0-10 With Old Witch: Thoughts On My Games

Old Witch vs Siege
This is one of the very first games that I played with her going against my good buddy Ben who plays Cygnar.  Scenario was Overrun and he brought Siege along with Trencher Commandos.  Can't remember much but I know I feated on turn 1 and didn't catch any of Ben's army in it.  At that time I didn't fully understand the feat and all I wanted to do was prevent models from moving into it.  So in that game the feat didn't do anything.

• Feated too early.  Didn't know about "can't run, charge, or make special actions."
• Beast-09 and Devastator were operational for a long time but Old Witch ran away out of control and she couldn't allocate focus for the closing turns of the game. 
• thought Scrapjack could Avatar of Slaughter my own models but it doesn't work like that :P
• Didn't know that you can bulldoze and not take free strikes; had a fully loaded Devastator ready to charge Siege.

Old Witch vs Mortenebra
Chris brought one of his favorite lists for this one, Morty tier 4.  His list consisted of the usual suspects; two Warwitch Sirens, DJ, Seether, Slayer, Harrower, and Stich Thralls (they blow up but not Biles).  I knew that OW had trouble against armor so I knew this was going to be very, very, challenging.  I brought a unit of Assault Kommandos which didn't help. Took a Spriggan and also had Winterguard with maybe 2 rockets with solos mixed in.

Overrun was too much to handle and Chris did a brilliant move to throw my Spriggan into Scrapjack knocking both of them down.  In the process he took out eEiryss.  On a critical turn I blocked my Spriggan from a charge into DJ.  Chris pressured with all his 'Jacks and I wasn't able to neutralize all the threats even with the Winterguard doing CRAs to take out a slayer.  Assault Kommandos just sat on the objective (Gaining Ground probably) and didn't contribute to the game.  I ran Scrapjack late in the game and teleported Witch away but with Overrun she was caught.

• Feat doesn't really do much against 'Jacks
• Blocked in my Spriggan so he couldn't charge DJ
• Instead of sitting my AKs in my zone I should have pressured Morty.  The AKs would have been immune to the corrosive damage from Sirens and the pressure might have pulled one of his 'Jacks away from the main battle where I didn't have enough anti armor.  eEiryss didn't do much.  Should have used her to disrupt the enemy 'Jacks.  
• Did learn how to do CRAs with Winterguard for first time though and saw that they can take out Cryx heavies in the process. 

Old Witch vs Harbringer
Denial feat vs Denial Feat.  Wrote a batrep for this game that you can read here.  We played with a timer and scenario.  Some of the things that I remember from this game:

• Still wasn't sure how to use eEiryss effectively.  I pulled her from the flank and got her close to my 'Jacks which she disrupted for a COUPLE of turns.  Definitely not good.  That's what I'm supposed to do to his 'Jacks.
• Allowed my 'Jacks to get charged especially Beast-09.  Need to be aware of threat ranges.
• Scrapjack didn't do anything this game.  Didn't have a plan for him and didn't know how to get him into melee so he could use Avatar of Slaughter.
• Running low on time I had all of my assassins engaged with Patrick's Daughters and Aiyanna & Holt but I ran out of time and couldn't do my attacks.  Worse yet, when I moved the Underboss I left half the unit out of formation.  Learned that I can't be bogged down and need to keep Assassins moving so they can threaten the back line support units.
• Didn't do Winterguard activation properly forgeting to use Joe first to call boosted attacks.  Had WG in position with Errants but they couldn't hit them.   

Old Witch vs eKrueger
First game against Krage at our gaming club and he brought Circle with eKrueger.  He posted a slideshow batrep with good analysis on Youtube that you can see here.  This game was rather quick.  Had Spriggan, Assassins, A&H and Widowmakers.  He had Megalith, Warpwolf, Worldwarden (?), Wolf Riders, Shifting Stones, Stone Keeper, and a Wilder. 

