Got four games in-- two against Cryx, one against Dwarves, and one against Ret.
First game was against Jim. I advanced towards the middle and my Destroyer was able to do some damage on one of the arc nodes but then Jim arc'd Crippling Grasp to one of my Jacks and Parasite to the other. Deneghra then feated so my Jacks where sitting at ARM 15 and 16. Jim's Jacks charged and made quick work of mine wrecking both and getting a Mangled Metal win.
I'm learning that Cryx is VERY tough to play against and against Jim's attack, the one thing I can think of is to stay as far back as I can and just rain bombards on him. I can also advance Sorscha up, take a shot, and then Wind Rush away. But at DEF 10, my Jacks will get hit and there's really nothing I can do about it. Good game though and now I was on to my second game against Dwarves.
Doug is one of our resident Press Gangers and he fielded Gorten and the Dwarves. The only heavy is a Driller and that thing is monstrous. With Strength of Granite it's weapons go to something like P+S 20 and 21. Crazy. I advanced like usual and because the Driller is the same slow speed as my Jacks, my Destroyer was able to keep the distance and blast off it's drill arm. That was really good. Sensing that my tactic would slowly soften up his Jacks, Doug feated and pulled the Destroyer right to the Driller who tore it up easily. Gorten had to expose himself to catch the Destroyer though so I sent Sorscha Wind Rushing and charging in under feat turn. She wasn't able to kill him on her attack but she was sitting at DEF 20. Doug was hoping to crit slam her with Gorten and had a few chances but was able to get it. She survived on about half her life. With full focus Sorscha hit back and suprisingly needed her last focus to boost the damage to kill Gorten.
With Wind Rush and Fog of War, seems like Sorscha has great defense against the light Jacks' shooting and with the threat range of the Destroyer, I can fire bombards all day on the Driller. I just have to make sure that if Gorten feats, I only lose one Jack. In this game I had an opening for Sorscha's assassination run but in future games I might not be so lucky. Got to be careful.
Next game I faced off against Deneghra again. Krage had his battlebox fully painted and it looked great. Same opening strat from me as always-- trying to shoot stuff with the Destroyer. My first attempt failed as two of his arc nodes were either in a forest or on a hill and the other one was in my own Fog of War. I missed the bombard. Krage then played Deneghra competely different than Jim and chose to ignore my Jacks and run his arc nodes around. Spell of choice was Scourge that knocked down Sorscha. I had to face Deneghra's feat and couldn't do much of anything. I tried to attack one of the arc nodes with Sorscha but on the following turn another arc node ran close and Scourged her again. The arc node was so close that the deviating AOE still knocked her down. That freed up the first arc node and with auto hits in melee Sorscha was done.
Thought it was really cool that Jim and Krage played Deneghra in two different ways, either going for the Jacks via Crippling Grasp and Parasite, or using the arc nodes and running them wide to Scourge Sorscha. So many things to look out for. I like the challenge though and look forward to playing Cryx again.
Last game of the night was against Jay and his Retribution battlebox. This featured Kaelyssa, a Manitcore, and two Lights (can't remember their names). I slow advanced and my bombard hit but failed to get passed the force fields. Jay spread out his Jacks, possibly positioning them for a next turn charge. Kaeylssa was way far back but it looked like Sorscha had a lane. Wow it was far. I decide to go for it, Wind Rush forward. At that point I checked her control and there was no need for Boundless Charge. Sweet. That's two focus saved. Sorscha charges Kaelyssa and after a few attacks gets the win. Both Jay and I were quite surprised how far 17" actually is. I doubt Jay will let an assassination like that happen again.
Finished 2-2 for the night. Two losses to Cryx and two wins by assassniation. Can't wait to play the other battleboxes and get revenge on Deneghra :P
Showing posts with label Journeyman League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Journeyman League. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Journeyman League BEGINS!!!! (Lots of pics)
Tonight kicked off our long awaited Journeyman League and what a night it was! There were at least 11 gaming tables going and we had a bunch of new people come out. There were veteran players learning new factions. New players boosting their first roll. So many times I just took a break and looked around at all the gaming and all the friends gathered and couldn't help but smile :D
We ate some dinner and chit chatted for a bit and starting setting up at around 7:00.
