Stats, Theories and Waffle

So recently I've been looking into the more intellectual surroundings of Warmachine/Hordes.  Note this isn't for anything useful, just because I was bored :D

So the first was an interesting caster ranking article that had been written.  It ranks casters from amazing to very poor.  Its worth a read if you want to see which casters in your faction offer a higher chance of winning:

http://www.astragamingteam.com/blog/2015/9/4/astra-warmachinehordes-caster-rankings-september-2015

Also via the gaming club appeared this link on which is the best faction:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2016/02/why-there-is-no-worst-warmachine-faction.html

Whilst I agree with the premise that there is no worst warmachine faction, the stats don't neccesarily suggest there is no best faction.

So, what have I learnt? 

Well if you want to win tournaments then you have to play Legion or Cryx and your caster has to be Calandra/Bradigus/Morvahna2, lol.

The Circle of Trust / Sticks and Stones will break your bones...

I've recently been looking into  getting a hordes faction, more to learn how they work than anything else.  I've looked through the 5 factions and whilst I love the look of Trolls I'm told they are very similar to Protectorate with the idea of taking a hit then giving it back twice as hard.  I then looked at Skorne (even picking up a cheap starter set) but they seem to mimic the Protectorate with layers of synergy and beast handlers (basically a choir).  Anyway, in all honesty Minions were never an option so that just left Legion and Circle....

So when I found out that one of the guys at the club was selling his Circle, it seemed to good to miss.  They're also exquisitely painted (which means I don't have to paint them!!) and so on club night this week guess what I picked up?

 

I'm hoping to get a small game with them next week to curb my drive to play them before getting back to my Menites and tournament prep.  But then I'm really looking forward to a Sticks and Stones theme to at least one of my Circle Lists

The Enemy is Legion!!!

Ok so its not as dramatic as the title suggests but guess which faction I played against this week at the club??

The order of the day was speed playing, the aim being to get two 50pt games completed within 3 hours 30 mins of club game time (as prep for the two upcoming tournaments).  The chess clock was set for 1 hour each and off we went.  Unfortunately we didn't have a chess clock so an app on my phone substituted which meant no photos for the blogg - doh another rookie mistake!

Harbinger of Menoth vs. Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight (Legion)

Loss: Assassination

Well I'd blame this on the fact I was rushing or that I didn't mind losing after 25 minutes of total game time, but these would both be lies...

So the forces, well I took what I was hoping was an improved version of what I used in my last game vs Siege.  I had a tweak here and there (removing the pointless Deliverers comepletely) and managed to fit in the Avatar at the expense of wracks, half the bastions, the deliverers and a vassal.  However, I was up against a 10 model Legion force (with a Blightbringer - now that is a very cool model!) so I thought that this would be worth it for the extra armour cracking.

What materialised was sadly very similar (although it happened much much quicker) to the game against Siege.  I admit from the outset my mind was purely on killing the Blightbringer - its a recent addition to the club and no one has taken it down yet.  

The first two turns were a bit of minor piece trading (although I remembered Martyrdom to keep some Errants alive) finalised at the end of my turn 2 whereby I lined up the Avatar and a Reckoner for a charge on the Blightbringer and the second Reckoner for a strike on one fo the pair of opposition heavy Warbeasts.  Harby floated forward and feated trying to hold off the minor beasts and caster so I would only need to endure the heavies.

Sadly what I missed in all of my smugness as I hit the clock to begin Legion turn 3 was that Harby was out in the open, with only 3/4 focus and thanks to martyrdom had taken around 5 boxes of damage...  The short version is that up walked a Ravagore and burned Harby down to a single point of damage, however she was on fire.  This meant that for me to stay in the game I needed to roll a 1 or 2...I didn't and after 25 minutes of gaming that was it.

Lessons Learnt - 

• Harby needs a Devout, shield guard would have meant that the hit was taken by a jack and she could have survived to fight another day.  All being well this would have completely changed the game and after my subsequent charge would hopefully have put me in the drivers seat.
• Don't get carried away with killing stuff, theres no point setting up a world ending turn if you don't get the opportunity to play that turn! Which leads to..
• Concentrate and don't get so carried away with  the timer/promise of glory that simple mistakes are made.

However it did mean we definitely had enough time for a second game!

Grand Scrutator Severius vs. Vayl, Consul of Everblight (Legion)

Loss: Assassination (Also losing 2-1 on Scenario Points)

Well feeling somewhat deflated I opted for a caster I was more familiar with in the second game.  It also gave me a chance to use a list that has been sat in the back of my mind.  I've never been convinced with pSevy as a magic user prefering to use all his focus to fuel 2-3 jacks and having him hide somewhere at the back.  However this time I went the opposite way, fuelled him up for 2x Ashes to Ashes per turn through Blessing of Vengeance and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities!

