Tuffalo Tales Tier Tournament

So recently I attended a Blood, Sweat and Tiers tournament run by our very own Pressganger Dave Downs. A great local event full of familiar faces, I took a pretty standard Tier 4 Borka1 family reunion list which I am well experienced with and a Tier 2 Borka2 Avalanche list, which I had only had a few games with. Seeing as there was no divide and conquer (or character restrictions which everyone seemed to miss) I was going to stick with Borka 2 unless things went really bad. My list included Fire eaters, max Longriders and Horthol. Stone Scribes, Pyre,Bouncer, Earthborn and Rok.

Game 1.
Played Harvey from this very blog and his Butcher 3 list. I suffered my usual tournament first game mental block, in which I forget all the strategies needed for my list to work and hope my opponent is also half asleep, sadly Harvey wasn't. I was on the back foot most game, I had a turn when Rok was with in charge distance of Butcher 3 but I couldn't clear the models in front of him. There was a strange moment when a war dog charged, got counter charged by Rok, who failed to reach melee due to a Berserker 'Jack being in the way, but before Rok could complete his assault move got counter-charged by the wardog who then returned to Butcher3, thus avoiding the spray assault! Lost this on scenario.
How did the Tuffalo do? They mostly made poor road blocks as Ruin with silence of death one shotted them with ease.

Game 2.
Played another friend and his Grissel1 dude swarm. There were 2 max units of Kreil warriors with all the trimmings, Scattergunners,Fire eaters, some support and a couple of lights. I ran my army, he ran his, I was engaged. The speed of the tier list was something but it seemed to lack hitting power and the massed attacks of Kreil warriors couldn't take out Rok or the Earthborn. My two heavies completely heal them selves on stationary Kreil troll Popsicle's. Game turned into a grind in which my opponent's death clock run out.
How did the Tuffalo do? They made much better road blocks this time, the high armour was to much for Kreil warriors to deal with and once free of Kreil spam they could go off and deal with the real threat, the Fire eaters.

Game 3.
Played a PVayl beast list with Hex Hunters. Borka's feat allowed me to get right down the throat of Vay'ls beasts and kill box prevented her from running to far. Borka himself took care of Vayl after Horthol bull rushed her. This was quick and brutal.
How did the Tuffalo do? Great, they rushed ahead of Borka's battle group and cleared out the two units of Hex Hunters, dealing with there high def. Once past the Hex Hunters they tied up the large Legion battle group during Borka's feat.

Game 4.
Played my Nemesis Paul (from this very blog). PZerkova's hunting wolves NQ tier. I have played this list a few times, whilst Paul is very competent with this I never struggled against. No different this time and with once central objective zone my Borka list rushed the Khadorians and proceeded to bully it. Only the Devastor constantly clamming up and running back into the zone prevented a scenario win. The Kayazy decided to avoid fighting anything threatening and attacked the Scribe unit, which felt very characterful. Left with only a handful of models, Zerkova run up to Borka, casted multiple razorwinds and shot him to strip him of focus an then charged the remaining two Greylord Outriders to kill Borka. The slim chance of victory through a hail mary shot is one of the things I like about Warmachine, but it still stings to be on the receiving end of it.
How did the Tuffalo do? Great again, they managed to slam Greylords into Kayazy Eliminators, removing that threat from the table, before going through the rest of the Kayazy into a Vanguard light jack before swinging back into the control zone.

So a 2-2 result and the Tuffalo performed well. I feel like they can dominate certain games but they need to keep mobile to be fully effective, impact hits and slams is where it is at. Borka's feat help them if they get tied up, so I will be trying them with other casters (Jarl next) but already I feel they have earned their reputation as great cavalry models, are they best? As with anything it's debatable, I have seen Skorne Ferox used to devastating effect, I have seen wolf riders demolish entire army flanks, I have suffered under the shots of Tempest Blazers but Tuffalo are easily up there.

..this news just in folks - Hit Squad is a thing.

..and lo, did our heroes from the Imperishable Dominion blog travel, across the highest snow wreathed mountains, overcome the sandy and barren deserts, through verdant green fields, over the endless sapphire seas, and go to a local tourney hosted by our resident Press Ganger, which included the 'Theme Forces: Tier1 Required' variant. And it was pretty cool.

So initially, I should probably explain, for those uninitiated that are unfamiliar with the variant. The Theme Forces: Tier1 requirement states that all lists for the event must be theme forces taken from either No Quarter or Forces of books, and must be at least Tier1. All non theme lists are illegal. Otherwise, the Steamroller pack is the same, although interestingly, the variant also lifts the usual FA C restriction - something which most people don't realise, myself included.

