I have not had much time lately (story of my life). I did finish painting my Iron Fang Pikemen and undercoated the Widowmakers and the Marauder. The wind was well and truly thrashed from my sails when I realised that I couldn't go to Wintercon. I've got a family commitment that weekend and have had to take time off work as well. That was annoying but I'm over it now and ready to paint/play again (funny how sometimes when circumstances conspire to force you to stop doing something you like that as a reaction you kind of boycott doing that thing you like as a big 'Get Bent' to the universe).
Anyways, I have come up with an idea for Butcher2 that doesn't involve 800 Doom Reavers and looks real fun. I still have 16 points to play with but the core is Butcher2, Beast, second jack (Spriggan at this stage), Saxon, Madelyn, Iron Fang Pikemen and UA and Alexia1. The second jack can be anything but I'm thinking a ranged jack like Ivan could do the job. I'll probably want a Bokur, Gorman and the dog to try keep Butcher alive. Widowmakers or Rifle Corp seem like they would be a nice fit too.
The idea is that Butcher2 brings a feat that is pretty good and also two great spells (Fury and Boundless Charge) for ensuring single models get the charge and do a large amount of damage. Eliminator is basically ignored on his card. I am a firm believer that the Butcher can run Jacks very well, especially once you get into combat range but I don't know if I can fit three in. Especially if I also stick to my "take a bombard" rule.
It looks real fun. I'd like Kodiak or Marauder in there to make some nice assassinations possible with two handed throws or Slams but I suspect Spriggan or Ivan will be my choice at the end. Pikemen could get a downright silly threat between charge, mini feat and the actual feat. Looks something like 23" of non-linear threat. Lots could go wrong in that though (and MAT 6 is not really enough once you get there unless you boost win the rage tokens to fish for a crit - seems an unreliable strategy).
I'm going to think more about it but the core is solid.
Monday, 1 July 2013
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Vlad3, the soapiest prince in the Iron Kingdoms
Vlad3, you look at his card and you feel underwhelmed. The feat is kind of unimpressive. The spell list is nice but Infernal Machine feels like poor mans Superiority and if you wanted Hand of Fate you would have played Vlad1 or Vlad2. Dash gets your threat range up but Vlad2, Strakhov and everyone with Boundless Charge can do that in bigger bursts. You finally realise the interactions between all in the saddle, blood quenched and flashing blade but you think that just chewing through tightly packed infantry is not really enough because, after all, the Winter Guard can go in every list and lots of armies have undead infantry or lots of beasts and jacks. But he is on a horse, so you will buy him anyway.
I went through this exact process and now I am pretty sure I understand what Vlad3 brings to the party and its soap. He is slippery and, if used correctly, cleans out all the irritating dirt. To put it plainly, he and his army is very hard to pin down. You can see this in the way Vlad himself does business. He can make attacks before he moves, mid-move and also after he has done moving. On feat turn he then can get out. He also can get himself protected from non-magical guns. His feat is very Circle-esque with side-steps and sprints. It all comes down to Dash. This is the spell I intend to leverage and it is not the +1 speed but the immunity to free strikes that has me excited. To understand why you need to understand a little of my introduction to this game.
My first game was Irusk1 against Stryker1 in a 15 point affair. Apart from learning the rules I discovered that being tied up was lame and that casters can kill lots of infantry in a turn just by buying attacks. I also sent Beast in did damage to a Lancer and a Hunter, lost my cortex and had the hunter back out and shoot me again! The next game was 15 points against Kraye where I got jack bulleted, teaching me that a long way away is not far enough. The third was 25 points and Parry weas my bane. I tried tying down a Hunter and Kraye and it just didn't happen. Pursuit also hindered me but the final straw was Kraye waltzing away from lots of Winterguard and a Spriggan and two shooting Irusk.