Anyway this game was played on the same battlefield as before however I opted to swap sides as a fetchin bunker took my eye for Sevy to hide in, especially as this scenario had killbox.  I went first and ran everything forward and got all of ready for a lot of shooting turn 2.  In my opponents turn the Flameguard took a beating from the croaks and two Ravagores.

Back to my turn two and I was in such a rush I missed several crucial things, the first being  to use the Hierophant before Sevy (so only 1 Ashes-to-Ashes this turn, killing two croaks) and the second being the Choir (although it allowed me to use Passage which may not have been too bad).  The Flameguard went into Shield Wall and prepared for another round of being beaten with sticks, whilst the jacks advanced ready for some turn 3 charges.  In Legion turn 2 the Croaks setup the Flameguard with burning Oil, who were then ignited by a Ravagore and shot to bits with Strider solo Bows and Croak shots (leaving only 3 left by the end of the turn).  The Avatar was jumped by an Angelius then ran away and hid behind the opposition objective.  Finally a good shot into the trench from a Ravagore killed Tristan (disabling the Recokner) and the Vassal of Menoth.  The benefits of this army were that the Ravagores couldn't touch the Vessel of Judgement and the Hex Hunters couldn't touch the Avatar - maybe it does have legs...  Additionally, at the end of the turn I gave away two Scenario points by being in kill box :'-(.  Not the best turn of Warmachine I've played.

So my turn three and now I'd written out my idiot sheet Ashes-to-Ashes made up for the last turn by killing a maximum number of 14 models (including all of the guardians around the spawning pot - go Sevy!).  The Avatar broke away from a lesser beast and smashed the opposition objective (1 point to me).  Across the other side of the board the Vessel blasted at a ravagore with little effect and the remaining Flameguard charged to get in the way of the Assasination attempt that I knew was coming from a Ravagore.  Hit the clock and the Flamegaurd were quickly cleared out by the Strider solos, up walked a Ravagore and spat at Sevy boom down to 5 hitpoints but he was alive!!  Then the silly bit on my behalf.  Vayl shot the Ravagore in the back turning it into an arc node, then blasted Sevy with a spell to kill him and the game was up.

The more awake of you are now probably thinking, but that can't happen Sevy is immune to spells! I know, I know - although clearly I don't.  A massive oversight on my part which has now happened twice (the first time against Cryx).

Ah well, it was a good game and everything went fairly well (although the Flameguard were rubbish!!!), I learnt lots of things (amazing that if you play longer you learn more, lol) and enjoyed it so all in all a good evenings gaming.

Lessons Learnt - 

• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!
• Giving away 2 points on scenario for kill box is very silly - don't do it!
• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!!
• Sevy, Blessing, Wracks and a Hierophant killed 16 models over two turns - thats awesome keep going.
• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!!!
• Ask for stealth, the Vessel of Judgement wasted a shot (of the two it took in a game) on a stealth target - completely unnecessarily.
• pSevy cannot be targetted by spells!!!!   Remember, remember, remember....It may not have altered the final outcome but at least it would have made my opponent work, and this is the second time it has happened, lol.

Keeping track of 2016

Via a chat group I found out about an App on my Android called Iron Grudge.

Basically it allows you to keep a record of who you played, what you both used and then it gives you a win/loss ratio so far.  So far the result isn't bad 2/3 which is 40%, think I'm going to include the in my posts for the future - hopefully the percentage will get better over time!

This is the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wagnerbang.irongrudge&hl=en

Its hard to win when you forget 2/3's of your casters abilities...

Harbinger of Menoth vs. Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane (Cygnar)
Loss: Assassination

So after a boring Saturday I managed to get a late game in.  I've played a list not so dissimilar to this just after Christmas with my Kreoss2 Exemplar Host and sadly it didn't go so well.  Having never used Harby before I treated this game as a learning process, I used a list that a friend had suggested and substituted the Vengers & Devout I didn't have for Deliverers (because I've never used them before) and a full unit of Bastions (because they can generally take a beating). 

This time I was determined to take my time and not to rush anything or try to force a situation that wasn't coming.

Up until Siege's feat turn (after my turn 3) this was going very well, I had backed of my Reckoners to allow a solid turn of shooting (2 reckoners + 2 vassals virtually one rounded an opposition heavy) without having to sacrifice anything.  I'd also setup a good charge from the Bastions and both Reckoners that should have floored all 3 of his heavies without having to risk them significantly and would really put me in the driving seat.  I'd then feated with Harby to try and stifle his advance.

