WTC Practice Event - Free Games!

We couldn't end the weekend without squeezing in a few more games of course, especially on the Sunday when not a single local player showed up.

I sat down first opposite my team member and resident Retspert, Mark (from here on referred to as "Tinder").

Tinder was itching to try out his new Battlebox caster, so I put pLylyth down to fight off some elven robot chumps:




Opponent: "Tinder"
Scenario: Recon
Matchup: pLylyth vs Helynna

Magister Helynna
 - Chimera
 - Discordia
 - Sphinx
 - Manticore
 - Banshee
 - Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
Dawnguard Sentinels (max)
 - Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard
 - Soulless Escort (2)
Arcanist Mechanik
Arcanist Mechanik
Arcanist Mechanik


That's a lot of robots!

My Deathstalkers and Grotesque Assassins tore apart the Sentinels, who died to a man taking only a few Banshees with them in exchange, while the rest of the Banshees were jamming the Myrmidon swarm.

There's only one man who would dare give me the raspberry!

The shooting from Ret was pretty heavy but Lylyth took it on the chin, picking a Parasite target for the Ravagore and Bolt Thrower to put heavy damage on every turn. Wrongeye and Snapjaw were a constant threat, with their whole "can't be shot" thing keeping them relatively safe.

Eventually, Tinder committed into the zone after he'd spent his feat on the approach, going 3 points up on Scenario. Sadly, Helynna is not survivable enough for that, and the Ravagore's shot under Parasite blew her sky high.

Assassination Victory

After some late night Dizzle-Dojo with Pat D, I made a few changes to the Lylyth list to make it a bit more focused and up the hitting power:

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight 
 - Typhon
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower
Grotesque Banshees (max)
Blighted Nyss Raptors (max)
Hellmouth
Grotesque Assassin
Grotesque Assassin
Wrong Eye
 - Snapjaw
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Blighted Nyss Shepherd 

The inclusion of Typhon gives me way more firepower, because his sprays under Parasite are insane, and also great at offing infantry swarms with Lylyth's feat. The Hellmouth gives me a much needed control element, allowing me to pick off isolated targets to kill without fear of retaliation.

On Sunday, I was itching to get this on the table and sat down opposite Dan "The Duke" Common for a fight against Butcher 3.

Opponent: "The Duke"
Scenario: The Pit
Matchup: pLylyth vs Butcher3

Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed
 - War Argus
 - Kodiak
 - Kodiak
 - Juggernaut
 - Behemoth
 - Marauder
 - War Dog
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Widowmaker Scouts
Widowmaker Marksman


I wonder if the meta shifted with MK3 from oodles of medium base boxes to oodles of large base boxes. Really stretching those design space muscles.

I took second on the Pit, because I knew Butcher would be coming at me and I wanted a cheeky Scenario win. Lylyth ran onto the flag on my 2nd Turn, and pushed the only heavy (the Marauder) out of run and contest range, meaning that I scored at the end of mine, and the end of Dan's, and the end of mine again, putting me 3-0 before Butcher got close to my flag.

Highlight of the game goes to the Hellmouth, who pulled Behemoth from contesting Dan's flag about 11"  through a forest and then helped Snapjaw tear it up.

Butcher eventually got there and went blending, managing to remove Typhon, Snapjaw and most of the Banshees, but not preventing me from scoring to 4. Lylyth had 3 heavies contesting her own flag, and wasn't likely to score there, but the Raptors simply ran onto Dan's, which was left uncontested, to put me at 5.

Scenario Victory

Finally, the last game of the weekend was against Madrak2 and member of Ireland Team Craic, Pat "Potato Wizard" Long.

Opponent: Pat
Scenario: Incursion
Matchup: eAbsylonia vs Madrak2

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender
 - Pyre Troll 
 - Mulg the Ancient
 - Trollkin Runebearer
 - Troll Axer
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (max)
 - Stone Scribe Elder
Long Riders (min)
Trollkin Fennblades (max)
 - Fennblade Officer and Drummer
Fell Caller Hero
Fennblade Kithkar
Horthol, Long Rider Hero






I think that's about right.

I went first, threw Fortify up on Proteus and moved everything up as fast as possible. The Deathstalkers were ready for the Fennblades that would be screaming down the left and middle.

Pat unpacked and moved up and swapped over to me. He wasn't quite close enough to commit heavily to, so I put Proteus contesting the middle flag behind a wall, the Seraph contesting the right flag in range of just a single Long Rider that it missed with its gunshots. The Deathstalkers refrained from triggering Vengeance, to limit how many Fennblades could get into me.

Bloodfury on the Fennblades and they went into Proteus, but at Dice-10 and needing 7s to hit over the wall, with only 4 getting in, he was left mostly healthy. The Seraph got Bull Rushed out of contestation range by the Long Rider and Pat put Horthol on the flag to go to 1.

The Deathstalkers aimed and casually freed up Proteus from the 4 engaging Fennblades. Proteus then charged and due to spacing was able to wipe the remaining Fennblades and the Fennblade Kithkar off the table. Pretty solid.

Fortify got moved over to Typhon, who walked and sprayed 2 of the Long Riders to death and sat in contestation range of the right flag, and I went to two points from the middle and left.

Pat couldn't shift Typhon, who at 13/20 with Excessive Healing was just too difficult to move. With nothing to contest the left flag, I went to 3. Clearing the middle with Aby herself, I put her on the flag to go to 5.

Scenario Victory

Well, I finished the weekend 6-0, 4 wins with pLylyth and 2 with eAbsylonia. Pretty chuffed!