Although nervous of seeing a lists filled with hordes of Banes led by Bane Lord Tartarus, I've been looking forward to this one as a first tournament testing ground for the Morghoul2 Hit Squad list I've been working on. To pair with it, after much deliberation I chose another experimental list - a Makeda1 Army of the Western Reaches list at Tier3, filled with Scarab Beast Packs. More on the latter later.

At this stage, it would probably be best to discuss list construction and the build a little.

Hit Squad, Tier4

Lord Assassin Morghoul

-Cyclops Brute

-Titan Gladiator

-Titan Gladiator

-Titan Gladiator

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor

Agoniser

Paingiver Task Master

Paingiver Task Master

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and three grunts)

Gatorman Posse (Leader and four grunts)

Gatorman Posse (Leader and four grunts)

So.. I know. There's no Archidon. No Basilisk Krea either, although that's probably less mandatory than having Sprint on a stick. Finally, there are no Paingiver Bloodrunner units. Morghoul2 doesn't do anything much for the Titans either. So what does it do? 

It plays on two fronts for the most part. Early experimentation with maximising the amount of Heavy Warbeasts that I could get out of the Tier3 bonus was a lot of fun, but ultimately a real strain on a Fury 5 Warlock. Most Warbeasts would start the turn with Fury and risk frenzy, especially once the game was into turn three and beyond where careful placement of Beast Handlers or a Bronzeback couldn't keep the rest reigned in. Additionally, due to the small Control Area I could never quite get the most out of some of the higher SPD Warbeasts. An Archidon with Rush, a Shadow Whip move and either Ghost Walk or the Feat for immunity to Free Strikes has a tremendous threat of 15.5" inches which is difficult to defend from, but typically flies straight out of control and cannot then boost or buy any additional attacks. The alternative forces you to push Morghoul too far forward to a vulnerable position, and whilst on occasion it was possible to get a long shot  assassination (the Archidon at MAT6 with one attack base isn't the best for this..) more often this would be for a piece trade, and certainly not worth the risk.

The answer I found was to instead focus on the slower Warbeasts, which were easier for Morghoul to keep control of, and with less of them, to reduce the strain. I overlapped multiple Titan Gladiators to reduce my opponents chances of sniping out Rush from my force, too often the obvious tactic to experienced opponents, and to allow for the beasts to buff each other if needed - removing the need for Morghoul to cast the animus each turn. Plus, three Titan Gladiators is an imposing sight heading down the battle field, and very tanky. With Morghoul and the Paingivers either Stealthed or immune to CRA attacks, the Warbeasts needed to be able to take a hit at reasonable power and keep going.

The second learning curve of this list was that the same small Control Area meant that the list couldn't effectively play into scenarios where the focus wasn't a central zone. Whilst it was easy for Morghoul and his zoo to clear one side of the battlefield, on the other, I'd lose to scenario. Using Bog Trog Ambushers and a unit Gatormen to contest was one approach which worked in some games but often didn't maximise the potential of either, the Bog Trogs suddenly too predictable in where they would ambush and the isolated Gatormen easy to pick off before they could close. Losing the Big Trogs and using the points from the extra Warbeasts allowed to add in a second unit, and back them both up with a Paingiver Task Master to further increase their versatility and survivabilty.

Finally, although initially I didn't include the Agoniser, I felt that the new build with its heavy armour skew could benefit from the inclusion of one to maximise the strengths of the list further - additionally, with no Fury 1 spells or animus, Morghoul often could find the Fury to drop into the solo, keeping it topped up during the game.

 

All the subtlety of the average house brick? Must be one of Sherwin's lists then.

So.. how did it do? I fielded the list in Games One, Two and Four - and won all of them. 

Game One was against the Protectorate of Menoth, and Feora2. I was helped in this game by a central forest on the table, allowing me to run my Titans forward under the cover of the trees and out of line of sight but at the same time able to draw LOS to the inevitable Judicator, which my opponent was forced to either hold away from my battlegroup, or risk the Titans wrath. On the other side of the table, the two Gatorman units were more than enough to initially wipe out the Temple Flameguard and then contest the zone, whilst Morghoul cleared out the friendly zone from enemy models to start scoring. Even so, clever placement from my opponent mean that this one came down to an assassination in the end; with my time on the Deathclock running out, a Task Master was able to use her Mancatcher attack to hold Feora in place so that a Titan could beat her into red paste.

