Makeda1 - Goddamn Bugs whacked us, Johnny!

Morning and Salutations to my fellow Tyrants, with an apology for being away so long. It's been a busy few weeks since my last entry, including two local events, and the UK Nationals.

Are any of you still out there? Anyone? Ah well, looks like I'm back to mumbling to myself again.

So first up, results of the aforementioned events.. well, I won both of the local events. More through luck than judgement? Absolutely. I love playing Warmachine, and that genuinely is my approach to playing any game. I'm always surprised when I do well, when half the time I eschew the more powerful options for models which I haven't used in an age, or I like the look of. 

Perhaps I do well from the dark horse choices? Especially in the cold, hard, post Devastation light, who plays Skorne anymore, eh? Just kidding. But I bet that the guys that do wouldn't field three Rhinodon, as I have on occasion.

 Ah, the noble Rhinodon. Forgotten hero of the Skorne Empire.

Overall, if I'm honest, I'd call any success that I enjoy more luck than fine judgement of how to play my opponents. Moving on, and I went 4-3 at the Nationals, including a very brutal game in which I was schooled in two turns and learned a very important lesson about large battlegroups and their vulnerabilities.

No more playing the bully for me.

If there is any interest from the say, one of two of you that are still interested in reading this, I can talk about that - but for the moment, as promised, I thought I'd share my Makeda1 list that I mentioned I was working on a while back, and that I took with me to the Masters and both events.

The List..

Armies of the Western Reaches (Tier2)

Archdomina Makeda

-Aradus Soldier

-Aradus Soldier

-Scarab Pack

-Scarab Pack

-Scarab Pack

Venator Reivers (Leader and 5 grunts)

-Officer and Standard UA

 Venator Reivers (Leader and 5 grunts)

-Officer and Standard UA

Praetorian Keltarii (Leader and 9 grunts)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 grunts)

Its an ADR list (at time of writing) so for the Masters I was able to add a sideboard of

Saxon Orrik

Titan Gladiator

Basilisk Krea

Venator Slingers (Leader and 9 grunts)

I don't use this guy, barely at all, in any list. Sorry buddy.

..I know. I'm a special snowflake. So the big question is the record I guess; thus far it's managed 5:1 (2:1 at the Masters), which I'm fairly happy with. My one defeat was against Xerxis1, in a game which I didn't want to drop it, but was forced to in the face of the Xerxis2 pairing I'd also brought being such a poor match.

What does it do well you might ask at this stage. I'm not 100% sure to be honest. It feels nice to play certainly, with a lot of interesting elements that I don't typically field; combined arms, recursion, and a tricky jam unit for denial work. That said, it doesn't feel terribly toolboxy either. It's a 'soft' attrition list, with a no nonsense build. Not many tricks to it.

Typically, the two Venator units advance down either flank, using their minifeats to fire into the enemy ranks early, and then keeping up the barrage of supporting fire throughout. The Keltarii are my Defenders Ward targets - reaching a healthy DEF15/17 and immunity free strikes - Reform lets them jump into the enemy to slow their advance considerably. In the middle. The Scarabs are a strong denial element - my opponent has to think about managing 40 boxes of damage per turn if they want to stop the little suckers from returning under feat. The big bugs are there for the heavy lifting, and to offer another potential +2/+2 for the Scarabs.

Did I ever mention how much I love these guys?

So what else can it do? Well.. that's just it. It's relatively tanky against guns, with Cover, Blade Shield, Defenders Ward and Carapace Armour keeping me smiling. I'm currently toying with the idea of finding space for the Aradus Sentinel in the mix, but in truth I know from experience it really wants the heavy hitters. An early game was against Runes, and that was a real struggle. Another good choice would be breaking tier, losing one unit of Venators, maxing the other and trying to fit in Zaadesh to run the little bugs. Gang would improve their effectiveness drastically; they're made for Tag Team, even at a cursory glance.

I feel that there could be real mileage here - although since I started writing this I realise I'm not seeing table time with it - because I'm all in on playtesting Zaal2. I'll have to come back to it therefore. Coming up this tomorrow I have another local event, and then the following weekend a mini Masters which I desperately need practice for, not to mention a Journeyman at my FLGS where I'm fielding Farrow...

Any week where you have too many games to find time for a new list because you're busy playing others can't be bad.

Until next time, fellow Tyrants.

Fluff.

Evening!  

So to take a break from painting my second Shepheard and Deathstalker I thought I'd talk fluff. 

