Casual sunday gaming and random musings on, Why do you play?

Hey guys it's Aaron Wilson here, @PG_SadPander on twitter, so drop me a follow!

First of all, Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there, thanks for being rad and putting up with our nerdy shit why we lived at your house. You're a bro!

Today my mum went to Great Yarmouth to see her mum and my Fiance spent the day with her mum, leaving me a free day which meant only 1 thing. Physical warmachine games! I have been smashing vassal recently so it was really nice to play some games over the table top. A friend came over and we played in my garage, I'm still waiting for my PG order to come which contains pretty much all of my Morghoul1/Mordikaar list inside. It means I got to go back to my original Skorne lists, Fist/Makeda2. My opponent had Issyria/Ravyn in tier.

The first game we played was Issyria, into Fist. We played the two fronts scenario. 








I ended up with a scenario win of 5-0 here, once the left flank was cleaned up Xerxis1 dominated his own zone to victory. Next up we played Makeda2 into Force wall as Adam wanted to try it out.





Wreck Markers and proxy bases galore, we played the same scenario as we swapped lists. I got a 5-0 scenario win here as well, also yay for my painted models! Adam then wanted a re wrack and we played the same match up on the scenario Out flank. Below are shots from the game!














Here is how the game ended, but maybe not in the way you think. This was bottom of turn 2, Kaelyssa had feated and I saw a gap for Molik. I upkept Leash and then ran a Incindarii for Makeda2 to charge. I then put enrage and puppet strongs on Molik. Makeda2 then cast rush on Molik, Road to war on her self, called her feat and charged the Incindarii. Molik then leashed his 3" and trampled his 13" into said gap. The dice were well on, needing 10s to hit Kaelyssa behind the wall with boosted to hit rolls from my feat, as well as puppet strings. When I hit I was dice -1, with 3d6 damage. I missed 3/5 out of the 5 attacks, and the 2 I hit left her on 1 box.

At this point, I didn't rage, I didn't get mad and I shook adams hand and laughed it off. Dice, are dice and they happen. It's all swings and roundabouts, it's peaks and trofts and it all comes round in the end. If I ever get seriously upset about warmachine I think I would stop playing. Now, I'm not writing this to pretend I'm the coolest guy in the world, but more to the view I think sometimes we can lose sight why we play the game.

We play toy soldiers boys (and girls), with that said we are all seriously passionate about the game we love and dedicate a lot of  time and money to. I'm pushing my self to make the WTC qualifying day year, hammering games in and I take each game as serious as I can. I try and give each game a lot of thought and I try to play the best of my ability. Just try not to lose sight of why we spend that money and dedicate that time. It's for fun, for me? It's MUCH more of a social thing then it is anything else. I have the best group of friends and to further extend that I consider anyone in the WMH community a friend of mine. The laughs, the experiences and the times I have attending cons, local events or just hanging out are what make the game for me. It wasn't for the group of people who play this game, I would dedicate my time and money elsewhere.

For some people It's hobby, for some people is it to win every game flawlessly and be at the pinnacle of competition. At the end of the day, we all play a game which involves dice. For me the worst negative play experience isn't Lylyth2, or Haley1 it's people who sap the fun of a game. Have a laugh, have a joke and share good times with good friends. Win some games along the way? Well that's a bonus.

From Druid to Tyrant, 4 months in.

Hey guys It's Aaron / @PG_SadPander on Twitter and I'm back with a post about my journey from Druid to Tyrant. After playing pretty much only Circle Orobos from 2011 to 2015, late 2015 I decided I wanted to shake it up. I'd played Kreuger2, Braddigus, Morv2, Morv1, Kromac2, Kaya2 etc etc a lot and I just wanted to keep the game fresh. No Warmachine factions really appeal to me, I mainly go for a faction because I think "This looks rad" and that's what I did. I picked Skorne for 2 reasons really. 1 - The faction is just stunning, i love the overall feel and the look of the faction. It's brutal from top to toe and that's what really sold me on the faction, but secondly because I was always told about how bad the faction is. It's not represented at this event because they're awful, etc.

Now don't get me wrong, despite my constant trash talking and delusional speeches about how I'm going to take the Welsh masters crown, I'm under no illusion of Skorne's power level. They have some inherent downfalls which despite however good a player you are, you can't overcome. Cryx recently getting Mobius really destroys Mordikaar as a Cryx drop and the faction really doesn't have a good answer to Cryx. There strongest lists (Mordikaar, though maybe not anymore and fist) have been the same lists for a long while. People know what they do and how to play them, as well as croaks hurting Skorne seconds go to list - Fist.

With all that said, I'm currently 54 games in with skorne with a 80% win rate. I haven't attended a Steamroller/Masters event yet (Though in the next 3-4 months, I now have 11 events lined up, which range from local steamrollers to UK Masters/ETC/Welsh masters) but I'm pretty happy with how they perform on the table. I've just recently switched from Makeda2/Fist to Morghoul1/Mordikaar and I am having a blast playing it. It's really helped re fuel the fire of the game for me in more ways then one.

