Old Witch vs Borka 35 pts

Going into this match I was 0-10 with the Old Witch hungry for my first win with her.  Played against Steve tonight who brought out Borka.  His list looked something like this:

• Borka
• Mauler
• Bomber
• Kriel Warriors
• 2 trolls carrying a pillar
• 1 troll with a big rock
• some burrowing ones
• some other support models

I ran this 35 point list:

•  Old Witch
• Behemoth
• Scrappy
• Min Mechaniks
• Great Bears
• Widowmakers
• Widowmaker Marksman
• Manhunter
• Winterguard Rifle Corp
• Joe

We played Kill box and there were a few linear obstacles in the middle of the field; some crates.  I had a forest near my deployment zone on the right.  Steve had some giant crystal obstacles in his corner and we both had some ruined buildings in are other corners.

I forgot to bring my camera :( but will give you a summary of the battle.

Steve went first and ran everone up to the middle of the board.  It was a pretty intimidating sight as I was outnumbered.  His Kriel Warriors got Iron Flesh which got their Def up to 17.  They were deployed to my left.  In the middle he had his Mauler and the Bomber run up with support solos in the back.  Over on the right just in front of the woods he sent his burrowing dudes.

My I had the Widowmakers advanced deployed on the left and they took aiming shots at the front line Kriels and needing 8s they all missed!  The marksman was nearby and I think he was able to take one out but he feigned death so I wouldn't be able to target him.  Thought that was pretty cool.  Over on my far left my Manhunter stayed were she was just out of charge range of the Kriels.  I advanced my rifle Corp up and with boosted shots they killed maybe 4 of the burrowers and took some shots at the Kriels maybe downing one or two, not totally sure.  Scrappy ran to the left near the Widowmakers and OW teleported near him.  I was thinking that I might feat but I wouldn't catch the Mauler or the Bomber so I saved it.  She put Murder of Crows in front of the Kriels to block all charge LOS to the Widowmakers.  Behemoth also ran to the left.  Now there was a forest on my right and basic Augury tactics would say I should camp the Behemoth back there.  Not sure why I chose to not use the forest.  Maybe I was afraid of the burrowers because I wasn't quite sure what they could do?  Mechaniks followed Behemoth.

Bomber decides its time to throw some barrels and lobs two into the Rifle Corps taking out four, just one shy of a command check.  The Mauler moves up a little.  Over on the left the Kriel Warriors run around the Murder of Crows and a few engage my Widowmakers who were all base to base lol.  Another runs to engage my Manhunter.  The surviving burrowers burrow underneath of the forest and the rest of the Troll army move up just slightly. 


I would definitely be feating this turn and there were a bunch of things I could do.  I had the Kriels engaging my Widowmaker and Manhunter.  Scrappy was in charge range of the Kriels but I could also possibly advance him to the right where he could arc gallows to one of the Warbeasts.  My idea was to put Avatar on Scrappy and have him dance through the Kriel Warriors.  Hopefully that would take him close to the Murder of Crows where the OW could teleport to and Feat.  If she could do that, she would catch nearly the entire Troll army, be behind the Kriels and none of them could move or face a POW 14.  There was only one problem though; Scrappy didn't have Avatar on him so there was no way for OW to put it him, have him go crazy, and then teleport.  So I went with plan B.

Rifle Corp did what they could and cleared out some of the Kriels.  Manhunter missed her two attacks needing 7s.  Behemoth did more bombard shots on the Bomber with little damage.  Bears were in a bad position and fearing a big POW 16 from the Bomber, I spread them out and got them ready to counter charge stuff.  The Widowmakers opened a lane for Scrappy and they attacked the Kriels in melee but with MAT 4, yep not much happened.  So Witch moves a little, puts Avatar on Scrappy and Feats.   My thinking is that the Kriels don't have reach so even if Scrappy fails at his Avatar run, nothing can charge him or move towards him.  He charges a Kriel and I boost the first hit and needing 8s he misses.  I take some chances on unboosted 8s to hit and miss some.  He buys his last attack and kills the first one he charged but with the free attack fails to hit the second one.  

Unborrowed dudes pop up and charge a Mechanik and the Behemoth.  One Mechanik dies.  Bomber steps up taking the POW 14 (with little effect) and aims a bomb that deviates onto a Bear and a Widowmaker.  Bear survives but Widowmaker dies.  The second shot takes out more Rifleman bringing the unit down to two.  Mauler charges scrappy and annhilates him easily.  I may have forgotten to check for the Feat Turn POW 14.  Kriel engaged with Manhunter kills her and another on the Marksman kills him.  Supports along with Borka move around the center crates going way around the Murder of Crows.  The Trolls are closing in and the OW is backed into a corner.

Joe starts off next, calls boosted attacks and takes out one of the Pillar Trolls.  The remaining Rifle Corp take shots.  Can't remember the result but I remember what happens next because it's the stuff of legend.  Witch goes, puts Iron Flesh on herself and then the Great Bears charge.  One charges the Mauler and standing on the wrecked armor of Scrapjack proceeds to roll QUADRUPLE SIXES for damage!  With one swing he took out half of the Mauler's boxes.  The second swing also hits but isn't enough to bring the Beast down.  Another Bear charges the Bomber and takes out his Spirit.  Volkov runs inbetween both bears to keep everyone in command.  In hindsight, I should have charged him at the Mauler, which should have finished him, but I was worried that the other Bear would be out of command.  Mechaniks charge the Burrowers and the two remaining Tough!  Behemoth takes more aimed shots into the Bomber for little effect.  (he did this before the Bears charged).

Next turn the lone surviving Widowmaker falls to the fast approaching Kriels along with two of the Bears.  It's all up to the Mauler.  He charges into the OW with a few buffs and with his first swing misses!  He needs to roll 12s on three dice and buys his last attack.  It hits!  The Mauler then does an insane amount of damage and eats OW and heals a bit for a GG.

It was a really, really, enjoyable game on both sides, a truly epic fight.  Made a few mistakes here and there but overall I'm happy with the way I played and learned a lot in the process.  Here are some thoughts:

• starting with the Widowmakers.  I shouldn't bunch them up like that.  One problem was that they blocked LOS for the Rifle Corp.  And then when the Kriels ran to engage them.  It only took two Kriels to engage the Marksman and three Widowmakers.  Should defnitely space them out more.  And oh man was I waiting for the Widowmakers to hit so I could call Sniper!  But they all missed their shots :( And!  If they hit they would have had Swift Hunter too.  Like having them in my list.
• Manhunter was kinda meh.  She should have killed that one Kriel and would have been protected under OW's feat which would have allowed her to charge again.  But she died.
• Rifle Corps.  Really liked them.  Range 14 is awesome and with boosted attacks were able to hit most of the infantry.  Could have probably spread them out a bit more to help with the Bomber's AOEs.  Didn't use suppressing fire once but after talking with Steve post-game will try to use that next time.  It works well with Murder of Crows to control the board and it can allow the rest of my army to move up and get into position.  Also, it might be used to funnel troops which would be good for Behemoth's AOEs.  It felt good using the Rifle Corps and will definitely use them again the next time I bring OW out.  
• Behemoth.  Kept him pretty far back and sadly only used him for bombards.  I should play him more aggressively and get him into a position to charge.  Gotta make use of those armor piercing fists!  Also could have used the forest for cover and rain bombards all day from safety.  
• Getting better at positioning Scrappy for an Avatar run, especially on feat turn where he is safe to move up.  Turning point of the game was when I lost him to the Mauler's charge though.  Without Scrappy, Old Witch loses a lot of her options-- can't teleport for manueverability, tougher time using Gallows.  And just not having Scrappy sucks big time as there are no more opportunities for save Avatar runs.  So next time just gotta be aware of enemy threat ranges.  That was on my lists of things to be aware of and I forgot lol--" Don't let my 'Jacks get charged."
• Mechaniks didn't do anything in the game and I'll probably swap them and the Manhunter out for possibly the Ternion.  Clouds to grant prowl to OW and Scrappy and to maybe give the Widowmakers +4 DEF with Camo.  Sprays will also be helpful and also Ice Cages.  So I think they are definitely better than a Manhunter + Mechaniks.  Other option is maybe Aiyanna & Holt to help with dealing damage but I'll give the Ternion a shot.
• Great Bears spend the opening turns in the back and I swung them left to get away from the Bomber.  That one charge on the Mauler Steve and I will never forget.  Could have gotten the third to charge but other than that I feel my positioning was alright.  Ya, when the charge, I really need all three to hit.
• Old Witch.  I felt my positioning was ok in this game.  She was safe for the most part in the beginning and close enough to the front line to make use Murder of Crows and her feat.  She was backed into the Killbox corner though which limited her options late.  To do it differently, perhaps a bit of board control to lock down the center and get my models into position.  With Suppressing Fire in combination with Murder of Crows I might be able to hold Infanty back and save my feat for the following turn.  Taking the center aggressively and using this type of board control will keep the enemy away from the Old Witch and give her room to operate in the back.  

