Strider by mid-October. My Nemo1 list, which I'm calling "less lightning", is based on the fact that I may see Cygnar, and Nemo1 is what I'd drop. If I loaded up on fireflies like I sometimes do, I'd have zero game against Storm Division. So here's what I've got. Nemo1 Squire (free) Centurian Lancer Dynamo Hammersmith Cyclone Ironclad Strangewayes (free) Jr (free) -Charger Jakes1 (free) -Charger Field Mechanics (max) I wasn't entirely sure about the Ironclad, as I usually don't like taking non-ranged jacks other than the mandatory lancer and the Hammersmith (Hammermith is amazing with Lightning Shroud) but I need an exact number of points to get four free solos and still take max mechanics. The Centurian is the one jack I've always always taken with Nemo, and it's never disappointed. Dynamo is also amazing unless I do like I did in July and misjudge the threat of a warpwolf and get it taken off the table before I take a single shot. The Cyclone I like because of the volume of POW 12s and its ability to pick up and toss anything it can't crack. Chargers are always good - I might take more if I owned them. As far as what I'd play Nemo1 into, it's most of warmachine. If it's an infantry-heavy list, I'd reconsider, but Nemo is great in general against warjacks.
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Post by snarlyyow on Sept 25, 2017 17:33:36 GMT
Seems okay. My Nemo1 list is my cygnar drop and it has three fireflies. What people are playing into right now is Caine3 and Sloan and not Storm Division, it's mostly heavy metal lists. So the Fireflies are 24 points of jam to fight Chargers and Hunters. They mostly just run up the table, proc Nemo's feat and Dynamo, and slam things. It's amazing how often I do slam power attacks with Nemo1's Fireflies. And it's super into Stormlances since they have to forfeit movement or action and Storm Division doesn't give them a way to get around that. What are the Stormlances going to do? Stand up and shoot me when my entire list is immune to lightning?
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Post by sludgeogre on Sept 26, 2017 4:29:10 GMT
I've only played since June, but I play at least once per week, and usually 3-4 games per week. I'm still in the "losing to stuff I don't know yet" kind of phase, as it is pretty difficult for me to memorize all of my own models, let alone in everything around here, and I've yet to play a single game into Khador as we have no active players in that faction yet in my small meta of Eugene, OR. I'm planning on playing Stryker1 Storm Division and Haley2 Heavy Metal as those are the casters I've played the most. I'm pretty strong with Stryker1 so I'm hoping that people will think I'm dropping Haley2 every game and I'll get decent matchups, as I'm actually not fantastic with Haley2 still, especially after her feat got nerfed.
I know I'm going to get tabled in most of the games, but I'm just excited to play them and get games against different people and hopefully stuff I haven't seen before. It's all about getting more experience and learning how to play against new stuff. Once the themes drop it'll be even more intense as there will be more combos to prepare for and recognize.
My only goal is to just learn more and progress as a player. I'm super happy as long as I learn something new and hopefully feel like I've played some portion of the game in a better way than last time.
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Post by snarlyyow on Sept 26, 2017 16:07:17 GMT
...in my small meta of Eugene, OR. I need to make it down there to play. Tuesdays is such a difficult day for me as I go from Lebanon to Portland at 6 am.
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Post by sludgeogre on Sept 26, 2017 17:36:28 GMT
...in my small meta of Eugene, OR. I need to make it down there to play. Tuesdays is such a difficult day for me as I go from Lebanon to Portland at 6 am. No biggie, I need to make it up there as well, or Portland one day. We are also looking at starting up a game night on Thursday at the Springfield store. I'll let you know if that ever happens.
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gmonkey
Junior Strategist
I, for one, welcome our Infernal Overlords.
Posts: 313
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Post by gmonkey on Sept 26, 2017 19:26:43 GMT
Lookin' to learn.
A question about matchups: I've been idly thinking through which of the lists I've come up with I should drop into various matchups, and I'm torn on two.
1 - Ghost Fleet. I've gone into this with the thought that I'd drop Nemo1 into any warmachine faction, but might Caine2 be a better Ghost Fleet drop? He's got more magics attacks, and he could probably stay a lot safer from the WA rifle assassination. This Nemo1 list doesn't have Sentinels.
2 - Menoth. I've got zero experience with Menoth. But I think they've got lots of blessed weapons, and I think the choir can make them immune to nonmagic shooting. Is Nemo still a better Menoth drop?
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cain
Junior Strategist
Posts: 243
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Post by cain on Sept 26, 2017 19:45:55 GMT
Cygnar dont have a good ghost fleet answer sadly. Since Its your first GT i wouldt worry about it. You need magical weapons, se under. The big problem is lack of RFP.
Menoth depends on lists. You usually want magic weapon, so arlan and the magical objective.
If this is your first GT i would just focus on going and have fun and learn, not worry on all the pairings and matches:
Some small things: - As has been said, choose a army you know and are familiar with - If you have new models/list read up on all your card beforhand - bring something to carry your models on - read good up on the steamroller rules. Especially how you score and contest. Bring the document to the tournament - you could try to test unpack your army on the kitchen table - before list selection, If you dont know oposite army, try to quick read the card of the caster. Ask some question about core abilities, f ex, does any lists have stealt or incorporal models - before choosing who go first and table edge agree with oponent about terrain, - Ask yourself each turn you activate your caster: 1) can i be assinatated here 2) have i rembemered kill box - mark the turn and points scored, with dices beside the clock - Ask your oponent after the game what you could have done different
And good luck !
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Post by 36cygnar24guy36 on Sept 26, 2017 19:50:38 GMT
Cygnar dont have a good ghost fleet answer sadly. Since Its your first GT i wouldt worry about it. You need magical weapons, se under. The big problem is lack of RFP. Menoth depends on lists. You usually want magic weapon, so arlan and the magical objective. If this is your first GT i would just focus on going and have fun and learn, not worry on all the pairings and matches: Some small things: - As has been said, choose a army you know and are familiar with - If you have new models/list read up on all your card beforhand - bring something to carry your models on - read good up on the steamroller rules. Especially how you score and contest. Bring the document to the tournament - you could try to test unpack your army on the kitchen table - before list selection, If you dont know oposite army, try to quick read the card of the caster. Ask some question about core abilities, f ex, does any lists have stealt or incorporal models - before choosing who go first and table edge agree with oponent about terrain, - Ask yourself each turn you activate your caster: 1) can i be assinatated here 2) have i rembemered kill box - mark the turn and points scored, with dices beside the clock - Ask your oponent after the game what you could have done different And good luck ! Siege 1 can handle Ghost fleet surely?
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