Thanks for reading!

WTC Practice Event - July 2016 - Round 3

After a short break, we set up for round 3 against the other Irish WTC Team, Craic. We figured this would be the toughest challenge yet!

They have a much more balanced team composition, though they were using a reserve as one of the members wasn't able to make it.

Round 3 - Team Ireland Craic

Cygnar
Circle
Legion
Trollbloods
Menoth

In doing the pairings there were a few key matchups we were aiming for. We wanted to get Wurmwood into Trolls as a priority, because you can't Pacman what you can't see. Our Ret player decided to give the opposing Wurmwood a go as it was a matchup he wanted to test his second list, Kaelyssa, against. Myself, our Cygnar and our Trolls would take anyone left.


We ended up getting the matchups we wanted, at the expense of choosing tables, which is sort of the whole point of the pairing process!

I'd be up against Rob "Rob Read" Read and his Menoth, which consisted of pKreoss and Thyra. Rob has been Popping and Dropping fools for years, and I figured I knew what was coming.

Game 2
Scenario: Entrenched
Opponent: Rob

I picked Lylyth1 here for a couple of reasons. It may have been a mistake in hindsight, but my concerns with picking Aby2 were threefold: he can easily remove Bracer, which is my main protection against knockdown; he can shoot heavies for days, as his list had serious firepower; and if I didn't simply win on Feat turn, Aby was guaranteed to die due to her agressive positioning.

With the Banshees being Stealthed and Blast Immune, and holding a threat advantage against Rob's infantry, my plan was to hit his zone (left side) as hard as I could, try and go up on scenario, and grind it out. Of course, Rob could at any point use his Feat to kill most of my army, but once the feat had gone I just needed to swing it back with what I had left.

High Exemplar Kreoss
 - Redeemer
 - Redeemer
 - Reckoner
Initiate Tristan Durant
 - Redeemer
 - Redeemer
Choir of Menoth (max)
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard
Vassal of Menoth
Idrian Skirmishers (max)
 - Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide
Wrack
Wrack

SO. MANY. GUNS.

Deployment

I lose the roll and Rob takes first turn, so I choose the side with a large forest in the centre and a Wall off to the right. This will let me hide Lylyth in the Forest from everything, while still providing her Feat and allowing her to pop out and shoot from good sight angles. Rob gets a Hill in exchange.

I deployed the Banshee Boat on the left side, opposite Rob's zone. Lylyth and her Battlegroup took the centre, with the Raptors heading up the right flank. Wrongeye and Snapjaw went between the Raptors and Battlegroup.

Rob put Prey on a Deathstalker here, and I took the bait, keeping it out of the game almost entirely. This was a smart move - he could remove the Deathstalker if he really wanted to move Prey, but it stopped me casually removing 2 Idrians every turn!

(Captain Hindsight: Deploying as I did allowed Rob to deploy Tristan away from the Raptors, who had the speed and defense to potentially force him out of the game.)

Round 1

Rob:

Everything ran or advanced up, the Idrians went to ground with Defender's Ward on. Finally something the Deathstalkers would have trouble with. Rob tried to float 12 AOEs towards the Deathstalkers but they all scattered away from their targets. That's a lot of carpet bombing!

Me:

I did my normal turn one unpack. The Raptors ran into my zone, the Banshees ran towards Rob's with the Assassin's behind providing cover to all their buddies. The Deathstalkers stayed back, wary of the blasts that were sure to come their way. Lylyth walked straight up to the forest and with Snipe and a boosted shot killed an Idrian. The Gobbers put a cloud down blocking LOS to about half my table, which the Ravagore took cover behind. The Bolt Thrower went up behind the Banshees but was out of range of anything.

Round 2

Rob:

Nothing was in Idrian threat, so they ran to the edge of Rob's zone to start protecting it from the incoming Banshees. Everything got Passage from the Choir, and the Redeemers started their bombardment again, this time catching a Deathstalker (who died) and a Grotesque Assassin (who lived). They also claimed a single Raptorand both the Swamp Gobbers, which is frustrating!

By this time, Kreoss is on the Hill, with 2 Redeemers and a Reckoner in front of him, and Rhoven's 2 Shield Guard bros standing around him. Guess the assassination is out.

Me:

I don't want to committ too hard, and some furious pre-measuring goes on as I try to find the best spot for Lylyth. Regardless, she throws the Naga's animus on the Bolt Thrower and kills 2 more Idrians. The Ravagore gets the Animus from the Naga itself. They both fire at Redeemers, the Bolt Thrower knocking his target back but doing poor damage, the Ravagore doing more, but those Redeemers are tough!

Wrongeye and Snapjaw advance into my zone, submerged, threatening a charge into the Redeemers.

I send a few Banshees in to try and catch some Idrians, but they miss their shots. Wahwaaaah. The Raptors spread around my Objective, gaining immunity to Blast Damage from Girded. They put a few Idrians down too.

Round 3

This is a real nerve wracking game, as both casters have very potent assassination threats. If I let Kreoss get a bead on Lylyth it doesn't matter how much fury I camp - Battled Redeemers will burn through them in no time. If Kreoss gets too cocky, a Parasite and Feat will see him melted in short order.

Then I look up from the table and see that we've spent so long making decisions and posturing that every other game has finished - it's 2-2 in the Round, and ours is the tournament decider.

Rob:

The Redeemers keep lobbing stuff around, but don't catch anything of import.