Game Two played into a Sorcha1 Khador list, and was Recon. Going second and having seen my opponents deployment, from the first turn, I gambled that Morghoul could capture the flag on the far left, whilst the rest of my army denied my opponent the same in the middle and on the far right flank. My opponent suffered from trying to advance in a more linear manner, unable to capture the other two zones, I managed to walk away with a scenario victory from this often awkward scenario.

Game Four pitted my list against Siege Brisbane in Destruction, and this was a far more conventional Morghoul2 game, pushing aggressively up the table on the first turn, and then finding a janky assassination in the second turn after extending my threat via Apparition and Shadow Whip. 

..I came second in the event, my only loss to Dan and his Trollbloods in Game Three, Dan being the guy that won the event. This was my only non-Morghoul game, and where sadly my second experimental list failed utterly, in a very rough Runes of War Matchup. I'll keep pushing with that one, especially once the Aradius Soldier arrives, which I think is exactly what it needs to give it more punch. More on that in weeks to come.

Overall, I'm delighted with the list. It plays very well into scenario play, which is both unusual for an assassination Warlock, and not necessarily something which Skorne armies are best suited to. It can both take attrition from the opponents forces, as well as deal out significant damage, but at the same time is interestingly mobile. I might keep playing around with it and fine tuning, but in truth will probably keep it this way for some time, until I come up against a wall. 

Until next time fellow Tyrants. 

Everyone has that special someone...

As the title says, every Warmachine player has that one Warcaster or Warlock that they just click with... they suit their play style to a tee, they enable you to get the most out of your army and are a really cool model to boot!


Mine is this chap:

Lord Carver Esq III, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction

 

 

Lord Carver is the warnoun I have used in more games than all the others combined, from every faction I have played by a long shot. He is the real deal Evander Holyfield style, Mohamed i'm hard Bruce Lee to the face... He takes the Thornfall Alliance by the short n curlys and drags them up to a playable state all on his own.

Carvers combination of raw stats, abilities and spells turns your sorry bunch of chumps into a mean baconating fighting machine:

• He makes your stuff more accurate with Quagmire and CRA on the Brigands
• He makes your stuff hit harder with the feat
• He makes your boys not scared of the monsters with Inspiration
• He makes your beasts faster with Mobility
• He makes your beasts tougher with Batten down the Hatches
• He hits hard enough to take out the enemy caster and heavies by himself
• He is Genghis Khan Piggy, only Rorsh is cooler!

You get the idea from this epitaph that he's pretty good, some including myself believe that if he were in a proper faction he would break the game because he is so good... Imagine what your real army beasts could do with those spells haha.



Carver I have played for years and his dominance as my favorite 'lock has never been threatened until now... 5 games with this lady has brought some contest for my heart:

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight

 

What I have found is that Vayl plays quite similar to lord Carver, just she has a much much better army available to make use of her abilities!

• She makes your stuff more accurate with Chiller, Incite and Rampager (Turn around)
• She makes your stuff hit harder with Incite
• She protects her army with the feat, distance is a form of armour too!
• She makes your beasts faster with Leash
• She is an evil ice witch with a magic ball of justice

She cant take down casters reliably, Malice and Hoarfrost are ok spells but she wont be mixing it up in melee. Legion has a far better selection of beasts and Animi to draw from and they quite frankly put the pigs in the shade; the Scythean is a new level of badass with Incite, Chiller, Leash and Slipstream, and the Seraph is possibly the finest utility beast in the game (Gorax and Bull Snapper coming close)

I have had great fun so far using her T4 Winter Storm force, I will be main listing it at the Tier Tourney tomorrow at 4TKgaming and probably for the immediate future as well, its a enabled me to compete on an even keel with some of the other great Warmachine players that contribute to this blog.

      



Hit Squad - Tyrant Mantooth's Musings

..so, lets talk Morghoul2's new tier list, Hit Squad. 

Hit Squad was spoiled this weekend just been at Lock and Load, the day that the internets exploded with talk about an invincible Menite, a Retribution guy that didn't get the memo about wearing white, and a time traveling version of everyones favourite negative play experience.

But for me, the real news was Privateer's latest attempt to fix an old, much maligned veteran.

Poor Morghoul2 took a real bump all things considered, coming over from Mk.I to Mk.II. Probably the most galling is the feat, or more precisely what the feat was before it went away. All enemy models suffer Blind? I have no idea what crack someone was smoking when they came up with that one, but pass from the left hand side please.

But I digress.

Sadly, the new Theme Force does that same thing (that I can't quite get behind) which we saw in Conquest and Victor. Its the old list, but better, because the old one wasn't working. Sure, Imperial Assassins is fun, but it doesn't exactly do much to help out Morghoul2's plight really.

I guess we should just be happy its not another attempt to fix the Siege Animantarax, which has been the bane of the last three Theme Forces.

You know that using the Tier System to fix models is flawed, Privateer Press

So what does Hit Squad have to offer? Well, to start with you can take the same suspects as usual (Paingiver units, Paingiver Solos), with a little more freedom on Warbeast selection (all non-character Skorne Warbeasts), and a nice little bonus or two - namely, the Agoniser, and Minion units that can be subjugated by the Skorne.

For your pains, you get four levels which are extremely easy to achieve, and offer some solid advantages, along with one big change. The big change is what comes first, and has only the requirement that you don't break Tier. Namely, this is the upgrade to your Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentors, whom gain Shadow Whip on their melee attacks.

Shadow Whip is  a new rule (I believe) which allows you to immediately advance a friendly faction model in their command 3" if the Master Tormentor hits one or enemy models with an attack. Its basically Warpath, but limited to the two models that just became mandatory in your list. Interesting? Certainly. By my estimation, any one thing in the army just extended its threat range; Morghoul himself now boasts a non-linear 15 and a half inch threat in any one turn, but don't stop there - your Archidon can now enjoy the same with Rush (now included past Tier Two, unlike Imperial Assassins), and your other heavies a staggered increased threat. The interesting part here will be keeping the Master Tormentors alive, to keep the ability in play. More on that later.

The second  level is really for the trolls out there (not to be mistaken for the Trollbloods) - the enemy army loses all trace of Advance Deployment (with added confirmation from Infernals that it cancels out any AD gained by any means). Fairly situational, some armies won't care at all, others will loathe this. The most immediate advantages will be the enemy having to clump up to begin with in most cases, and losing those valuable AD ranged units, with an added aside that you should have a greater control to see where the enemy is placing their models before you place your own AD models. This should help maximise the fun that your BloodRunners will have at least.

Tier 3 is pretty legit - all heavy warbeasts are one point cheaper. To get there, you have to include three in your Battlegroup, but if you're looking to reach this level, then you're clearly trying to push as many bonus points into your list as you can, so I doubt you'll struggle. Archidon's are an obvious choice, but the lift of Imperial Assassins SPD restriction really opens up the field to include Titans and pack a little punch to your force that might have been missing before. And don't forget my favourite, the noble Rhinodon. A six point enraged Rhino with Grevious Wounds, Reach, Amuck, and a threat of 15" on a thresher attack is the bane of Trollkin Warders and Bane Thralls alike.

Finally, the last Tier is Fury management for the Agoniser, with almost laughably easy to achieve goals. Include an Agoniser? Well, considering the tier benefit directly affects the model, that much is obvious. Include a unit of Beast Handlers with a Fury 5 Warlock? Go home PP, you're drunk. In all seriousness, this isn't quite the game changer that Tiers 1-3 offer, but it does give our Fury starved Lord Assassin a preloaded Agoniser, by starting the baby elephant with a token per Paingiver unit.

So, how to run it? Good question. I'm going to enjoy playtesting it, especially with a Tier Only tournament on my horizon next month. The most obvious requirements I can see will be two Master Tormentors, which interestingly will need a little tech to keep them in play. Stealth will help with most things for obvious reasons, as will Sprint, but actually might encourage the use of the little known Razor Worm, who can give out Girded as usual (immunity to blast damage).

I trust you guys can see how serious I am here about this list by now. Morghoul2, Rhinodons, Razor Worms? Bringing my A Game to a table near you..

Otherwise, a Cyclops Brute is typically a must have with Morghoul, as will be Beast Handlers, and an Archidon for Sprint. If you want to hit Tier 4 (I'm not sure that I do, we'll see), then that's another two points. Otherwise though, you're left with a huge selection. Personally, I'm tempted with two min units of Bog Trog Ambushers, to really pressure my opponent away from the edges and into the middle of the table, where Morghoul can have some fun. I don't buy the Gators I don't think, especially at the 11pt price tag with the Paingiver Task Master.

I'm pretty sure that at least one Titan Gladiator is the usual must, if nothing else for Rush, meaning that a Cyclops Shaman becomes even more viable for then casting either that, Safeguard or Lightning Strike as a utility beast. The other choices would be Aradius, but we'll have to wait for that one..

More another time, once I have some games under by belt. Until then, Sherwin signing off.

Forces of Distinction is available for general release next week.