In circle, I own the whole range with enough models to do any tier list. It's all painted..... but not by me. I bought around 3/4 of the collection when our PG passed away, his fiance at the time offered the models for sale to the local community so they would still see table time and could live on in the community. The rest I bought my self, and had it commissioned painted. Painting I really struggle with, I know I'm a weak painter and my attention span is low to go with it. But the Skorne have performed a small miracle and well..





 





 





I've painted stuff! I've got nearly my whole Makeda2 list all painted with just my min Incindarii and max Swordsmen left to do! I'm really chuffed with it, my love for the game is at new highs and it's really helped me push through and actually paint things. It may not be amazing, but hell on the table it looks okay and that's all I need.

I'm very excited to start attending events, I have a local steamroller on the 19th and the 25th March in which I'll be taking Morghoul1/Mordikaar and I'm hoping to win both.

Thanks for tuning in guys, I'm going to write a breakdown of my second Welsh Masters list soon so tune in for that! Follow me on twitter @PGSad_Pander for updates on my painting, practice games and event scores!

..overcoming Faction Purity in the cold light of day.

I'd start with an apology of sorts, for my absolute lack of updates on Imperishable Dominion for the past few months, but for the simple fact that I doubt any of our readership missed me. I'm nowhere near pretentious enough to consider otherwise. Nonetheless, there it is. For those of you new to the blog, an introduction. My name is Sherwin, and I play Skorne; nope, that's Convergence; wait, that should be Minions. Or Convergence.

Maybe both.

 Time now for a boring personal history lesson, and then a guy taking himself waaay too seriously

I've played Skorne since the inception of Mk.II, back just after the field tests, and they were the first Hordes faction to receive a 'Forces of..' release. Back then, our local area didn't have a Warmachine scene at all, beyond a couple of older gamers whom had tried starting up at some point and given up due to lack of both store and gamer support.

My first Warlock was Tyrant Xerxis, for whom I dutifully made the obligatory Tier 2 Fist list after a handful of psuedo-battlebox games (to this day I've only ever used the actual Skorne battlebox for a game around three times); after that as our scene began to flourish, I continued to play with the Skorne. I am without doubt in the camp of those fiercely dedicated players that champions a single faction above all others, and comes to identify with them in the local meta. 

I enjoyed moderate success at a local level with the Skorne, and even some success at a national one (although of course, no titles), placing fairly respectably with them. But I found that whenever I would try my hand at an alternative faction, I'd reach about four games in at most before simply shaking my head, putting the models back in the case, and reaching for the Master Race once again. Any other faction just couldn't sway me from my first Warmachine love. 

 This guy changed it all

But then finally I became mechanized. Around six months after their release, a friend was selling off his Convergence of Cyriss models, which I duly came into possession of. I thought that they'd be an interesting painting project and then I'd sell them on eBay. What actually happened was that I fell in love with the first model I painted, a Cipher. Something about the aesthetic just appealed I guess. That afternoon, I vowed that I would use the models I had for games, and that I wouldn't touch the Skorne for a whole year, thus avoiding the typical circumstance of returning back to my beloved Titans after a handful of games. 

Playing Convergence was a massive eye opener, and something which I can absolutely attest to being the moment that my game stepped up to the next level, whether it be list construction, strategy, understanding of the core mechanics, or of tournament play. I couldn't say whether that was down to the faction or not - certainly there was initially a frontier feel to them back then, with only three Warcasters, no Corollary, Enigma Foundry, second heavy jack chassis, or battle engine. Perhaps that restriction focused me, perhaps not.

I returned to Skorne after Smogcon 2015, as promised. And, as you'd expect had a great time during the honeymoon period. I came to dominate the local meta with Xerxis2 paired with Zaal1. But for all that I was enjoying my games, I found the same unease that had begun to creep in during the latter part of my first run with the Skorne. Everything was the same. Very little had changed. Granted, the Aradus provided something a little different, but not a dynamic alteration. The faction felt stale. 

Enter the Minions. I'd owned a growing horde of both pacts for years, as allies for the Skorne, and then as painting projects, and always sworn that I would try them for a decent run. They became my new Convergence, starting so far with Thornfall.

And, for those of you still reading, here's the point of the article, the discussion.

Having a new faction to test expands your gaming horizons, and keeps the game fresh. Learning the synergy of a new faction or how the interactions between new models and abilities work is the best way to force you out of old habits, and keep you evolving. Playing Convergence certainly taught me that very quickly, as have the Farrow. But the flipside is that initially at least, you have to reset the learning curve. And for some, that's the killer.

I love the Thornfall Alliance models. Each of them has so much character, and is so thoroughly engaging to paint, even down to the lowliest grunt. They are, without doubt one of the best examples of how Privateer Press have taken a fantasy trope, mixed it around a little and made it their own. But every game is a struggle; they're deliberately balanced as being difficult. Players using Minions don't expect or even hope to win events. That some do is tribute to their ability of course, and once the new Light Warbeasts arrive, things will change. But by taking a Minion army, you are significantly putting yourself at disadvantage to the other players.

For the moment therefore, I've been forced to ask myself the question of how much I want to win. That sounds absurd to write, but I believe that its a question at the heart of all of us, the elephant in the room that few of us like to address directly. In a meta which looks down on 'powergaming' or those too invested in their games are decried as tryhards, at what point do you look at yourself and admit that you are using the best options available to you, because crucial to your enjoyment is victory?

For me at least, its a tough one to realise. I've always championed love for the game itself, and the models over the rules; I've never once fielded a list based upon what I read online or saw that did well somewhere else. I even stopped using the Fist after I came to the conclusion that it was fast becoming so commonplace once the Incindiarii were released. But losing with Minions has taught me that luxury is simply not one that I have with my new faction. 

Our in house artists impression of how the war for my faction purity was lost

And that's why I have at last overcome my faction purity, and broken free of what feels like the last hurdle in that step up which began with playing Convergence. I am a Convergence player, and a Minion player. Because, for better or worse, I am too emotionally invested in my games to not be it seems, to have one faction for events and when I want to win, and one for when I just want to play random games - or, until they get a release that brings them up to a standard which makes me feel more confident of success.

I'll just have to live with that I guess.

Battle Report: Morghoul1 v Kromac1

Hey guys and I'm back with a battle report and this time it was played over Vassal, I'm around there a lot with my tag being Aaron.W(UK50PTS)-Skorne- if you see me around drop me a message and say hi, or challenge me to a game and I'll battle report it!

This game featured Morghoul1 facing Kromac1 in the Outflank scenario. It was a interesting list decision from my opponent, he had Kreuger2 double croaks and Kromac1 /w una boat and stalker / gheto. I elected to play Morghoul1, I felt Kromac1 would go through my Mordikaar infantry under Wild aggression and would do the whole sprint warpath thing Kromac1 does to infantry masses. Outflank also allows to him to skirt the edges off the table with no real need to force the issue. I'm always innately scared of seeing Kreuger2 across the table having played about 150 games with him my self, I know what guy can do so I was relieved to see Kromac1.

You guys know my Morghoul1 list, here is the opponents Kromac1 list - (Credit to Sentinel for the list)

Kromac1
Druid Wilder
Ghetorix
Warpwolf Stalker
Gorax
Blackclad Wayfarer
Blackclad Wayfarer
Una the Falconer
Rotterhorn Griffin
Rotterhorn Griffin
Druid Stoneward + Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward + Woldstakers
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Shifting Stones
Stone Keeper

Who would take it? The master tormenter or the to be champion of the wurm!

I won the roll for first and I elected to go second which I like doing a LOT with Morghoul1. I also knew that if his stones moved forward I could shoot them with a Sentinel and at dice off 5 I should remove one, he only had the one unit with UA so if I could snipe my turn 1 I would be in a strong position. If they shifted backwards they wouldn't be hugely relevant to me turn 2. Another reason I enjoy going turn 2 is I get a free round of shooting, far striked sentinels can remove key solo pieces or drop early damage into units / beasts at the bottom of 1. Contesting turn 2 is never normally much of a issue, I can either feat to ensure safe contesting with tiberion / croaks, or the feat is often not needed in the match ups he plays into. Often the shooting just can't shift the bugs, or admo can keep me safe etc. Or maybe just running the agonizer and calling for no allocation is enough to ensure my contest is safe. 

I took the bottom side of the table, there was a hill which was going to be great for my croak raiders, as well as the forests on the top of the table I could negate with a soulward when necessary but I couldn't counteract the hill if needed. The wall on the top of the table was also considered concealment, if it was cover I may have taken top.





Turn 1 for Circle was pretty simple, Warpath on Kromac, Inviolable Resolve on Ghetorix, Wild Agression on Stalker and a small advance for Kromac1, he couldn't advance more then 6 or he could be in range of an abused, far striked sentinel. The rest of the turn the models ran to get into position for the next turn.

Skorne turn 1 was pretty simple, the sentinels got far striked and managed to kill 1 blackclad and I think 1 prawn of doom from each wold unit, this includes there auxilarry attacks also. One of my sentinels got admo from Morghoul1 who popped out one of the far strikes, the raider did the other. The croaks got tempered flesh and they all hugged the hill to hopefully help there defense against the little world shrimps. My krea popped his aura and the beast handlers removed some fury. I was tempted to feat turn 1, I know between a warpath and a charge ghetorix could probably get to my left sentinel (right one has admonition) but I felt like if he made that play he would lose ghetorix for sure and I'm happy to trade a sentinel for ghetorix. Tiberion is a key piece in the match up and with Ghetorix gone he can really force the issue.

Here's what the table looked like at the bottom of turn 1.





Turn 2 and Circle came in hot, all 3 spells were upkept. The prawns were advanced and shot at the croaks (needing 9s) he managed to make me a tough roll which I passed, but then hit another one and I failed the tough. Warpath triggered and ghetorix moved 3" in a diagonal way towards to the left sentinel. The left griffon then accelerated the blackclad who walked up, hunters marked my left sent and phase shifted back. The wilder then sprinted ghetorix and he came in and killed the left sentinel and sprinted back to be in the forest. The rest of the turn consisted of the army advancing in a position to threaten me next turn, with the stones moving up and the stalker being ran into the triangle.

My turn 2 and removing ghetorix was the key to the turn, I was also hoping to clear the majority of the prawns out but well, we rolled poorly. The start of my turn saw me upkeep admo and my 1 of my willbreakers hand out puppet strings to the Krea, he then walked 6" through the gap where my left sentinel was just once, into the left zone and boosted a shot into Ghetorix needing a 10 (eyeless sight negating the +2 defence) and landed it. I didn't aura for my Krea which was a mistake, as I should because the beast handlers would of been fine to remove all the fury. With ghetorix now being DEF 7, croaks (All 9) walked up, one oiled and the rest threw darts. I think between them they only did like.. 15 maybe 16 damage. I then had my raider stand still and did something like 2 more. My soulward advanced, took a shot and boosted at dice off 2 and did something like 6. Morghoul1 advanced and with a puppet strings threw a torment into him, finally killing him. I was a bit sad as I had to waaay over commit to killing Ghetorix, meaning there were a lot of prawns alive. Morghoul1 called his feat here and stole 1 fury back to via maltreatment to sit on 2. I was also very aware to stay more then 13" away from Kromac1 as that was an easy win condition for Sentinel. The right sentinel killed the right Stonewald and advanced into the right zone. Tiberion took a run, croaks were toughed and that was turn.

Here's the photo bottom of turn 2, I was feeling pretty comfortable at where the game was right now.


 


Turn 3 and I think sentinel could see the board and the game wasn't going to go his way if we kept playing the long game. He upkept both warpath and Wild agression, he called concentrated fire with the left prawn unit did a massive amount of damage to my Krea and sentinel even rolled poorly here (as said earlier, should of popped paralytic aura here for sure). The right unit killed some croaks and stayed contesting the right zone. Now the Krea was banged up he had his left griffon accelerate the left blackclad who advanced, landed a hunters mark on my krea and then hopped off again. The right griffon then flew into the right zone to contest. The wilder then sprinted Kromac1, Who sprinted the left stalker and then charged the central croak raider, he dropped a rift on tiberion for 3 leaving him on 0 fury. He then called his feat for 5, killed the 2 croaks he was engaged with and sprinted back into the left zone. The stalker then charged the krea (charges for free on under hunters mark as well as wild aggression) who cleared up the krea and the croak on the left of it. He the sprinted the stalker in front Kromac1. Una advanced and shot 1 croak who died, the gorax advanced to stay in Kromac1 control and riled outside of my feat. The gobbers put a cloud on una and the stones shifted up. That was turn for Circle and they got 2 CPS for dominating the left side.

Skorne turn 3 and I saw this is a pretty straight forward kill, Morghol1 could quite easily advance and get LoS to throw a fully boosted torment into Kromac1 (who had already taken 5 damage from the feat). Following that up I had my soulward, my raider, and my sentinel to plow shots into him with no transfers. Morghoul1 received puppet strings, advanced and landed the torment needing 10s to hit, and at dice off 5 did 9 damage (puppet strings used on the damage roll). My soulward stood still, shot Kromac1 and rolled a 15 for damage at dice off 2 and Kromac1 was very dead at this point.

Here's a photo of the board state when I landed the kill. Both the raider and sentinel had yet still to move and shoot.


 


I was pretty happy with how I played the game, I don't feel I made any huge Mistakes outside of not popping the paraltyic aura. Why it wasn't a game changer the Krea took way more damage then it needed to from shooting and was a mistake. Sentinel was a great opponent as always and the match just reinforced my confidence oh Morghoul1 into the hordes matchup.

While we don't have a direct control warlock, i'm finding Morghoul1 is very close to it. If you decide to force the issue under feat either on a colossal or a heavy warbeast army you have a lot of say in what the opponent does, or well can't do. This paired with the agonizer saying you can't allocate the turn after, or having the insurance of -2 STR on warbeasts is solid. You're often ahead on / after the feat turn and that can be the insurance you need to stop dice spikes or just seal the deal.

As always, follow me on twitter @PG_SadPander. Thanks a ton for reading and tune in next time for more Skorne action from me Aaron Wilson.

Welsh Masters list Breakdown: Part 1 of 3

Hello guys, I'm back and this is a part 1 of 3 installments to breakdown my Welsh Masters lists. The event is held at Firestorm Games which in my eyes is the UK's premium venue. It is being held on the 14-15th May, I'm super excited for the event. For many reasons, but for the most part for the great time I will have the ID gang as well as fellow players. Why 3 parts? Not because I'm a genius and have lots of wisdom to part with. It's because the Welsh Masters is being ran as 3 list event for this year. It is of course is a masters event therefore using the masters packet, meaning ADR is active.

For my 3 list I've decided on Morghoul1,Zaal2 and Mordikaar. The reasons for choosing these 3 is after some discussion and list theory crafting I feel I have covered pretty most match ups as well as I can. Why have I chose my lists so early with the event still being essentially 2 and a half months away? I want to know these lists in and out. I want to know what they can play, what they can't play and all the tricks they can pull. I find If i really know what's going on in a list I play faster, I play with more confidence and less mistakes happen.

The first list I'm going to breakdown is Morghoul1. 

 

Here's what I'm taking with the Master of Torment:

Morghoul1 - + 7
Tiberion - 11
Aradus Sentinel - 8
Aradus Sentinel - 8
Cyclops Raider - 5
Krea - 4
Agonizer - 2
Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 2
Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 2
Extoller Soulward - 2
Paingiver Task Master - 2
Croaks Raiders - 8
Paingiver Beast Handlers - 3

Right off the bat a question I see sometimes I see is, why Morghoul1 with the bugs? (For the rest of the post, sentinels will be refereed to as bugs). Well hopefully without me explaining directly the below posts sum it up. But very simply, both the bugs and Morghoul1 want to be played pre-dominantly into hordes match up and there is a lot internal synergies between the two. 

What do I want to play this into? Well the more I play it the more I want it to play it into things. This is quite obviously NOT a cryx drop and I don't think I'll ever drop it into cryx. On the flipside list is quite obviously horribly hard to break with ANY sort of shooting. The sentinels/tiberion are 23/21 from shooting respectively, backed by the Krea aura they're now 25/23. In most games you can literally ignore 80% of the shooting, and the other 20% is probably dice off so much that's it's not a serious issue  The feat and the poison on the sentinels push it towards a solid hordes match up in most cases and I've had some success into retribution with it as well.


The Sentinels offer up a real solid range platform paired with the raider for farstrike and additonal shooting. The sentinels can remove Circle and Legion warbeasts prettty trivially especially when backed up by a Raiders shot to finish the warbeast off. They're also great at scattering into living infantry, that poison means even blast damage can reliably kill off pesky single would models. Arcing fire on top of all of this means if someone leaves a warcaster to close, camping too little and nothing blocking the shot it can be a easy assassination with little effort. It almost means those scattering AoEs can be placed in a lot of places.

Morghoul1's spell list is great for the bugs and each spell really offers the bugs something which it can use rather well. When a bug shoots his 14" he can often find him right on the edge of threat ranges (A place followed by a warpath, ect). Admonition allows you to shoot freely and in most cases be free from retaliation, this is really helps the slow bugs speed. Abuse paired with enrage really helps the P+S 14 on the claw and again helps the poor SPD 3. Torment is not quite so much a direct synergy but again plays into the match ups the list wants to see and builds the internal synergy of the list. It wants to see Legion, circle, minoins and some troll bloods lists. Catching a warlock out with a torment is great for the sentinels who can now target a no transfer warlock.





This is all backed up by Morghoul1's innate strength into the hordes match up and this again is for a few reasons. The obvious one - that damn feat, against a heavy warbeast army it is essentially a free turn! It can be very effective into trollbloods as well, but they will typically either drop a Madrak2/Grissel1 body heavy list if they see Morghoul1 across the table. The feat means no forcing, or spending of focus which can be leveraged against a warmachine army that is looking for it's colossal to be it's main hitting power. It'll often deny the charge from the colossal as well stop the buying of any additional attacks.

The feat has another use which isn't hugely obvious, besides your free turn in the right match up it also stops transferring of damage to models inside the feat. This can often catch people off guard really easily, a charge with Morghoul1 followed by a sprint and  feat can lead you to catching the entire of the opponents battle group inside said feat. A raider and 2 sentinels later often means a dead warlock. If you can't catch the whole battle group, a Morghoul1 with eyeless sight and puppet strings throwing a fully boosted torment into a warlock followed by sentinel / raider shooting will again lead to a dead warlock. On top of all this, a far striked, puppet stringed krea can walk a potential 8" under abuse, shoot 12" and paralyze any living model. Following by again, your shooting team will drop an suspecting warlock. The best thing about all of this, it doesn't have to assassinate, it can fall back on being solid ranged platform which can then turn the assassination on when required.

The croak raiders are well.. croak raiders, backed up with paingiver task master these guys a great module and have a ridiculous list of rules for 10 points. Making them fearless, tough and no KD make them hugely efficient and what they do. If you can have a Krea paralyze a warbeast, the warbeast is then dead to said croak raiders. Paralyze a warlock? Dead warlock, etc etc. With AD, RNG 10 and POW 12 they can clear out non stealth ed infantry to a good degree of success as well.

I'm super happy with this list and my confidence with playing it is continually building. I have a small local steamroller on the 19th March in which I will play this and Mordikaar.  Ill be tweeting about my progress with all my lists so please follow me at: https://twitter.com/PG_SadPander

Thanks for the read, drop me a comment and tune in next time for part 2 where we breakdown Zaal2's Tier, Exalted Legions. 

SmogCon 5 and damn was it good.

Hey all. Aaron Wilson here (PG_SadPander) and I'm back from SmogCon and yes it has broken me. I'm meant to be in work today but I've got a saw throat, no voice, A headache and have no more life then a Mechanithrall. Would I do it again? I'd book my hotel room now If I could.

Before we breakdown my amazing time at SmogCon, a quick shameless plug. I've joined twitter, so please follow me. I'll be tweeting about everything warmahordes so come follow me at: https://twitter.com/PG_SadPander

Right let's get to the Con and first off - Thank you Mr Webb. I ran tournaments all weekend (Steamroller Friday, Masters B Saturday, IG Finals Sunday) and played some very late games with some people I really wanted to throw down with at stupid hours. It was an amazing Con and all the credit in the world goes to Jon who has put on the best show yet. He should be stupidly proud of his achievement and I know SmogCon is only going on to bigger and better things.

Thursday 

So us PGs had our own PG party Thursday, from 10AM barring setting up a few tables we were able to get some casual games  in with each other. Jason Soles and Micheal Plummer were around and Jason soles asked anyone for a game. I jumped as soon as I heard this and we played, I have to admit I was fangirling pretty hard at this point, Jason had a tier 4 Kreoss3 list and I planned on playing Xerxis2 for the day. Jason was great, really upbeat laid back guy with a stunning army. Game was super swingy, and Soles caught me out with a Righteous Vengeance, warpath trigger and a charge into Xerxis2 from Fire of Salvation. I was camping 2 and by all rights should of died, but he missed one attack leaving me 6 boxes and on fire. The fire didn't kill me and Molik returned the favor to Kreoss, under his array of buffs he dropped Kreoss3. Great game, great guy!

Here's the kill, Molik had 4 buffs on him in the end! It took a charge and a sidestep to get to Kreoss3.


 


After the game I had a good chat with Soles and I can say is I'm confident in the future of Warmachine + Hordes for a long long time. After a chat I checked in, put my stuff in my room and came back down. Micheal Plummer was now looking for a game and I again jumped at the chance, yet again Plummer was a super guy. We played and he really wanted to drop his Issyria list as he played his Thyron list the game before. I just dropped down my same Xerxis2 list, in a super swingy game I manged to take a win. This game was again, SUPER fun. Plummer was the nicest guy I've met in a long time. The rest of the day was spent setting up for the con, rolling mats out, putting scenery on tables and making sure resources were where they needed to be.

Friday 

 


Friday I ran the Steamroller, it was planned to be 128 player but we ended on something like 60 and by final round we had 58. It was a solid day of gaming with only a few minor rules queries and nothing major. The players seemed to really enjoy the event and we got our first top 8 heading into the steamroller finals.

Later Friday evening I got some really great games in, I had list of people I talk to all your year via Facebook or someway but never see so I was driven to get games in with said people. First up was Adam bell, we chat a lot during the year but we've never got a game until now. I put my serious face on and brought my most practiced pairing of Makeda2/Fist, Mr Bell had Feora2/Sevvie1. I was almost certain I would see Foera2 because Sevvie1 has no game into fist while Foera2 has game into both lists. Knowing this I dropped Makeda2, I didn't want to fist to be set alight by the Judicator but speaking to Adam he said the match up isn't as bad as I seemed to think so it's something I will try at some point.

The scenario we rolled was 2 fronts, Adam won the roll and elected to take table side and handed me first turn. Looking at this match up I knew I had no long game. With me running the infantry turn 1 was going to be hemorrhaging my single wound infantry to blast damage and / or fire. Adam cast escort and advanced Feora behind a wall. Judicator killed a few models and set some on fire and his zealots ran and did there whole you can't kill me for a turn thang.

Knowing I had no longevity in this game and Feora being in range of Molik (All be it after trampling) I took my chances. I had my Feat for Makeda2 to grant the boosted attack rolls, Molik needing 10s and Feora was behind the wall. I had puppet strings available, I knew it was like a 40% chance but I felt it wasn't going the chance wasn't going to present it's self again and the turn after this one I would be way behind due to another round of Judicator bombings, as well as reckoner and zealots.





Molik did it, I had a spike of one damage roll due to pupper strings and we got her on my last attack. This game was quick, but it was real good to finally sit down with Adam and meet properly. He was a great guy who clearly knows a lot about the game, thanks again Mr bell.

I got one more game on friday night against Delano Hing who is another pressganger, we speak a lot but as we're not super local to each other we again hadn't played. This game saw Makeda2 take a win over Carver1. It was close all the way and Delano had some poor dice rolls. At this point it was like 2AM, Masters B started at 8am and I was part of the team running it, sleep time!

Saturday 

Saturday saw me run Masters B with a great PG team and lead jugde Jason Enos, the event was superb. We had 118 players for the event and the caliber of play was the top level, I had no pictures of this as I was busy running around answering rules questions or watching the high level of play.

In the evening I had 2 more games lined up against people who follow the same trend of being close, but never close enough. The first game was lined up against Norbert, I'm sure you know him as he's the closest we have to a rockstar in the world of warmahordes. We played Makeda2 into Butcher1 and the game was a ball and swingy on both sides. Norbert took away a scenario win and I can only thank him for a great game against a gentleman of an opponent.

Here's the doctor himself in the thought tank!


 


My second game was against the one and only Lee Mcalpin, not only is this guy a complete bro but he runs the Bleeped up youtube channel, podcast etc etc and if you haven't checked it out? Where have you been! We played a 35 point game which we filmed as a battle report, I through an impromt-to list together and we had a blast. I'll be waiting for the battle report to come be produced and will share it with all you guys on here!  The time was about 1:30am and with the IG finals which I was running with Chris Cawthorne starting at 9AM, it was time to sleep again.

Sunday

The final day is here but I was feeling it, I was tired and my voice was going. Luckily IG finals was only 2 rounds and 4 player, the only part that required any thinking was checking that people had made the 75 points list in the correct way, which Chris was on top of. The tables for the IG finals looked really nice as I sorted them out


 


All the tables paired with the matching scenery looked baller, so huge shout out to Jon again for that. Things got underway and I went and checked out. I came back and Chris being the machine he is and had things under control (sitting between the only 2 tables playing helped) so I went and played some pick up games. I played 2 more games dropping fist both times, but at this I was mentally frazzled and by the last game I was glad that it was the last and looking forward to heading home to my own bed, a bath and some peace and quiet. Here's a photo of my very last game, Fist into Zerkova1.





That was it, the rest of the time was spent helping Jon pack away mats, scenery and clocks. The PP staff announced the winners of masters, IF and steamroller finals and then it was my time go . What an amazing weekend, I wouldn't change it for the world and I'm already fired up to attend next years SmogCon.  The PP staff, the PGs that helped and the amazing community we have as a game came together for the most enjoyable 4 days of the year so far. Thanks again to Jon for putting together for such a show and bring on next year. PG_SadPander over and out.

Battle Report: Xerxis2 v Vladimir2.

We're back with a battle report so let's get straight into it. This match up features Vlad2 Tier list Steam and Steel against my Skorne, I was rocking Xerxis2.

Below is the table, the two flat pieces with no graphic on are hills, the green pieces with tree art on are forest, the blue piece is shallow water and the small brown walls are linear obstacles.





Vlad got to go first, he was rocking his tier list into tier 2 I think. He had 2 units of shieldwall fellas, 1 unit of Hammers, 1 unit of bombardiers and a conquest. As well as a Man of war solo on his right flank. I was rocking Xerxis2, Molik, BB Titan, Gladiator, Archidon, Max nilators, Min incindarii, Max beast handlers ans a will breaker. For this game I chose my Gladiator to be my bonded warbeast this game. Our objectives we had taken were Arcane Wonder for the Khador, Bunker for my Skorne.

Here is the deployment, Vlad went for a central conquest with a unit of shield wall fellas each side, bombardiers got given AD from the tier and the hammers went behind the left unit of shields.

Starting from my left I have my Gladiator, Incindarii next, BB, Xerxis2, then Molik, max Nilators, and Archidon looking to use that forest. My Willbreaker and max beast handlers sat behind it all.





First turn for Khador saw running across the board, Assail on the conquest and Transference placed on Vlad.


 


So turn 1 for me, and here is where I've made my first mistake. It's my first time using Xerxis2 and man is moving a battle engine size base a pain. I went Xerxis2 first, I placed Ignite on my Nilators and Mobility on my self and walked up. The rest of the turn saw running of everything, but sadly I activated my gladiator and he was out of my small control area and not within 8" of my will breaker so he only advanced his 4" and then riled.





Khador Turn 2, both spells were upkept. The conquest took a shot into the BB hoping for a crit but sadly no crit. The other small guns killed a Incindarii and a Nilator. The bombardiers advanced and forced a transfer from Xerxis2, and cleared out a good chunk of Nilators. Vlad2 held his feat and the Man o War on the right flank ran to threaten my objective,


 


So my Turn 2. It went well, but again I could of played it better. What I should of done was gone with Molik prior to the beast handlers, killed the Man o War in the way, fate walkered and then conditioned him, or even if not conditioned him have him retreat to a safe distance behind the wall as the Man o War lack pathfinder, but I didn't. Anyway what I did do is... Xerxis2 called his feat,  did a ribe by and advanced 3.5". He then threw his free rush onto the BB Titan, Ignited him and mobility on him self (I didn't upkeep ignite on the Nilators so I was camping 1). My beast handlers then enraged both Molik and my BB. Molik under the feat cleaned up the three Man o War in the way of my BB between a charge and 2 sidesteps. The BB destroyed the conquest with 2 fury to spare, my Incindarii set a few Man o War alight (Soul tokens for continuous fire for now as you get none in the darn PP skorne packet!). Nilators charged and killed 2 bombardiers under feat and the Archidon placed Lightning Strike on him self, killed one fella and flew away. My gladiator on the left just advanced to soak the charge or threaten the incoming Man o Wars.


 

Well, Khador turn 3 was... brutal. Transference was upkept, Vlad2 feated and rolled 3, so 5 models. he hand of fated the right shield fellas, feated 3 of them and feated 2 hammer dudes. Then, he killed a whole ton of stuff. The BB was removed by the feated hammer fellas, Molik was killed by the feated shield fellas on the right. The solo on the far right charged into my Titan Gladiator and did a good chunk bot no aspects lost. The guys on the left cleared out more nilators and got into shield wall, did I say, ouch?


 


Skorne turn 3.. well jeez. I did what I could. I set some more models on fire, Nilators did some inaffective charges. The Titan Gladiator on the left cleared out the solo, the Archidon the right tried to his sprint trickery but failed to kill the model he charged. Xerxis2 did a ride by, killed a feated man o war and waddled back.


 


Khador turn 4, more clear up duty. Archidon dies to a whole lot of hammer (with hand of fate) / shield attacks and all but 1 Incindarii get cleared up, as well as Nilators. Transference was doing huge work this game, with Vlad safely being able to camp 0 as I lacked any range threat and I just couldn't get to him.





With the game all but lost, I went deep. Xerxis2 put Ignite on him self, charged and cleared a whole load of Man o war, but I was sadly now camping nothing. I tried a shot onto Vlad but no surprise that missed. I should of not moved my Nilator so far and should of kept him in between the shield guys on the right. Maybe that would of saved me, right?




And this how it all ended. The man on the Rhino got hammered by all the attacks and Vlad didn't even need to make a move!

What a great game, I've only played Makeda2/Fist so far and it was a real laugh to break into a new warlock. My list wasn't optimal, neither did I play it well but damn  this guy is fun. When he went in under ignite he really smashed things up, I'm thinking he could do a lot of work played aggressively. Taking my free animus as Lightning Strike could let him really around, more testing to come!

Thanks to my opponent Robbie for such a great game, and thanks for reading.

From druid to tyrant. Skorne for 2016.

Hello guys, It's Aaron here and I've made a bold choice. After playing Circle Orobos straight  for 4 years I've decided for 2016 it's time to shake it up. For me, 2016 is the year of the master race and Skorne. I'm super excited about the change and It's really breathed a breath of fresh air into the game for me. I was probably at about 150+ games with Kreuger2 as well as the usual culprits and as much as the game is my favorite game for me it was getting a little stagnant in my own play.

Mid november I took the plunge, and ordered my 2 Skorne lists which are as follows:

Makeda2
Molik Kahn
Bronzeback Titan
Titan Gladiator
Nilators (Max)
Swordsmen (Max)
Incindarii (Min)
Beast handlers (Min)
Willbreaker
Extoller

Paired with

Xerxis1 (Fist, Tier 2)
Archidon
Cetrati (Max)
Cetrati (Min) /w Vorkesh
Arcuarii (Min)
Arcuarii (Min)
Arcuarii (Min)
Incindiarii (Min)
Incindiarii (Min)
TyCom.

Right off the bat, I didn't spend ages crafting a pair in which I think is the most competitive pairing for Skorne, I didn't think about my pairings or what I can or can't play. I simply picked this stuff because A) It looked fun B) It's different to circle C) I liked the look of it. I love the look of the Skorne range and the models in the above lists have my favorite in it. I'm currently 33 games in with Skorne since mid November and darn are they a blast to play. These lists bring me a whole different game to circle, from extreme brute force, extremely long threat ranges, durable en mass multi wound infantry as well as weapon master infantry. I could not be enjoying the game more right now and with that buzz I've even picked up a brush and painted something, which for me is a big deal. I own the whole Circle Orobos faction painted, with enough models for every tier I have painted 20-30 models in it, I've either had it commissioned or bought it painted so for me to find that buzz to paint for my self is huge.

On that brush stroke, I thought I'd share some of my painting. I will be attending the Welsh nationals this year and that is a 3 list event in which I plan to bring Makeda2, Fist and Mordikaar. I'm yet to buy my Mordikaar list and won't do so until my first 2 lists are completed. I've started with Makeda2 and for the moment her battle group done.

Here is a WIP progress shot of my Bronzeback, I'm rarely content with my own painting but I'm super happy how this guy ended up so I thought I'd share him, more pictures of him to come! 

Next up is Molik Kahn, this guy was a pleasure to paint and I love the aesthetic of this model. It encapsulates everything in Skorne that I was looking for in the detail, look and presence of the model.

The last model in the battle group was my Titan gladiator, which was easy to make half good with a bit of dry brushing and a wash (Praise the lord for washes)

And lastly but not least Makeda2 her self, and a group shot of the whole gang.

I'm pretty happy with how they have come out, I'm under no illustion of my painting level (which is low, at best). A bit of dry brushing and washes have gone a long way and I'm happy these guys have got to a decent table top level.

That's it for this post! Next I'm going to be looking into my 3 list pairing for the Welsh Nationals, pulling that apart and hopefully discussing it with you all.

Thanks for reading, would love to see a photo of your guys current hobby project, or to discuss what yours plans for 2016 for the game.

Thanks again and see you again soon!

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.