One of my favorite pictures from the night. Krage on the left and Jim laughing about how their Cryx Battlebox is so overpowered they're going to own everyone tonight. haha. No seriously, this is one of my favorites because it shows the the two guys having a great time-- smiles say it all. Another funny thing. So both Krage and Jim are Cryx right? Check out the colors they're wearing!?! Green Jacket and green shirt. You know what else is funny? In the back is Chris sitting. He's also a Cryx player! Those guys have some serious Cryx pride man. :P
Jackie and Doug kicking off the night with a little battle. Jackie is starting Pirates and Doug has Dwarves. Doug recently became a Press Ganger and this is the first event that he's running. Go Doug!
Not only was there Warmachine but there was Malifaux! Larry learning the game for the first time with Sam and James. Looks like they had a great time, like they're playing poker. Will have to try that game some time.
Justin vs Krage in the foreground. Justin so far is the only Menoth player in the League. Can't tell if his expression is because he's playing Deneghra (how do you spell her name?!) Monte vs Steve in the middle table. Monte has been playing Khador for a while and decided to give Legion a try for the League, facing off against Steve's Khador.
First off, gotta love Maz's stache! Both he and Chris are playing in the Wild West League. It follows the Journeyman League schedule but they create their own custom battleboxes. Here Maz is playing with Strahkov, a Kodiak, and a Devastator. Chris brought eSkarre and hmmmm, not sure what his Jacks were.
Yong playing in his very first Warmachine game. He took Cygnar facing off against Jay who brought Retribution and Kaelyssa (hope I spelled that right).
Brandon and Diane-- Ret vs Circle. New faces to the club and it was great meeting them.
Arron against Byron. I know Byron had Cygnar. Arron, what did you field?
Max vs James-- Trolls vs Trolls?
More Malifaux action!
Ben taking the Swans of Cygnar and facing off against Gators!
More of Chris vs Maz and the epic Cryx vs Khador battle.
Aw yeah, got the dice roll! Look at the motion blur on the dice!
Jay sharing some words of wisdom to Diane, one of the new players.
Was a pleasure meeting Mark who I've seen on our mailing list a lot. He is an AMAZING painter. Mark wanted to paint up his Troll battlebox before playing so he set up near the Malifaux guys. We were all inspired by the work he did tonight.
Larry checking out the Malifaux rules.
Doug with his Dwarves got a win vs Jackie's Pirates. I got to play Doug in my second game. Gorten feated, dragged my Destroyer to his Driller which crippled it. I then had to feat with Sorscha and Wind Rush/charge Gorten. With my last focus, I boosted the damage and was able to bring Gorten down. Was very close!
My Khador brothers Steve and Monte.
Justin deep in thought in his battle with Deneghra.
Love this pic of Sam and James during their Malifaux game.
Anthony, one of our other Press Gangers, playing against his friend Scott (met so many new people. I think his name is Scott) Anthony is playing Legion and Scott has Retribution.
View of all the players tonight. Over on the left is Mark painting next to the Malifaux guys. The rest is Warmachine. I can count 11 tables for 22 players. Might be another match behind that pole but I can't tell. Such an amazing sight to see.
Master and apprentice. Love this shot. Two great painters talking about technique.
Jim with Deneghra battling Brian who is new to the club. Brian is a very accomplished player and brought Stryker and Cygnar.
Glorious brought his Cygnar out, wonderfully painted, and was able to get lots of games in.
Terraclips terrain for Malifaux. This stuff looks awesome.
Close up of some of Krage's minis. Paint job is fantastic. I played against him for my 3rd game. He sent his three arc nodes out and Denny was able to arc Scourge onto Sorscha numerous times and knocking her down. It was a very effective combo negating her insanely high DEF. With ARM 14 the arc nodes made quick work of Sorscha. Deneghra is very good and I definitely like the challenge of facing her. Hope to get more games against her next week. Gotta take out the arc nodes first. Then figure out a way to survive her feat.
Ben showing Cygnar pride with his Pepsi shirt. He and Scott played two games with both of them getting a win.
"Are you serious?" That's what Anthony's expression says to me :P
After going 2-0 for the night, Jim said he had to go home soon. But he stayed for over and hour to hang out :D Here he's watching Monte's Legion against Phillip's Gators. Must be a bad turn for Phillip.
What to do next? Brian debating his next move.