Rob settles with killing the Banshees in the zone with the Idrians, but makes an error and forgets to move an Idrian and leaves it out of command, stopping it from using the 3" Reposition move. Up until now Rob had kept the Redeemers out of Snapjaw's threat, but with the Idrian in the spot he is I can get the 2" extra move AND the free charge, use my weak Tail attack on the Idrian, and be in melee with a Redeemer.

The Jacks get Passage, which is smart! 

Me:

Kreoss is still safe, but with only 3 Idrians in his Zone, and a chance to take a Redeemer off the table, it's time for me to pull the trigger.

Snapjaw pops out of his pool, charges into the Idrian, Tail bashes it, wrecks the Redeemer in 4 hits, then submerges. Wrongeye moves up and provides Starcrossed before taking a dive back into his pool. The Banshees charge into the zone en masse, clearing all but 1 Idrian, but sadly doing nothing to the Objective, which I didn't realise was Bunker!

(Advice: ALWAYS know what your opponent's objective is. I should've deployed the Raptors opposite the objective, as they can scrap it in Melee with ease.)

One of the Grotesque Assassins is in range and spikes the Combo-Strike, doing a casual 10 damage. The Ravagore gets the Naga's animus but misses his shot on a Redeemer on the hill and scatters to nothingness. The Bolt Thrower fails to damage the objective at Dice-4 on 2d6, which puts paid to my plans to remove it this turn. Stopping me from scoring completely. Arrrgh.

The Raptors come in from the flank and kill a Choir Member and one of Rhoven's bros.

Not the turn I was hoping for. Being 2 points up and taking a Redeemer off the table was the aim. As it is, I just traded Snapjaw for a Redeemer.

Round 4 - Payback!

Rob:

Rob is down on clock, and makes the right decision, to use Kreoss' feat to wipe me off the table now that I'd committed and failed to go up on Scenario. Kreoss Defender's Wards himself, walks up until he can catch the Ravagore, Snapjaw, Wrongeye and the Raptors in his Feat, then feats.

Rhoven moves up and strips Snapjaw of his animus. Turns out he can do that. The Jacks all get Battled by the Choir. A single Redeemer then shoots Snapjaw dead with 3 boosted shots. Youch.

The Reckoner misses the Ravagore, but the two remaining Redeemers put it and another Raptor in the dirt. The Idrians kill half the Banshees due to auto-hitting attacks.

Me:

If I was 2 points up, I'd feel ok. Lylyth can clear the zone with the help of the Bolt Thrower, and that would leave me just having to hold for another turn. As it is, I have one chance.Kreoss is camping 5 after pulling from a Wrack with Defender's Ward on. Easy street.

Lylyth Feats, gives herself the Naga animus, walks up and nails Kreoss. She does 5 points which get shunted for a focus down to 0. She Parasites him, then does another shot at dice -1, rolling an 11 and doing 6 points after a focus shunts it over. Good start.

The Bolt Thrower gets to go next, but without Pathfinder, he can't make it through the Forest to get LOS on Kreoss... luckily, there's an Idrian in charge range. The Bolt Thrower charges the Idrian, kills it with a 3d6 to hit melee attack (thanks Lylyth!) then Quick Works his shot into Kreoss, boosting hit for the 4d6 knockdown (so the Raptors can chance it) and hitting, but failing the crit.

The Bolt Thrower boosts damage, and rolls a casual 6, 6, 5. Dropping a focus means Kreoss takes 12... exactly enough to kill him after Lylyth's damage roll. Headshot!

End:

Wooo, I did not deserve that at all, but I'll take it. Sometimes, the dice go your way. This is payback from a time that Rob oneshot Aby2 through a transfer with a single Errant charge!

Both of the matchups my team members wanted were losses, which goes to show what happens when you listen to other people. Even Pat D, robo-master of Cygnar that he is, almost lost to an exceptionally cheeky Domination assassination from my opposite number on Team Craic, after Pat's own Stormclad double 6'd the damage roll on Haley.

We finish the tournament 11-4 as a team and 3-0! I went 3-0 personally, and was pretty pleased overall.

Up next: Well, we couldn't finish there, so we had some more games!

WTC Practice Event - July 2016 - Round 2

Aaaaaaand we're back!

After the success of Round 1, where we defeated Team Brigands Prime 5-0, we had a spot of tasty and nutritious deep fried meat ready for Round 2.

We were drawn against Brigands Epic, which also featured double Skorne. Seems like Leinster has a lot of wannabe Mortitheurges and Archdominas.

Round 2 - Team Brigands Epic

Double Skorne
Double Cygnar
Minions

Pairing process went a lot better this time. Our Madrak2 player wanted to get into the Minions, as both lists were heavy with dudes for him to Pacman off. We desperately wanted to drop Wurmwood into one of the Skorne pairings, and I wanted to dodge Kara Sloan if possible.

I didn't manage to dodge her in the pairings, but we got the rest of the matchups we wanted.

Game 2
Scenario: Outlast
Opponent: Conor

I picked Lylyth1, because Wrongeye and Snapjaw are incredible against Sloan, and I've faced her before with Aby2 and lost 2 heavies on the way in. Lylyth1 always threatens Kara, and I wanted that option available. In the end, my opponent went with his second list:

Captain Jeremiah Kraye
 - Centurion
 - Stormclad
 - Stormclad
 - Squire
Tempest Blazers (max)
Stormblade Infantry
 - Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard
 - Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (1)
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Alten Ashley

Kraye, a few tough heavies, and a Stormboat. Lanyssa would be annoying and Alten could put some hurt on my beasts and would need to die early before he snipes out spirits and stops me healing them.

