Club Tourney Part 2

Game 3

Continuing my batreps from our club tourney we go to Game 3 where I faced off against Steven and his eThags army:

eThagrosh
Carnivean
Scythean
Raek
Legionnaires
Cauldron with Cauldron people

I had the same eSorscha list as before. Scenario was a radial one with our flag on our right and a zone we had to contest on the other side of the board.  To score a point, we had to capture a flag and contest that zone.  Steven and I were 2-0 going into this game and winner would play for the title in the next round.

I wasn't sure what to do but set up with Winterguard on the left, my battlegroup central, and Kayazy on the right.  Solos were scattered in the middle. 

I sent the Kayazy after the flag where they fought the Legionnaires the the whole game backed up by the Cauldron.  Between Vengeance and an ability that gave some kind of feedback to my Assassins which possibly would kill them, they were a tough foe to crack especially with their buffed ARM of 18.  Assassins hung in there though with their high DEF and ganging ability.  At one point I thought I could clear my flag and score a point by running one of my assassins to contest the zone.  This almost worked but I did two things wrong-- I forgot to go base to base with my flag after I cleared it and the other one was I think I needed the whole unit with 4" of the flag to secure it.  So running that assassin to contest was neat but wouldn't have worked anyway. 

Over in the middle I had my Spriggan with Great Bears for backup faced off against the Legion heavies.  I charged the Spriggan on feat turn and took out the Carnivean but the Scythean and Thagrosh just counter attacked and the Spriggan was wrecked. 

I lost some bears early to the Raek on the left flank who was trying to secure his flag.  My winterguard attacked him but I messed up when I discovered that the Raek has stealth!  I was sort of caught off guard and didn't even realize I could have just sprayed him instead of doing the CRAs.  That little guy just confused the heck out of me and I tried leaving melee combat with him so I could shoot him but later realized that my Winterguard should have just charged him and finished him off.  The Raek eventually secured the flag and only had a few boxes left and when the Legionnaires ran to contest my zone Steven got a point. 

At that stage of the game I was without most of my heavy hitters and Thagrosh still had the Raek and Scythean to transfer to.  With no hope of scoring a point and time running out I conceded the game.

Despite the loss, Steven was fun to play and he showed up to our gaming night last night and we talked about that game a little.  I don't have that much experience with Legion so I asked him what I could have done better.  He suggested that I forget the flag and go for the beasts as they are the key to Hordes and the source of the Warlocks power.  Without the beasts, Warlocks cannot get Fury to power their spells and they don't have bodies to transfer damage to.  So in Warmachine you can go for the caster but in Hordes it usually is better to take out the Beasts first. 

Steven went on to face John, his former master and in the title match the apprentice won.  Congrats again to Steven on winning it all.  :)

But there was still one game to go and for me and Adam, this would decide 3rd place . 

Game 4

I played Adam the Tuesday before the tourney and for this game he brought a very similar list:

eButcher
Juggernaut
Berserker
minMOWST
Fenris
2 units of Doom Reavers
Greylord  Escort
Corbeau
Doggy

From my last game I knew that the doomies would be vulnerable to Winterguard sprays.  His main assassination threat would come from Fenris so I had to keep an eye on him.  Scenario was two 8" circles in the center.  Score in the farthest one. 

I went first and had Winterguard on the right, Kayazy on the left, and Battlegroup in the center.  Bears were behind the Winterguard.  I ran everyone up.

Adam had his two units of Doom Reavers on the front line with the MOWST and Butcher in the middle with the Juggernaut slightly to the left and Fenris was watching over the right flank behind the Doom Reavers. 

My plan with my front line was to stay as close to the edge of the Doom Reavers as possible and only expose a few of my Winterguard to a charge.  I put 3 forward and left Adam with a choice.  He can charge those few Winterguard and recieve a counter attack from the entire Winterguard or he can hold back and allow me to advance with Desperate Pace and spray his line with boosted attacks.  He chose to hold back a little and my Winterguard advanced under Bob & Weave and boosted attacks and the few Winterguard that shoot lined up at least two Doom Reavers in each of their sprays.  3 of them made Tough rolls but knockdown meant that they couldn't charge and attack.  After seeing this Adam wasn't content to hold them back so he charged what he could and tried to tie up my WG, but with DEF 17 I lost only 1 or 2.  Because the Doom Reavers had Reach, I was able to step a few of my WG back a little opening up the Doom Reavers to sprays that freed some of the WG.  After that attack only 1 Doom Reaver was left and the Escort was taken out. 

Over on the left, the Assassins faced off against the other Doom Reaver unit playing the same game as the Winterguard.  I put only a few Assassins within charge range banking on their DEF 16 in melee.  Behind them was arrayed the rest of the Assassins ready to counter attack.  Adam sent the whole unit in a charge and after all the attacks I lost only 1 Assassin.  Now I had options to either counter the Doom Reaver line or Killstroke past them.  I did a little of both.  Most hit the Doomies but a few ran past; one tied up the Juggernaut in my scoring zone and another met Fenris who had moved to the center after a few CRAs from the Winterguard.  The left side Doom Reaver unit was wiped out and after a few more CRAs and the Assassins attack, Fenris was taken out of the game.  Phew.  Big threat neutralized. 

In the middle Adam used his Berserker to slam my Spriggan out of the zone.  This was a brilliant move as it knocked him down and collateral damage went to a Bear, but luckily the Bear lived.  All that I had left were a handful of Winterguard in my zone at that point and if the Doomies had gotten a little luckier with their rolls, Adam would have scored a point. 

His MOWST advanced under Shield Wall into Adam's scoring zone.  They would be tough to crack.  I first got up the Spriggan and charged it into the Berserker wrecking it.  Then a Bear charged a Shocktrooper and killed him but there were two left in the zone. 

Time was running out and I destroyed most of Adam's army and was in control of the attrition battle.  He shifted Butcher to my scoring zone next to his Juggernaut and I was worried about sending all of my Assassins in there for fear of Butcher's feat turn.  The last time we played, DEF 16 wasn't enough to stop Butcher.  I would have liked to use Iron Flesh on them but I kept Sorscha way back for fear of Fenris.  The decision to hold back the Assassins would be costly though as Dice Down was called and I ended u losing on tie breaker because Adam had 2 Shocktroopers in his scoring zone and I didn't have enough Assassins in mine. 

I was a little disappointed to lose that one, especially because I was winning on the battlefield but I can't complain really because I had a fun game.  I also learned some new tactics like keeping my guys out of charge range and only leaving a few vulnerable.  It was great fun trying to control the front lines, especially against an army that doesn't rain constant AOEs on you.

Congrats again to Adam who earned 3rd place with that win and the guys from Red 5 ended up taking top 3 :D Since the weekend I've gotten to play John, who placed 2nd, and I really enjoy the games I get with them.  Glad they make it out to our game nights and hope to get more games in the future.

So that was the tourney and I learned a lot.  I've been talking with Steven and John and trying to figure out how to create two lists in a tourney.  When people look at my lists, usually they can see a lot of high DEF and plan accordingly.  So if I take one list with High DEF, the other should be a little different in some ways.  Perhaps more armor.  Will have to think more about that.

Also learned in the tourney that I don' t have many units that can run to a zone to contest it.  I have a few solos but I play them conservatively so they're usually in the back.  Perhaps I have to play them more forward. 

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 :)