I'll bet what Monte is saying is very funny. He's probably saying it with some kind of accent too.
The epic Malifaux terrain.
The thumb of a mini painter.
Post game discussion with Brian and Doug.
And Darian and a friend finishing the night off with an epic game of 40k-- Blood Angels vs Grey Knights.
So that was our first night of the Journeyman League. I was able to get in 4 1/2 games and it was sooooo much fun. Will write more later about what I learned but wanted to get these pictures up. Was a great night of friends getting together, meeting new people, and having fun painting and rolling dice. Can't wait for next week.
Glorious brought his Cygnar out, wonderfully painted, and was able to get lots of games in.
So that was our first night of the Journeyman League. I was able to get in 4 1/2 games and it was sooooo much fun. Will write more later about what I learned but wanted to get these pictures up. Was a great night of friends getting together, meeting new people, and having fun painting and rolling dice. Can't wait for next week.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Journeyman League Preseason: pSorscha vs pStriker
The Journeyman League for our club starts next week but Ben and I wanted to try out some battlebox games in the mean time. It was pSorscha, Juggernaut, and a Destroyer, vs pStriker, Iron Clad, Lancer, and a Charger.
First game I went first and ran my 'Jacks up with Sorscha under cover of Wind Rush and Fog of War getting her Defense up to 20. As our forces closed, I charged the Destroyer into his Lancer and Wind Rushed Sorscha to the outside on my right. My thinking was that the Destroyer would tie up the 'Jacks and maybe Sorscha would get an angle to assassinate. After Ben's next turn, I feated and later realized that Sorscha can't charge through frozen models (duh). I ended up losing the Destroyer in melee and what followed was Ben's tactic of constantly disrupting the Juggernaut. It's a very good tactic. Not sure if he also knocked down the Jugg. Didn't quite see a way to come back so I charged Sorscha into Striker a few turns later but the odds were against her and she couldn't bring him down. Ben ended up knocking her down with Earthquake and then the Lancer and Iron Clad walked over to finish her off.
Mistake was not understanding Stationary lol. On feat turn, I could have charged my 'Jacks into his and because of stationary they would have basically auto hit (or does it auto hit? Good thing we're playing battlebox games. I should know that). Also messed up when I shot a bombard at the Lancer but could have just used the axe instead and boosted the damage roll.
For the second game my goal was not to lose the Destroyer so easily and just try to stay back and soften up the Cygnar 'Jacks a little. My formation was a triangle with Sorscha in the back and all of my models were about 4 inches from each other-- so a little spread out. What followed was more knockdown and disruption mainly focused on the Destroyer. Ben walked up the Lancer and arced Earthquake through him and then walked Striker with snipe to disrupt. Ugly stuff. Sorscha died when I exposed her to a shot from the Charger and it was aiming against Sorscha's DEF 18 (no FOW). So it hit and then rolled triple 6 haha. Another shot and that was it.
Some pretty bad games on my part and GG to Ben although the last game didn't really feel like it was a good one because it was over so fast :P but of course, always fun to play him and talk strategy afterwards.
But wow, feel really lost about what to do against the Cygnar Battlebox. I like the challenge though and it's time for me to hit the drawing board and think about this particular matchup.
So let's start with things to remember:
First game I went first and ran my 'Jacks up with Sorscha under cover of Wind Rush and Fog of War getting her Defense up to 20. As our forces closed, I charged the Destroyer into his Lancer and Wind Rushed Sorscha to the outside on my right. My thinking was that the Destroyer would tie up the 'Jacks and maybe Sorscha would get an angle to assassinate. After Ben's next turn, I feated and later realized that Sorscha can't charge through frozen models (duh). I ended up losing the Destroyer in melee and what followed was Ben's tactic of constantly disrupting the Juggernaut. It's a very good tactic. Not sure if he also knocked down the Jugg. Didn't quite see a way to come back so I charged Sorscha into Striker a few turns later but the odds were against her and she couldn't bring him down. Ben ended up knocking her down with Earthquake and then the Lancer and Iron Clad walked over to finish her off.
Mistake was not understanding Stationary lol. On feat turn, I could have charged my 'Jacks into his and because of stationary they would have basically auto hit (or does it auto hit? Good thing we're playing battlebox games. I should know that). Also messed up when I shot a bombard at the Lancer but could have just used the axe instead and boosted the damage roll.