Deployment

I won the roll and chose first turn, leaving Conor to pick the table edge with a Hill and Trench. Probably should've gone second, but I had a nice Forest. I deployed the Grotesques and Assassins opposite the left zone ready to head into said forest, the Deathstalkers dead centre, and Wrongeye and the Raptors on the right.

The Stormboat and Stormclads went dead centre, Centurion opposite my Banshees, and the Tempest Blazers opposite my Raptors.

Round 1 - Positioning

Me:

The Banshees all run forward to create a wide frontage screen. The Assassins get them all in their bubbles, granting Stealth. Lylyth and her Battlegroup move up centrally, with the Naga heading towards the forest on the left. The Raptors head right. Snapjaw tramples and submerges, and Wrongeye drops some fury and runs.

Conor: 

Conor had Rhupert tough his Stormboat and ran it onto the hill, with Stormclads either side. The Centurion headed towards my Banshees. The Tempest Blazers realised they'd lose a fight with Raptors, and ran away towards the Centurion instead. Fine by me!

Alten moved into a Trench, and Lanyssa moved up with him.

The Jacks then used their Reposition 5" move to move further in. The list is pretty fast, but I have a long reach!

Round 2 - Fight!

Me:
 
The Deathstalkers got us started. The first one sniped out two guys next to the Stormgunner, the second Deathstalker sniped the last guy in pick-up range, then killed the Gunner. That's that dealt with.

(Advice: Deathstalkers are some of the best models in the game now. In Mk2 they were already pushing the boundaries of 2pt solos. Now at 4pts, there really is an argument for 2 in every list)

Lylyth gave herself snipe, walked up, landed a shot on a Stormclad and Pursuited it, the second shot killing a Stormblade. The Ravagore walked up and nailed it with a big damage roll, knocking off the sword arm. Great success. The Bolt Thrower walked up and pushed the Stormclad back a bit, knocked it down, and did a few more points. The Gobbers walked up with Lylyth and dropped their cloud infront of her, to block LOS.

The Banshees ran into the Forest and spread so they couldn't be too engaged by the Reach heavies coming towards them. One Assassin hid completely behind the forest, meaning he was untouchable by anything but Blast damage, which my opponent lacked entirely. The other took a very wide flank, hunting for Alten Ashley.

Wrongeye and Snapjaw walked and disappeared under water. The Raptors fired a few shots into Stormblades and repositioned to safety.

Conor:

Conor toughed the Stormboats again and gunned for some payback. The Centurion walked up further and repositioned into the middle of the zone.

Lanyssa followed behind him with Winter Storm up. Alten put a few points into the Ravagore's spirit. The Stormboat kept sailing towards me, and the Pursuited Stormclad stayed very still on the hill, obviously afraid of me making a cheeky beeline towards Kraye from the free move. The other one advanced and tried a shot on a Raptor, but missed.

Round 3 - Lines are formed.

Me:

Heavies to the left of me, heavies to the right. Just where we want them! Lylyth kept Pursuit.

The Deathstalkers both aimed and killed 4 more Stormblades. Deathstalkers really are insanely good. I didn't want to feat just yet, so the Banshees repositioned further behind the forest a bit, to try and draw the Tempest Blazers in further. I'd lose a few to the shooting, but the Feat should let me wipe them out.

The Assassin that went Flanking charged in on Lanyssa but missed both his attacks. Fool!

Lylyth swapped her attention to the Centurion, hitting it and applying Parasite. Now when he came at me next turn, he'd have to worry about getting beaten on by everything in my list.

Wrongeye put up Star Crossed, and Snapjaw hid behind the Banshees in a pool of gloop.

I was giving up the engagement here, but I'd wiped out his infantry and I wanted his Blazers to come in close before I struck.

Conor:

Conor attacked hard, the Centurion charging in, putting up Polarity Field and killing a Banshee, before repositioning into the middle of them. The Blazers killed a few Banshees by Electro Leaping off his back, and repositioned behind him to be covered by its reach.

The unpursued Stormclad came in now and killed another Banshee, then repositioned in further.

Alten put a few more points on the Ravagore, and Lanyssa tried to kill the Grotesque Assassin, but failed. The few remaning Stormblades ran up to jam. Conor had cleared the left zone, and with Kraye in it could score a few points, but he advanced the pursiuted Stormclad and I walked the Naga into the zone to contest.

Round 4 - Feat turn.

Me:

Time for payback. Lylyth upkeeps Parasite and drops Pursuit.

Lylyth goes and feats and puts her shots into the blazers, killing one and missing one before walking into the right hand zone! The Banshees go next, do a few points to the Centurion, but with their sprays and 3d6 to hit, kill Lanyssa and all but two of the Blazers. The Deathstalkers finish the Stormblades. The Grotesque Assassin in the zone charges Alten and puts him in the dirt.

The Ravagore walks into the Centurion and casually scraps it, Parasite making it Dice-2 and it having taken a few points already.

Snapjaw goes into the Stormclad and scraps it, the charge crippling the Buckler, the Tail knocking it down. He even has a fury left to Submerge. Wrongeye gets about 3" behind him and puts up Starcrossed and Submerge.

With Lylyth now dominating, I score 2.

Conor:

Conor only has a crippled Stormclad, Kraye, a Squire and 2 Blazers left. The Stormclad charges at Snapjaw, but thanks to Starcrossed and the crippled Arm, fails to kill him. The Blazers kill a few Banshees, Kraye tries to clear the zone but fails.