Coming for a background rooted in GW games I've had nearly 25 years of a world to immerse myself in and enjoy. I feel like I've walked the streets of The Empire and trod the trails through Athel Loren. As you might have guessed- to me, fluff is important. I need it to 'live' the game. I want to feel the that I know what my characters are going through etc. Lame?  Maybe, but it's what I enjoy. 

As such, I've started to immerse myself in the world of WMH. Initial thoughts?  I'm liking it. It feels like PP haven't just taken all the paradigms of fantasy or sci fi and slapped their own branding on the top. Yes there are good guys and baddies, references to the real world and elves- but the meld and lack of realiance on one particular genre works nicely. 

So i throw it open to the floor- do games need the fluff, the back story and the cannon?

Kromac, Champion of the Wurm - Now with added play experience!

Hey all, It's Aaron Wilson here / PGSadPander on the forums! I'm back with another post about Kromac2. My last blog broke him down, his spells, his feat and what I thought my list might look going forward. Well I'm now 7 games in with this guy and I thought I'd share my experience with him so far and what I've learned.

I've paired Kromac2 with Kreuger2. The list I've been running for Kromac2 is as follows -

Kromac, Champion of the Wurm
Druid Wilder
Ghetorix
Warpwolf Stalker
Pureblood Warpwolf
Lord of the Feast
Blackclad Wayfarer
Blackclad Wayfarer
Shifting Stones
Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Druids of Orobos
Druids of Orobos Overseer.

Out of the 7 games I've played I have l won 4 and lost 3, the best thing about the losses is I know why I've lost each time. I may have been too cautious with the feat and held it for too long, or like in my first game with Kromac2 popped it way too early and didn't quite hold it until it was relevant. I'll break down the list for you guys so hopefully you get an idea why each model is in it.

Lets start with Kromac2, well boy this guy is baller to play, our first proper front line warlock and he does it well. I find my self having the choice each turn of casting Carnage or Primal Howl after I've upkept Awakened Spirit. Generally if I'm feating and going in deep primal howl is what I'll look for here. The feat negates a little of the need for Carnage and on the feat turn you're not looking to drop high defense targets, rather the low defense meatier ones. Primal howl will keep Kromac2 alive in isolation in most instances under feat turn against living model melee assassinations. If you're pressuring scenario by keeping Kromac2 in the zone primal howl is normal high on the priority list to cast. If you're not in any immediate danger and you're not pressuring quite so hard, carnage is never a bad spell to throw down.

The wilder is pretty key to the list to help the fury management and I've found best run as a module with the Pureblood Warpwolf. If you're playing a spread out scenario having these two waddle around as a pair is ace, a fully boosted spray each turn for 0 fury is a amazing piece of kit. If you're not spreading out, she's still amazing and the best fury management outside of stones. I often find my self either stripping fury off a beast, or throwing a lightning strike onto ghetorix.

Ghetorix, do we need to say more?

Warpwolf stalker is amazing (Durr, who knew eh?) give him awakened spirit and let him berserk under carnage until his heart is content only to sprint, so far spending 0 fury! This guy under what Kromac2 offers is just the ticket.

Pureblood, well the more I play him the more I love him. As you will notice I have no gorax in my list so I have no primal. The Pureblood animus therefore is double important as in some cases (Fortify, Arcane shield, ect ect) Wraithbane is as good (Or better) then a primal. Not only that but the spray is so solid, warp ghostly, walk out spray that Eiryss, Gorman, Anastasia ect in the back lines. In a list where it's hard to get those annoying solo pieces this guy shines. That's on top of his solid animus, and the ability to bring serious pain under the feat also.

Lord of the Feast, well I'm being quite greedy here. This guy is essentially the gorax slot, but I've playing greedy and taking LotF instead and I'm really glad I am! This guy is a machine, which we all knew. He will either buy you a whole turn by engaging a unit and forcing them to take him out (An example being I charged two Dawnguard Sentinels, cleared up both, shot another and killed 3 more and the unit then had to vengeance to remove him). He's other primary role is getting to the real back support pieces (Looking at choir, beast handlers, ect) or at the very least run to engage a unit (Gun mages, Stryder Rangers) force a CMD test and engage the unit. Overall I'm always glad this guy is in my list.

The double blackclads, I think we all know why we love the blackclad. A 2" threat extension, a solid spray or rapid deployment.

Double stones, again no surprise here. Fury management, in a list where you want to brick more often then not they let you break from the brick turn after without worrying about charge vectors, ect.

Druids with UA. I know druids are 50/50 with circle players, some people dislike them and think they don't do enough, some people adore. I adore them, counter magic, elemental protection, people ALWAYS having to worry about me going fishing with force bolts for free trades as well as the clouds to finish the brick off. Under a druid cloudwall and primal howl Kromac2 can be looking at 18/18, or under feat 18/20 with 19, that's ludicrous stats. Oh and to top that all of, you can't cast spells at me. 

Over all I love how the list plays, though a lot of this comes down to Kromac2. He is an amazing warlock and a real breath of fresh air to the faction, never have I been able to feat, charge and one shot a raek, just with my warlock! He's play a solid scnenario game in a non control way, mroe in a "I'm probably going to eat if you're close" way?. Drop him in a scenario zone and your opponent has the question of feeding him, or not contesting. Under the brick the assassination attempts should look very bad for the opponent. With the stones and druids you still have circle movement shenanigans paired with models to get to the back line / remove key solo and support pieces.

Well, that's my run down of Kromac2 so far. How are you finding him so far, whether it be playing against or with him?

What a difference a day makes - Devastation and the Thornfall Alliance

Thursday 1st of October and the Thornfall Alliance is downcast and grumbling with only the Warlord spoiled so far and he is "Situational" at best and terrible at worst; over costed, over abundance of conflicting abilities and over here... All is not well.

Friday 2nd of October and all hell has broken loose! Chain Attack have an early copy of the book and have posted up a fair few spoilers about upcoming releases, some are good, some are great and some are amazing... but as a primarily Farrow player i don't really give a stuff about the other bits haha.

Thankfully PP has seen fit to provide the Alliance with several awesome new tools of warfare to crush the armies of man:

The Battle Boar

First mentioned in Helga's fluff story i believe, its stats are identical to its cousin the gunboar, but this brute has lost the cannon and gained rabid(!) and snacking as an animus.. oh and its a point cheaper to boot!

This is a big deal, this beast provides the alliance with a solid platform of cheap, melee light beast that the many and varied buffs available in faction can bring:

• Lord Carver: Where to start haha; Mobility for SPD9 with Rabid, Batten down the hatches for ARM20, Quagmire for effective MAT7, the feat for 4D6 damage rolls. With Carver i plan to treat them like Heavy infantry and run a pack of 4/5 of them and smash into my opps lines with ease.
• Golden Horde Tier: Again Lord Carver but the T4 benefit of advance move on battlegroup means that going first you can be knocking on your opponents AD line - 7"Deploy + 5" AM + 18" Run/Rabid/Mobility. Also in this tier is cheaper lights for Rorsh but this is not the one for him...
• Dr Arkadius: The usual benefits of Forced Evolution and Crippling Grasp with the crazy feat for some silly movement.
• Mad Science: Doc's old tier is still a fav of mine, and remember what the BBoar can do with Golden Horde, well look at Mad Science for some speed: 7"Deploy  + 18" Run/Rabid/SPD + 12" Feat Charge to get into the opps deployment zone on turn 1... unlikely but possible haha
• Nature of the Beast: Ive not played this enough to decide if the beast is better than losing the free Razorboar, only time will tell on this.
• Midas brings calamity and his tier allows masses of bonegrinders and a dead beast for them to start spaming an animus... not this guys but the next beast hehe
• Sturm n Drang are beast casters through and through so; Drang bringing the amazing combo of Pack Hunters/Goad/Killing ground for +2MAT, free charges and extra movement!
• Helga: The First Lady of Pigdom brings us Gang fighter for extra hitting power, and her funky slam time feat for more shenanigans. Helga's armies often feature a lot of slaughterhousers as she doesnt do much for brigands and reach gives more flexibility on the feat. The BBoars will love the abundance of reach infantry to trigger gang fighter haha.

The Splatter Boar

A total new one for us, a giant piggy Assault Kommando with a mortar strapped to its back hahaha whats not to like! Gun Boar stats with a different ammo type gun as listed above.

It could be argued that this gun brings to the Alliance what Rask's brings to the luggage crew; Corrosion bombs for murdering chaff, fire for hardier targets and triggering the prowl on the Warlord(!) but his best is the psycho gas...

Hit your own troops who will largely be fearless and get the enemy to run away, or better yet hit your own beasts for a frenzy move... Farrow now have fury management!!!!! Outside of Dr A's feat we have a way to relatively reliably deal with an epic turn of destiny and not pay the piper for it in the next turn.