Thanks again to Steve for the game.  Was lots of fun!  Next week Tuesday our club starts the much anticipated Journeyman League and we're all looking forward to that.  I've also scheduled a game with Chris and his eSkarre list and I'm really looking forward to playing her.  Will give me something to study and prepare for this week :P

Old Witch Lists For Game Night

Following the advice of Von, who left a comment on one of my posts, I thought I would try to take a much simpler Old Witch list to Game Night tomorrow.  Goal being to learn the Old Witch and be able to focus on her and have units with simple tactics to use.  So here are my two lists:

Old Witch 35pts

• Behemoth
• Scrappy
• Battle Mechaniks
• Great Bears
• Widowmakers
• Widowmaker Marksman
• Manhunter
• Winterguard Rifle Corps
• Kovnik Joe

Taking Behemoth for his two bombards gives me some range threat early in the game and then of course his ability to wreck heavy armor with his armor piercing fists.

Battle Mechaniks I thought I would try just to be able to heal systems like the Behemoth's subcortex and hopefully to keep my 'Jacks going a little bit longer.  Secondary duty for them will be to deny charges to my 'Jacks.

Great Bears are a bargain for 5 points and help OW with dealing with armor.  Just gotta make sure I play them aggressively but safe.  Easier said than done right?? :)

Widowmakers and the Marksman.  Taking them because they are a simple unit and I'd like to learn what they can do.  Thinking they can free up lanes, plink enemy 'Jacks to cripple a system or just harass on a flank.  With the Marskman, they will get Swift Hunter which will be icing.  The Marskman I've always liked with his RAT 8 and POW 12 gun.  He has stealth too which is another bonus.

Along with the Marksman, I bring another flanking stealth solo in the Manhunter.  She (bought the female variant) can help with armor duties and I like her two Weapon Master attacks.

For my main infantry unit I want to try the Rifle Corp out.  They fit with OW's denial/control theme with Suppressing fire.  With Joe and Boosted attacks they should tear apart infantry.

Thoughts on The List

It's very different than how I normally play.  Usually I have an infantry unit as my tarpit, helping to deny charges to my 'Jacks.  Here I'll use a combination of Murder of Crows and Suppressing Fire to block lanes from infantry and deny LOS to my 'Jacks.  Theory of course :)  But in looking at the list I feel good about it.  Behemoth, Great Bears, and the Manhunter should be able to deal with enemy armor and I feel confident that Scrappy, Widowmaker group, and the Rifle Corp can handle any infantry.  Widowmakers will be great against Shield Wall units with Sniper.  List is also fairly simple and if I make mistakes with my 'Jacks I'll have the Mechaniks hopefully nearby to repair.  We'll see how it goes. I'll post some batreps of my games and I'll be sure to take some pictures this time.

I also have a 50 point list just in case:

Old Witch 50pts

•  Behemoth
• Spriggan
• Battle Mechaniks (max)
• Great Bears 
• Aiyanna & Holt
• Widowmakers
• Widowmaker Marksman
• Winterguard Rifle Corps
• Kovnik Joe
• Manhunter

Same as the 35pt list except I bring a full unit of Mechaniks since I have two 'Jacks.  Choose the Spriggan for his Reach and tough armor.  Was considering the Devastator but last week when I had him I wished I had more attacking power.  Spriggan can also Bulldoze and starts with ARM 21 which is nice.

Aiyanna and Holt are there to help with damage helping all those POW 10s to become POW 12s and Holt is always a great shot.

SoCal SmackDown Batreps

SoCal SmackDown wrapped up yesterday and I was there from Friday to Sunday getting in a lot of games and taking part in the 50pt SteamRoller and the 35 Hardcore.  It was a blast meeting other gamers and hanging out between rounds.  Here is my summary of my games:

50pt SteamRoller Day 1 (sat)

We made two lists but in all of my games I played eSorscha, Winterguard + Joe, Max Kayazy, Great Bears, A&H, Gorman, Saxon, eEiryss, Jugg, Spriggan, min Mechaniks.

Game 1
First game I went against Matt from Arizona (Jason Flanzer and his friends all drove in from AZ).  Was going against Vayl (?) and a bunch of heavies.  Scenario was Sacrifice, radial deployment.  I send most of my army to battle the zone leaving the Assassins to handle the flag and sacrfice themselves.  The Assassins faced off against a Carnivean, Forsaken, and a DeathStalker.  OMG Moment is when Kayazy fail their command check for terror, Forsaken gets to ignore free strikes and then blows up with 4 Fury the ENTIRE unit of Assassins.  kk.  So I learned what the Forsaken can do. 

Over in the zone, Winterguard make a bazillion Tough rolls which makes Matt send in another Heavy.  Sorscha feats, Spriggan bulldozes one of the Heavies out but got within 6" of Vayl who got to move another Heavy in.  Spriggan gets attacked and knocked down but Bears charge in and manage to clear the zone.  Saxon over on the right runs to the flag and makes the ultimate sacrifice taking a magical POW 20 and dies.  1 point for Khador! 

At that point it was a matter of keeping Sorscha alive and flooding the zone with Winterguard.  Just before "dice down" Matt manages to jump a Raek over to Sorscha but fails to hit her twice.  So I won on Scenario with the point I scored.

Game 2
Against Patrick! :P  So Patrick and I have been playing a billion games recently and knew each others lists pretty well.  Before we saw our lists I basically said, "so eSorscha vs Harbringer?"  He said with a smile, "yep."  Scenario was Demolition?  You blow up a flag and then another one appears on the other flank.  Flags you had to get where in the opponents side of the board.

Summary is basically Errants annihilated the Winterguard like never before lol.  I also had the Assassins on the opposite flank and the two big infantry units weren't really able to help each other.  Assassins were taken apart by Patrick's Gorman, some Daughters, and can't remember what else.  Also lost my two 'Jacks really early.  Patrick destroyed his first flag and scored a point and with no way of destroying mine I offered the handshake and conceded.  1-1 at this point and Patrick at 2-0.

Game 3
Played against Matt from Sacramento.  Scenario was Killbox and he brought out Siege with Precursors, Arlan, B13, Squire, Harlan Versh, Journeyman Warcaster, Old Rowdy, Cyclone.  This was pretty cool as I've faced Ben and his Cygnar lists a lot and was familiar with most of those units.  Precursors were a little new. 

I advance into the Killbox with Jacks in the center.  Assassins on the left and Winterguard storming down the right side.  Assassins take a Ground Pounder (from Seige) and I lost quite a few.  Over on the right B13 decide to snipe and try to take out my WG Officer but don't get her at DEF 17.  Ryan Mage Storms killing a few.  Then Harlan Versh steps up and unloads at least 3 shots into my Winterguard!  Thinking at least one Toughed.  Cyclone lays two suppressing fire templates in front of the Assassins who sigh.  Precursors run up. 

I respond by taking out Ryan and Watts.  Versh also gets taken out.  Feeling really good to get Ryan.  Can't remember what I did with the Assassins. 

More Ground Pounder on them and Rowdy charges Spriggan and takes him out.  Precursors advance in two massive Shield Walls in Pyramid formations. 

I feat and Jugg (probably Bears) take out Rowdy.  Winterguard advance and I get massive sprays across the Precursors but with Shield Wall I only manage to take out two.  Got it.  Will be CRA'ing next.

Little hazy with what happened next but I do end up wiping out the Precursor unit.  At one point I'm planning to CRA Siege with Winterguard.  I free up a lane in front of Eiryss.  She steps up and needs 5 to hit (you know where this is going).  She rolls a 4.  Not going to crack Siege's armor this turn.  At this point I've only lost a few Winterguard and they are dominating the right flank forcing Siege to camp focus and shift to the woods on the left.  I still have Bears and Jugg.  But Dice Down is called and tie breaker is scoring units in Kill Box.  Most of my Winterguard are out of the box and a bunch of my solos are out too.  I lose by tie breaker.