On Cygnar turn three it really fell to bits, I'd completely forgotten about how good Sieges feat is and promptly lost a Vassal, 2 Bastions (and had the remaining 3 reduced to a single wound each), a Reckoner lost its bat arm and cortex (along with most of its damage boxes) and my Errants, even though in combat, took one hell of  a pounding from sniping, aiming gun mages'.  To add insult to injury Harbys feat ended up with merely 4 points of damage on Siege, half a dozen points of damage amongst his 3 heavy jacks and that was it.  The two targets I thought would be destroyed (boomhowlers & gun mages) were in combat and sniping range so neither needed to move - DOH!!!

For some reason my mind went negative and I decided that at this point for me the game was lost.  My sole chance of victory was an assassination run on Siege, at this point reality and my brain parted company and below hopefully explains what happened:

--------------------
BRAIN: Harby floated across first to allow line of sight by destroying the heavily damaged Cygnar jack.
REALITY: The extra range from the Hierophant would have allowed my to at least have a go at damaging Siege directly and the Jack wasn't blocking line of sight anyway.

BRAIN:2 Reckoners lined up with the single surviving Vassal to have a go.
REALITY: Sat in a foxhole at Def16 (Def14 if I managed to flare him), camped on 5 focus the odds of me hitting were minimal and causing enough damage to kill was never going to happen. Alternatively the two Jacks and charging Bastions could probably have wrecked the two opposition heavies to a point where the come back would have been minimal.
--------------------

Here is a photo after my turn 4:

So as could have been guessed Siege took around 5 points of damage and then eyed Harby with 2 points of focus.  Two shots from his Cannon and the game was over - she may look awesome but she's very very vulnerable on that big base.

Lessons learnt -

• I actually really enjoyed talking with my opponent after the game, at the point I had decided the game was over it really wasn't.  I should have taken a minute to really look at the board before making rush decisions.
• I forgot to use Martyrdom and Purification the entire game - I think I need a cue card for each caster as a reminder.
• I need at least 3 heavies in each army.  Less than this and playing the heavy trade off game is just bound to fail.

Still a good day and roll on Tuesday!!!

Tournament or two, don't mind if I do!

It's not even the end of Jan and two local tournaments are on the horizon, the second of which I've paid for today - woop! Hopefully I may even win a game or two :-D

Club Night - 26.01.16

Vice Scrutator Vindictus vs. Captain Victoria Haley (Cygnar)
Win: Assassination

This week was a standard 50 point steamroller game vs Cygnar.  Having faced them a few times now I knew roughly what to expect - electricity and single wound models.  To this end I was really looking forward to using this Vindictus Tier list.  Being in an opponents face on turn 1 is really good, also my opponent let me go first so I got the pleasure of ramming everything down his throat turn 1 and seeing where it went.

The game ended with a pair of assassination runs, the first involved a Cygnar run at Vindictus that in all honesty should have killed him.  Everything went to plan including the would be assassin ducking past the guarding Reckoners free strike!!! Unfortunately the dice rolls when everything connected weren't enough and he was left with 4 points left.  After this it was simply a matter of a Reckoner stepping up and blowing a big consecrator sized hole in Haley.

Having said that I could have done a lot better, I completely forgot to min-feat the Zealots that could have made a big difference.  Equally I feat'd Vindictus a turn too late that meant I lost a lot of my screening Errants without causing him any problems.

Lessons learnt -

• Journeyman Warcasters are squishy, its much easier to kill them than the big tough jack.
• Reckoners only need two focus to boost both accuracy and damage - don't waste focus!
• I've now got a solid list for upcoming tournaments.  I just need a little more practice and a list to go with it.

My First 50pt Win and then Blatent Stupidity...

So I managed to sneak in a cheeky midweek game in addition to our usual games night.  This was at the local Wargame store and I really enjoyed it.  It was the third time out for my Kreoss2 Exemplar list (which had caused problems for the opponent in both the games I played before Kreoss was eventually assassinated), it was also my first game against Circle.

Grand Exemplar Kreoss vs. Kaya the Moonhunter (Circle)

Win - Assassination

MY FIRST 50 point win, woohoo!

So not knowing quite what to expect from Circle (aside from lots of speed and movement shenanigans) the game began.  I was facing an awful lot of Argus' (7/8?) and I spent the first few turns trying to edge up slowly and not leave anything exposed.  Whilst they may look a little soft, with 20 something damage boxes each they do take a bit to bring them down.  There were a few benefits though, namely I manager to brick up and challenge both zones fairly early on.  Then having spent a few turns weathering the storm to get into position I feat’d and remove around 80% of his models of the board.  After an attempted assassination on Kreoss all that was left was for Kreoss, Gravus and a pair of Bastions to lay the beat down on Kaya and it was game…

On a personally high note, I still had 60-70% of my list alive at the end and the Jack survived!!

Lessons learnt – stop putting Kreoss in harms way!!!  Also being patient can help, let the screens cause issues whilst everything moves up behind and then when everything is ready feat.