So from day 1 I have had respect for Parry. If you read the PP Forums most people seem to be using Kayazy or Man-o-War (or the theme force with lots of cavalry) with Vlad. This is strange to me. The all-cavalry thing I get from an aesthetic perspective but from a gameplay and effectiveness stand point it looks weak. Kayazy are the last unit I would put with him. If you want Kayazy you would be better off with pretty much anyone else but Vlad2 or Irusk1 or either Butcher scream out for them. That is because these guys make Kayazy hit like a truck. What Vlad3 does is yet your guys into position and immunity to free strikes wants guns. Sure you can push further in with Parry but it seems mediocre. I think guns is where it is at and specifically sprays. This means Winterguard. There is some nice interaction going on here. Firstly, walking out of combat to spray bunched up infantry is glorious but backing up 7 with an 8 inch ranged gun seems pretty fun too.
The Winter Guard with Joe and Bob and Weave is just survivable enough to not disappear to a stiff breezes and, contrary to widely held belief, they offer a lot more than defence 17 with Iron Flesh. I value their offence far more because they are accurate and POW12 (or 10 spraying) and under Hand of Fate they are hit accurately enough to take out everything with pseudo-boosted boosted attacks (can CRA if needed) and pseudo-boosted POW12s go through heavy infantry quite fast too (Cetrati under Xerxis feat or Champs under the rock are no easy feat but against that sort of armour the jacks can come into their own).
I am trying to keep other models in the list with some utility in terms of staying out of the mire. All the infantry can walk out of combat but I have included Saxon as well to stop a literal mire keeping them at bay. For jacks I will take Beast and Torch. It is a tough call for Torch (see the other days post) because Spriggan has bulldoze that plays into the theme but I have decided that the combination of that spray with Virtuoso and Gunfighter gets the effect I want a bit better. Beast is there as a heavy hitter and also because hyper aggressive triggering for a 6" advance turns out to be a slippery moment all in itself. I also like both jacks rocking MAT7 which means they can get up to 9 but generally don't need HoF on them.
I hope to run the list this coming weekend but it depends on people's availability. It seems very sound from my thinking. The plan is once again to try attrition and grab points and if an assassination comes up to take it. We shall see.
I went through this exact process and now I am pretty sure I understand what Vlad3 brings to the party and its soap. He is slippery and, if used correctly, cleans out all the irritating dirt. To put it plainly, he and his army is very hard to pin down. You can see this in the way Vlad himself does business. He can make attacks before he moves, mid-move and also after he has done moving. On feat turn he then can get out. He also can get himself protected from non-magical guns. His feat is very Circle-esque with side-steps and sprints. It all comes down to Dash. This is the spell I intend to leverage and it is not the +1 speed but the immunity to free strikes that has me excited. To understand why you need to understand a little of my introduction to this game.
My first game was Irusk1 against Stryker1 in a 15 point affair. Apart from learning the rules I discovered that being tied up was lame and that casters can kill lots of infantry in a turn just by buying attacks. I also sent Beast in did damage to a Lancer and a Hunter, lost my cortex and had the hunter back out and shoot me again! The next game was 15 points against Kraye where I got jack bulleted, teaching me that a long way away is not far enough. The third was 25 points and Parry weas my bane. I tried tying down a Hunter and Kraye and it just didn't happen. Pursuit also hindered me but the final straw was Kraye waltzing away from lots of Winterguard and a Spriggan and two shooting Irusk.
So from day 1 I have had respect for Parry. If you read the PP Forums most people seem to be using Kayazy or Man-o-War (or the theme force with lots of cavalry) with Vlad. This is strange to me. The all-cavalry thing I get from an aesthetic perspective but from a gameplay and effectiveness stand point it looks weak. Kayazy are the last unit I would put with him. If you want Kayazy you would be better off with pretty much anyone else but Vlad2 or Irusk1 or either Butcher scream out for them. That is because these guys make Kayazy hit like a truck. What Vlad3 does is yet your guys into position and immunity to free strikes wants guns. Sure you can push further in with Parry but it seems mediocre. I think guns is where it is at and specifically sprays. This means Winterguard. There is some nice interaction going on here. Firstly, walking out of combat to spray bunched up infantry is glorious but backing up 7 with an 8 inch ranged gun seems pretty fun too.
The Winter Guard with Joe and Bob and Weave is just survivable enough to not disappear to a stiff breezes and, contrary to widely held belief, they offer a lot more than defence 17 with Iron Flesh. I value their offence far more because they are accurate and POW12 (or 10 spraying) and under Hand of Fate they are hit accurately enough to take out everything with pseudo-boosted boosted attacks (can CRA if needed) and pseudo-boosted POW12s go through heavy infantry quite fast too (Cetrati under Xerxis feat or Champs under the rock are no easy feat but against that sort of armour the jacks can come into their own).
