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Post by tkaic on Oct 17, 2015 22:26:14 GMT
alec - you make a really good point about the scenario. My initial plan was to dominate my own flag with stryker and ol rowdy, but sacrificed that to threaten the centre. The blazers should've been able to contest your flag but I think sending them right round the back was a good plan...until the stormwall hit! Really enjoyed the game and yes, b13th should've been using both aoe each turn, I got too focussed on mage storm because it's so cool! @tom, Alec is right, when we took stock the earthquake couldn't actually be cast due to the Druid's ability. I should've kept my upkeeps on and re grouped... But got greedy and poor Stryker paid the price!
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Post by tkaic on Nov 15, 2015 12:08:38 GMT
A belated update So In the interim I've got a few 50pt games in to test out my Stormwall under both Stryker & Siege. Under both warcasters it's excellent, under Stryker it's essentially invulnerable for a turn (+5 ARM, snipe to boost its guns, all gravy) and under Siege's feat turn it kills everything within a solid 10" bubble. I won one game (vs eTom's Mennoth) as Tom forgot to allocate any focus to his warjacks for a turn. That simplifies it a bit, but is the crux. My other game, vs Gary's Circle was a loss. His warcaster can turn into a werewolf and, as a Feat, gain an extra 7 fury to throw out lots of wolfy attacks. The game was really close and I thought I had it in the bag when Siege's Feat turn ripped huge chunks out of the Circle forces. Annoyingly, my Avenger completely fluffed against one of the Warpwolves and the next turn Gary played very smart and used his druids to pull Siege out of safety and within a comfortable charge range of the wolfcaster. Gary's rolls were pretty awful but the sheer weight of attacks was enough to puree poor old Siege. My previous pledge was to paint a Charger. I then lent the Charger to eTom to show to some friends and, rather than 'fail' the pledge, doubled my points investment and painted up the Defender instead:  This is a 9pt jack who's main selling point is the Heavy Barrel, a decent range, high POW gun hampered only by ROF1 and a rather average RAT. The poor old Defender is almost entirely overshadowed by its big brother Stormwall but I can still see the uses for it. Firstly, it links nicely with the Journeyman, who can give it the 2 focus it needs to boost to hit and damange while still upkeeping Arcane Shield. Second, as with a lot of Cygnar jacks, its close combat weapon does extra damage to Cortex boxes. A lucky charge & 2 extra attacks could cripple out an opposing jack with some further lucky rolls. Third, it's the classic Cygnar jack, alongside the Ironclad. BTW, the kit's been magnetised and can also be an Ironclad. Magnetising the Cyclone's guns is a bit trickier though, still working on the 3rd option! I think I'm out of sync with pledge weeks now but, anyways, the next step is to sort out 2 strong 50pt lists and playtest them in advance of the Foodmachine tournament at Darksphere. |
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Post by alec on Nov 15, 2015 21:14:43 GMT
Looking good there Tom! Think this week is inded d the pledges, need to write up my adventures with EKrueger actually. Good to hear you've enjoyed the stormwall it seems a really popular piece hopefully get to meet it sometime soon on the table as would like to try to play V Cygnar a bit more. If you're after more games at 50 points remember the Dark Sphere players too and they are flexible, mainly Mondays atm though as I've tried organising them haha! Foodmachine thing is a bit weird as you get to cheat so it's more fun than a serious thing  |
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Post by tkaic on Nov 22, 2015 9:58:34 GMT
So, another week, another couple of games.
My usual pTom vs eTom match of the week redressed the balance in his favour - I rather stupidly didn't realise his "move after being hit" spell prevented free strikes and so charged the Stormwall too far forward, hit his character jack once which then promptly scooted round the back to set up a charge on Stryker I couldn't block. Sad panda.
In hindsight, I should have played on and...daft as it sounds...charged with Stryker. Stryker's sword causes disruption, so I'd only have had to weather two unboosted attacks. Don't get me wrong, he'd probably have been pasted, but unlucky rolls could have kept Cygnar's golden boy in the game.