• Didn't catch too much in the feat, again, thinknig that the feat was used as a wall instead of something to "catch" the opposition in.  
• Wasn't familiar with circle at all and when the Warpwolf teleported via stones to my flank, he sprayed and killed some Assassins (with blessed maybe) and also the Great Bears.  Spriggan was TK'd and turned around.  
• I probably conceded too early when my Assassins all died.  I still had Spriggan and Scrappy but it seemed like my army lost some steam.  Should have played it through to get more practice with my army and learn more about Circle.  
• Once again Scrappy unable to get into melee with anything.
• I know that during this time I think about using Gallows a lot to pull things closer to my 'Jacks.  

Old Witch vs Reznik
Played against Trong from Brookhurst Hobbies going against Reznik.  Took a Devastator this time and his armor was too tough to crack.  Stayed alive the entire game although when Witch got into trouble she retreated out of control range of the Devastator and couldn't allocate focus as the Devastator was getting danerously close to Reznik.  No Scenario.   

• Against certain lists, the Devastator is nigh unpenetrable.  Need to keep OW in control range of him to allocate focus and threaten a charge with Rain of Death.  Can't remember what other units I had but probably Assassins.

Old Witch vs Rayvn 9/6/11
Setting up early on a club game night I took OW and battle Rayvn in the scenario that has two vertical zones to control.  He had a very shooty list with only one 'Jack so I was curious to see how my list would fare.  I brought a Devastator again as my lone 'Jack with Great Bears, Widowmaker Marksman, Assassins, and WG.

• Was able to score first by feating and then clearing out the zone with WG sprays.  Things looked rather good at that point but soon the tide would be shifting.
• Something killed all my Great Bears with a Starfire shot that gave Fire Continuous Effect.  Bears were in B2B triangle formation.  If one gets hit by an AOE, they all get hit.  
• Devastator attacked and killed the lone Ret heavy.  Can't remember how.  Scrapjack was never able to get into melee.  
• Assassins ran up at the Ret gunlines and eventually was taken out.  
• Marksmen held down the left flank against eEiryss and a Mage Hunter Assassin. 
• May have taken off Iron Flesh from WG at one point which made them slightly vulnerable.
• Perhaps after my early advantage I got to anxious and overextended? 

Old Witch vs eButcher 9/6/11
In my first game against Adam he brings out eButcher to do a little clinic on how he works.  We played scenario but can't remember which one.  He had eButcher, Fenris, 2 units of Doom Reavers, Escort, Ragman, Corbeau, Dog, Beserker, and a Juggernaut.  I had Assasssins, Winterguard, and can't remember what 'Jacks I had, probably the usual solos included.

• Nearly secured a point first but Gallows on a Berserker failed to pull him out.
• Learned WG sprays destroys Doom Reavers.  
• Learned that on a fully loaded eButcher, need to have Iron Flesh on jamming Kayazy or eButcher will tear through them.  DEF 16 isn't enough.  
• Also learned how is feat works when Fenris got to make a full advance after he ran the turn before.  Old Witch died soon after that.
• Nothing notable from Scrapjack.

Old Witch vs Rorsh and Brine (the two headed pigs) 9/13/11
Might have been 3 heavies in John's list.  Never played Farrow before.

• Got first point in Scenario (veritcal zones) by feating and clearing out the zone.  Took the WG and and assassin to do it.  So I had an early advantage and a pretty good position.  
• Critical turn I decide not to charge one of his heavies thereby forcing him to choose between retaliating against Scrappy or the Spriggan.  
• Scrapjack not getting to use Avatar yet again.
• Towards the end of the game I was getting lazy and kept off Iron Flesh from WG.  They were picked off easily and John took the zone for his 2nd point.  

Old Witch vs pMadrak 9/20/11
Wrote a batrep you can read here.  Old Witch vs a Tough army with infantry that can hit ARM 20?  Going to be difficult.    

