Ironhead Station

Tonight my focus was learning eStryker. I played him for the first time in the tournament (yeah, dumb, I know), and realized I needed to spend some time with him. He is my first foray into epic warcasters, and I made the mistake of thinking that epic warcasters are just a jacked up version of the original version. In play, they are nothing alike - prime Stryker is a versatile and ultimately defensive caster, where eStryker is a cruise missile in warcaster armor designed to stick it in and break it off. It was going to take a completely different approach.

Here is what our lists looked like:

In the tournament I lead with the Stormblades, only to realize that they are just too few and a little too fragile to use as a speartip. They need a delivery service. I had originally planned to take Sword Knights (yeah, I love them just a little too much), but at the last minute I decided to swap them out for the Precursor Knights. The Precursors don't have quite the same damage output, but they make a great delivery service - they can't be targeted by spells, they block line of sight to whatever is behind them, and thanks to kneel they allow the Stormblades to shoot electric death from the back row. I liked this arrangement much better, and if not for some shortcomings (more on that in a minute), I think it would have been a great strategy.

I still struggle a little with the stormblades in this list. They do well, but there are so many synergies to remember (elite cadre bonus, UA bonuses, Stormclad bonues) that I will have to play them for a while to remember to use them all. In fact, between all of those synergy rules, all of Ol' Rowdy's rules and all of the Black 13th's rules, preparing to run this list is an awful lot like studying for an exam.

One last note: It's been a while since I've taken a Stormsmith, and I had forgotten how useful that little guy can be. Mine killed both a GMCA and Aiyanna off, more than earning his 12 points. One of bobaferret's picked off Ryan from out of the middle of the 13th, taking the teeth out of that unit. I love the angry old men - Soft targets beware!

So, why the provocative title you ask? Tonight was a night of misjudging distances at key points in the game. First, my March-empowered Precursors fell a half an inch short when charging the enemy's line, leaving them an inch away and out of shield wall. But that wasn't the worst of it: At the top of turn three I had Epic Stryker perfectly set up for his assassination run, only to find out I did not leave a large enough gap between my Stormclad and a stormblade trooper (by a millimeter!) for him to fit through. The charge failed and I took the rocket to the face for the loss on the next turn. When Siege gets to you there isn't much you can do about it - if I have learned one thing from playing him for the last month is that the best strategy against him is just to kill him fast.

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine

I hates me some Khador.

I took my eStryker list, and it just got chewed up. I used the advance move on my Stormblades, and I’m not sure why. I know better than to use them as a speartip, and as they advanced Eyriss and the mortars chewed them up completely. Widowmakers tore up my advancing sword knights and the Drakun charged Rowdy. Long story short: on round three eVlad feats, widowmakers sneak through a gap and shoot eStryker to death. I think I managed to kill one IFP. Blegh.

Game 2: vs. Scott’s Menoth (Scenario: No Man's Land)

I decided that the eStryker list was going back into the case until I had some time playtest it. I would be finishing the rest of the tourney with my Siege list. For this game I would be playing Scott and his Protectorate list, which included (from what I remember) eSeverius and the Hierophant, a Revenger, a full unit of Exemplar Vengers, a unit of Idrians + UA, a unit of zealots with the Monolith Bearer, Vilmon, Gorman, the Piper and DeBray.

Of course, DeBray deployed in the middle of the table, denying me the ability to deploy my trenchers there. I ended up having to deploy them on my far right flank, directly across from his vengers. That was okay with me – my worst nightmare with this list is having calvary wrap around into my backfield. I was hoping the trenchers would be good enough to serve as a tarpit and at least slow down his cav (which, they managed to do for the entire game). I pretty confident that my Sword Knights could take the middle, but I underestimated the speed and toughness of the Idrians, who had outrageous defense through some combination of spells and buffs.

On turn three I went in for the assassination, using Illumination to get LOS through Gorman’s smoke cloud, feating, and letting the rockets fly. The first one took eSevy to within 4 boxes, but I missed with the second (Reinholdt provided) shot! In response, I got black oil in the face from Gorman, assuring that more rockets wouldn’t be coming next round. Suddenly glad I took the Defender, I loaded the jack with focus, stuck him in a gap and shot the old man in the face for the win.

Game 3: Tony’s Cryx (Scenario: Mosh Pit)

The third game was definitely the most enjoyable of the day. The armies were well matched, my opponent was a really nice guy, and we duked it out something fierce. He brought a eGoreshade list with Bane Thralls, Tartarus, bile thralls, Slaughterborn and a unit of Bloodgorgers, two or three bone jacks, the Nightmare, the Withershadow, a Scarlock, and probably some other crap that I’m forgetting.

