4/28/16 - MKIII Forum Spoilers

All - You can still charge if you have a speed debuff
All - Most Warcasters/Warlocks will have magical weapons
All - It is still possible to intentionally fails a charge.
All - It is also still possible to fire an AOE at a target out of range with the intention of scattering the shot.
All - You cannot charge friendly models any more.
All - You can still slam friendly models

Cryx - Witch Coven will keep their separate activations
Cryx -Excarnate now reads, "When a living enemy warrior model is boxed by Excarnate, remove it from play. You can then add one Grunt to a friendly Faction small-based undead unit in the spellcaster’s control range. Place the Grunt in formation and completely within 3˝ of the spellcaster. The Grunt must forfeit its Combat Action the turn it is put into play."
Cryx - The Leviathan is ROF d3.
Cryx -Venethrax: Field Marshal [Counter Charge]
Cryx - Deathbound: "If there are fewer models in this unit in play during your Maintenance Phase than there were at the start of the game, you can return d3 destroyed models to this unit. Place the returned models completely within 3˝ of the unit leader."
Cryx - Revenant unit cost 10/17.
Cryx - Rengrave picked up Cleave and Gang Fighter but lost Point Blank and Ghost Shot. Sac Pawn was traded for Call to Sacrifice [Revenant] ("If this model is disabled by an enemy attack, you can choose a non-disabled friendly Revenant model within 5˝ of this model to be destroyed. If another model is destroyed as a result of Call to Sacrifice, remove 1 damage point from this model.). Finally, a model put in play as a result of Death Toll must forfeit its Combat Action the turn it is put into play. All and all, I think a stronger and more fun Rengrave with a cost of 5.
All - Veteran Leader has been reduced to a +1 benefit but models just need to be in the Veteran Leader's command range now, the LOS requirement has been dropped.

Convergence - Reconstruction (★Action) now says, "Remove one soul token from this model to return one destroyed medium-based friendly Faction Clockwork Vessel Grunt to play, or remove up to three soul tokens from this model to return one destroyed small-based friendly Faction Clockwork Vessel Grunt to play for each token removed. Place each returned Grunt completely within 3˝ of this model, in formation, and within 3˝ of another model in its unit. A returned Grunt must forfeit its Combat Action the turn it is put into play."

Who is Faster? Khador or Skorne?

Someone on the forum asked if Skorne was "slower" than Khador so I made a list (I'm sure it's missing stuff) of movement/pathfinder/AD stuff for each faction.

 Here's Khador's
---------------------------------------------------------
Warcaster Movement Stuff
---------------------------------------------------------
Kommander Sorscha
Wind Rush - Full advance just for Sorscha
Boundless Charge - +2 Movement/Pathfinder for a model
Forward Kommander Sorscha
Desperate Pace[Winter Guard]
Boundless Charge - +2 Movement and Pathfinder
Cyclone - Just for Sorscha
Karchev the Terrible
Tow - Slingshot
Total War - Gives Pathfinder to battlegroup
Arcantrik Turbine - +2 Movement and Pathfinder
Koldun Kommander Zerkova
Watcher - When enemy ends within 6" of this model a jack can move and attack
Kommadant Irusk
Superiority - +2 SPD/MAT/DEF on Warjack
Harkevich
Escort - +2 Movement for battlegroup
Butcher 2
Confered Rage - When Butcher 2 kills something his Warjacks gain +2 SPD and +2 MAT
Feel the Hate - Free move and attack
Butcher 3
Energizer - 3" movement for Battlegroup
Vengeance - War Argus'
Strakov
Elite Cadre[Assault Kommandos] - Pathfinder
Sprint - Full advance after a kill
Superiority - +2 SPD/MAT to Warjack
Iron Fist - +4 Movement and Pathfinder for models charging/slamming an enemy in Strakov's control area
Irusk 2
Artifice of Deviation - Pathfinder
Energizer - 3" Battlegroup movement
Tactical Supremacy - 3" advance for model/unit
Old Witch
Unseen Path - Lets her teleport within 2" of Scrapjack
Weald Secrets - Gives Pathfinder and Camo
Vlad 3
Relentless Charge - Pathfinder for himself
Dash - +1 SPD for warrior models and Vlad
Charge of the Horse Lords - Sidestep for Warjack and Cavalry
Vlad 2
Might of Kings - Speed bonus for Vlad
Assail - +2 Movement for Warjacks
Blood Legacy - +3 SPD/STR/MAT/Rat?DEF/ARM/CMD for D3+3 non-character friendly Faction warrior models
Vlad 1
Blood of Kings - +3 SPD/STR/MAT/DEF/ARM
Boundless Charge - +2 Movement/Pathfinder
Forced March - Double SPD on Battlegroup