• Starting to understand OW's feat.  You need to actually catch as much of the opposing army in it as you can.  Main reason is it will prevent models from running, charging, and making special actions like tramples and slams.  If infantry move they are dead but the thing to remember is that the enemy can't easily retaliate against you next turn.  So that means you can aggressively move up, often run up to get your forces into position to attack/charge next turn.  They will be safe as nothing caught in the feat can charge you so all heavies can do is walk up and attack.  If they do that, they won't have the charge bonus for damage.  So get your army in position to strike and watch out for ranged attacks.  
• Starting to understand Scrappy.  One of his main roles is to attack infantry with Avatar of Slaughter.  What this means is that you have to get him into position to charge something next turn.  You can usually do this safely if you jam the enemy with units like Assassins or use a screen.  In this game I was finally able to get off some Avatar runs but it wasn't as successful as I would have liked because of the high ARM and Tough of the Trolls. Still, good practice.
• Kept Bears too far in the back.  Wasn't aware of Troll threat range.  Bears should get first charge on stuff because of SPD 6 compared to Troll SPD 5.  
• Behemoth wasted bombards on Madrak who had a bouncer near him and because of an ability he has to negate damage from an attack once per game.  This put Behemoth in a position to be charged by some Trolls next turn that pretty much wrecked him.  Got to make sure my 'Jacks don't get charged.  
• Devastator Rain of Death'd a few times.  Not sure if it was worth it.  
• Got more practice using Aiyanna's Kiss to help damage Heavies.  
• Need to be more aggressive with Gorman.  Again, it's threat ranges.  I can keep OW safe and not rely on Gorman's cloud for Stealth if I know the enemy's threat ranges.

Old Witch vs Vindictus 9/21/11
Played on Vassal, Patrick and I had another epic match.  Scenario was Gaining Ground.  I had Behemoth, Dev, Assasins, WG+3 Rockets, Gorman, Wyshnalyrr, and Great Bears.  He had Reckoner, 2 units of Knights Exemplar.  2 units of Zealots.  2 Knights Exemplar Senescals, Cinerators, choir, book, Gorman, and eEiryss. 

• I used the feat to catch a lot of the Menoth army.  Vindictus' feat along with the Zealots mini feat ensured that I wouldn't be doing any kind of damage for a turn.  
• Kayazy were countered by A LOT of zealot bombs even being engaged in melee didn't matter because the zealots threw bombs 1-2 inches away.  Was nasty.   
• WG did really well with no way for Patrick to remove Iron Flesh.  They survived with a majority of the unit until the end of the game.  Mostly did blunderbuss shots and CRAs with them.
• Behemoth did well with bombards but might have been good to keep him behind a forest for protection.  Either that or use Murder of Crows to protect him.  Allowed him to be charged by one of the Knights Exemplar Senescals (how do you spell that?)  It did something like 30 damage.  To kill them, have to kill units around them first then him or else he will heal.  
• The last Knights Exemplar is tough to crack at ARM 20.  Need CRAs to do it.  
• Thought more about positioning Scrappy and felt I had the right idea but he was bombed by Eiryss and late in the game he was charged by one of the last Knights Exemplar.  It had a sliver of LOS around Murder of Crows.  But at least I had the right idea and tried to protect him behind MOC.  Maybe I needed to get him into melee sooner as he didn't really have an impact on the game early on.  
• Patrick demonstrates how to use eEiryss effectively.  She disrupted Behemoth with a shot early and then late game she ran up and with positioning disrupted both Behemoth and Scrappy.  
• Charged Bears to try and clear a zone against low point models.  One took out a Cinerator and nearly got another.  Lost all bears on counter attack from Patrick next turn.  Charging them wasn't worth it.  He said he didn't know how he wasn't going to get them, and then I ran them up.  
• Devastator moved up and Rain of Death'd taking out a lot of stuff.  I lost him next turn.  Not sure if it's best to do that or just have Devastator be there to be a distraction, hold an objective, or threaten a charge on the caster.  If I kept him closed, Patrick would always have to position his models perfectly or else the Dev would get Weald Secrets for Pathfinder and charge with bulldoze, Rain of Death, and then buy more attacks.  That threat is perhaps more valuable then doing Rain of Death early and then losing the Dev next turn.  Next game I'll try keeping him closed, hold objectives and threaten caster charges.
• Despite the loss in this game I was really happy with my play as I'm starting to get the hang of Scrapjack and his positioning and using Murder of Crows for defense and to hinder the opposing army's movement.  Gotta work on protecting my 'Jacks though and making sure I don't sacrifice valuable units like the Great Bears for nothing.