Warmachine Painting Update and Tournament Report

Painting!

Been doing a bit of Circle Orboros lately:

L-R: Woldwyrd, Megalith, Woldwatcher

Pureblood Warpwolf. Not terribly happy with the paint job.

Wrong Eye (L) and Snapjaw (R)

Una the Skyhunter

Tournament - Nexus Games, Gresham, January 22

A little casual tournament with twelve players; I went 2-1, which isn't terrible for playing two new lists and a lot of new models. They are:

Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper
* Ghetorix
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Feral Warpwolf
* Argus Moonhound
Gallows Grove
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
Efaarit Scouts
Efaarit Scouts
Swamp Gobber Chef
Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Tharn Bloodweavers

Baldur the Stonesoul (Baldur 2)
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Feral Warpwolf
* Megalith
* Woldwyrd
* Woldwyrd
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Round 1

Versus Jacob's Convergence of Cyriss. He had Father Lucant and Mother Directrix, and dropped Lucant into Wurmwood.

I went second and picked the side of the table with all the forests. As the game developed, the rough terrain in the center of the table proved much to my advantage. I still managed to run out of time on the clock despite pretty well jamming him out of scenario.

Round 2

Versus Josh's Protectorate of Menoth; Amon ad Raza or the Testament of Menoth, of which he chose Testament. This was a pretty rough matchup, since Testament has a completely overpowered feat. I clocked myself again, since I played Baldur 2, a completely new list, and spent way too much time looking things up mid-activation.

Even with the clock problems, I was still running behind on attrition; his feat brought back nearly all of his infantry, despite my best efforts to remove them from play or eliminate entire units.

Round 3

Versus Quinn's Protectorate of Menoth: Feora 3 or Tristan 2. He ran Tristan 2 into Baldur 2.

This one I managed to play rather well, I think. Quinn didn't push hard enough in the first two turns, so I was able to score three points on my third turn and feat to keep him from pushing me off the flags.

Battle Report: Warmachine Tournament, March 5, 2016

I finally attended a Warmachine even this year - it's been hectic - and had a good bit of fun. It was run by Asher, one of our local Press Gangers, at Red Castle Games, and had a turnout of twenty. Quite a lot of Legion of Everblight and Protectorate of Menoth...

Lists

I brought a Morghoul 1/Hexeris 2 pairing, though as things turned out I only ran the Morghoul 1 list.

Master Tormentor Morghoul

- Aptimus Marketh
- Aradus Sentinel
- Aradus Sentinel
- Aradus Soldier
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Extoller Soulward
Tyrant Zaadesh
- Cyclops Raider
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Krea
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
(Vanguard) Molik Karn
(Vanguard) Titan Gladiator)
(Vanguard) Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Lord Arbiter Hexeris

- Aradus Sentinel

- Aradus Sentinel

- Cyclops Raider

- Cyclops Shaman

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Extoller Soulward

Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)

Cataphract Incindiarii (min)

Cataphract Incindiarii (min)

Venator Slingers (max)

(Vanguard) Titan Gladiator

(Vanguard) Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

(Vanguard) Extoller Soulward

(Vanguard) Agonizer

(Vanguard) Cataphract Arcuarii (min)

Round One

Paired off against Josh's Protectorate of Menoth - Anson Durst and Harbinger of Menoth. I went for Morghoul, he dropped Durst and won the roll. He chose to go first, so I picked the side with the wall and the trench.

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith
- Hierophant
- Reckoner
- Reckoner
- Fires of Salvation
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Wrack x3
Pyrrhus, Flameguard Hero (not that Pyrrhus)
Exemplar Vengers (max)
Temple Flameguard + Officer & Standard Bearer
Choir of Menoth (min)

Deployment

He moved in and took my objective pretty early. I screwed up and failed to contest his zone on my second turn, so gave him basically a free point. Aside from that - and playing too slowly, because new units and new list - I thought I played fairly well.

Mid game.

Halfway through the game and I've started the piece trade pretty well - his Flameguard are mostly gone, the bugs and Raider have all but eliminated his cavalry, the Aradus Soldier has destroyed one of the Redeemers, and I'm properly contesting both zones.

End game. Another minute or two on my clock and I'd probably have assassinated Durst.

Sadly, slow play did me in. He managed to clear his friendly zone and score a few more points; I killed his objective and dominated my own zone for a few points. The Soldier, cranked up on Abuse and Enrage, managed to wreck Fires of Salvation on Durst's feat turn. But I ended that turn with only about thirty seconds left on my clock... We ended on my fifth turn, but diced it out. If I'd had time to properly Abuse, Enrage, and throw Puppet Master on the Soldier, he'd almost certainly have killed Durst in that assassination run.

Lessons from this game: A) Play faster! B) Aradii shut down a ranged game hard. With Basilisk Krea support they can go to DEF 15/ARM 25 vs shooting, and very few lists bring the shooting that can deal with that.

Round Two

Against Lucas' Protectorate, a Kreoss 2/Severius pairing. He put down Kreoss and I dropped Morghoul 1 again - a mistake, as it turned out.

Grand Exemplar Kreoss (Crusaders of Sul theme force, tier 4)

- Fires of Salvation

Knights Exemplar Seneschal

Knights Exemplar Seneschal

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

High Exemplar Gravus

Knights Exemplar

Knights Exemplar

Knights Exemplar

Knights Exemplar

Daughters of the Flame

Exemplar Errants + Officer & Standard Bearer

Theme Force Benefits: FA U on Knights Exemplar; Knights Exemplar gain Advance Move; free Exemplar Seneschal solo; +2" on your deployment zone.

Deployment. Same as last game.

 After he'd deployed, I realized I dropped the wrong list. Morghoul simply doesn't have the volume of fire to deal with this, while Hexeris 2 does. But there was a chance - assassination. Despite that huge swarm of Exemplars running across the board at me, my Sentinels, with Arcing Fire, could still pop shots at Kreoss. I deployed as I had in the last game, with the bugs up on the AD line and the rest of the army clumped up behind them.

He ran his army across the table pretty damn quick. Between the Advance Move on the Knights and the AD on the Errants, he basically began with everything 15" up the table already - on the edge of the zone, as can be seen above. Here's where he ran into his first problem, though - too many figures on the table, and the Errants began to block his Knights' attack avenues. My Sentinels started off punting shots, and between them and the Raider I was able to remove both Errant Seneschals. To be honest, I'm not sure that was the best choice. I was able to get a single shot onto Kreoss, putting some damage into him; then, dash Morghoul over to the flag on my left to score my only control point of the game. The following turn I had another assassination opportunity, probably around a 60% shot. Kreoss was on a hill, but if I could get the Sentinels out of melee, I'd have two POW 13 fully boosted shots, with Puppet Master rerolls, on him.

First shot was simple. Sentinel was only engaged by one model, and I was able to clear that off quickly. Forfeit movement to aim, and... out of range. By about a millimeter. The scatter doesn't help. Second shot is a lot trickier - the Sentinel is tied up by four models, two of which are Errants. Errants have an ability that allows one model to die in another one's place, which lets them keep critical models alive - like one of the ones engaging the Sentinel. I manage to kill all the engaging models but one, and have to risk a free strike to get the assassination shot. And the Errant makes and rolls hot on the damage, straight up killing the Sentinel.

End game. Kreoss has narrowly avoided assassination and cleared the zone for a scenario victory.

That's pretty much the game right there, as he's already cleared the zone, and scores the last two points he needs to wrap up the game. Lesson learned: Don't drop this list into an infantry swarm. Also, gun bugs are awesome.

Round Three

I drew the bye, so I got to play Watchmachine for a couple hours.

Round Four

Versus Dustin's Legion of Everblight. He'd brought Thagrosh 1 and Lylyth 2 - both strong lists, both with a Blight Bringer. This time Morghoul was the obvious choice. He dropped Lylyth.

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight

- Ravagore

- Blight Bringer

- Nephilim Bolt Thrower

- Naga Nightlurker

Strider Death Stalker

Strider Death Stalker

The Forsaken

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Croak Raiders (max)

Deployment, and Croak Raiders first move.

I went second so I could take the side with the hill and the trench. Both of us had very simple deployments, as seen above. I was well aware of Lylyth's assassination potential, but was counting on the ability of the bugline to block LOS to Morghoul - who would be sitting at DEF 19/ARM 15 thanks to the Krea animus most of the game, camping at least three transfers.

He moved up fast, as expected, with the Death Stalkers doing the usual flanking maneuver and the Croak Raiders took the center. My first turn went well. I was able to knock out a few of the Croak Raiders, and put some damage on the Ravagore that my opponent hadn't expected. Unfortunately I left a gap in my defensive line between the Krea and the objective, which turned out extremely badly...

He took a heck of a lot of shots on his turn - the Croaks shot out plenty of oil bombs, though through pure luck they missed hitting Morghoul. And then his Ravagor took a shot at one of the Beast Handlers next to Morghoul, missed, and scattered straight onto Morghoul, the Extoller, another Beast Handler... and Tyrant Zaadesh. And then he rolled a hard 15 on the damage.

Midgame. Things have suddenly gone very badly.

Welp. Now I've got three wild warbeasts - my Raider, Brute, and Krea. That's a couple legit combat beasts and two crucial animi off the table for the moment. Also, Morghoul's on fire. I've gone from having a pretty strong position to being in serious trouble, especially since Lylyth hasn't feated yet. He finishes off his turn by dropping the Blight Bringer's monster AOE on the Krea, killing off some more support and putting damage on the Krea.

I start my turn by moving the Soldier up to kill off some Croak Raiders and contest the zone. Then most of the rest of my models take out the Ravagore - takes a bit more work than I'd like, preventing me from hitting any of his other models. Morghoul moves over and pulls the Krea into his battlegroup. I camp four Fury and hope it's enough.

End game. Note Morghoul at the bottom of the photo, knocked down and on fire.

It's not. I get one dose of luck - his Blight Bringer frenzies and does a bit of damage to his objective. With that having taken almost 20% of his army out of the game this turn, he's a bit doubtful, but goes for the assassination. Between the fire damage roll, the attacks from Lylyth, the Nephilim Bolt Thrower, and the Naga Nightlurker, he's able to force all my transfers, knock Morghoul down, and finish things off in fine style.

Lessons learned from that game:
A) Don't leave LOS gaps in your line against Lylyth (or, I suppose, any ranged assassins).
B) Keep Zaadesh super super safe. Further back is better. Maybe pop a Razor Worm into the list for Girded. And maybe put one of those support beasts under Morghoul instead.
C) The Blight Bringer is very, very good.

All told, I had a lot of fun at this event. I'm happy with the Morghoul list. Thanks to Asher for running it, and to all of my opponents for fun games.

Starscream for Warmachine

I just finished a rather neat commission. The client wanted some Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth done up in Starscream's color scheme (from Transformers) on the theme that Vindictus is the treacherous, power-grabbing Starscream of the faction. So here they are.

Vice Scrutator Vindictus

Sanctifier Warjack

Errant Exemplar unit + Officer and Standard Bearer

Battle Report: Warmachine 50-point Fully Painted Tournament

So I did (rather poorly at) a local tournament yesterday. This was the capstone event to our summer paint challenge, so naturally I forgot to take any pictures.

Here's what I brought:

Makeda and the Exalted Court
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Titan Gladiator
* Basilisk Krea
Cataphract Incindiarii (max)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)
Extoller Soulward
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Supreme Aptimus Zaal (Tier 4 Theme list)
Kovaas
* Titan Cannonneer
* Cyclops Raider
Immortals (Max)
Immortals (Max)
Aptimus Marketh
Hakaar the Destroyer
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Extoller Soulward
Extoller Soulward
Extoller Soulward

First game was against Asher, who brought Vlad 3 and Karchev. He chose to drop Vlad (with all the horses):

Vlad 3
* Drago
Khador War Wagon
Uhlans (max)
Uhlans (max) (and painted up in the Black Dragon scheme - very nice!)
Greylord Ternion Cav (max)
Drakhun
Kovnik Markov

This was a rough matchup. The war wagon can drop 4" circles of rough terrain, and my Zaal list has no pathfinder whatsoever. As a result, he was able to come in and use Zaal's feat for an alpha with no fear of retaliation, and managed to knock out about half my list - including Hakaar and Marketh, which really stung. The key spell of the game was probably Vlad's Dash - since he was able to ignore free strikes, my abundance of reach weapons were... not useful.

Still, Zaal's feat turn was pretty productive, and I was able eliminate about half his army, with much of what was left in less-than-ideal positions. Unfortunately, my dice were not kind to me this game, and that stacked with a few poor decisions such that he was able to charge in with an Uhlan. A crit knockdown later, and he shot Zaal off the table with a pair of Razor Wind spells from Vlad.

Of course, my worst mistake of the game was putting the Krea on the table out of sheer habit, despite her not being in the list. Thankfully she had no impact on the game before I realized it, and I lost anyway, but it was still terribly embarrassing.

Second game was against Scott, who was running Severius 1 and Feora 2. He dropped Severius:

Severius 1
* Blessing of Vengeance
* Vanquisher
* Devout (I think. The shield guard one.)
Vessel of Judgement
Zealots with UA
Temple Flameguard with UA
Choir (min)
3 Wracks
Paladin of the Wall
Hierophant
Vassal of Menoth

I might be missing a few models. Not sure.

At any rate, I dropped Zaal again. This was a rough matchup... for Severius. I still managed to lose. The first part of the game I was able to jam up into the zone and set the line of engagement just past the center. He hit my lines and knocked out around a dozen or so Immortals and one AG, and I struck back to wreck his Vanquisher, took out about half the Flameguard, and killed the objective. I did not manage to clear the zone, however. And then I got cocky and decided to take advantage of his slightly-too-bold positioning to try to ranged assassinate Severius, something that really only had around a 50% chance of succeeding. I failed, and left Zaal out in the open with no defenses or transfers, and he promptly ate several Zealot bombs and a couple spells, and exploded.