---------------------------------------------------------
Warjack Movement Stuff
---------------------------------------------------------
Beast 09
Hyper Aggressive
Drago
Run Riot - Moving 1" after killing everything
Mad Dog
Jury-Rigged
Ruin
Boundless Charge

---------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Deploy (5)
---------------------------------------------------------
Manhunter
Widowmaker Marksman - Swift Hunter
Doomreavers
Greylord Escort
Widowmakers - Swift Hunter

---------------------------------------------------------
Pathfinder (12)
---------------------------------------------------------
Zerkova 1
Strakhov
Old Witch
Kodiak
Torch - Relentless Charge
Manhunter
Widowmaker Marksman - Swift Hunter
Great Bears of Gallowswood - Relentless Charge
Greylord Outriders
Kayazy Assassins - Move through models with Underboss
Kayazy Eliminators - Move through models with Underboss
Kossite Woodsmen - Ambush and Pathfinder
Widowmakers - Swift Hunter

---------------------------------------------------------
Speed 4 Models (24)
---------------------------------------------------------
Karchev
Man-O-War Bombardiers
Man-O-War Demolition Corps
Man-O-War Shocktroopers
Man-O-War Kovnik
Beast 09
Behemoth
Berserker
Black Ivan
Conquest
Decimator
Demolisher
Destroyer
Devastator
Drago
Grolar
Juggernaut
Kodiak
Mad Dog
Marauder
Rager
Ruin Spriggan
Torch
Vanguard
Victor      

---

Here's Skorne's
---------------------------------------------------------
Warcaster Movement Stuff
---------------------------------------------------------
Archdomina Makeda
Savagery - +5 SPD for Faction model/unit
Lord Assassin Morghoul
Ghost Walk - Advanced through terrain and obstacles
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
Vengeance - 3" move if someone dies
Makeda
Battle-Driven - Gives units pathfinder and +2 STR +2 ARM if someone is damaged
Master Tormentor Morghoul
Admonition
Supreme Archdomina Makeda
Road to War - +2 movement for all Friendly Faction non-warlock models in this model's control area
Tyrant Xersis
Press Forward - Warrior Model/Unit gains +2 Speed when making a full advance
Void Seer MordiKaar
Ghost Walk - Advanced through terrain and obstacles
Xerxis, Fury of Halaak
Mobility - Battlegroup gains +2 SPD + Pathfinder

---------------------------------------------------------
Warbeast Movement Stuff
---------------------------------------------------------
Bronzeback Titan
Train Wreck - Beatback
Counter Charge
Hyper Aggressive
Molik Karn
SPD 6
Side Step
Titan Gladiator
Rush - +2 Movement and Pathfinder for target warbeast

---------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Deploy (6)
---------------------------------------------------------
Scarab Pack
Razor Worm
Aradus Soldier
Aradus Sentinal
Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Paingiver Bloodrunners

---------------------------------------------------------
Pathfinder (10)
---------------------------------------------------------
Lord Assassin Morghoul
Master Tormentor Morghoul
Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Tyrant Rhadeim
Aradus Sentinal
Aradus Soldier
Archidon - Flight
Razor Worm
Void Spirit (Incorp)
Paingiver Bloodrunners
Praetorian Ferox

---------------------------------------------------------
Speed 4 Models (10)
---------------------------------------------------------
Ancestral Guardian
Hakaar the Destroyer
Aradus Sentinal - SPD 3
Aradus Soldier - SPD 3
Bronzeback Titan
Mammoth
Tiberion
Titan Cannoneer
Titan Gladiator
Titan Sentry      