In this game I felt my army was winning the attrition war and would have eventually reached Siege.  Gotta say though that Matt was very sporting, very friendly, and even let me get back into the Killbox once lol.  So I'm glad that he got the win.  Precursors were pretty cool as they have Blessed (ignore upkeeps) and have a mini feat for additional die on melee attacks.  Also Spell Ward.  I like 'em.  So with that I'm 1-3 and I think Patrick is 2-1.  Time for the Hardcore tourney!

35pt Hardcore (a few hours later)

So I brought my pButcher "I like to get shot a lot before engaging you" list.  Has most of the first models I collected and was glad to have them in the list.  I ran pButcher, Jugg, Sprigg, Marauder!, Dog, Great Bears, and Kayazy Assassins.

Game 1
Faced off against eKaya with 3-4 Heavies and Skinwalkers (like Forest Man-O-Wars).  Played against Jaqueline who plays at Brookhurst.  All games were caster kill.

She straight up had no answer for the Assassins.  With time clicking away as she fathomed how she would hit DEF 19 in melee she stopped attacking them. 

Assassins got Fury and Ganged most of the Skinwalkers and took the unit out quick.  My Heavies and Bears were making quick work out of her army too. 

Can't remember how she responded but on my next turn I feated with Butcher and the 3 Fury'd Assassins charged Kaya.  They do really good damage and then she transfers the damage to her pet Wolf that blows up.  Oh yea~~ that's what Warlocks can do.  First ever game of Hardcore and the rounds are intense!!  So many things to do and you don't have time to do everything.  Only Spriggan activated from my Jacks and attacked one of the Wolves.  Got a little greedy trying to catch everything in Butcher's Feat. 

Next turn one of the wolves advances down through the woods to my right and Dog counter charges it for no damage.  Wolf Heavy then throws Spriggan into Butcher.  Both are knocked down and Butcher takes a lot of damage.  The other Heavy tramples through my Assassins and then slaps Butcher for the win. 

In this game, similar to the game against Siege, I felt my army was winning on the field.  There was no answer for the Assassins and I still had two Heavies and the Great Bears.  But as always, I leave Butcher exposed and he pays the price.  I'll take this lesson with me though in the next games.

Game 2
So if you've watched SteamPoweredTV on Youtube you've probably seen Steve play against his good friend Tom.  He was my opponent for game 2.  Tom brought Harbringer along with a Reckoner, Avatar, and a Guardian (?)  He also brought That Guy that can't be hurt by non magical attacks-- oh crap.  Can't remember what his infantry was.

Game had him commit his Avatar against the Spriggan.  Avatar failed to kill it so he had to commit That Guy who finished him.  Now usually when I see the Avatar charge (Patrick's) it's decisive and I have no easy way to retaliate (unless Patrick misjudges the charge range :P).  Tom gets Gaze on the Avatar and Assassins who were off to the side manage to run over and block his back escape routes.  I then was able to charge my Heavies in and finish him off. 

Harby uses Cataclysm at close range to take out a handful of Assassins but with the ones that are left I have a plan.  Butcher charges a Great Bear and kills him but now is close enough to the Assassins to put Fury on them.  With Parry (oh I love Parry!) they walk over to Harby who is sitting on 1 or 2 focus.  Assassins are swinging at P+S 15 with Fury and Gang.  All three hit and are able to get the win.  At this point I am LOVING Fury+Gang; my new favorite combo. 

Game 3
This game was against a fellow Khadoran player Dave, from Brookhurst.  He brought Karchev with Jugg, Spriggan, Berserker, Great Bears, along with eEiryss, Kell, and the Dog.  Steve is probably shaking his head.  Yep, it was over from the beginning.  Oh!  But funny part was when he trampled the Berserker into the center of my Assassins.  Can you guess what happened next?  He attacked twice (of course misses) and then proceeded to blow up and take almost all the Assassins with him.  Rest of the game was Karchev towing everything maneuvering for the alpha strike.  Eiryss blows off Butcher's Focus and Karchev Feats sending the Spriggan to finish Butcher off. 

Game 4
Joe from Arizona and a little delirious from lack of sleep played Reznik on this one.  Brought Errants, Dervish, Avatar, Reckoner, Guardian.  Joe goes first and sends his Errants into some woods while his 'Jacks take center. 

I run up the Assassins as usual in front of my Jacks who are in a wall.  Great Bears nearby. 

Errants charge the Assassins and aren't able to hit anything.  I counter by Killstroking most of them through to his back rank, Underboss and the Bears trailing and hitting the first wave Errants.  Gang+Fury again making quick work out of everything. 

I have to survive Resnik's feat turn for one round; Butcher without Focus and next round can't cast any spells.  Dervish charges into Juggernaut who is on the left of the 'Jack wall and side steps into Butcher!  He does 10 damage on the first attack and then thinks about the next one-- he's at dice-3 on 3 dice for damage and Butcher has 10 boxes left.  He goes for it and rolls a 7 for damage.  Butcher lives!  Assassins do what they do and advance into Reznik.  Two Bears charge him, one surviving a free strike from the Reckoner with Tough (was bad play on my part) and they bring Reznik down.

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So I ended up going 2-2 in Hard Core and having a ton of fun in the tourney despite the very short time limit.  It's very exciting as you have to think quick and prioritize.  The good players can do everything that they want to do but for me and a few others, I know we had to choose which attacks were worth doing.  By the 3rd and 4th game though I was getting into a flow with activations in the early turns and trying to get the Fury+Gang combo off. 

There were a ton of medals handed out in Hardcore for different things and I was able to bring home the one for best painted army which was very nice y^^y  Flanzer got the one for fastest caster kill and Dave from Brookhurst got the one for most army points destroyed.  Go Khador!

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50pt Steamroller Day 2 (Sun)


Game 4
Starting at 10 a.m. the Steamroller Tourney resumed play and I faced off against another player from Arizona, Josh.  He took a look at both my lists and saw high DEF, low ARM infantry and brought pKrueger (maybe epic) with two Scarloc-type Heavies.  One of them was Megalith.  I was about to enter the school of Chain Lightning.  Scenario was three flags, one disappears.  I'm not sure what disappeared first, the flag or my infantry.   I have Assassins facing off against a unit of infantry (Wolves of Orboros?), Winterguard on the right against his Heavies and some artifact-looking things that shoot lasers. 

So :D Winterguard run up and then get Chain Lightning to the face.  Most of my WG get blown up BUT, the one model that was the initial target for the Chain Lightning attacks made 4 Tough rolls in a row!  Josh having some fun decided to send his Totem Hunter over just to make sure to kill that guy, and he did.  Now I'm motivated to paint up that WG dude and make it so he looks like he's all charred and fried from the lightning.   

Over on the left, Krueger feats and pops down 3, 3 inch AOEs of... wait for it... Lightning.  I lose maybe half my Assassins as they just wear t-shirts for armor.  I split up my Jacks (very good idea!)  Sprigg goes left around a Forest.  Jugg goes right (it's not a good idea).  Jugg takes a charge and dies. 

Sprigg does fire some grenades and with boosted attacks kills two of the Wolves of Oboros.  And...then more Chain Lightning.  An Assassin gets hit with a boosted shot and then it arcs to 6 other targets in a perfect ring back to him taking out Underboss and Eiryss along the way. 

So basically I've lost my entire infantry units lol.  Josh was a great player and very friendly so the game was quite enjoyable despite being annihilated.  He preyed Joe with the Totem Hunter who took out A&H but Joe and the Standard with boosted attacks killed him.  Oh and Gorman Acid Bombed him lol.  I advanced Sorcha up and then Cycloned to a Heavy Beast; didn't kill him.  I was basically going all out because that's all I could do.  Sorscha soon fell afterwards. 

Then me and Josh chatted for quite a bit afterward about the awesomeness of the Drakhun and how I might make a second list for SteamRoller to compliment my first.  More on that later. 

Game 5
Last one!  So I might have been at the bottom table for this one :P  I faced off against Jacqueline who I lost to in HardCore.  She basically brings the same list but this time has Druids, shifting stones, and some other stuff.  Scenarios had two 6" x 8" zones vertically in the center.  Score in the farthest one for a point. 

She goes first and advances everything up.  I do likewise and like before Killstroke the Assassins past her Heavies on the front line and hit the Druids in the back.  They take out a few but without Fury, Assassins aren't doing nearly as well as with Butcher (still good though).  The game had them battling the Druids who kept using spells against them that pushed them out of melee but the hit usually killed them.  Assassins spent most of the game in the back ranks of Circle while the rest of my army was facing the front rank.  That was pretty neat.   At one point the Assassins charge the Skinwalkers IN THE BACK earning the legendary Back Stab which gives them an additional die for melee damage.  Too bad they failed their CMD check for terror ><;  Druids continue to hammer at them with that spell and they all got taken out except one.  Earlier I had the Underboss and another Assassin charge the Shifting Stones lol who were the only things guarding my scoring zone but a Gnarlhorn took care of them, Underboss failing to make his third Tough roll :P

In the Front, Winterguard and the Bears battled the Skinwalkers who were suprisingly resilient.  After getting charged by the Skinwalkers and surviving, the WG stepped out of melee with DEF 17 and 4/5 survived the free strikes.  The rest moved up to CRA the Skinwalkers and took ONE out but heavily damaging the rest.  Bears took care of another one. 

Heavies mainly battled in my defending zone, Spriggan getting thrown again, this time into Juggernaut.  Jugg lived but Spriggan was destroyed. 

Game was getting long so I ran Eiryss into my scoring zone.  When Dice Down was called it went to tie breaker because none of us scored a control point.  Eiryss was the only one scoring for me with 3pts.  Circle had no one in their scoring zone who could earn points.  There were two Skinwalkers in the zone but the third was tied up in melee with a Bear outside.  If Jacqueline had gotten that Skinwalker in the zone she would have had more than half the unit in and would have won.  So I got the win on the rematch which was cool. :D

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So ends the major gaming for the weekend, phew.  Had a really great time.  I ended up going 2-4 for the SteamRoller and 2-2 for the Hardcore.  Definitely learned a lot in all my games. 

I saw how powerful Assassins with Fury+Gang can be under pButcher.  It's just ridiculous as they can parry out of melee and have free reign about who they want to engage.  They're so much fun once they get into melee.  Definitely shows me that they can have the same power with pIrusk and Battle Lust.  Oh man that's gotta be sweet.  You miss pButcher's feat turn and that added die but Battle Lusted Assassins-- yep I'll take a few of those. 

I also saw what Chain Lighting can do to my high DEF infantry army.  Talked with Josh and Jason about that and they suggested bring more armor for my second list.  Something like pButcher and 'Jacks, which got me talking about pButcher tactics and what range support to give him.  Lots of people, including Dave from Brookhurst recommended Rifle Corp because they have a 20" threat range and with Joe and pButcher's feat will get boosted attack and damage rolls.  really really nice.

I learned that not only Chain Lighting but Ashes to Ashes (from a casual game), Berserkers, and the Forsaken can really make Assassins cry.  Will be watching for that in the future. 

Kayazy Assassins FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well, 95% done. :D  Reached a milestone a few days ago when I finished painting my full unit of Kayazy Assassins including the Underboss.  I still have to model the furnace grill on most of their backpacks and work on finishing up the Underboss.  But for the tabletop they are ready to go!

And here are some pics of their cloaks.  After painting them I used MIG Water Effects mixed with some of their pigments.  You can either mix them to get a liquid that you brush on, or you can brush on the Water Effects first and then with dry pigment dab it all on.  I like the latter because it leaves a cake of dirt that you can see.  Cool!  You can also use the Water Effects to make grease;  I did that running out of a lot of the holes in their cloaks, and I used it on their armor in various places to add a sheen/greasy feel.

Also got started on my uber awesome Wardoggy!  He's been clutch in so many games.  It was finally time to paint him up.  He's a rottweiler.  Probably need another day to finish him up.

Also painted Scrappy that I finished up a few weeks ago.  Still gotta start on the Old Witch.

Next pics are of my 35pt Hardcore force that I'll be using @ SoCal Smackdown this weekend.  It's my "I'm going to get pounded for two rounds and hope Butcher makes it to your frontline" list.  Nothing else is painted so I'm going with this and see how it goes ^^ It's very similar to the first ever 35pt list I ran minus the Mechaniks and Kodiak in place of the Spriggan; so that is cool.

I'm a little burnt out from all the painting I've been doing getting ready for SoCal Smackdown so will probably take a little break, not too long though :)  So many things I wanna paint next.  What would you like to see painted?  I have Winterguard, Assault Kommandos, Widowmakers, Marksman, Gorman, eEiryss, Saxon, and many more.  I'm feeling like Assault Kommandos because I wanna see how that trench is going to turn out.  We'll see though.  'Till next time!

Warmachine Batrep: pButcher vs Kraye 35pts

Tonight I planned to teach one of my friends Warmachine.  He recently moved down to Irvine and is staying with Ben.  So I packed up my bag and figure I'll let him try pButcher out with maybe some Great Bears and a Jack or something like that.  Well, I get to Ben's and our friend is on the phone so Ben decides to sneak a game in!

We decide to play 35pts Jacks and only Solos.  He brings;

Kraye
Squire
Hammersmith
Defender
Stormglad
2x Hunters

I've got:

pButcher
Behemoth-- proxied by the Marauder :(  
Juggernaut
Spriggan
Kodiak
War Dog
Widowmaker Marskman

I don't know why I brought the Marksman but I like him a lot and I figure he could flank and possibly get to Kraye.

The board had two wheat fields in the center of the board as rough terrain and two walls on the sides.  This is going to be really tough for Butcher, like REALLY tough.  All I have is the Behemoth who can shoot a pair of bombards but Ben is sporting a Defender and two armor piercing Hunters, not to mention  I've got two fields of rough terrain to traverse.  This is going to be brutal.

Opening of the game had me advancing behind my wall of Jacks while Ben focused all his efforts into trying to bring down the Behemoth.  I've been in this fight before and it's just a matter of time before the Defender takes down the Behemoth's subcortex.  But now I also had to face two hunters...  The Behemoth was operational for at least two rounds and got some shots off on the Defender and one of the Hunters.

I feated fairly early when I noticed I would be able to catch both Hunters.  Butcher advanced to one of the Hunters and cast Obliteration which wrecked it.  Behemoth walked up and lobbed a shot at the other nearly crippling it's gun arm.

My plan was to try and take out his long range guns so we'd have to fight in melee-- something my army is better equipped for.  Well, one Hunter down.

Ben now runs his Hammersmith who has some kind of spell on him that doubles it's speed.  It blocks and protects the surviving Hunter.  He swings Kraye down the right flank and the Defender starts to head over to the left.  My force is in a tight formation in the center and I'm slowly being encircled.  More shots rain down on the Behemoth and he's wrecked between the fields.  If I stay out in the open I'm going to eventually fall to all this fire so there's only one thing I can do.  Run!

Well, not that yet.  Kraye is dangerously close to my Kodiak so I load up fury on him along with 3 focus.  My plan is to push the Kodiak with the Spriggan and then charge Kraye.  Little do I know that Ben has put Pursuit on the Kodiak which means that once he advances, Kraye will be able to move away and he has parry.  :(  We later checked and the Kodiak would have made the charge.  So the Kodiak vented steam and didn't move.  Spriggan advanced a little and took a shot at Kraye who had either one or no focus camped and was able to do a miracle 5 wounds on him.  Butcher was a little exposed sitting on no focus so Jugg pulled back to block LOS from the Defender.  One good thing came out of that round.  My Marskman, who had redeployed to the center, advanced in shooting range of the other Hunter, getting a shot off around the Hammersmith.  He crippled his shooting arm!  So only the Defender was left for long range.

Ben pulls the Defender back and it shoots the Spriggan for good damage.  He swings his battlegroup back to his back edge now heading for the other flank.  Not the right time for the alpha strike.  Kraye is sitting in the back with no focus so I think of something sneaky.

Butcher charges the Spriggan and I check control but I'm out of range for Obliteration.  I would have been at dice-2 with a fairly gutsy chance to win the game.  That was a real bummer and next turn I know I'm going to take the alpha strike and it's going to hurt.  So I run the Kodiak, who stilll had Pursuit on him (poor Kodiak) and Ben asks, "are you sure?" and advances the Defender down the left flank.  Not good.  As soon as I activate my next model Ben gasps.  Dog runs to the Defender and engages it in melee.  What Ben wanted to do was take a boosted shot and pButcher who was already damaged sitting on 10 life (I somehow forgot that).  But now the Dog posed a problem for him.  We'll get to that in a bit.  Spriggan tries his best to advance and block charge lanes in front of Butcher and the Jugg runs into the fields to defend what he can too.  Butcher has Iron Flesh and 2 focus.  In front of him is Spriggan and the Kodiak.  Marskman is engaged by the surviving Hunter in melee.

Here it comes.  Kraye feats and this gives his battegroup boosted attack rolls :(  Ben takes a long time to think about his moves and what to do with the Defender.  He decides to take a free strike and backs away from the Dog.  Dog hits and does 5 damage.  I need to roll a 1,2, or a 6 to cripple is gun arm.  I roll a 2!!!  Dog is amazing!  What's cool and even more irritating is that Ben moved the Defender out of melee range of the Dog so the Defender can't do anything!! haha.

But here come the heavy hitters.  Stormclad charges the Kodiak who is already a little damaged and wrecks him.  Next comes the Hammersmith who charges Spriggan and hits on his first two attacks which allow him to get off his combo but Ben elects not to do that because Butcher is close by.  He buys another attack and after all is said and done, Spriggan has one cortex box and a few on his right arm :D

Kraye advances along his back edge away from the melee that is taking place.

Butcher goes with Full Throttle and backs up behind the Spriggan.  Dog runs back towards the Butcher getting to within 3" of him.  <3 the Dog.  I think I may paint him next because of this game.  Spriggan on 2 focus attacks the Hammersmith and with 2 attacks nearly brings him down.  But Juggernaut just makes the charge and with his axe is able to wreck it.  That was huge as the Hammersmith was the main thing I was worried about.

Ben goes and advances the Hunter into the Dog and kills him, then Light Calvary moving it into the Juggernaut (Kraye makes all his 'Jacks calvary).  At this point I offer a draw to Ben as it's getting late.  He does want to play it out but after further thought accepts.

I had Butcher, an untouched Juggernaut, and an almost dead Spriggan going against Kraye, an untouched Stormclad and a crippled Defender.  I liked my chances because I could slow advance with the Spriggan and as soon as Ben wrecks him, I'll counter charge with either the Jugg or Butcher.  But without Scenario or even Killbox or a timer, this game would have dragged on and I could have easily been lame and move Butcher to a wall or something so I thought a draw was fair and sporting.

The draw did feel like a victory though because of all the hammering I took in the beginning rounds.  It always happens against Cygnar gun lists with a heavy Jack list with pButcher.   There's no getting around it.  You'll feel awful, you'll take a beating, but more often than not, Butcher will make it to the End Game and then anything is possible with him once the heavy guns are off the table.  Perhaps that's why Ben took the draw.

He probably remembers this game pictured above where a fully camped Butcher with Iron Flesh ran through his entire army to bring down pNemo :P

Jack heavy is very hard to play with pButcher.  Against a shooty list, you have to run and be aggressive because you absolutely have to get into melee.  Take care of his anti armor weapons and eEiryss or things that have upkeep hate and Butcher should be good in the later rounds, if he survives until then.

I haven't played him with the Winterguard surprisingly but I'd like to run a list with Winterguard, Assassins, and Widowmakers.  Fury is good for both infantry and Jacks and he has Iron Flesh for DEF.  Feat turn will be killer too.

Our friend ended up watching the game and he's very interested.  He said it was actually fun to watch the game and is looking into either Trolls or Skorne.  All in all, a fun night.

Warmachine Batreps

Had a good Friday of Warmachine and here are a couple batreps from the games I played. 

Game 1: pButcher vs Mortenebra

First was a 50pt game against Jim's Tier 4 Mortenebra list-- Deathjack, 3 Slayers, Seether, 2 Reapers... or something like that, along with a few necrotechs and Warwitch Sirens (maybe not the Sirens, can't remember). 

I had my own tier 4 list with pButcher-- Devastator, 2 Juggernauts, and a Marauder, along with a full unit of Man-o-War Shocktroopers, a full unit of Demo Corps, and 4 Manhunters.

I won the roll and deployed first with Shocktroopers in front in the center, Demo Corps behind them and Butcher behind them with the dog.  Jacks were advanced deploy because of the tier bonus; I put them in the center just right of the Man-O-Wars.  Manhunters deployed right of the Jacks.

Jim deployed with his Jacks mostly in a line across his front with his Scrapthralls in front to screen/tarpit.  Rest in the back.

I advanced the Man-O-Wars up to the Jack line and Shield Wall.  Jacks stay put and Manhunters redeploy to behind the Jacks. 

Jim sends his Scraps forward getting really close to my lines.  Everything else advances behind them.

Kodiak responds by picking up one of the Scraps and throws it into another one, destroying both in a big AOE 4 explosion.  Juggernaut moves up and one hand throws another that hits DJ and two Jacks.  The Scrapthrall blows up but no damage to the Jacks.  Marauder moves up to a wall and combo smites another Scrap but it doesn't reach the jacks.  Another scrap gone.  Shocktroopers advance and shoot their shild cannons and take out a few more of them.  After all of that Jim has only 1 ScrapThrall left.  Pretty neat round for Khador.

He attacks with his Reapers trying to pull the Shocktroopers out of Shield Wall but they have  Iron Flesh and he misses both attacks :O  One of the Slayers advances and attacks the Marauder doing some damage.  DJ charges one of the Juggernauts and annihilates it and with Overrun advances into my Manhunters on the right.  Seether moves into the other Jugg and does a ton of damage, and doing a chain attack and throwing the Kodiak back and into one of the Manhunters who lives with one box left. 

Butcher Feats and casts Full throttle again.  The three Manhunters charge DJ maybe taking off an arm.  But then a loaded Juggernaut charges in and with his two initials kills the Deathjack.  He turns to the Seether and buys additional attacks and wrecks it.  Over in the middle the Marauder does his Combo Smite again doing major damage to the Slayer and knocking it down. 

Devastator in the middle advances and does his Rain of Death blast and with an additional die does big damage against the knocked down slayer and another nearby Jack.  Shocktroopers charge in with Reach and finish off to Jacks and hurt the Reapers. 

Demo Corp reposition and move to the right to block some charge lanes to protect Butcher.  It was a pretty sick Feat turn and I've never done so much damage before.  Jim is out at least 4 Jacks and the two Reapers are heavily engaged with the Man-O-Wars.  I'm threatening to strike back with all my Jacks and the Demo Corps coming in the next wave.  Jim needs to find a way to get to Butcher as his army is about to be wiped.

He puts Spectral Steel on his other Seether. (can't remember what Jack it was, let's call it a Seether)  It charges over a wall and into my Manhunter who just got up the turn before.  He's got Overrun on him.  He kills the Manhunter and then makes a full advance around my Demo Corp right into Butcher.  He misses with his charge attack and hits with the rest of his initials.  This is for the game right here.  There's no way that Jim can survive the onslaught that is about to come down on his army next turn.  He hits with his next attacks bringing Butcher down to half life.  With two more attacks left he needs to do 12 damage.  He's down to his last roll and needs to roll something like a 7.  He tosses the dice and gets what he needs bringing Butcher to the ground in a crazy assassination run.

It was a pretty amazing game for sure.  The one thing that sticks out is of course the big lesson I learned-- When you have a HUGE advantage, you have to be extra sure that you are safe from assassination.  I moved the Demo Corps to try and prevent exactly what happened but I failed to see the Overrun angles.  Patrick saw it though.  So I just have to make extra certain that my caster is safe, especially after using up all his focus.   

I could have done two things to keep Butcher safe.  I could have surrounded him tightly with the Demo Corp.  This would have left no angles to get to him and the Jack that Jim used didn't have Reach.  Patrick also mentioned that I could have used the Dog and positioned him a little forward and when the Seether attacked the manhunter, i could have counter-charged and then reposition the dog to block a lane.  So some really good lessons there.

The other amazing thing was seeing how deadly Butchers feat can be with Full Throttle and some Jacks.  All the hits are boosted so Khador Jacks, who have a pretty low RAT, can hit a whole lot better.  Also good for getting off the Marauder's Special because all he needs is to hit with his first melee attack to get off the P+S 20 Combo Smite.

Patrick had just shown up and watched the finale to that game.  He was all set to play so I got out pIrusk @ 35 points.

Game 2: pIrusk vs Harbringer

Patrick wanted to get more practice in with his 35 point Harbringer list because he has a tournament tomorrow.  I'm a little hazy with his list but I know he had the Harbringer (duh), Book, Choir, Errants (min), Vassal (maybe two), Avatar, Reckoner, and a trio of guys who make one model ignore stealth (can't remember their name and they might not have been in this list)

I honestly can't remember most of the turns but here's a general summary of events.  Over on the right control zone, the Errants ran up to it quick with Patrick taking first turn.  I sent my Assassins to contest it and they got shot up.  I learned a great deal about Errants and especially their Quick Work ability which lets them shoot if they make a kill in melee.  My assassins were never able to really get a foothold on the control zone.  I had the Great Bears in support there but they were soon charged by the Avatar who ran behind Beast 09, who got Black Oil'd by Gorman. 

Over on the left, the Winterguard had a tough time controlling that zone.  Can't remember why really but they were knocked off of it. 

Irusk ended up running away from the Avatar while casting Inhospitable Ground.  With most of my army killed and no hope to win the scenario I concede the game.  It's only 11:30 so me and Patrick decide to play another.  This time bring out eSorscha!

Game 3: eSorscha vs Harbringer

So pretty much the same list as before and I know he had two Vassals and also that unit of three guys who can make the model see Stealth.  This one is a little easier to remember as me and Patrick talked a bit about this game afterwards.  I'm brining:

eSorscha
Beast-09
Dog
Great Bears
Full Winterguard + UA + Joe
Full Kayazy Assassins + Underboss.
Widowmakers
eEiryss

Scenario had three flags at the beginning but one would soon disappear.  I won the roll and decided to go first.  Winterguard on the right with Battlegroup in the center and Assassins on the right.  Everyone pretty much runs.  Winterguard go for the left flag with Tough by Joe.  Beast moves up the middle.  Assassins go for the right flag.  Widowmakers advance forward and get behind a wall and to Patrick's surprise are within range of his Errants!  They all fire and manage to kill two.  Patrick says this is really bad news.  Bears head towards the right to either go for the central or right flag.  Sorscha puts Iron Flesh on the Winterguard and Shatterstorm was on the Widows.

Patrick moves everyone forward.  Harbringer feats so on my turn if I advance towards her, I will take damage (and infantry most likely die).  Reckoner is on the right.  Avatar on the left.  Trio ready to head for the right flag. 

I can't move towards the Harbringer but luckily the central flag disappears. Assassins move laterally and are able to move towards the right flag.  Beast and Sorcha both move to the right a little to get behind a wall.  Over on the right, the Winterguard are able to move towards the left flag mirroring what the Assassins did, just moving laterally.  Widowmakers then unload some shots on the Harbringer who was in range!  They manage to do quite a bit of damage maybe leaving her with 10 boxes left? 

Avatar heads to the left flag and will be doing battle with the Winterguard for most of the game.  Harbringer also put Fear of God on the Winterguard so they basically can't do any special attacks or give/recieve orders.  They can only walk and shoot... so sad TT.  Over on the right, the Assassins fight the trio and eventually are able to secure the objective thanks to some charges by the Great Bears.  Widowmakers with aiming bonus do more killing of Errants and other targets of opportunity.  Over the course of the game they took out Errants and Choir, possibly one of the Vassals.  They had such an influence on the center of the board that Patrick sent the Reckoner to tie half of the Widowmakers up in Melee.

I decide to run the Assassins and try to make a go for the Harbringer.  The Assassins are near full strength and make a break for it.  Two tie up Gorman while more run forward and engage the choir in melee.  Another round and they'll be able to run into melee with the Harbringer, but...

She responds by AOE'ing two of them with a spell and charging another and killing it.  The Book moves up and blocks a charge lane from Beast-09 to the Harbringer.

Sorcha feats and casts Boundless Charge on her favorite Jack.  He charges (after the Dog charged :) and gets just within Reach Range of the Reckoner.  It takes two swings because of Sorscha's feat to bring it down. 

The Avatar has to then leave the left objective and charges Beast 09 with fully loaded attacks.  After heavy swings the Beast has 3 boxes left-- 1 Cortex and 2 on his right arm.  Ice Axe still operational. 

At this point Patrick points out that all I have to do is clear both objectives and I'll win because I already have a point.  So Winterguard on the left now without the presence of the Avatar are able to CRA and kill the remaining Vassal and Choir that was on the objective.  On the right, Bears charge the last of the trio and secure the right objective for a Khador victory. 

Some things that me and Patrick talked about afterwards was how big it was to lose the Errants so early to the Widowmakers.  Already being a min unit they can't afford to lose two right off the bat.  He lost his ability to tie up the front while his army moves up.  Also, the deployment of the Widowmakers behind a wall essensially gave them +6 defense for a total of DEF 20.  That's crazy.  Their deployment in the center allowed them to have a huge infuence on the game.  Patrick said that their position prevented the Harbringer from helping the right flag.  Widowmakers definitely the MVP of the match.  Also of note was how the Widowmakers are a good unit to pair with the Assassins.  They are able to shoot targets that are just outside of charge range of the Assassins and can free up more space for them to run.  So lesson learned was how important it is to position the Widowmakers; preferably somewhere where they can have a lot of targets and cover a lot of ground with their guns.  Put them behind hard cover and they are very, very, hard to hit.

We chatted about eEiryss and not having her upkeep removal.  Was definitely a pain to have Fear of God on the Winterguard but in the end, with Tough from Joe, they are still able to stick around and contest objectives.  Getting eEiryss in the list would be really nice but @ 35 points I would have to either give up the Widowmakers and the Great Bears.  That's hard to do.  Shatterstorm is great on the Widowmakers and Bears add a much needed punch to the army.  I might rather not have eEiryss and just grind it out when Fear of God or Crippling Grasp is on my units.  At this point, would much rather have the Widows and Bears.

Patrick learned not to have the Errants in range of the Widowmakers in the open.  Sniper damage from the Widowmakers plus aiming bonuses isn't a good matchup for them.  So he learned to deploy the Errants safely when Widowmakers are on the board and in this game thought perhaps a deployment on the left against the Winterguard was better, also because there was a forest nearby and the Errants have Pathfinder.  He realized he should have sent the Avatar to handle the right objective and take out the Widowmakers.

I like eSorscha a lot, second time using her.  She helps the Winterguard greatly with Desperate Pace and rerolls on failed CRAs.  She aslo has a great Feat for taking out Heavies or multi wound models.  Shatter storm is also great with the Widowmakers.  She has to real way to buff the damage of her army but Bears are already good at that.  She does have Iron Flesh though which can get Winterguard up to DEF 17.  She does the same for the Assassins.

For 50 points, will probably add in Devastator, Gorman, and Eiryss, and switch the Dog for Wishnayler.

So that ends Warmachine Friday.  Not sure what the plan is tomorrow but I'd like to either make some terrain or paint up the Great Bears.  I'll probably use them in most of the lists that I run so it would be really cool to see them painted.  They need some work though as converted their heads is going to be tricky.  I want to add gas masks to them.  Not sure I can get hoods on them but hoodied Great Bears and gas masks would be so B@dd @$$.

Warmachine Batrep: pIrusk vs Mortenebra

"the Game of Inches"

Played Jim a few weeks ago pitting pIrusk against Mortenebra.

Khador
pIrusk
Dog
Assault Kommandos (max + 2 Flamethrowers)
Kayazy Assassins (min + UA)
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Gorman

Cryx
Mortenebra
DeathJack
Harrower
Seether
Slayer
Slayer
2 Sirens (can't recall if that's their names)

Deployment

My center has AKs with Gorman (their unofficial UA), Sprigg, and the Bears.  Irusk and the Dog at the back.  For this game I used for the first time a min unit of Assassins.  Feels so weird!  Being smaller, my plan is to use them as a flanking force.  In the pick I've deployed them pretty wide.  Widowmaker group on the opposite side.  My feeling as the game started was I have no idea if my center will hold.  AKs don't seem like they can withstand all those 'Jacks.  So if memory serves me, I will buy time and let my flankers go around and hopefully get a caster kill.  Definitely want Sprigg and Bears lined up with DJ. 

Jim deploys in football formation with all his guys packed in the center.  He told me afterwards that his plan here is to rush straight towards Irusk and not get distracted or slowed down by flankers. 