So... don't get cocky, kid.

After that, I dropped, since I'm pretty sure I was in last place and we had an odd number of players. Congrats to Asher on winning the tournament.

Battle Report: Makeda 3 vs. Kreoss 3

Scenario: Rally Point

Player 1: Jesse
Makeda and the Exalted Court
* Molik Karn
* Titan Gladiator
* Bronzeback Titan
* Basilisk Krea
Agonizer
Saxon Orrik
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Paingiver Taskmaster
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Gatorman Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)

Player 2: Danny
Intercessor Kreoss
* Reckoner
* Repenter
Holy Zealots
* Monolith Bearer
Exemplar Vengers (Leader and 4 Grunts)
High Exemplar Gravus
3 Wracks
Saxon Orrik
Gorman di Wulf
Madelyn Corbeau
Choir of Menoth (Leader and
Vassal of Menoth
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt

Four points short; I'm not sure what I've missed.

Deployment

I won the roll and chose to go first. The board was as pictured above; note that the two green terrain patches are woods, while the brown one represents a hill. I deployed my beasts to my right and the gators to the left in order to prevent him from scoring in the near zone. Makeda and support went in the center and back.

Danny deployed his Vengers on his right to counter my gators; put his Zealots in the middle; and spaced his battlegroup with the Reckoner in the center and a Repenter on either side, among the Zealots. Aiyanna and Holt were deployed on the far left, to counter my battlegroup.

Skorne Turn 1

 I just ran everyone up the board. No special tricks or anything, but I was a mite more cautious than I should have been. I also found that my friendly objective was blocking my movement; this became a bigger problem on turn 2.

Protectorate Turn 1

 Danny did likewise.

Skorne Turn 2

 I ran the gators into the zone on my left, in an attempt to block most of his guys out of it; at the very least, I would be able to prevent his Vengers from charging most of the gators and the Bronzeback without eating a free strike. Bronzeback shifted over to toe into the left-hand zone. Karn had to do a bit of tricky movement just to get around the objective and set up for next turn. Gladiator just shuffled forward. Makeda and her unit shifted hard to the right; I sent one of the Court up the middle in hopes of picking up Battle Driven; she also served to Shield Guard Karn if necessary. The other ran through the forest to contest the right-hand zone. Agonizer also ran over to the right; I intended him to be ready to contest that zone if necessary, and be ready to zip in and deny focus allocation.

This turn was where my hesitation on Turn 1 bit me. If Molik Karn had been half an inch, maybe an inch further forward, I could have popped feat and probably eliminated a third of his army, or at the very least thrown his tempo off. As it was, I had to wait.

Protectorate Turn 2

Zealots charge in with mini feat up. They do some damage, but not as much as could be expected. Vengers move in and kill one gator, but fail to really make a dent on my left flank. He manages - after far too much work and some awful dice - to clear out the Court member standing in front of Karn, then charges a Repenter in to beat on Karn a bit. Karn remains fully functional.

Skorne Turn 3

 At this point, I feel like I've pretty much lost the time management game, since I spent an awful lot of time last turn on my clock. I decide to make this feat turn and see how much work I can get done around the Zealot mini-feat. Unfortunately, the answer is "not much." Gators munch on the Vengers a bit, but that side remains in contention. Karn moves in under feat and does a little work, but the mini-feat prevents him from really going to town; in the end I move him up to tie up Kreoss. I screwed up hard with Makeda, though, trying to keep beasts in my feat/control area; as you can see above, she's right near the edge of the right-hand zone and far, far too close to Kreoss and/or other assassination vectors. Should have moved her to the right-most side of that zone and kept Karn back as a threat that he had to deal with...

Protectorate Turn 3

So it turns out I forgot about the Madelyn move. Danny shifts Kreoss to one side for a clear charge lane at Makeda; charges and takes no damage from Karn's free strike; and ends the game with an assassination.

Mistakes were made, mostly by me. I should have been more aggressive to start with, and positioned my early game pieces (Karn and Makeda) to move around the objective. On the other hand, I should have been more cautious later, and kept Makeda out of assassination range. I also found that I jammed myself in a bit in regards to the Bronzeback and the Gladiator. Both can do a lot of work in the late game, but they need to be up near the center line by turn two in order to do that, thanks to that SPD 4 stat. So the lesson is: Practice deployment and first turn movement.

List-wise, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm still shaking the wrinkles out here, but I do find myself missing an Extoller Soulward for the Eyeless Sight on a stick. Being able to draw line of sight through forests is extremely useful.