For the second game my goal was not to lose the Destroyer so easily and just try to stay back and soften up the Cygnar 'Jacks a little. My formation was a triangle with Sorscha in the back and all of my models were about 4 inches from each other-- so a little spread out. What followed was more knockdown and disruption mainly focused on the Destroyer. Ben walked up the Lancer and arced Earthquake through him and then walked Striker with snipe to disrupt. Ugly stuff. Sorscha died when I exposed her to a shot from the Charger and it was aiming against Sorscha's DEF 18 (no FOW). So it hit and then rolled triple 6 haha. Another shot and that was it.
Some pretty bad games on my part and GG to Ben although the last game didn't really feel like it was a good one because it was over so fast :P but of course, always fun to play him and talk strategy afterwards.
But wow, feel really lost about what to do against the Cygnar Battlebox. I like the challenge though and it's time for me to hit the drawing board and think about this particular matchup.
So let's start with things to remember:
- If I'm going to expose Sorscha to a shot, make sure it's under Wind Rush and Fog of War for DEF 20.
- If I Wind Rush, do it away from the Charger to force it to move and give up it's aiming bonus
- Stationary does not let me charge over bases ><;
- Ben creates a wall of 'Jacks in front of Striker so how about this on feat turn: Destroyer gets 1 focus to boost damage on a POW 14 shot. Jugg gets Boundless Charge probably. That's 3 focus. And then an extra one for another P+S 19 attack. And Sorscha can Wind Rush the heck out of there. Just gottta make sure that she catches all the targets in her control area. hmmm~ Destoryer will probably be distrupted so Jugg doesn't get that extra focus.
- Also against the wall of 'Jacks, might consider just knocking them all down with Tempest. Sorscha can still Wind Rush away and the Destroyer will get a POW 14 bombard if that should hit.
- Also, Sorscha HAS A GUN! Couple turns she was in range to shoot it but I just forgot about it. POW 12 could do a little damage to those light jacks.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Journeyman League
A lot of people in my gaming club recently got interested in starting the Journeyman League for Warmcahine. For those of you who haven't heard of this, it's an official league that you can run that Privateer Press has created rules for.
http://privateerpress.com/organized-play/leagues/journeyman-league-rules
The basic idea is that you start with a Faction Battlebox and slowly grow your army all the way to 35pts. You earn points every week for games you play, minis you paint, and a third score for both your game points and painting points added up.
Week 1 you play with the Battlebox.
Week 2 is 15 points with Battlebox
Week 3 is 25 points with Battlebox
Week 4 is 25 points with Battlebox plus Caster swap allowed
Week 5 is 35 points with Battlebox, either original Caster or Caster swapped one.
Week 6 is 35 points, anything goes!
At first I wasn't too excited as I wasn't sure how fun it would be to run a Juggernaut and a Destroyer for 5 weeks but after looking at pSorscha I realized there's a lot I could learn by playing her, especially her assassination playstyle. I've never played her before ever so I'm really looking forward to it now. Also, although the Khador 'Jacks are pretty basic, I'm going in with an open mind trying to see if there are new things I can learn. If anything, this "slow grow" league will give me a chance to relearn the basics and get a solid foundation on the game's mechanics. When I first started, I progressed pretty rapidly to 25 points and then to 25 points but I never really got a solid grasp of power attacks and to this day I still have to look up how to do one. I know that's a very important part of gameplay and I'd like to get better at that aspect of my game.
I'll document the League as it progresses and share what I learn along the way. Here's my tentative plan so far for my lists.
Week 1- Battlebox
During the first week we'll all be playing A TON of Battlebox games and they should go really quick. So I'll try to experiment a lot and see how to get a basic assassination off. Besides that I'll just run through her spells and make sure I use them in my games. Also want to focus on power attacks like slams; don't do those enough.
Week 2- 15pts
eEiryss and the Dog! just kidding. Widowmakers seem like the no brainer upgrade at this level as they add a manageable unit to the game with some tricky things like sniper. Some cool synergy with Sorscha as Fog of War lets the Widowmakers get to DEF 18 in the open. Not sure how many targets they will have but if they have to hit heavies, I can experiment with trying to snipe out a column.