My second game, at 35pts, has the distinction of being the straw that broke Mike the Camel's back. Not that Mike is much like a camel, but he's thrown in the Warmachine towel after my speedy, shooty Cygnar rinsed his Khador. We played Scenario 3 (2 flags) and I ran:
Stryker w/Ol Rowdy, Charger & Squire
Journeyman w/Defender
Max Tempest Blazers
Black 13th
into
Sorscha2 (I think...) w/2 Spriggans & a puppy dog
Max Winterguard w/rockets & Kovnic Joe
Widowmakers + Marskman
I went first and ran everything while throwing some spells on my own units. Mike's turn started worryingly for me, with the Widowmakers punching holes in the Charger, removing a whole column and starting on the second. Their sniper rule meant one more round of shooting would see the Cortex shot out of my light jack. The Winterguard were buffed to ridiculous levels of DEF and swarmed towards Mike's flag, backed by Sorscha. His Spriggans lumbered forwards (HOW much ARM?!), one straight towards Stryker, the other in support of the Winterguard.
Turn 2 I moved the Blazers up and, with classic Cygnar sneakiness, pinged Electroleaps off his Spriggan to cook some of the Winterguard. While this reduced my number of shots to essentially 4, hitting DEF11 is a lot easier than DEF17! Mike failed a lot of tough rolls and I scampered the horsies back to the safety of a nearby wood. Mage Storm from the Black 13 took a lucky scatter & killed 2 widowmakers. The boosted Charger killed the Marksman and the Defender scratched the paintwork on one of the Spriggans. Ol Rowdy & Stryker moved up to Dominate my flag, in B2B to activate their affinity. I contemplated Feat'ing, but figured I was only going to need to weather small arms fire and wanted to save it for when the Spriggans were involved.
Mike moved the WInterguard up again, unleashing a hail of CRA that took a couple of boxes from my Blazers. No one died though and he had awful luck with his rockets. The combination of knocked down models, rockets and my own high DEF meant few hits and the war ponies readied themselves for the next round. The Widowmakers turned their attention to the Black 13, but missed. One Spriggan declared a charge on Ol Rowdy. The move showed that Mike had misjudged the range and instead Ol Rowdy counter charged, knocking the lance arm off the Khador jack, go Rowdy!
Turn 3...the assassination was on. Stryker cast Snipe on the war ponies, so they could stand still and be in easy range of Sorscha & the Winterguard. Even if the Earthquake failed they should be able to fry a swathe of the 'Guard and leave Mike's caster exposed. Stryker needed an 11 on 3 dice to hit...and did. AOE5 is a big area and it left Sorscha undefended. Cue 5 Critical Damage shots from the Warponies and victory for the boys in blue.
On reflection, this is the first game where Cygnar have played how I expect them to play. I was faster and shootier than my opponent and could dictate the engagements. Good fun for me, less so for Mike!
Regarding Foodmachine, I'm toying with this list idea:
Captain Jeremiah Kraye +6
Dynamo - 10
Stormwall - 19
Squire - 2
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - 4
Rangers - 5
Tempest Blazers (Leader and 4 Grunts)- 10
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - 3
Gastone Crosse - 3
Yes, the Colossal Crutch is still in place! Kraye has an excellent spell call Guided Fire (3 focus, all ranged damage rolls by battlegroup are boosted) for himself, Dynamo & the Stormwall. The 'wall has lots of guns while Dynamo has multi-fire, with the POW rising with each hit. The rest of the army is made up of self sufficient skirmishers. I like being able to put Stryker's various buffs onto the war ponies, but they can probably get by without them, especially if making use of the Rangers aiming bonus.
In addition, Eiryss & the Rangers are advance deploy and have massive movement (SPD7!) so counteract the fact that the Stormwall has to pre-deploy in terms of responding to opponent sneakiness. There's a lack of heavy punch outside the Stormwall itself, and no buffs for the big guy so he may get taken down pretty quick. Still, playtesting is the way forward...who fancies a game?
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Post by tkaic on Dec 19, 2015 19:36:26 GMT
Feeding Time - Tom Goes To the Dark (Sphere) Side
So today I went to play in Alec's Foodmachine tournament. Festive commitments and some seasonal illness dropped the field to 4 hardy souls but I was looking forward to 3 games of WMH against new opponents and armies. Donations were totalled up and I had 20 'cheats' to use during the day. These could be for a variety of extra effects, such as additional focus, or just to re-roll dice. I ended the day with 4 in reserve...
I had my 'usual' Siege list...
Siege Brisbane
-Stormwall
-Squire
Journeyman Warcaster
-Defender
Rangers, Max Blazers, Black 13th, 2 Stormcallers, Reinholdt
Game 1 - Vs Alex, Cryx
Alex and myself were very much the novice section. He was running Skarre1, 2 small arc node jacks, a burrowing jack and...er...a heavy of some close combat flavour. He had a big unit of Satyrxis Raiders, their solo and add on, a full unit of Bane Riders, 2 pistol wraiths and a big blob of mechanithralls. There was another solo that could heal Skarre up. This became an issue! We were plaing Incoming.