Then it was onto the club for Tuesdays games night:

Grand Exemplar Kreoss vs. Goreshade, Lord of Ruin (Cryx)

Loss - Assassination

Ok, so I’ve played Cryx many times and this guy has previously taken a limited list so as not to completely destroy me utterly.  However purely by chance I ended up taking what is almost a natural counter to the list he took.  By denying him continuous effects, stopping stationary with Gravus and the Book and having lots of magic weapons I should have done better.

So turn one my jamming zealots and Errants got jammed in combat by Ghosts (Errants have magic crossbows not swords – DOH!!!).  So things then went from bad to worse, “I’ll use zealots escaping from combat to turn the ghosts corporeal so my Errants to hit.”  However this then resulted in a new ghost for every errant killed…  Plan B was to get the Bastions in to kill Ghosts but they couldn’t get there as Errants and Zealots were in the way…  All in all it didn’t really go to plan.  The only good thing was smashing his character jack and cavalry on one flank.  However in a fit of rage against the ghosts I charged in Kreoss to kill a pair of them.  Next turn and in swooped Goreshade on his horse and removed Kreoss’ head from his shoulders – I was half an inch too close, ah well, maybe next time.

Lessons learnt – stop putting Kreoss in harm’s way!!!  Be more patient! (I’m sure that I’ve mentioned this before, lol).  Also, with the list I run turn one is very risky as its at this point the Zealots move past the Errants leaving them a little close together.  Knowing my opponents speeds should allow me to prepare and anticipate this a little better.

Slow Grow League - The Results!

So I've played 7 games over 7 weeks and I've won 3 of them.  Thats roughly a 40% win rate which I really can't complain at.  I'm also quite impressed with how much more I know now than I did before, a big thank you to all my fellow mammoths!


It turns out that having played the tournament on Sunday that this weeks games were kind of written off, everyone having had such a great day playing at 50 points and no one wanted to drop back down to 35 points.  But equally over the course of 8 weeks I went from starter boxed set through to a full 50 point tournament where I didn't feel completely useless!  Although admittedly didn't win any games :-D

Tournament Time!

Well yesterday was my first tournament and wow what a major eye opener that was!  I didin't come last (mainly thanks to an odd number of players and me getting an automatic win thanks to a bye).  But having never faced anything bigger than a pair of Khador heavies I ended up facing a Convergeance Colossal that kept healing itself, very bad form, lol!  Equally it could have been worse as most players had at least 1 massive based model in their lists somewhere.  There were also several double Stormwall Haley lists that I would have just cried if I'd faced.

Here's a photo from the all Legion final:

Anyway so how did it go?

Game 1 - Grand Scrutator Severius vs. Hunters Grim (Trolls)
Loss - Assassination
This was against a guy I worked with in GW many many moons ago.  So he brought Trolls and the game was really enjoyable, I was honestly surprised at how easy going the whole thing was.  He equally asked early on about my experience and then decided to play his weaker list into mine - nice guy!  After appearing to go well for the first two turns (he torched many of his own models with a scatter and didn't pass a single tough check all game) it came to turn three with pSevy hiding in a wood.  Mage sight and a Troll Bomber to the face left a small crater where Sevy had been and what turned out to be an easy win.

What I learnt - hiding in a small wood isn't neccesarily any protection at all!

Game 2 - High Exemplar Kreoss vs. Captain Damiano (Merc.)
Win - bye :-D
This game was a bit more of a glorified lesson on how to play from the local Press Ganger.  Turns out he's also a Menoth player so was giving me coaching as I went along and talking me through alternatives and what to do with each unit.  Sadly a little to much information for me to take in all at once but equally I learnt probably 4/5 things which really helped.

What I learnt - take the bye if given the option!  Were it not for this I would have got the wooden spoon.

Game 3 - High Exemplar Kreoss vs. Father Lucant (Convergeance)
Loss - Assassination
So this was the game against a colossal.  I massive eye opener and using what I learnt from the previous game about the power of Enliven actually came in handy.  However I had to much dross and not enough anti armour stuff in my selection, I made a few lucky moves but ultimately with a colossal sat in the zone there was no way i was going to win.

What I learnt - Don't take a caster who's feat is knock down against a caster who can't be knocked down.

Game 4 - Grand Scrutator Severius vs. Old Witch (Khador)
Loss - Scenario
This was the only game I played all day against another Mammoth.  Really enjoyable and was almost a win.  A bit better placement and it could have been a different story!  The ammo cache with light artillery is really good and I learnt a lot about the power of Khador infantry.

What I learnt - Her feat is awesome and stopped me for a turn, however on that turn the Gunline of Sevy left her with a single point of health.

 So all said a really good day, looking forward to doing this again at some point in the future with a bit more knowledge under my belt.

 Heres a photo from the all Legion final: