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.

Time to talk ADR.

This weekend I took part in a Steamroller event which had the ADR variant from the Masters Rulespack - this weekend coming I take part in another, and next week I'll be heading to the UK Masters to play two ADR Warlocks. Earlier this year, I played two Warlocks from Season One ADR in the Welsh Masters. 

Love it or loathe it, the ADR is certainly popular, and now for me at least seems a good time to discuss my experience of it.

Season One.. and how the hell did Mordikaar make it into the mix?!

I think that more than anything else, the defining characteristic of the first season ADR Warnoun selections was that they were (and still are) perceived to be the bottom end of their respective factions. Now.. don't get me wrong, before we go any further. I should probably qualify that remark. There were obvious exceptions. Using the Skorne as an example, Void Seer Mordikaar for example is widely regarded nowadays as one of the strongest options available. But he is in with strange bedfellows here. Both Naaresh and Hexeris1 are not considered to be strong tournament pieces. Morghoul2? Well... if I understand what the internets tell me, he was terribad to begin with in Mk.II, became amazeballs once Hit Squad landed, and then plummeted back into oblivion after being hit by the nerf bat in the recent errata. 

Sigh, those kids and their strange ideas. I could talk for hours on why I don't agree with near any of that, but I won't bore anybody reading this unless prompted. I will say that my choices for this season were Lord Tyrant Hexeris, and Master Ascetic Naaresh. 

Firstly, Hexeris1 is an excellent Warlock in the right circumstance. His feat can break the back of an entire army in a single turn against the right opponent and build, but even so, he brings tools for almost every occasion. What hurts him in my experience is that you rarely get the ideal match up for him. Any player with a list that doesn't want to see their own models eat into their comrades or be removed from play en masse will simply drop that second list. Suddenly, your infantry annihilating machine sputters, and realises that it doesn't have a feat any more, or worse yet, any heavies to face down the inevitable beef across the table. ADR is absolutely the answer for this. I was able to drop Hexeris1 without  that issue, knowing that I could simply substitute models for the best mix against my opponents list and Warnoun. Being able to so acutely build a list focuses him nicely. and really plays to his strengths.

Naaresh is another matter entirely. I play Naaresh at Tier four, and with probably the simplest battleplan the world has ever known, charging headlong into the opposition. If I'm entirely honest, the only reason I took Naaresh is that I love using him, and he was great armour breaking skew to fit alongside Hexeris. That said, there was some level at which he benefited from ADR; dependent upon my opponent, my two Rhinodon could easily become Archidon as needed.

My experience was that ultimately, although both Warlocks received a huge boost in competitive play as a result of a list sideboard (even more so in games where my opponents played a static list), ultimately they couldn't quite compete at the highest levels once the draw took me closer to the top tables and the established lists that you'd expect (despite a Runes victory for Hexeris, and a Saeryn victory for Naaresh along the way).  

So is season two any different? You bet.

Season Two - more bang for your buck.

The season two Warnouns are, continuing with the established conventions that players worldwide clutch to with an alarming regularity (if you hadn't guessed, I'm all about the individuality, man...), the middle rank options. I'll keep the same disclaimer as before, although I'm not sure that you see it in the Skorne lineup - there are a handful of exceptions, such as Father Lucant, or Vyros2, but for the most part there are none of the power pieces that you see proliferate at the top level. 

But the difference is that this time around, the Warnouns are more able to compete with the big boys. Play experience has shown this player at least that often the sideboard is enough of a little push to maximise those lists and cut out the elements which you need to include as an answer that might not be needed (take the Baslisk Krea as an example, suddenly pointless if you find yourself against an army with no guns), and ensure that you've wrung every available point to get the most favourable match up possible. Does that guarantee results? Of course not. But its a big step in list equality.

My choices here are Xerxis, Fury of Halaak, and Archdomina Makeda. Why? Well, Xerxis2 is flat out fun. He's also doing a very similar job as Rasheth and Morghoul1, but has the advantage of suiting how I play better. Time has shown me that I prefer a Warlock that can get work done in the end game if necessary, and that absolutely is the big lad on the rhino. 

I'm using Makeda1 to test elements I don't usually take or are new to me - Venators, Aradus, Scarab Packs, Keltarii. Being a Tier2 Armies of the Western Reaches theme force, the essential core of the list are two min units of Venator Reivers with UA attachments, which can never be switched out via ADR, along with the Praetorian Keltarii which I am very reluctant to remove - with Defenders Ward, they become an extremely capable jamming piece which has proven their worth to me time over in the few games I've used them. The remaining pieces are a little more flexible - but the base point is three units of Scarabs, and two Aradi Soldiers. These can be switched around slightly if necessary to make way for the reserves - Saxon Orrik for pathfinder where needed, a Baslisk Krea to make the list really tanky against a gunline, and a max unit of Slingers for those occasions that you wish Cryx would just spend their time melting into the floor in front of your eyes.

I cant promise that list especially will produce many results over the coming weeks, but it certainly does underscore the premise that ADR allows you to optimise your lists again - especially with the addition of new pieces like the Gremlin Swarm and River Raiders, pieces which you'll find absolute game changers in the rare situation, but worthless outside of that. Plus of course, its a lot of fun. 

Especially if you're a Starship Troopers fan.

This is literally how facing three units of Scarab Packs and two Aradus Soldiers feels apparently.

I'll keep you all in the loop - watch this space as results come in. Last weekend managed a tournament victory, although I seriously doubt I can keep that up!

Until next time.