With nothing to contest, I go to 4.

Round 5 - Fin.

I score 5 at the end of my turn.


Results:

Our team went 3-2 this round, winning narrowly. Madrak got taken out by Minions, after he got way too greedy on his feat turn and left himself wildly out of position. Our Ret player got Ossyan killed, when his opponent fired a single shot from a Titan Cannoneer and landed a 15 to hit, followed by a 17 on damage to one shot him.

We're in the final, and we'll be facing the second Irish team, Team Craic.

WTC Practice Event - July 2016

Sooo, it's been a fair while!

Lots of exciting stuff happened since April 2015:

I went 3-3 at the WTC, our Team went 4-2 and we placed nicely.
I got voted as captain for the WTC team this year.
Mk3 came out.

Mk3 thoughts might follow later, suffice to say I'm reasonably ok with most things, but some of the same problems that WM/H suffered from in Mk2 still exist, and it's disappointing that they weren't fixed with the changeover. Additionally, the number of glaring rules oversights is a little disheartening, but I'm still having fun playing toys!

On to the interesting stuff! We had a practice event this weekend in Dublin. Five teams showed up including both Irish WTC teams, 2 teams from a local club called "The Leinster Brigands" and a team made up of superstars from around the Irish meta.

Sadly I didn't get any photos, because all my battery had to be saved for catching LICKITUNG but here's some words.

Here are my lists from the Team Event on Saturday:

Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight
 - Carnivean
 - Proteus
 - Seraph
 - Typhon
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
The Forsaken
The Forsaken
Blackfrost Shard
Spell Martyr
Spell Martyr

Aby2 just kills everything. There's so much hitting power and threat that you can take a devastating alpha turn and really just put your opponent out of the game with one blow. Aby's Feat and the BFS let me power through buffs I'd normally need a Naga to deal with, though they're pretty interchangeable. You could swap the BFS for a Naga and it'd be fine - the extra point can go on a Shepherd.

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower
 - Naga Nightlurker
 - Ravagore
Blighted Nyss Raptors (max)
Grotesque Banshees (max)
Grotesque Assassin
Grotesque Assassin
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Wrong Eye
 - Snapjaw
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

 This list is really cool, super fun to play, and looks amazing. I'm continually impressed by the Banshees, who are a superb screen of Stealthed and Force Barriered models who kill their fair share on Feat Turn, especially because they're so cheap. The Assassins can tear it up in Melee and are exceptional solo hunters, with 10.5" of threat and Grevious Wounds. The inclusion of Wrong Eye and Snapjaw gives you a second heavy without needing to bring any Fury support, and he benefits massively from Parasite. The rest of the Army benefits from Star Crossed. Some changes were made after the Team Event, and I'm even happier with its latest incarnation.

Round 1 - Brigands Prime

Double Skorne
Double Khador
Legion

I do the pairing process for the first time ever. It's a bit confusing, but I think I have a handle on it. I end up putting myself into the Legion mirror - my opponent, Aaron, has eThagrosh and pAbsylonia.

I pick Aby2, simply because I can outhreat him and take heavies off the table first, which is so important in the Legion mirror match. I think he picks eThags because pAby would just get one-rounded.

When picking tables, I take the table with the huge patch of difficult terrain in the zone, as I don't care about it.

Scenario is The Pit.


Opponent: Aaron

Thagrosh, the Messiah
 - Typhon
 - Angelius
 - Seraph
 - Raek
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (max)
 - Captain Farilor & Standard
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
The Forsaken
Spell Martyr


Turns out Aaron deployed a model from his other list here, a Scythean, and was playing 18 points up, but it's an easy mistake to make! We didn't notice until now :)


eThagrosh vs eAbsylonia - Deployment

I set up my 14 Models in a line across the middle of the board. Exciting stuff. My opponent put his Battlegroup opposite mine, and Legionnaires opposite my flag.
Round 1 - Positioning

Me:

I spread forward, making sure to protect my Spell Martyr on the flank opposite the Legionnaires. Most of my toys went behind the patch of rough terrain. Fortify goes on Proteus.

Aaron:

Aaron advanced his Legionnaires onto a hill, put his Battlegroup on the edge of the zone, used his Deathstalker to kill my Spell Martyr on the opposite flank (the unimportant one) and passed turn.

Round 2 - Alpha Time!

Me:

Aaron's left 3 Legionnaires in a triangle, and not on the hill. My Deathstalker walks up and snipes two out, leaving a sad standard bearer flapping in the breeze. The Spell Martyr runs up. Aby casts Slipstream, pulls Proteus 2" forward, then advances a bit, Hex Bolts the Legionnaire boosting hit and damage and trigering Alpha Hunter, then Repositions back behind the rough terrain. She pops her Feat.

(If you're ever playing against Aby2 and you're using infantry that gains benefits from being Base-to-Base, go in clumps of 4 - it makes it harder for Aby to Hex Bolt something after the Deathstalker snipes out two.)

Proteus goes charging. Thanks to the wonders of Mk3, I'm able to position him perfectly within 4" of an Angelius, a Scythean and a Seraph. He pulls in the Angelius and his two initials cripple it badly, two bought Facetentacle attacks bring the Seraph and Scythean in. He then finishes the Angelius and hurts the Scythean.

The Carnivean assaults in, easily finishes the Seraph and puts up Spiny Growth. Typhon sprays the Scythean a bit, but dice are poor and he's pretty healthy.