Week 3- 25 points
Assault Kommandos! Now that's no joke. I'm being totally serious lol. I love this unit despite their lackluster performance. The Journeyman League gives me the opportunity to try them out. Sorscha can help them hit targets with her feat or by knocking down things with Tempest. She can also freezing grip them. Likewise, the AKs can help her hit with spells by potentially lowering the targets DEF with gas grenades. Not sure how much they help with the Assassination but I'm looking forward to painting these guys and seeing how the trench on their bases will turn out.
Week 4- 25 points, possible caster swap
I'll play it by ear but I'm hoping to take pSorscha all the way to the end and not swap her out. There's no way that I can learn all her tricks in 4 weeks so at that time, I'm sure I'll still be digging for tactics and strategy. Can I try other units in my games and keep swapping them? I recently got a female manhunter so maybe I'll try her. Another Camo model to benefit from Fog of War and a pretty decent threat range.
Weeks 5-6
I haven't thought this far ahead and I'm sure when I get there I'll have a better idea of what I want to try after playing pSorscha for a month. pEiryss seems fun to try to help with the Assassination and she has some tricky shots that she can do. Need the model though.
http://privateerpress.com/organized-play/leagues/journeyman-league-rules
The basic idea is that you start with a Faction Battlebox and slowly grow your army all the way to 35pts. You earn points every week for games you play, minis you paint, and a third score for both your game points and painting points added up.
Week 1 you play with the Battlebox.
Week 2 is 15 points with Battlebox
Week 3 is 25 points with Battlebox
Week 4 is 25 points with Battlebox plus Caster swap allowed
Week 5 is 35 points with Battlebox, either original Caster or Caster swapped one.
Week 6 is 35 points, anything goes!
At first I wasn't too excited as I wasn't sure how fun it would be to run a Juggernaut and a Destroyer for 5 weeks but after looking at pSorscha I realized there's a lot I could learn by playing her, especially her assassination playstyle. I've never played her before ever so I'm really looking forward to it now. Also, although the Khador 'Jacks are pretty basic, I'm going in with an open mind trying to see if there are new things I can learn. If anything, this "slow grow" league will give me a chance to relearn the basics and get a solid foundation on the game's mechanics. When I first started, I progressed pretty rapidly to 25 points and then to 25 points but I never really got a solid grasp of power attacks and to this day I still have to look up how to do one. I know that's a very important part of gameplay and I'd like to get better at that aspect of my game.
I'll document the League as it progresses and share what I learn along the way. Here's my tentative plan so far for my lists.
Week 1- Battlebox
During the first week we'll all be playing A TON of Battlebox games and they should go really quick. So I'll try to experiment a lot and see how to get a basic assassination off. Besides that I'll just run through her spells and make sure I use them in my games. Also want to focus on power attacks like slams; don't do those enough.
Week 2- 15pts
eEiryss and the Dog! just kidding. Widowmakers seem like the no brainer upgrade at this level as they add a manageable unit to the game with some tricky things like sniper. Some cool synergy with Sorscha as Fog of War lets the Widowmakers get to DEF 18 in the open. Not sure how many targets they will have but if they have to hit heavies, I can experiment with trying to snipe out a column.
Week 3- 25 points
Assault Kommandos! Now that's no joke. I'm being totally serious lol. I love this unit despite their lackluster performance. The Journeyman League gives me the opportunity to try them out. Sorscha can help them hit targets with her feat or by knocking down things with Tempest. She can also freezing grip them. Likewise, the AKs can help her hit with spells by potentially lowering the targets DEF with gas grenades. Not sure how much they help with the Assassination but I'm looking forward to painting these guys and seeing how the trench on their bases will turn out.
Week 4- 25 points, possible caster swap
I'll play it by ear but I'm hoping to take pSorscha all the way to the end and not swap her out. There's no way that I can learn all her tricks in 4 weeks so at that time, I'm sure I'll still be digging for tactics and strategy. Can I try other units in my games and keep swapping them? I recently got a female manhunter so maybe I'll try her. Another Camo model to benefit from Fog of War and a pretty decent threat range.
Weeks 5-6
I haven't thought this far ahead and I'm sure when I get there I'll have a better idea of what I want to try after playing pSorscha for a month. pEiryss seems fun to try to help with the Assassination and she has some tricky shots that she can do. Need the model though.
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