(pic above) I think I went first.  I move up real slow like.  Assassins not used to the flank go REALLY wide.  So wide that I can't even get Iron Flesh on them!  First lesson of the day.  So Iron Flesh goes on the Kommandos who may have had Shield Wall.  Check out Bears in the open on the left!  Gorman is being played by the Mechanik today.  Sprigg also doesn't have any tarpit in front of him... Widowmakers stay back and I believe the marksmen went up the flank.

Jim gets the Harrower (the one with the Harpoon) next to the building and DJ in some cover.  Morty stays back and one of the slayers is calling out Khador, "Bring it on!!"  (the one with his arms wide)

Hmmm, maybe I went second...  The Harrower harpoons one of the Bears and kills him.  DJ and the rest of the 'Jacks advance all the while using a combination of Overrun and Terminal Velocity.  It's scary stuff.  AKs are dying in the center.  Poor Spriggan.  First time using him.  Forgot to use grenades and I let him get attacked by DJ.  He goes down quick. 

I'm STILL sending the Assassins wide.  My thought was... lol I don't even remember.  I know I didn't want them to get charged but man are they out in right field.  Should have just ran them around the building and start putting on some pressure. 

(pic above ) Gorman runs over to the group of three 'Jacks and Jim finds out the hard way what happens when you bunch 'Jacks with Gorman nearby.  Black Oil goes on all three!  Feat by Irusk who puts Battle Lust on the Bears.  Inhospitable ground to make it EXTREMELY difficult for those 'Jacks to move.  Bears charge DJ and rolling sweet damage dice but it isn't enough-- nearly kill him bringing down his movement and cortex.  Barely got his arms hanging on.  Widows take some shots too.  At this point I send in my flankers trying to set up as many threats as I can next round.  Assassins on the right, the Marksman up top.  Widowmakers with lanes on the left.  I'm even thinking of running Kommandos around the center.  All I've got to do is survive...

Jim responds by spraying a few assassins with his Sirens.  DJ eats the Bears, a Kommando and his healing like there's no tomorrow.  Three Helljacks advance really close to Irusk. 

With Jim's army finally breaking through, this is my last shot.  I go for the assassination.  Assassins run in but only one manages to engage Morty.  Marksman advances closer and takes a shot but with -4 for cover misses.  On the left 3 widowmakers move up to shoot and do a fair bit of damage on Morty.  She's still not down.  Then I see that Irusk has a lane!!  First I activate my AKs and one manages to get a gas grenade off bringing Morty's DEF down by 2.  Irusk activate and raises his gun ready for two boosted shots!  The range is tight so I make sure that I'm right on Irusk and let Jim check Morty.  All I need is 10"!  I glance up to see Phillip's eyes go wide and mouth drop.  Irusk drops his gun too when he realizes he's less than a 1/4 inch short!!!  Wow.  /Knock Out Wind.  After all the damage done by the Widows, we both guessed that Irusk's shots would have been enough.  His gun is fairly good at POW 13. 

Jim sends in the Helljacks to finish the job.  Irusk still can't take his eyes off of Morty and the shot that fell by inches. 

Of note is my assassin leader standing in the middle of nowhere who got "seduced" by one of the sirens. tsk. tsk. tsk. 

Game to Cryx and an unbelievable game at that!  So things that I learned:

-Need a plan for my troops.  I had no plan for the Assault Kommandos and didn't think about the role they would play.  They can't really crack 'Jack armor so they have to tarpit; but not just slow the Helljacks down but prevent my hard hitters from being charged/attacked themselves.  There was no one in front of Bears and Spriggan and they took it pretty hard.  Should have had the Kommandos in front of them to take a charge and counter charge with Bears/Spriggan. 

-Flanked too wide.  Assassins arrived a turn late.  Had I had them closer they would have hit on time and been in range to receive Iron Flesh, a buff they really needed against the Siren Spray.  Having a Min unit is okay but I miss the full unit.  You can do a lot more with them and if you take casualties you can still bring the pain. 

-first time using Gorman and saw what Black Oil can do.  He's gotta get close but has stealth to protect him until then.  In later games I used him with AKs to help debuff their targets.  He's also immune to their fire.  Great to use with them. 

-Irusk was out of position to buff his army.  I should have had him on the right of the AKs so he could buff the Assassins.  Need to keep him in the center of the formation more, especially so more guys can benefit from his feat. 

I'm liking this Irusk army and AKs are really hard to use but I enjoy learning with them.  Will probably try to get Irusk, Sprigg, and the Kommandos painted next.  Assassins will take a while to convert.

Army tweak I've done is bring Assassins back to full strength and take out the Marksmen and the Dog.  @ 50 pts :D lots more I can add... and have to buy :( 

Playing Warmachine on Vassal

Played some Warmachine online today on a program called Vassal.  It's basically a program that has all of the models and pieces for you to play with, but you still gotta know the rules.  Interface takes some getting used to but there's a User's Guide in Vassal's menu.  Progam got the O.K. from Privateer Press as well.  How cool is that? 

Took my Khador and played against a fairly new player like myself.  Lupercal has been playing since October of last year.  I took this list:

@35
pIrusk
Spriggan
Kayazy Assasins (max + UA)
Assault Kommandos (max + 2 Flamethrowers)
Widowmakers
Gorman

He took:

pLylyth
Typhon
2 Seraphs
Striders
2 Deathstalkers
Forsaken.

I won the roll and deployed up top so I could use the forest for cover.  AKs were on the left and Assassins on right.  I wanted the Assassins to have open ground to run and engage.  Widowmakers deployed in the forest.  Everyone else sort of in the middle.

Lupercal deployed with Beasts and Lylyth on the right opposing my Assassins and the Striders and Deathstalkers on the left. 

It was my 2nd time using the AKs.  Well, I don't know if playing online counts.  Lupercal said he's never played against them before. 

The beginning of the game had me run up my Assassins towards his beasts and the AKs marched down the field on the left in Shield Wall.  The Widowmakers stuck to the woods for a few rounds while the Spriggan advanced around the right of the tree line.  Bears went behind the Assassins.

Lupercal moved his guys up as well and not much going on for the first round. 

Above shows a few rounds later.  I run up my Assassins to try and engage the Heavy Beasts.  Widowmakers advance a little to get some shots on Lylyth and do no damage.  Gorman runs around the shack to try and help against the Beasts and I send the Bears to the left to help the AKs.  The Kommandos are doing well against the Striders who are able to hit them but have a hard time with DEF 18 in Shield Wall.  The flamethrower manages to catch a few of the Striders by aiming at the back of one of his own Kommandos.  Striders with reform are really cool.  After their activation they can advance 3".  Lupercal used this tactic to hit and then fade back. 

I popped feat and Legion attacked.  A Seraph took two free strikes from Assassins to reach the Spriggan but wasn't able to do much to his armor.  Meanwhile the Forsaken moves up and does some kind of AOE blast but only manages to kill a Widowmaker and an Assassin.  4 tough rolls made because of Irusk's Feat needing only 4+.  Typhon tries to get rid of the pesky Assassins and unleashes 3 spray attacks.  He only manages to kill maybe 2 Assassins.  Others missed or made their tough rolls. 

Striders swing right because my forces are closing in.  Gorman is protected by Stealth and the Striders take aim at DEF 18 Widowmakers.  Forest is great for them. 

Underboss uses Killstroke and 2 Assassins reach Lylyth with Battle Lust on them.  Spriggan takes care of the Seraph on him and another three Assassins charge Typhon.  It takes two to bring him down doing a lot of damage because of the feat and charge + gang + Battle Lust.  2 Widowmakers with aiming bonuses shoot at Lylyth but again aren't able to damage her-- should have taken the 1 wound because of sniper. 

Assassins attack Lylyth and surprisingly with MAT 9s because of gang, they both miss!!!  They would have done an ungodly amount of damage on Lylyth if they were able to hit.

Gorman walks up to the Striders and Black Oil's them bringing their Def down to 11.  AKs move up needing 6s to hit and with a flamethrower spray take a few down. 

Bears head down and get ready to leave the forest. 

Lupercal resigns on his turn.

A really fun game against a cool guy who I'd be more than happy to play again.  It's fun to play again another new player because they are patient usually (and really helpful too).

Lupercal said he was planning to break through with his beasts and all those super tough rolls really sealed the deal against him.