I am trying to keep other models in the list with some utility in terms of staying out of the mire. All the infantry can walk out of combat but I have included Saxon as well to stop a literal mire keeping them at bay. For jacks I will take Beast and Torch. It is a tough call for Torch (see the other days post) because Spriggan has bulldoze that plays into the theme but I have decided that the combination of that spray with Virtuoso and Gunfighter gets the effect I want a bit better. Beast is there as a heavy hitter and also because hyper aggressive triggering for a 6" advance turns out to be a slippery moment all in itself. I also like both jacks rocking MAT7 which means they can get up to 9 but generally don't need HoF on them.
I hope to run the list this coming weekend but it depends on people's availability. It seems very sound from my thinking. The plan is once again to try attrition and grab points and if an assassination comes up to take it. We shall see.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Situationally Brilliant - of Torch and other niche things
I've been away this weekend and, during the drive, I thought a bit about my two lists and options I have with them. I am pretty happy with Vlad2 but Vlad3 has all kinds of options. I would like Rocketeers, I would like a Koldun Lord and I am unsure about Eiryss1. In the end the only change I am going to make is to drop the Spriggan for Torch. Yes, Torch the oh so hated of jacks.
I kind of get why people really don't like him. He promises so much conceptually but never really delivers. Part of this is his predecessor, the Decimator, who possesses the coolest looking weapon in Khador but is a pretty junk jack. Torch is an expensive melee jack with some cute options. He looks completely badass but if you compare him side by side with other jacks in his point range, well, let us just say it becomes hard to justify him. This seems to be because his three signature abilities are a lot more corner case than others. Take Spriggan, Reach is a massive deal, Bulldoze is useful most games because it opens up options and the grenades/flares have enough utility to do good work.
Torch has Relentless Charge which feels redundant with most casters because of Boundless Charge but let me tell you that I think pathfinder on heavies is in the same ballpark as reach. Big claim, I know. Most tables I play on have several pieces of terrain and most Warmachine armies end up providing at least on irritatingly located wreck marker. I want to use Torch as a second line jack so this should be pretty useful.
Torch has his immunities. People say these are either useless 99% of the time or game breaking against Legion, Menoth and Cryx. Both parties are wrong. Even though the immunities are a non factor against Cygnar, Khador, Retribution etc etc you have to look at them in the spectre of tournaments as whole entities rather than games and also what they get you when they work. Tis second element is why the second party is wrong. Cryx have little corrosion type attacks that they use against jacks. Menoth and Legion have fire or corrosive boostable guns. Fun times. It does not break the game but it does allow your jack to get to the fight. I am going to run Torch with Vlad3 to give multiple options for ranged defence. I already have Wind Wall and Beast has hyper aggressive so is gives me a nice little package of options. For example, an opponent with a ravagore/reckoner, do they shoot Beast because they cannot target Vlad because he Wind Walled to keep him and Fenris safe but know that if they don't wreck him he will hyper aggressive 6" forward each shot? Most likely they use the naga for magic guns (if I remember his animus correctly) but you get the point.
The third ability is his smoke bombs. I don't foresee these being super useful because speed 4 just isn't enough but I think it will be a nice surprise. I don't know why but I got a good feeling.
I guess the main point is this; if you don't take things because they won't be useful in every game then you don't get the enhanced value that they do give in other games. Besides, it is not as of he is completely useless. Sustained attack, a buffed stat line, a boostable spray that has continuous fire (albeit short ranged) and an open fist are all rules/abilities that give game influencing options when they come up. So I'm going to take him with an open mind so that even though I don't now quite what he will do in any game, I know my mind is waiting for moments of opportunity.
I'll report back with results in due course. Hopefully, I will get to attend two events in the next month.