Aaron:

Thags feats and puts up Manifest Destiny, the Scythean fails to kill ARM 22 Proteus (so good!) and leaves him on 2-3 boxes, but he'll probably die to the feat. Aaron's Typhon sprays my Typhon, and dice explode, leaving him on 3 boxes. Luckily, he's out of range for the feat move and attack.

The Raek heads towards my flag and gets onto Aby, but can't hit her. The Legionnaires trudge forward towards my flag.

The Feat moves result in a dead Proteus, Typhon taking a walk backwards, and the Raek missing.

Round 3 - Fight!

Me:

Aby moves onto my flag, clears it of Legionnaires but not the Raek, Spiny Growths herself, casts Psycho Surgery and camps 3. The Carnivean walks through 3 Legionnaire free strikes and chomps down on the Scythean. Typhon goes into Typhon and Typhon wins. The Deathstalkers continue murdering Legionnaires.

Aaron has no beasts left except the Raek now and I've still got 3 heavies, so I'm well up. The only way to lose is by assassination.

Aaron:

Aaron's spell martyr runs into range of Aby, and she gets knocked down by a Scourge. A few legionnaires can get in but ARM 18 is too much for them. The Raek does very little. The Sorceress on Hellion goes to jam the Carnivean.

Round 4 - End

The Carnivean throws the Sorceress into Thagrosh, knocking him down and dealing damage to trigger the spawning of a lesser. Aby charges and kills the Lesser. The Blackfrost Shard, who have been pretty quiet up to now, walk to within 10 of a knocked down Thagrosh, hit him with a Kiss and an Ice Bolt, which crits and makes him stationary.

The Seraph finally kills the Raek, leaving Thags with 0 transfers, knocked down, stationary, and 14" away from Typhon.

Typhon walks up and finishes the game with his 2nd spray.

Results:

I completely tabled Aaron, ending on 110 Army Points, and 2 CP.

Our team went 5-0 in the round. A good start to the day!

The Aby list did exactly what it was supposed to, a crushing alpha strike that left my opponent down on attrition early on and allowed me to choose whether to win by Scenario or Assassination.

Up next, we're against Brigands Epic!

Steamstorm Report - Day 1 - Thursday.

So there we are, Pat Dunford and I, sitting in Gamer's World, Dublin, waiting for other members of the WTC Ireland Team to show up for some practice games. Of course they don't, which means I get to be smacked around by Pat 3 times. Arseholes.

Funtimes!

Game 9/100
eAbyslonia Vs Siege
Opponent: Patrick Dunford
Scenario: Fire Support

This is Pat's second list in most 2-list format tournaments. He's been playing Siege for a number of years, and the list has gone through a few variations, but its current form is very strong! Harlan Versh punishes Legion especially, who rely on defensive Animi and Upkeeps to protect their beasts from heavy shooting threats.

Not a great matchup for Aby2, who really dislikes lists that can sit back and kill all her things without entering her predictable threat. I'll be able to trigger conferred rage off Pat's objective, but that means weathering a feat turn in the face.

Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (*5pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Sentinel (4pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Harlan Versh (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

So many guns :(

Game:

I won first turn and came up aggressively. My plan was that if I'm going to have to eat a turn of shooting, I might as well put some scenario pressure on Pat if I can.

Pat advanced pretty cagily and didn't pull the trigger on his Feat, as it'd guarantee me Conferred Rage and likely only finish off a single beast. He denies me both Conferred Rage and any charges, which is one of Aby's major problems. If a canny opponent with both speed and ranged threat simple plays around her threat ranges, she loses a huge chunk of her power.

My only option here is to throw everything forward, jam as much as I can, and hope he can only kill a single heavy. I manage to catch Eyriss with a Ravagore blast... and she lives. This is huge, she knocks off Fortify and Spiny from my Carnivean, and Pat takes the Scythean and Carnivean with his Feat.

I'm super down on points now and Pat just finishes me off.

Assassination LOSS!

Game 10/100
Absylonia2 Vs eHaley
Opponent: Patrick Dunford
Scenario: Close Quarters

Pat wants to try a double Stormwall Haley build vs Aby, so I indulge his sadistic tendencies. I make a swap, dropping the Ravagore from my normal Aby2 list for a Naga and Protector.

Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)

Game:

Of course, the big question is: Can I kill a Stormwall before losing too much?

The short answer was no. With no models that needed to be in Conferred Rage range to ever trigger it, the Stormwalls out-threat me. Pat studiously avoids putting down Stormpods so I can't trigger off them and there's no Objectives for me to cheekily kill. In combination with Feat, I lose two heavies before I'm able to affect the game in any way. My Feat is fine, I put one Stormwall on 10 or so, and the other below half, but by that point I've committed everything to a wild melee, and Stormwall just punches Aby to death.

Assassination LOSS!

 Game 11/100
Saeryn (Fallen Angels - Tier 4) Vs pStryker
Opponent: Patrick Dunford
Scenario: Incoming

Pat's been testing pStryker as a potential drop so we decided to have a "Control Feat vs Control Feat" game. I've found with Saeryn though that she's really suffered since the release of Colossals. Having a model on the table that can shoot an Angelius to death under Saeryn's Feat is really bad, and it's not just Cygnar that can manage it. The Earthbreaker is a particularly egregious model for this, as is Conquest in some circumstances (generally in combination with Ice Cage from some Greylords).


Take Stormwall's ability to shoot heavies under feat, add in Sniped Stormblades, the B13th and other generic shooting, and it's a big problem.

I also have to be wary of Stryker's assassination threat. The ability to simple Earthquake things and apply assaulting Stormblades has caught many players out - once you're knocked down and that Stormblade Gunner hits, it's goodnight for any caster in the game.

Commander Coleman Stryker (*6pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Storm Lances (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Stormblade Captain (2pts)

Activate anti-Earthquake formation!

 Game:

Turn one I come up the table and Pat advances cautiously again. He's got enough threat that he only needs to advance a few inches, and it's a slow enough Scenario that he can sacrifice a few points to not let me double-alpha him.

Realising his plan, I deploy into an anti-earthquake brick, with Wind Ravager protecting from Assault, Two Angelii and Zuriel (Safeguarded) up front, then Saeryn (Safeguarded) and the protectors covering them with Shield Guards. I put my Harrier in the far, far corner of the Red zone, forcing him to commit something to deal with it and the only things over there are the Lances and Stormwall, which should protect me from them for another turn.  

Pat has to come forward next turn if he wants to stop me getting a free point, and that should let me hit him hard.

Saeryn is in there somewhere!

Pat does come forward and shoot but doesn't achieve a huge amount, then Feats, clears the Harrier with his Stormlances and charges Stryker into his Zone, netting the first point, and gets ready for my counter. I do so, manage to clear the zone with repulses and feat back. 

Eventually I kill his objective to go to 3 points, but then Stormwall finally makes it to the game and this list has trouble, real trouble, with an ARM 22 Colossal. Despite Armour Pierces and Zuriel I just can't get through it and run out of toys, eventually losing on Scenario after I can no longer clear the zone.

Scenario LOSS!

Yeah, Pat's a shark. He's rocking a 90% winrate over his last 150+ games. Let that settle in. He beat me up and made my toys sad. Meany.

Friday morning we fly out to Bratislava to be hosted by The Don at Steamstorm III! Pat is many people's favourite to win the event, but first there's some drinking to be done.

More soon! Thanks for reading!

MORE GAMES - 2

The last 2 games from the weekend, then there'll be a short break as I travel to Slovakia for STEAMSTORM, a European tournament run by Martin "the Don" Hornáček every year. My initial plan was to bring Aby2 and Saeryn's Theme, but it appears I may be without Zuriel - That'd mean falling back on one of our other casters, most likely eThags or pVayl.

But first, the weekend games:

Game 7/100
Absylonia2 Vs Caine2
Opponent: Pat Dunford
Scenario: Outflank

Pat's trying a gimmicky eCaine list which has led to some real hilarity, including Magic Bulleting 8 points of support on Turn 1 and 2 against another poor Cygnar player. I'm playing my Aby2 list from previous posts.

Captain Allister Caine (*5pts)
* Dynamo (10pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Hunter (6pts)
* Hunter (6pts)
* Sword Knight Officer & Standard (2pts)
Archduke Alain Runewood (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

Action shot!

Game:

Started off quite cagey, with Pat being concerned about Caine getting tagged by my shooting. I actually cast Return Fire here to keep Caine honest - I clearly won't hit him with an unboosted RAT 5, but even POW 8 blast vs Caine is scary for his ARM 13. Return Fire paid off as Holt took a shot at my Ravagore, was just out of range, and my Ravagore calmly rolled an 11 to hit and blew his face off.

Caine is a big swinger though, and the swingiest thing about him is his Feat. Pat's plan was the clear the left zone, by killing the Raek and Ravagore in it, and win on Scenario. Pat's dice truly betrayed him and he rolled 4 Snakeeyes on Feat Turn doing almost no damage to my Ravagore. Then 3 more the next turn after I'd feated and killed Dynamo and mostly everything else.

By this point, Pat had very few models left as I'd feated and killed ALL the things, but Caine was still an assassination threat. He charged my Raek, Gatecrashed into Aby and tried to roll lots of hard 7s (7s to hit, 7s to force a transfer due to previous Magic Bullet related injuries). He got a few,, but left her on 2 boxes. Aby cut for 1, then sliced his face off.

Assassination WIN!

Game 8/100
Saeryn (Fallen Angels - Tier 4) Vs Calandra (Elemental Communion - Tier 3)
Opponent: John Boyling
Scenario: Close Quarters

This list is WACKY and if I played Trolls I'd totally play this. You could have some real fun with each Light Troll, characterising them through small conversions and paint jobs, and despite the list inevitably being multiples of the same model you could really make it look cool!

Calandra (*5pts)
*Runebearer (2pts)
*Pyre Troll (5pts)
*Pyre Troll (5pts)
*Pyre Troll (5pts)
*Slag Troll (6pts)
*Slag Troll (6pts)
*Slag Troll (6pts)
*Slag Troll (6pts)
*Winter Troll (5pts)
*Storm Troll (5pts)
*Storm Troll (5pts)
*Storm Troll (5pts)
Krielstone (max, Leader+5) (4pts)
*Stone Scribe Elder (Krielstone UA) (1pt)

SO MANY TROLLS

 Game:

So I didn't even know what to DO against this list. It's wacky. I settled for the "Kill all the things before you run out of toys" strategy.

John feated early and left an Angelius on Fire and Corroded with 2 boxes left, then Fire went out (HA!) His feat was terrifying. Really. Starcrossed is BULLSHIT. Keeping track of Corrosion and Fire is rubbish. The Stone is complete BS. Arrrrrrrrrgh Trollllllsssssssssss.

I charged in and crippled 5 lights or so and feated. Then we just mushed our toys against each others until I won 5-0 on Scenario by standing on my flag all game. It was a ridiculous grind, with repeated moments of "I befuddle Zuriel out of combat. 3 lights shoot him, he dies, he respawns back into combat". Zuriel died 3 times in this game!

Eventually my Heavies just won out the grind after a failed assassination on Calandra. I will play against this list again, possibly with Aby, to get more experience against it.

Scenario WIN!

Best thing about the weekend is getting 5 games of Warmachine in, and I will do more this weekend! It's getting towards time where I need to get my lists ready for serious practice, and Aby2 is becoming more and more likely!

Next update will be Tuesday!

Current Stats:

Absylonia2: 5 games played (4/1)
Saeryn: 3 games played (2/1)

Faction Stats:

Skorne: 2 games played (2/0)
Retribution: 1 game played (1/0)
Trollbloods: 2 games played (2/0) 
Cygnar: 3 games played (1/2)

WTC Practice - MOAR GAMES pt.1!

More! A weekend full of Warmachine practice, 5 games in total! I'll probably split them into 2 posts for ease of reading.

Game 4/100
Saeryn (Tier 4) Vs Dominaar Rasheth (Tier 4)
Opponent: Keith Boardman
Scenario: Recon

I'm testing a list taken from a great thread on the Legion of Everblight forums as I've been eyeing up the Fallen Angels Theme Force for a while, and this list seems pretty interesting!

Tiers: 4
Benefits: AD on Spell Martyrs, +1 to the starting die roll, +2" deployment, free Nephilim.
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight (*5pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Nephilim Bloodseer (0pts)
* Nephilim Protector (5pts)
* Nephilim Protector (5pts)
* Zuriel (10pts)
* Angelius (9pts)
* Angelius (9pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Sorceress and Hellion (4pts)
1 Spell Martyr (1pts)

It has all the best Theme benefits, but it is fairly restricted. This is not the sort of list you want to be dropping into heavy armour, but it's very strong on fast scenarios and excellent against aggressive melee infantry lists.

Keith has Chain Gang, which should be an interesting test!

Tiers: 4
Dominar Rasheth (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (9pts)
* Titan Gladiator (7pts)
* Titan Gladiator (7pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Paingiver Task Master (2pts)
Paingiver Task Master (2pts)

 

Deployment

Game:

Crocs come up aggressively but a Turn 1 Breathstealer sees one unit slowed, while I shoot a couple of them down. I switch the Battlegroup towards the right hand flag (opposite the debuffed unit) to avoid charges.

Game turns into a slog but I remove both Agonisers on my Feat Turn, which allows me to armour pierce and Zuriel the big elephants down. Once that's done Rasheth is out of toys to play with, and eventually gets pierced.

Assassination WIN!

Game 5/100
Saeryn (Tier 4) Vs Haley2
Opponent: Pat Dunford
Scenario: Destruction

 I volunteered as tribute to play versus Pat, who is an exceptional Haley2 player. His list as below:

 Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Storm Lances (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Anastasia di Bray (2pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Stormblade Captain (2pts)

Bottom of 1 - Saeryn's Turn.

Game:

I lose the roll to go first and Pat comes forward aggressively. I create a screening wall out of the light Nephilim and spread my heavies to try and avoid having them all feated on. Breathstealer hits the Stormlances to stop the assault on Turn 1. Pat's feat removes all 3 lights and catches everything except my support and a single Angelius who's in a poor position. I counter-feat but Pat's able to remove an Angelius through shooting and eventually gets a kill on Saeryn.

Not the best game. Pat's eHaley games are often brutally one-sided - just ask some Irish Masters Bradgius players for corroboration! More experience with the Saeryn list would've seen me do better, but there's too many high-power, auto-hitting (and Deadeyed!) guns for this to deal with.

Assassination LOSS!

Game 6/100 
Absylonia2 Vs Haley2
Opponent: Pat Dunford
Scenario: Two Fronts

Playing against the same list, I wanted to try Absylonia into it this time, to see how it went.

Top of 2.

Game:

This one was better, but not great. I basically armoured up, spread out so not too much would get blinded in a single bomb, and tried to weather the Storm.. lances. One Raek was exceptional, holding the Nyss off for most of the game. Haley's feat saw him take no heavies, but engage everything at reach. My next turn does very little as he doesn't engage the Scythean. On Pat's next turn, he doesn't kill a heavy, then Anastasia gets TK'd, triggers espionage and the extra moves finish off both my Scythean and Carnivean, despite being ARM 22 and ARM 20 respectively. Aby also gets blinded.

I actually get a turn now and between the Ravagore, Absylonia, the Seraph and a Raek, I clear a huge number of models. Aby's Feat and Conferred Rage are really quite great. Aby kills a Stormlance despite being blind. The Stormclad dies to my Ravagore, the Lances lose 3/5 and break, the Seraph kills Gorman and 3 Stormblades, the Raek goes and kills 5 Blades. 

Unfortunately I have no way of killing Anastasia. Pat's retaliation is weak as the impetus is with me now, but double attack and moves are still too strong and he puts Aby in the dirt with a couple of attacks.

 Assassination LOSS!

That's it for Part 1!

Current Stats:

Absylonia2: 4 games played (3/1)
Saeryn: 2 games played (1/1)

Faction Stats:

Skorne: 2 games played (2/0)
Retribution: 1 game played (1/0)
Trollbloods: 1 game played (1/0) 
Cygnar: 2 games played (0/2)