Midas and Helga love this guy, Midas in tier has a good spamable animus for all his bonegrinders to dish out and |Helga has a powerful gun to make use of her slams.

Sturm n Drang love this guy as he can provide a cloud for them to hide in/behind and shield their medium base asses from enemy fire.

Carver loves this guy for further increasing the damage output of his new Battle Boar brute squad and could attach one to Rorsh to provide cheap covering fire and fury management without taxing him.

Dr A loves him in Mad science for sure, but again is he worth losing a free razor boar in Nature???? 

Lynus Wesselbaum & Ebrea Lloryrr (Minion Character Unit)

Pendrake's assistants from the Novella are now gracing a tabletop near you! Less useful than the pig beasts but still having something to offer the Alliance, Collaboration  provides another way to buff the spell warded Maximus and trying to avoid that critical miss on his first attack roll derp.

Ebrea can bring an extra magical attack to use against those dastardly incorps or Paladins etc, and her wind barrier brings shooting protection to the unit which makes them pretty tenacious compared to their 14/12 stats would suggest.

So there we have it, an old Farrow generals outlook on our newest recruits... i cant wait for the releases and to start terrorizing the local tournament scene... who knows, if they are out by smogcon you WILL see them in the Pit!!!!!!   

Entering the fray

You know the score, long time gamer picks up new system, dabbles and then when it inevitably feels wrong eBay is reached for.  I had thought that this would be my experience with WM/H having been a drum beating, fun loving GW fan boy since the age of 12.  I bought some Legion, basing my decision entirely on the look of the models and set about learning the game.

"Its a steep learning curve" they sagely opined.

"You'll loose a lot of game first" many a club member informed me.

"Play one list and stick with it" was a mantra I heard many times.

Pah!  I've played for Wales at the 6 Nations!  I've painted more Skaven than Matt Ward's had bad ideas I thought.  

How foolish I was, as it seems that all of the above was entirely true!  I could feel the urge to sell coming on fast, thinking of all the new Warriors or Orcs I could buy with me coin.  9th edition was fast approaching and with rumours of being allowed allies I was happier than a Welshman at 'Twickers' last week.  Then Age of Sigmar arrived.  I won't dwell on the genuine upset I felt over this, rather the opportunity GW unwittingly game me to give WM\H a chance.

So I bought a ticket to a one day event, borrowed me some Ravagores and decided that no matter what happened I was going to get stuck in.   For me, organised play is always the best and I suppose the thrust of this post is recanting my first event experience and offering my tips for the other 'noobs' out there.

So - Round 1 against Trolls.  After my oppo did all the setting up (I hadn't.....haven't got a clue) it struck me that I had no idea as to what his toys could do.  "Look at his cards" you say?  Well, on the clock and conscious of not spoiling the event for him its easier said than done, as he had a LOT of cards.  This would be my message from this round.  You are not going to know what he can do - so make sure you know what yours does!  Pick any two units from WFB and i'll tell you how each can deal with each other.  Here I was lost, playing blind.  So, deal with it on a case by case basis.  Activate - target and then ask.  It keeps the game flowing.

Round 2 taught me about 'feating'.  I was using Epic Lylyth, and looking forward to Decimation.  The game rolled on and it occurred to me that if I didn't feat soon it wouldn't happened.  You can see where this is going.  I needed to get my head out of the 6 turn, slow burn approach to gaming and play the situation.  The fact was that my list was all about the feat and I squandered the opportunity.  Be brave I say and feat when the opportunity arises - not save it for a later that may never come!

Round 3 was a little different as the chap I played made it more of a training game.  This match up tight me about, how to put it, gaming detritus?  I was spewing out lasting fireballs and had nothing to mark them with.   Fortunately my oppo did and all was well, but look at your list and think about what you need to play the game effectivly.  A good measure, enough tokens and effect rings.

Round 4 was against a PressGanger who let me win it but had the good graces to make a show of disguising it!  This gives me the opportunity to discuss my final point.  Its quite clear that WM/H is designed to be played in a competitive spirit but that doesn't mean it can't be fun, civil and sporting.  I must have played near 100 event games of WFB and can count the number of bad games on one hand.  I hope for the same with this system and would encourage any other new players to adopt this attitude.  Its toy soldiers after all, and you can't get angry with dice.

As I get more games under my belt i'll be back with more musings.  Having just secured a ticket for the Welsh Masters I have some work to do!