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Keeping your trousers up
I recently starting reading a blog from one of the guys on WargamerAU called Will Warcast for Cash. It is a very entertaining read and I encourage anyone to go have a read. In it the author makes an argument for why he does not like the pirates. Put simply, the argument is that there are too many points spent on solos to get the ship going and that invites easy and effective gameplay decisions from your opponent. I connected quite strongly with this flavour of argument since I had been thinking about the issues already. Really, you only need your support to keep your trousers up around your waist not your underarms. A drawstring, a button, a belt and braces are kind of excessive; you only need one.
Getting back to Warmachine and Khador, there comes a point where you have just spent too many points on support pieces. It is a really easy trap to walk into because a lot of the support pieces do some really cool things. For example, every Irusk1 list I build starts with a jack, Sylys, Reinholdt, Joe, Saxon and then I consider other things like Greylords or a Koldun Lord. If I put all these in then I have 13 points of support. It starts to pinch real quick. In list building it will usually mean I cannot get a second heavy or a second mainline unit of infantry. In game it leads to two bad situations. If you take a lot of support and rely on it and then you lose all your support then you don’t have enough stuff to compete. Worse is if your opponent manages to even just compete in a fight and grind out your mainline stuff then you have a caster and a bunch of support and support usually sucks at killing stuff.
The final point that I have been thinking about is that if I put too much support in then it stops my Warcaster doing his or her thing. Khador Warcasters are among the best in the game for supporting their army with spells such as Iron Flesh, Hand of Fate, Fury, Battle Lust, Superiority and so on. Maybe it does not stop them per se but it obscures their impact. I also want to put into this category those luxury items. Things like Winter Guard Rocketeers or even Eiryss or Gorman. I really should note before I go on that some factions (looking at you Trollbloods and Protectorate) have been designed to take a lot more support pieces. Part of it is that their support is just so good – Choir and Vassals would probably make it into every other faction’s lists with ease.
I’ve tweaked my lists that I hope to take to Wintercon to try and limit the amount of support and stuff that does not do a whole lot of work that I am running. Vlad2 has just the Koldun Lord and arguably the Dog and Eiryss2 (full list is now Vlad, Behemoth, Dog, Full Pikemen and UA, Doom Reavers and UA, Widowmakers, Koldun Lord running a Marauder, Yuri and 2x Manhunters and Eiryss2). For Vlad3 I have dropped Rocketeers and the Koldun Lord (full list is now Vlad, Beast, Spriggan, dog, full Winter Guard with UA, Joe, Doom Reavers with UA, Fenris, Saxon, the bears and Eiryss1). In both lists I have toyed with dropping the Doom Reaver UA for Gorman and a Koldun Lord respectively but I think I’ll stick it out because tough is irritating and making 2-3 tough rolls on a Doom Reaver is pretty awesome.
Painting update: I am about half way through my Pikemen so it is looking unlikely that I will be able to paint even one entire list in time. Sad times.
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Battle Report: Vlad2 vs Stryker2
So it appears I will get to write this one up now. Hopefully I can get to a point where I know a good way to write these. I really want to add pictures because otherwise battle reports can get a bit dull.
The game was Vlad2 against Stryker2 at 50 points and the scenario w as Rally Point. Our lists were as follows:
Vlad2, Behemoth, Dog, Max Iron Fang Pikemen and Unit Attachment, Doom Reavers and Unit Attachment, Widowmakers, Koldun Lord marshalling a Marauder, Eiryss2, Gorman and the Great Bears.
Stryker2, Rowdy, Stormclad, Squire, Stormblades, Gun Mages with Unit Attachment, Min Storm Lances, 3x Stormcaller, Arlan, Rhupert, Lanyssa, Eiryss2 and the Journeyman Warcaster (Jr).
I won the roll and elected to go first. My pre-game thought process was that I wanted to keep Vlad back to make it harder for Stryker to get him, I wanted to try get some control points and I wanted to push for table presence with Doom Reavers while I shoot with my snipers and the Behemoth.
Deployment
I deployed everything centrally. He deployed centrally with his Gun Mages, Rhupert and Lanyssa on my left flank behind a forest and the Storm Lances on my right side. For my Advance Deployment I out the Widowmakers on the left with Eiryss and I out the Doom Reavers just to the right of my objective. His Eiryss hung out with his Gun Mages in the forest. The Bears are on my left side before I forget.