This time my trenchers managed to advance-deploy the way I wanted them to, and ended up popping smoke most of the game to fend off the Sudden Death-fueled counter charges of the Bane Thralls. I was lucky enough to experience, for the first time, the joy of the bile thrall purge, with two well-placed purges killing off most of my trenchers and a fair number of sword knights. Tony had amazing luck with his tough rolls on the Bloodgorgers, and I ended up having to kill most of them three or four times, allowing them to swamp my Sword Knights for most of the game. The Nightmare managed to sneak into my back lines through some crazy, cryxian bullshit (Phantom Hunter + Spectral Curse), and made me very happy that I had taken the bokur, who made short work of it (it had already been worked over by the sword knights pretty well, which explains why Siege survived in the first place).

The end of the last game. Mosh Pit in red.

This game finally ended when time ran out. We both had about half of our armies sitting off the side of the table, as the killing had been fierce. I ended up winning because I had more VPs in the Mosh Pit (9 vs. his 7), but I think I got pretty damn lucky, because things were falling apart fast for me. Had he been aware of the time, he could have probably killed me outright. Still, a win is a win, and I’ll take what I can get.

Wrap-Up

So, that’s another tournament under my belt! I didn’t place, but I did finish with a 2-1 winning record, which makes me happy. I took Best of Cygnar, but as the only Cygnar player there, I pretty much had that locked up when I walked in the door. I definitely need to get back to playing more regularly to keep the rust off. I used to play on Sundays, but with summer camping trips I need to work out something else. I still think my eStryker list has some potential, but I need to play it in some friendly games before I attempt it again in such a competitive setting.

Also, you can check out Ghettokore Studios for a less one sided version of the tourney...

Labels: Hordes, miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine

Deployment

Turn 1 (both): Deployment was uneventful with Jen winning the initiative. Nothing fancy on turn 1, with both sides basically running forward to mix things up as fast as possible - I had a unit of halberdiers over there as well as a unit of cav and a cav solo. I started worrying about my noticeable lack of infantry, and my complete lack of a good tarpit unit. I had dropped a bunch of points on the Thunderhead this game, wanting to test the idea that his pulse could eat through infantry fast enough that I wouldn't need the tarpit unit (just so you don't have to wait in suspense let me tell your right now, it can't.)

The end of Turn 1

Turn 2, Jen: We start to get it on, with Jen charging halberdiers into my lines. One gets into melee, but fails to kill anything. The Precursor block continues to creep forward while the twin mariners take advantage of the PK's kneel tactic and blast away at me from safely in their little Morrowan cocoon. One tees up the Thunderhead, who is looking like an obnoxiously big target in the front of my army. The other manages to deviate a shot onto the Black 13th and kills Ryan (oh, sweet Ryan). Meg and McNaile scramble around the whole time, making the 'jacks even better. Calvary sweeps around the right side, crashing by flank and forcing my Defender to deal with them instead of doing what he really needs to be doing.

The top of Turn 2

Turn 2, Me: I think about pulsing with the T-head, but it is just easier to drop a Ground Pounder on the halberdiers. Herne and Jonne try to AOE them to death, and manage to take out a few more. Sword Knights go in for cleanup. All but two die, which makes me mo' happy. Defender kills the cav that is in his grill, but realizes he has two more right behind it. I'm betting on a double-charge on Jen's next turn. I can't actually remember what the T-head ended up doing this turn, but looking at the photo, it must have been completely ineffective.

Bottom of Turn 2

Turn 3, Jen: The halberdiers charge the defender, doing some damage, and more importantly setting up flank for the cav charge, which comes next. Amazingly, the cav charge is an Epic Fail, with neither able to hit. The PK block advances over the fountain, and the Mariner's continue to pound on my T-Head. He's not looking so hot anymore, but he's still standing. Holt shoots a Sword Knight, and sends him to Urcaen. Bart moves up and pops feat, but doesn't catch nearly enough in it to make me nervous. [I forgot to snap a picture at the end of Jen's turn, so you will just have to picture it in your vivid (if slightly twisted) imaginations.]

Turn 3, Me: With Siege, my philosophy is pretty much win or lose, the game is ending in turn 3. Luck favors the bold. I shuffle the Sword Knights to get them out of the way (and out of Bart's feat). The Black 13th sneak up to the edge of Bart's control area, Lynch and Watts both scoring hits, softening him up. Herne and Jonne move up on the hill and take their shot at the boss, but miss wildly. Siege will need to finish it himself (as usual). I swing out around the left side of the sword knights and use Foxhole to sink the front line of Precursors and assure I have a clear line of sight to Bart. Siege feats, and fires off a Ground Pounder, and ends up laying out more damage than Bart's half-armored, already damaged ass can take. That's game.

End game. Rocket to the Face Hole.

While it was a win, it was a rough game. I felt rusty as hell, and I hated this army list. The Thunderhead was a 154 points of big-ass target, and I spent the whole game wishing their were trenchers up there instead (which is probably exactly what I'm going to do for the tourney version of this list). I also wonder about Herne and Jonne, who always seem to fall short of their potential for me. Back to the list-builder for a tune up on this one. Still, it was good to be playing again... Looking forward to some tournament play this weekend.

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine