Ride the Lightning!
Summer Rampage kicked off at our store today, and I managed to get a couple of good games in. I'm still in getting back into the swing of the game, but I had a far better showing this week than last time. My first list was all about trying out some of the new toys my faction has (most notably the Firefly and the Stormblade Storm Gunner), and the matchup looked something like this:
You could call it a theme list, although the inclusion of the Storm Blades invalidates it as a eNemo tiered list. The idea was to build something completely lightning-proof, so I could wade in with Thunderhead pulsing and units flinging electroleaps without fear of hurting my old models. In fact, the squire is the only model that is not lightning immune in the entire list, and hopefully I can keep him far enough back that it won't matter.
The Game Plan: I intended to deploy the two fireflies on the flanks and run them up field, hoping to set up early game triangulations with the stormcallers and take advantage of eNemo's Elite Cadre. Nine POW 12 damage rolls that cause disruption every turn is nothing to sneeze at. The Stormclad will get Lightning Shroud, making him a POW 19 wrecking machine, while the Thunderhead will get Failsafe, adding much needed +2 armor and ensuring he stays in the fight until the end. Polarity Shield goes on the Stormblades, as I really wanted to make sure they get their assault order off, and the Stormguard already have Set Defense. I should have more than enough melee with lots of arcing electricity to take care of troopers, and I have high enough POWs that they are even a threat to 'jacks. I need to keep heavies disrupted to minimize their effectiveness, and use lightning bounces (even if it is off of my own infantry!) and stormcalls to take out stealthy or high defense models. This is not a assassination list, it is an annihilation list: Instead of going right for your caster, I'm going to try and kill your whole army, and then your caster.
How did it work out? The list played well, and worked (for the most part) the way I hoped. The Fireflies let all three stormcallers get triangulation attacks off on the start of the second turn, and they managed to kill off an entire unit of doom reavers, with the exception of the Koldun Escort, who went on to make SEVEN tough checks in a row. I forgot to give the assault order, so my Stormblades only got off a regular charge, but at POW 15 they were able to inflict impressive damage, serious crippling two Khadoran heavies. Everything else worked as expected: My heavy 'jacks did their job, and (with infantry support) they could take out Khador heavies quickly without too much problem (although I let the Thunderhead get into melee, which is something I wanted to avoid). My stormsmiths were able to keep almost everything disrupted, which took off quite a bit of pressure.
What I didn't count on was eButcher. We don't have a ton of Khador players locally, so I don't get much practice against them, and I have never played against eButcher. His feat turn is absolutely miserable. He almost single handily wiped out my army, and then his rage tokens allowed his jacks to clean up almost everything else. I was left with eNemo, a couple of stormsmiths, a single stormblade and a firefly. So, I did the only thing I could do - I pulled a point of focus off of the squire, and I charged the Butcher! (Remember: Nemo's weapon has powerful attack, so one focus automatically boosts both attack and damage rolls.) I hit the Butcher with four boosted POW 13 attacks, and took him down to about 4 wounds, I feated, used focus matrix to take the three focus off my remaining Firefly, and used it to finish him. I stood there stunned... The old man had just melee soloed the Butcher!
Thoughts on the List: I didn't run this list with an arc node, which meant Nemo needed to buff his jacks early and upkeep them, which worked out okay. I also didn't take a Journeyman, which is normally automatic - while I missed the armor buff, I'm glad I didn't give up one of the fireflies to get him - the mass of triangulations was more than worth the trade. I do wish I could fit Strangewayes in - I hate spending so much on the Thunderhead and not having a way to keep it patched up. That being said, I don't think I would change anything at this point - the list played great and was a ton of fun. I'll definitely play it as-is a few more times before I make any adjustments. My final lesson: Don't underestimate an eNemo assassination! With a squire and 'jacks on his feat turn, eNemo can make EIGHT POW 13 attacks, boosting both the attack and damage rolls. If Nemo can take out the Butcher on his own, he can take out anyone.
My second game was supposed to be a quick 35-point pickup game that ended up going almost three hours. It was my first chance to face off against Lord Carver, a pair of War Hogs, Rorsch and Brine, and a bunch of Farrow Brigands. The offensive output of the farrow wasn't awesome, but they have great survivability: Carver has a solid spell selection, and the War Hogs are melee monsters, and with the tough rolls on the farrow the whole army was just a pain to kill - and it took a long time. Our lists looked something like this:
It's ironic that a model with Batten Down the Hatches would die to being knocked down and buried under commando grenades, but that is how this one ended. As can happen in Hordes vs. Warmachine, once his War Hogs were down, his fury dried up, and he was forced to either play offense or drag it out the eventual loss. For me, MVP honors were split between Ol' Rowdy, who just owned the middle of the board with counter-charge and grudge, and my trencher commandos, who took out a whole unit of farrow brigands without suffering a casualty. They are truely awsome.
A good start to the rampage - I left the store last night the top of the league ladder... I'm sure that will last until about...now. Still, it's fun to be on top, even if only for a moment.
Oh, yeah - 13 days until PAX!
My Army (50):
| Ian's Khador:
|
That's a lot of Khadoran heavy armor...
The Game Plan: I intended to deploy the two fireflies on the flanks and run them up field, hoping to set up early game triangulations with the stormcallers and take advantage of eNemo's Elite Cadre. Nine POW 12 damage rolls that cause disruption every turn is nothing to sneeze at. The Stormclad will get Lightning Shroud, making him a POW 19 wrecking machine, while the Thunderhead will get Failsafe, adding much needed +2 armor and ensuring he stays in the fight until the end. Polarity Shield goes on the Stormblades, as I really wanted to make sure they get their assault order off, and the Stormguard already have Set Defense. I should have more than enough melee with lots of arcing electricity to take care of troopers, and I have high enough POWs that they are even a threat to 'jacks. I need to keep heavies disrupted to minimize their effectiveness, and use lightning bounces (even if it is off of my own infantry!) and stormcalls to take out stealthy or high defense models. This is not a assassination list, it is an annihilation list: Instead of going right for your caster, I'm going to try and kill your whole army, and then your caster.
How did it work out? The list played well, and worked (for the most part) the way I hoped. The Fireflies let all three stormcallers get triangulation attacks off on the start of the second turn, and they managed to kill off an entire unit of doom reavers, with the exception of the Koldun Escort, who went on to make SEVEN tough checks in a row. I forgot to give the assault order, so my Stormblades only got off a regular charge, but at POW 15 they were able to inflict impressive damage, serious crippling two Khadoran heavies. Everything else worked as expected: My heavy 'jacks did their job, and (with infantry support) they could take out Khador heavies quickly without too much problem (although I let the Thunderhead get into melee, which is something I wanted to avoid). My stormsmiths were able to keep almost everything disrupted, which took off quite a bit of pressure.
The Epic Old Man will tolerate no bullshit!
What I didn't count on was eButcher. We don't have a ton of Khador players locally, so I don't get much practice against them, and I have never played against eButcher. His feat turn is absolutely miserable. He almost single handily wiped out my army, and then his rage tokens allowed his jacks to clean up almost everything else. I was left with eNemo, a couple of stormsmiths, a single stormblade and a firefly. So, I did the only thing I could do - I pulled a point of focus off of the squire, and I charged the Butcher! (Remember: Nemo's weapon has powerful attack, so one focus automatically boosts both attack and damage rolls.) I hit the Butcher with four boosted POW 13 attacks, and took him down to about 4 wounds, I feated, used focus matrix to take the three focus off my remaining Firefly, and used it to finish him. I stood there stunned... The old man had just melee soloed the Butcher!
These are the models the Butcher managed to kill on his feat turn.
Thoughts on the List: I didn't run this list with an arc node, which meant Nemo needed to buff his jacks early and upkeep them, which worked out okay. I also didn't take a Journeyman, which is normally automatic - while I missed the armor buff, I'm glad I didn't give up one of the fireflies to get him - the mass of triangulations was more than worth the trade. I do wish I could fit Strangewayes in - I hate spending so much on the Thunderhead and not having a way to keep it patched up. That being said, I don't think I would change anything at this point - the list played great and was a ton of fun. I'll definitely play it as-is a few more times before I make any adjustments. My final lesson: Don't underestimate an eNemo assassination! With a squire and 'jacks on his feat turn, eNemo can make EIGHT POW 13 attacks, boosting both the attack and damage rolls. If Nemo can take out the Butcher on his own, he can take out anyone.
My second game was supposed to be a quick 35-point pickup game that ended up going almost three hours. It was my first chance to face off against Lord Carver, a pair of War Hogs, Rorsch and Brine, and a bunch of Farrow Brigands. The offensive output of the farrow wasn't awesome, but they have great survivability: Carver has a solid spell selection, and the War Hogs are melee monsters, and with the tough rolls on the farrow the whole army was just a pain to kill - and it took a long time. Our lists looked something like this:
My Army (35):
| Josh's Thornfall:
|
A good start to the rampage - I left the store last night the top of the league ladder... I'm sure that will last until about...now. Still, it's fun to be on top, even if only for a moment.
Oh, yeah - 13 days until PAX!
Labels: Cygnar, Hordes, miniatures, MKII, wargaming, Warmachine
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by Scott Westerfeld, and thought it was a great read. The book tells the story of an alternative WWI history, where the Germans and Austrians developed walkers in the place of tanks, while the Brits depend on genetically-engineered creatures, including a gigantic airship created from a massive hydrogen-filled whale that lends the book it's title. It is a fantastic steampunk adventure, and I couldn't stop thinking about what a great big-box board game it would make. Playing the Clankers vs. Darwinists in a battle for Europe would be a blast.