Turn 1
I ran stuff forward. I put Hand of Fate on Behemoth, Assail on Marauder and Transference on Vlad. The Koldun Lord power boosted Behemoth to run, the Marauder used his pseudo focus to run. I ran the Widowmakers behind a linear obstacle opposite the forest but I spread two out to avoid the Gun Mage CRA special blast thing. The Doom Reavers moved about 3-4 inches too few (I was worried about losing them to charge/run and feat).
He runs stuff forward casts deflection. Rhupert makes the Gun Mages have pathfinder, they move up and between them and Eiryss they kill two Widowmakers who promptly fail they command check. He also moves the objective int his zone. Arcane Shield is out on the Storm Lances who advance a bit but hang behind the objective and a linear obstacle to stop the Doom Reavers getting on them.
Turn 2
I am pretty bummed about the Widowmakers failing command. I wanted them to aim and start thinning out the Gun Mages because I didn't want the Gun Mages killing Doom Reavers or Pikemen, I wanted them tied up. Anyways, I upkeep all my spells and put 2 on Behemoths sub-cortex. Behemoth walks up and tries to take a shot at a Gun Mage, I am out of range so it scatters but I get lucky and it hits Rhupert, I boost, he dies. I take another shot, get lucky it scatters, hits Lanyssa, I boost, she dies. I might have tagged someone else as well I'm not sure. Eiryss aims shoots the other Eiryss in a forest and misses (we both totally forgot about stealth which was funny). The Bears move up to sit behind the linear obstacle in base to base. I activate Vlad, feat for 6 Doom Reavers then dominate my objective and move it into my zone. I send the Doom Reavers in thinking I can get 3-4 onto Stormclad. I was wrong. I get two on Stormclad, three fail charges and one runs to engage the Storm Lances. The first Doom Reaver does 5-6 damage, the second dials it to 11 and does something like 15-18 leaving the Stormclad with 5 or 6 boxes and not the Cortex. He passes his abomination checks with other stuff. The Pikemen Shield Wall and get into position. I forgot to put anything in his zone which was a mistake.
He has super Doom Reavers clogging up his table space but I think he didn't realise the feat buffs their defences so much. He spend his turn killing Doom Reavers. His Plan was to repair Stormclad, swing and arc lightning onto them. This doesn't work when Arlan rolls box cars for his repair check so now he has two focus on Stormclad with crippled weapons. Sad times. After a bunch of skill checks from Stormcallers, Rowdy, Storm Lances, Stormblades he as killed all the Doom Reavers and the UA. His Gun Mages slowly walk rough the forest do the Mage inferno order on the bears kill the one that gives pathfinder, force a tough on another (which he makes) and does 4 to the last Bear. Eiryss moves up and shoots Behemoth. He scores a point.
Turn 3
I upkeep my spells. Between the Widowmakers and the Bears I kill a few Gun Mages and Eiryss. Behemoth is power boosted and shoots and kills some Stormblades I think. I Hand of Fate the Pikemen and send them in and mini feat, I kill some stuff I think, I knock out Rowdys weapons, I do 13 to the objective and I clog up the zone. Gorman runs int his zone to control it. Vlad sits on 2 focus (I either boosted something with Transference or paid to upkeep Hand of Fate even though Eiryss stripped it). My Eiryss runs into the middle of stuff and gets within 5 of his jacks. I score 3.
His turn, he kills some pikemen, he kills Gorman, he kills a bear but he has to go for it because his jacks will die next turn and I am ahead on control points and board position. Arlan rolls an 11 on his repair check so he has to run Rowdy 11" from Stryker, positive charge him, velocity top lad taking two Pikemen freestrikes (which do 5 or 6 damage but no critical knockdown), somewhere along the way he shot the dog which toughed. He gets 3 attacks on Vlad after overloading for +7 he misses, hits for lots leaving me on 5 then misses and he feats and his feat attack misses.
Then Vlad with 8 focus casts Martial Paragon and boosts hit and damage and its over. I've got a few thoughts that I will put down sometime later.
The game was Vlad2 against Stryker2 at 50 points and the scenario w as Rally Point. Our lists were as follows:
Vlad2, Behemoth, Dog, Max Iron Fang Pikemen and Unit Attachment, Doom Reavers and Unit Attachment, Widowmakers, Koldun Lord marshalling a Marauder, Eiryss2, Gorman and the Great Bears.
Stryker2, Rowdy, Stormclad, Squire, Stormblades, Gun Mages with Unit Attachment, Min Storm Lances, 3x Stormcaller, Arlan, Rhupert, Lanyssa, Eiryss2 and the Journeyman Warcaster (Jr).
I won the roll and elected to go first. My pre-game thought process was that I wanted to keep Vlad back to make it harder for Stryker to get him, I wanted to try get some control points and I wanted to push for table presence with Doom Reavers while I shoot with my snipers and the Behemoth.
Deployment
I deployed everything centrally. He deployed centrally with his Gun Mages, Rhupert and Lanyssa on my left flank behind a forest and the Storm Lances on my right side. For my Advance Deployment I out the Widowmakers on the left with Eiryss and I out the Doom Reavers just to the right of my objective. His Eiryss hung out with his Gun Mages in the forest. The Bears are on my left side before I forget.
Turn 1
I ran stuff forward. I put Hand of Fate on Behemoth, Assail on Marauder and Transference on Vlad. The Koldun Lord power boosted Behemoth to run, the Marauder used his pseudo focus to run. I ran the Widowmakers behind a linear obstacle opposite the forest but I spread two out to avoid the Gun Mage CRA special blast thing. The Doom Reavers moved about 3-4 inches too few (I was worried about losing them to charge/run and feat).
He runs stuff forward casts deflection. Rhupert makes the Gun Mages have pathfinder, they move up and between them and Eiryss they kill two Widowmakers who promptly fail they command check. He also moves the objective int his zone. Arcane Shield is out on the Storm Lances who advance a bit but hang behind the objective and a linear obstacle to stop the Doom Reavers getting on them.
Turn 2
I am pretty bummed about the Widowmakers failing command. I wanted them to aim and start thinning out the Gun Mages because I didn't want the Gun Mages killing Doom Reavers or Pikemen, I wanted them tied up. Anyways, I upkeep all my spells and put 2 on Behemoths sub-cortex. Behemoth walks up and tries to take a shot at a Gun Mage, I am out of range so it scatters but I get lucky and it hits Rhupert, I boost, he dies. I take another shot, get lucky it scatters, hits Lanyssa, I boost, she dies. I might have tagged someone else as well I'm not sure. Eiryss aims shoots the other Eiryss in a forest and misses (we both totally forgot about stealth which was funny). The Bears move up to sit behind the linear obstacle in base to base. I activate Vlad, feat for 6 Doom Reavers then dominate my objective and move it into my zone. I send the Doom Reavers in thinking I can get 3-4 onto Stormclad. I was wrong. I get two on Stormclad, three fail charges and one runs to engage the Storm Lances. The first Doom Reaver does 5-6 damage, the second dials it to 11 and does something like 15-18 leaving the Stormclad with 5 or 6 boxes and not the Cortex. He passes his abomination checks with other stuff. The Pikemen Shield Wall and get into position. I forgot to put anything in his zone which was a mistake.
He has super Doom Reavers clogging up his table space but I think he didn't realise the feat buffs their defences so much. He spend his turn killing Doom Reavers. His Plan was to repair Stormclad, swing and arc lightning onto them. This doesn't work when Arlan rolls box cars for his repair check so now he has two focus on Stormclad with crippled weapons. Sad times. After a bunch of skill checks from Stormcallers, Rowdy, Storm Lances, Stormblades he as killed all the Doom Reavers and the UA. His Gun Mages slowly walk rough the forest do the Mage inferno order on the bears kill the one that gives pathfinder, force a tough on another (which he makes) and does 4 to the last Bear. Eiryss moves up and shoots Behemoth. He scores a point.
Turn 3
I upkeep my spells. Between the Widowmakers and the Bears I kill a few Gun Mages and Eiryss. Behemoth is power boosted and shoots and kills some Stormblades I think. I Hand of Fate the Pikemen and send them in and mini feat, I kill some stuff I think, I knock out Rowdys weapons, I do 13 to the objective and I clog up the zone. Gorman runs int his zone to control it. Vlad sits on 2 focus (I either boosted something with Transference or paid to upkeep Hand of Fate even though Eiryss stripped it). My Eiryss runs into the middle of stuff and gets within 5 of his jacks. I score 3.