Surprisingly the AKs faired well against the Striders.  The Flamethrower gives some added range and with Gorman and Black Oil, the AKs should be able to hit when they reach the enemy.  Mix in the Feat with +2 MAT/RAT and an Assault and Battery from the AKs would be really nice.  They suck balls against high ARM but against moderately low DEF/low ARM, they can really shine.  Marching up in Shield Wall is slow but against the right enemy, they can outlast the gunfire.

Was able to hold the Bears in reserve the whole game which is a good thing I guess.

Assassins were awesome against the Beasts.  With a low RAT, Typhon had a lot of trouble hitting Assassins with Iron Flesh even with boosting.  That coupled with the Feat and super Tough and the Assassins can hold.  Wondering what would have happened if the Beasts trampled out?  Lupercal was saying that I had Bears in the woods who would counter charge and that was true.  Also, I'm seeing that on the charge and Battle Lust, 2-3 Assassins per Beast should be enough to bring them down.

Getting more practice with Irusk and I like what he does for his infantry.  You can give them defense as you approach with Iron Flesh and when the decisive attack is ready, pop feat for +2 MAT/RAT, +4 Tough, and no knockdowns.  What that does is boost your accuracy for the attack and then gives you a chance to weather the counter attack with +4 Tough Rolls.  Battle Lust on the right unit will also do a lot of damage because of the extra die.  So find a good position, attack, weather the storm, and then attack again. 

Wasn't able to use Inhospitable Ground but can see how that would make moving/charging really difficult against the Khador army.  Inhospitable Ground basically making all the open ground in Irusk's control area rough terrain. 

Liking Irusk and think he will be my next Caster.  I have all the models in this army so I can use it in real life too :)

Warmachine Batrep: pButcher vs pNemo

A week ago, Ben and I squared off for another match of Khador vs Cygnar.  Ben had a new strategy taking what he learned from our first game and created a "Death Ball" of Electricity with the Thunderhead and his Stormblades.  I usually write down what happens on a piece of paper but I lost it so this will be from memory.  His list was something like this:

pNemo
Thunderhead
Hunter
Squire
Arlan Strangeways
Arcane Tempest Gunmages + UA
Stormblades + UA
Stormtower + Grunt

I was trying something different proxying Beast-09 and taking some Manhunters to go along with Yuri.  Not the usual "Strong Center" I usually have with 2+ 'Jacks but I wanted to get some experience with flankers.  My list:

pButcher
Beast-09
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Mechaniks (4)
Great Bears
Kayazy Assassins (max + UA)
Yuri
Manhunter x2

I won the roll and deployed first putting the Widowmakers behind the wall and Yuri and friends near that forest.  My plan was to get them in the trees where hopefully they could counter attack the center when Ben pushed forward.  Beast and the Mechaniks were front and center with Butcher and the Great Bears behind them.  On the right I had my Assassins.

Ben got his guys into a formation that he devised-- Thunderhead in the center with Stormblades in front to protect it.  He advanced deployed his hunter behind the house on the left and had his ATGM on the right with the Stormtower just behind his wall. 

Turn 1

Everyone runs for Khador-- Widowmakers hop over the wall to get some shooting lanes on the center.  Yuri and friends push and shove each other as they try to fit in the forest.  Everyone else moves up slowly and I shift the Great Bears behind the Assassins.

Ben moves everyone forward and puts Disruption Field on the Thunderhead and Electrify on the Stormblades-- if I hit them, I'll take a hit myself and get pushed back. 

Turn 2

My forces head for the center.  Widowmakers take down one or two Stormblades.  Ben counters with his Hunter who shoot two of my Widowmakers.  The forest on the right proves to be too small and Yuri gets shot to pieces while the two manhunters flee the trees heading back to the main Khador force.  Not sure but Beast could have taken some damage.  He's going to get shot up on the way to the Cygnar line.

Turn 3

From the look of the pics, it appears I went second.  Ben kills the remaining widowmakers leaving just the Marksman left.  At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the Thunderhead Ball of Doom.  If I charge it and attack the Stormblades, I'll get electrified and pushed back.  Then on the next turn Ben will Pulse with the Thunderhead and I'll lose all my infantry.  I decide to send a handful of Assassins forward as a sacrifice while I get my other forces in position to charge next turn.  I use Killstroke to get the Assassins deep into the Cygnar forces.

Turn 4

Ben takes care of my Assassins with his Stormblades and clears out the center with a Pulse from the Thunderhead.  Beast-09 goes down without contributing too much to the fight.  I also forgot to advance him after he took ranged hits TT.  Ben sends his ATGM all down my right flank and we've got a familiar sight-- the Khador force being slowly surrounded!   

I counter with everything that I have and leave just two Stormblades left.  Things look grim as I know that Ben is going to walk his Thunderhead down and pulse all of my infantry.  It isn't going to be pretty.

Turn 5

But wait!!  Ben decides to go for the jugular and sends his Thunderhead to charge Butcher!  Sitting on 5 focus he boosts his "to hit" rolls and boosts for damage.  By some miracle Butcher lives to fight on taking minimal damage.  With full focus camped Butcher was sitting at Armor 24.  Ben and I had to double check multiple times because that just didn't seem right.  In hindsight Ben said that he should have parried his Hunter out of melee with the Assassins and taken some armor piercing shots at the Butcher before the Thunderhead charged.  That would have been good.

I lose all my infantry in the center taking shots from the ATGM and the rest of the Cygnar army. 

On my turn I feat and Butcher rips apart the Thunderhead.  Over on the left near the house, two Assassins charge the Hunter and take it down while another Assassin charges Arlan. 

All I have left now is the three Assassins, the Widowmaker Marksman, and Butcher.  Will it be enough?

Turn 6

I lose all my Assassins to gunfire and the ATGM move towards the center.  Ben moves his Stormtower closer ready to attack next turn.  Nemo moves over to the right flank to safety.

At this point I'm considering putting Iron Flesh on Butcher to up his defense but I felt there wasn't time and he might take shots from the ATGM; better to have sick armor.  So I decide to go for broke and in glorious fashion run Butcher into the fray backed up by the Marksman. 

The Marksman takes a shot at the Stormtower taking out the operator; just one more shot needed next round to take that thing down. 

Turn 7

I never imagined I would be alive this long. 

Ben moves his ATGM more towards the center while the Marksman takes down the Stormtower.  One threat neutralized.  Meanwhile Ben has been taking shots at Butcher and needed to roll insanity with dice -14 for damage from his Gun Mages.  Holy Moly!  Slowly we both realize that nothing can penetrate Butcher's armor.  I run him right into the thick of the ATGM getting into melee and thinking that if he shoots at Butcher, he'll have to risk possibly shooting his own men! 

Turn 8

Ben takes down the Marksman and proceeds to surround Butcher and take shots at him.  Nothing is working and in the past few rounds have only taken 3 or 4 damage.  Ben runs Nemo behind a wall but leaves a charge lane for Butcher.  With reach he is able to attack and with 6 focus is able to clobber Nemo and win a suprising game for Khador.

Ben had the game won.  For me, it was one of those agonizing games where you know you're just going to lose.  Ben strategy of the Thunderhead Ball was really strong.  I had no easy was of assaulting it as whatever I sent at it would get Pulsed in the next round.

Ben cleared out the center of my formation and could have easily Pulsed the remainder of it but instead decided to go for the win with the charge against Butcher with the Thunderhead.  It looked good actually as the Thunderhead had 5 focus but wow, armor 24 is hard to beat!

The lesson I see in our game is knowing what to do when you have an advantage-- you don't have to take risks.  In fact, the other player is the one that has to take some risks (like an assassination run) because they're the one that's playing from behind.  What I think Ben should have done was Pulse what was left of my infantry and then go into the End Game with both the Thunderhead and the Hunter.

What we learned was that those two 'Jacks were the only things that could really threaten Butcher.  Nothing else could penetrate his armor easily.  So here's the strategy:

In this particular matchup, Khador wants to eliminate those things that can hurt Butcher in the end-- the Thunderhead and the Hunter.  Then, after the majority of the Cygnar forces are taken care of, he can come out and dominate the field. 

Cygnar on the other hand, wants to keep his anti-armor alive to threaten Butcher while they slowly pick apart the Khador force using their guns and tactics with the Thunderhead's Pulse. 

Ben will probably run this list again as we both feel it's really strong and next time I'm going to have to figure out a way to win and tackle the Thunderhead Ball.  GG Ben!