GMI Warmachine Steamroller 2015 Tournament
This is the last round of the tournament and I made it to the finals table undefeated along with Jose who was also undefeated and playing Skorne. I had never played against Skorne before and I was frantically trying to add his list to War Room so I could at least figure out what his Warlocks' feats were.
I was torn because I wanted Jose to win his last match because I really wanted to experience a Skorne army but I also didn't because I had no clue what they did. I would have been much more comfortable against Zoe, the person he beat, because she brought Legion which I am fairly familiar with.
Oh, I'm also list locked because I hadn't found a favorable match up for my Old Witch list. Jose on the other hand was not list locked. He brought eMakeda and Xerxis' Fist of Halaak Tier list. I've heard a lot about this Tier list so I knew it was something to be feared.
After looking at my locked list, Jose decides to take eMakeda.
Into the Woods (35 Points)
Warcaster: The Old Witch of Khador (-3)
Warjack Attachment: Scrapjack
Warjack: Behemoth (+13)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Assassin Underboss (+2)
Unit: Winter Guard Infantry (+6)
Unit Attachment: Winter Guard Officer & Standard (+2)
Weapon Attachment: Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeer x2 (+2)
Solo: Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (+3)
Solo: Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (+2)
Objective: Effigy of Valour
VS.
Supreme Archdomina Makeda (35 Points)
Warlock: Supreme Archdomina Makeda (-5)
Warbeast: Molik Karn (+11)
Warbeast: Titan Gladiator (+8)
Unit: Paingiver Bloodrunners (+5)
Unit: Praetorian Swordsman (+6)
Unit: Paingiver Beast Handlers (+3)
Unit Attachment: Praetorian Swordsman Officer & Standard (+2)
Solo: Hakaar the Destroyer (+4)
Solo: Feralgeist (+1)
Objective: Fuel Cache
I didn't get a lot of good pictures because I was really busy trying to read what all his stuff did so I didn't get caught in a gotcha move.
Initial DeploymentI deploy Old Witch in the center of the battlefield behind my objective that gives cover and place Scrapjack on the far right side so I can hopefully run with him and cast a surprise Unseen Path and place the Old Witch next to the flag to score a point.
In not surprising fashion I lose the roll to go first. Jose activates eMakeda and casts Leash on Molik Karn which allows him to advance directly towards her when she moves. She advances up and Molik Karn follows her like a one eyed pup. She then casts Road to War which gives +2 movement to any non-warlock faction models in her control area. She then has Molik Karn, Titan Gladiator, Hakaar, the Bloodrunners, the Swordsman, and Beast Handlers run up as far as they can.
On my turn I allocate 1 to each jack and I basically just run all my guys up except for The Old Witch. I cast Iron Flesh on my Winter Guard Infantry and then cast a 5" Murder of Crows cloud in front of them hopefully to deter the Bloodrunners.
Turn 2 End of RoundI forget to take a picture in between rounds because I'm still trying to figure out what to do. Jose runs his Bloodrunners up to get some of my Winter Guard in melee. He positions the rest to block me from controlling the flag. The Bloodrunners have an ability called Shadow Play which says if they damage one or more enemy models with a melee attack, at the end of the combat action you can place one model in the unit in formation anywhere within 1" of another model in their unit. This gives them some extreme mobility that I did not plan for.
He then runs his Praetorian Swordsman to try and jam my Kayazy Assassins. Molik Karn and Titan Gladiator position themselves to kill next turn and after doing the math I realize that Molik Karn can possibly get +2 movement from the Titan Gladiator, +2 Movement from Road to War, +3 movement for Charge, and +2" for Reach. With speed 6 he's got a threat range of 15" which is extremely deadly especially with eMakeda's affinity of +1 fury, her feat which gives him boosted melee attacks with no Free Strikes, and Future Sight which allows him to boost after the fact.
He then moves up eMakeda and for some reason casts Engine of Destruction. I'm not 100% sure why he did that because he didn't attack and it doesn't give any bonuses to defense. He might have done it to free up some fury on her but there was no point because he wasn't running his beasts hot. It might have been better to keep the fury as transfers.
On my turn I allocate 3 to the Behemoth and hold 4 on The Old Witch. I let Iron Flesh drop on the Winter Guard. I then activate Kovnik Joe to give the Winter Guard his For the Motherland speech which gives them boosted ranged attack rolls. He takes a pot shot and misses. Half the Winter Guard Infantry move up with Bob & Weave (+2 DEF) and spray the Bloodrunners down to 3 models which pass their command check. I am also able to get Hakaar down to 4 life but he loads up on Souls which gives him an armor boost and tokens to buy/boost attacks. I use 2 of the Winter Guard Infantry and spray into the Beast Handlers that are surrounding eMakeda to clear some room for my Kayazy Assassins. I use the other two Winter Guard Infantry and do a combined shot on eMakeda which takes off only a few life.
Next I activate Behemoth and move him up 4" so he can see eMakeda. He lobs 2 arcing fire bombard shots and doesn't hit. The AOE's do minor damage to her which she transfers to the Titan Gladiator. She is now sitting on 0 Fury.
After that I activate Eiyrss and take a shot at her and just do 1 damage bringing her down to 12 boxes.
I then activate my Kayazy Assassins who pop their min-feat, Kill Stroke, which gives them acrobatics and allows them to move through models. I am able to get 4 charges on eMakeda and the rest run to get behind her in case I fail and need a second shot next turn.
With Gang, Kayazy Assassins are MAT 9 which is pretty insane. They also are POW 12 which isn't very good but I've got 4 boosted shots at her.
I hit with the first Kayazy and do minor damage to her bringing her down to 7 life. The second Kayazy whiffs with snake eyes and I'm getting worried because I have only two more shots on her and I already rolled double ones. Fortunately one of the Kayazy attacks and connects needing a 6. I need a 12 on damage which is a 37.5% shot and I manage to roll a 14 which ends up killing her.
Khador Victory!
Close up of AssassinationThose tricky bastards did it! Jose said he didn't know that they had that once per game Acrobatics or he wouldn't have left her out in the open so much. He smiled and said it won't ever happen again and that sometimes it's better to lose and learn a good lesson.
I don't particularly like winning when someone doesn't know what a model does but I really wanted this bad. I definitely would have told him about the Kill Stroke ability after he moved eMakeda in their threat range if it was a casual game. We both had about 30+ minutes on our Deathclocks so we did have time to inspect each other's cards and figure out what everything did.
After the matchJose was very nice about the game and we chatted about what we would have done differently.
He mentioned that he should have brought his Fist of Halaak list which had Incindiarii that would have murdered my Kayazy Assassins with AOE 3 continuous fire shots.
I might have been more likely to win on scenario though because of the lower model count of Fist of Halaak.
If Jose didn't leave me that opening on eMakeda it would have most likely been a long drawn out scenario match. I would have been able to deny him with Old Witch's feat which says that enemy models in her control area can't run or charge and if they end their movement in it, they take a POW 14. I would have controlled the right flag and then tried to slowly win on scenario.
It was definitely a great tournament and I really enjoyed myself and the people I played against.
For the Motherland!
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