I got first turn and lined up fairly wide, Stormwall in the middle, War Ponies on the left flank and Black 13 on the right. He had Skarre and her jacks on his right with the Raiders in front, thrall blobs in the middle and the wraiths/riders on his left flank.
I didn't play this game particularly well and gave away 2 scenario points quickly. Skarre's feat is like a boosted version of Stryker's, +5 ARM everywhere. Still, it was only for the one turn and she takes 5pts of damage...which were immediately healed. Black 13th rinsed the bane riders with some lucky rolls (which I had to re-roll, and kept rolling hot!) and took out the wraiths. Stormcallers are amazing against high defense stuff as they just ignore it. Going into the last 10 minutes of my death clock I was 0-4 on scenario points and was happy to call it as the other pair had finished quickly and were waiting. They said they were happy to wait though, so I went for the assassination.
At the time my Stormwall was in combat against his heavy jack, so Siege went first, charged in and bust the jack wide open with his hammer. Cue a released Stormwall who spent a load of focus taking Skarre down to her last few hit boxes. If 2 heavy barrels don't get the job done, use a third. The Defender, all too often a 12pt waste in my games, redeemed itself and splatted the Pirate Queen all over the board.
Game 2 - Vs Alyx, Mercenaries, 4 Star Contract
I like mercs a lot and I picked up the Gorten Battlebox on Ebay recently so I knew what I was in for when I saw my opponent's list (Kudos to him, his other list was Drake McBain anti-shooting and I wouldn't have had much of a chance). Gorten was running 2 gunbunnies (spray version), the rest of the list was Tactical Arcanist Corps, Madelyn Corbeau, pEiryss, Gaston running a Vanguard, Wrong Eye & Snapjaw with a something or other crocodile (to give Spiny Growth) and 2 units of press gangers. I was going first again, similar deployment. The mission was...er...the one with big round scoring zones.
I pushed my stuff forwards. His turn...Press gangers...damn they're fast. Advance deploy and a run order had them in my lap and a huge wall of tar pit to deal with. Turn 2 I started shooting stuff, but couldn't get through Tough infantry who didn't even get knocked down due to Gorten's spell list. His Turn 2 he pushed Gorten forwards and Feated. Now, this is one of the best feats for scenario play...move enemy models in your control zone 8" towards the board edge of your choice. So you can clear them out of a zone, pull them forward, etc. Oh, and they then have -3 to SPD, MAT, RAT and DEF. Sigh.
Siege was dragged forwards (sloppy positioning by me, I don't think it was Kill Box and I could've played more conservatively), shot in the face by Eiryss...so no focus camped and no focus next turn...luckily I didn't have to wait for that as a certain alligator came charging forward and ate my caster.
Game 3 - Vs Jon, Trollbloods
Having played Rob a few times, I recognised a lot of Jon's Madrak list. He had Madrak, Mulg, an Earthborn Troll, an Axer, a Pyre Troll, Fenblades, Firebreathers, Kriel Stone and a Runecaster(?). I went first. Bit of a pattern there.
I played a bit more conservatively, opening up my fire lanes and just pushing everyone up a little way. Jon...didn't. He threw everything forwards, ending with Madrak on a hill having dumped all his fury into the Kriel Stone. I know what to do when warlocks don't have fury. Siege feat'd and shot Madrak in the face. Game Tom.
We re-racked and played a second game, same lists. More drawn out but I used Siege's feat to kill Mulg in one turn (eat Stormwall you silly troll) plus most of the Earthborn. The Murderpony Express ran to the back of the board and then would have assassinated Madrak at the end when we called it.
Overall
Good, good day for Tom. 2 wins is always nice but more importantly I learnt a couple of things.
1) I've been playing Squire wrong. I should draw the focus from him during the pre-activation phase, not during the activation itself.
2) When a grunt is out of formation, it can't do anything and in fact needs to take a CMD check. With my 'lone ranger' move, I need to be taking these tests a lot.
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Post by rolandmurat on Dec 20, 2015 12:44:26 GMT
Nice work Tom - a good performance at your first event
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Post by alec on Dec 20, 2015 19:06:38 GMT
I was shocked when you pulled that assassination off last game. Was good to see Jon ask if you wanted another game too! Glad you enjoyed the day hopefully see you Tuesday too |
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