Seeing the Potential

I'm going to admit it, I've done next to nothing Warmachine/Hordes related this week - except listen to two episodes of Chain-attack. I really like this podcast because even when I am not interested in the casters being discussed I know they'll rip I to each other enough to be entertaining.

The episodes got me thinking. First, Grim2 looks exceptionally fun to play - all of which makes my next faction more likely to be Trolls than Skorne. Dygmies, in particular, look pretty brutal with him. Nothing is fun about effective RAT 8 POW 16 shots from 10 guys who are dirt cheap and difficult to stop doing their thing. Take this with a grain of salt since I have zero experience with trolls.

The second thing I thought about was Morvahna2. When I read her rules I wasn't super impressed. I thought she looked good but hardly in the top 3-4 of Circle. Well, the community tends to disagree with people calling her top 5 in the game. So, who is right?

Probably everyone else to be honest. Listening to the podcast helped me understand it a bit better. I think she will be dominating for a month or two more then people will figure out the best way to beat her. I don't think she is as good as Haley2, Denny1, Gaspy2 or Harbinger. These guys are monsters and, frankly, can do some stuff that Morvahna can't even dream of. That said, re-rolls for no fury cost are pretty awesome.

Morvahna2 is one of those casters that I just couldn't see the potential myself with. I can see it with most casters but I just couldn't put it all together without seeing it at work. I'm guessing this happens with everyone to an extent. Sometimes, you just don't see it. The mathematical analogy was that I was basically adding her parts together instead of taking the product of the. Big difference! Like Pete Sampras, she is an excellent front runner so I expect her to seal club with impunity. I also think that as people figure her out she will find it harder to actually get to the front in games. She has some real good tools to establish ascendency (re-rolls, Fog of War to limit damage on the approach and purification) but I don't really see these as necessarily enough. To me, I think if she feats to get back into the game she just stalls losing for one more round. If she feats to get the ascendency then there is a good chance it will be back to level pegging by her next turn. However, if she feats while ahead then you are in all sorts of trouble.

I guess time will tell but I think now that I understand her a bit I can also understand her limits. Or maybe I'll be wrong - plenty better players think she will be top 5 for a long time.

Wintercon Details

I’ve found (via Wargamerau) details regarding Wintercon are out. It is on the 13^th and 14^th (which we already knew) and there will be two events; a 50 point standard steamroller on the Saturday and a 25 point Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw which only uses the close quarters scenario. Both events are optional two list events; by this I mean you can bring two lists but don’t have to and if you do bring two lists then you don’t have to use both.

I have to admit I was hoping for a 2-3 list Divide and Conquer for the 50 point event because these rarely get run here aside from Masters Events; which I am not really good enough to qualify for to be quite honest. So I was hoping to experience the pros and cons of that particular format. However, that said the format chosen makes it significantly easier for new players or people using new factions to have enough stuff to bring and also have the best chance of competing. It also would have been cool for one event to be a Hardcore format which looks really fun in SR2013; I might suggest someone run one at the LGS.

My initial plan (pending appropriate spousal approval) is to attend to Saturday standard steamroller. Partly because Saturday is a much easier deal for me but also because I find Khador a bit unfulfilling in MM/T&C events. The biggest gripe I have about Khador MM lists is that it can be really tricky to actually write a legal list. A 25 point format essentially means you pick 30 or 31 points of jacks (honourable mention to Old Which for 28). Things get tricky when you have jacks that cost 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13. Conquest exists as well at 19. This is especially pernicious if you don’t own a Bezerker. If you pick any one jack you want then all of a sudden you’ve got next to no options left. At least other factions with lights and lessers can put a filler in if necessary.

Just as example; say you want to run Harkevich (who arguably is at his best in this format). You’ll want Black Ivan; now you have 20 points. If you don’t own a Bezerker then your options are as follows; two heavies that come to a combined cost of 18-20 points. That’s literally it (again, you could just go Conquest). Many Khador players would have a Spriggan; meaning your third jack literally has to be a Destroyer, Demolisher, Devastator, Decimator, Torch or another Spriggan. Most people don’t own two Spriggans and usually the Clamjacks aren’t wanted in this format. It just feels like you have next to no options. It is not a crippling complaint but is exceptionally annoying. That said; Khador does have Behemoth who is kind of a boss in this format. I would be inclined to run Harkevich, Butcher1 or Irusk2 in this format.

It is all a bit of a tangent anyway. I am planning on running Vlad2/Vlad3 for the Steamroller. I am pretty confident I can get Vlad2’s entire list painted up in time. Getting Vlad3’s list painted would probably be pushing it but you never know. I would be half tempted to just run 1 list for simplicities sake.

I’ve been gradually writing up my thoughts on the meta lately. Originally, the plan was to have one blog post about it but it could end up spanning 2-3 instead. Apparently I have a lot of thoughts.