His turn, he kills some pikemen, he kills Gorman, he kills a bear but he has to go for it because his jacks will die next turn and I am ahead on control points and board position. Arlan rolls an 11 on his repair check so he has to run Rowdy 11" from Stryker, positive charge him, velocity top lad taking two Pikemen freestrikes (which do 5 or 6 damage but no critical knockdown), somewhere along the way he shot the dog which toughed. He gets 3 attacks on Vlad after overloading for +7 he misses, hits for lots leaving me on 5 then misses and he feats and his feat attack misses.
Then Vlad with 8 focus casts Martial Paragon and boosts hit and damage and its over. I've got a few thoughts that I will put down sometime later.
Rolled some dice
The last month has been very busy for me (hence the silence) but yesterday afternoon I got to play two games. Both were against a good friend of mine and I rocked Vlad2 in both games and I had a great time. I won the first game (50 points against Stryker2) and I won the second game as well (35 points against Feora2). The second game is kind of a fake win since we were running out of time so my opponent just went for a Judicator trample to Vlad but took two freestrikes from super solider Iron Fang Pikemen. I don't think I was a lock for the win but I was probably just ahead.
I plan on writing a bit of a more detailed battle report tomorrow. I didn't take any pictures so it will probably be a bit text heavy perhaps. All in all, I really liked the way the lists (particularly the 50 points one) played. I bunched up a bit preventing my Marauder getting to the fight and I didn't push my Doom Reavers far enough forward so they clogged up my lines (and missed some charges) because of that. Yet I still played it the way I designed it. I attritioned and looked for opportunities to score control points. That was what brought Stryker to go for it and I survived.
The one thing that I was thinking about the games (particularly the 50 point game) was that it is really hard to distinguish how much luck played a role. Finishing a game you won tends to feel as if you were not lucky and it is all skill but I am trying not to do that. I can remember several rolls that I guess could be attributed to luck that greatly influenced the game. I got two lucky scatters on turn 1 with Behemoth - sure it is lucky but I was shooting that way trying to get some thing (this is a moment of luck I engineered I think). I spiked a damage roll on a feated Doom Reaver against his Stormclad meaning that while only two guys got on him he only had 5 boxes left. He failed skill checks for Arlan to repair on consecutive turns making it much harder for him to clear out my dudes.
So I don't know. I think with luck a huge part of success is making the most of it when it comes around. You also have to be putting yourself in situations it can occur. I think it all comes to playing the game with a really aggressive mindset. Play to beat your opponent; even when you win because they went for it and failed it was probably your play that engineered the situation.
I plan on writing a bit of a more detailed battle report tomorrow. I didn't take any pictures so it will probably be a bit text heavy perhaps. All in all, I really liked the way the lists (particularly the 50 points one) played. I bunched up a bit preventing my Marauder getting to the fight and I didn't push my Doom Reavers far enough forward so they clogged up my lines (and missed some charges) because of that. Yet I still played it the way I designed it. I attritioned and looked for opportunities to score control points. That was what brought Stryker to go for it and I survived.
The one thing that I was thinking about the games (particularly the 50 point game) was that it is really hard to distinguish how much luck played a role. Finishing a game you won tends to feel as if you were not lucky and it is all skill but I am trying not to do that. I can remember several rolls that I guess could be attributed to luck that greatly influenced the game. I got two lucky scatters on turn 1 with Behemoth - sure it is lucky but I was shooting that way trying to get some thing (this is a moment of luck I engineered I think). I spiked a damage roll on a feated Doom Reaver against his Stormclad meaning that while only two guys got on him he only had 5 boxes left. He failed skill checks for Arlan to repair on consecutive turns making it much harder for him to clear out my dudes.
So I don't know. I think with luck a huge part of success is making the most of it when it comes around. You also have to be putting yourself in situations it can occur. I think it all comes to playing the game with a really aggressive mindset. Play to beat your opponent; even when you win because they went for it and failed it was probably your play that engineered the situation.
Friday, 19 April 2013
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.
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.
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