New 4/27/16 Insider Spoilers

New Scenario - Rumble will be a new 30" x 30" scenario for people who have smaller tables. Players only deploy their Advanced Deployment on turn 1 and on Turn 2 they deploy their main force. This will prevent Turn 1 assassinations.
All - More Terrain! Instead of the 5-7 pieces, Steamroller 2016 will have around 6-8 pieces
All - Terrain placement will be less restricted in terms of distance between each other and objectives
All - Terrain placement will be tighter and can't be placed on the edges of the board.
All - No more Toe-ing into terrain (forests/hills/clouds). You need to be completely within to gain the benefits.
Minions - Wrong Eye will be getting Star Crossed
Minions - "Arkadius' needle got some nifty upgrades, and he doesn't just stick enemy models with them anymore. I mean, one of his options is to fill one of his own warbeasts with Raw Adrenaline, which reads: If a living warbeast is damaged by an attack with this weapon, all attack and damage rolls resulting from its next basic attack this turn are boosted."

Official MKIII Spoilers for 4/21-4/22 from PP Employees

Here are the official MKIII spoilers for 4/21 - 4/22 from PP employees:

All - Cavalry FAs are now 2
All - Non-Character Cavalry Solos are FA2
All - Cavalry will have Reposition[x] which will allow them to move after activation
All - Solos FAs mostly remain the same
All - Tough is still 5+ but only works when you're standing
All - Rate of Fire is how many intial attacks you get, you don't need to buy them
All - Reload [x] will be the number of extra shots you can buy
All - No more Tiers to unlock. Themes will work like MKII Mercenary Contracts
All - Standard bearers give +2 to Command Range
All - Most units will be FA U
All - Most Heavy Infantry will have only 5 Damage boxes

Hordes - Lowered THR stats so more Frenzies
Hordes - Conditioning only removes or adds 1 Fury now

Cygnar - Iron Clad is 12 Points and his hammer does damage then knocksdown everyone in 4" template

Trollbloods - Krielstone Bearer is essentially the same other than point cost
Trollbloods - Long Riders are the sturdiest Cavalry in the game
Trollbloods - Champions retain no-knockdown while b2b
Trollbloods - Warders have Shield Guard
Trollbloods - Farstrike will only be SELF and will be cheaper
Trollbloods - Trolls will have a better ranged game

Menoth - Reckoner's Flare removes Stealth
Menoth - Many of Menoth Warjacks got +1 MAT
Menoth - Crusader is the same but at 10 PC and Range 1 Melee
Menoth - Redeemer is 11 Points - It makes 3 free skyhammers shots, no focus required

Circle - Tharn Ravager Chieftain, mini feat: Mass Carnage, Overtake for a turn. Granted: Vengeance.
Circle - Skinwalkers more defensive.

Khador - Conquest: High Explosive POW 10 AOEs on secondary batteries.
Khador - Man O Wars massively retooled. Most durable Heavy infantry in the game. eight damage boxes.

Khador - Shock Trooper officer coming. Makes them an immovable wall. Can't be moved or knocked down. Now repairable.

Legion - Proteus is going to be good
Legion - Archangel - Speed 7, can move outside normal movement with Deceptively Mobile (Advance 3" if you don't run or fail a charge)
Legion - Archangel RAT went up to 6

Skorne - Agonizers are now Lesser Warbeasts
Skorne - Feat: Blackout: Enemy models currently in Morghoul’s control range and LOS suffer Blind for one round. (A model suffering Blind cannot make ranged or magic attacks, suffers –4 MAT and DEF, and cannot run, charge, or make slam or trample power attacks. It must forfeit either its Normal Movement or Combat Action during its next activation. Blind can be shaken.)

Cryx - Necrotech - When a warjack is destroyed in this model’s command range, it gains one scrap token. This model can have up to three scrap tokens at any time. Before making a Repair roll, this model can spend one scrap token to add +2 to its roll.

Create Scrap Thrall (★Action) - When this model uses this ability remove one or more scrap tokens from this model, then roll a d3 for each scrap token removed. Place up to that number of Scrap Thralls into play completely within 3˝ of this model. A placed Scrap Thrall must forfeit its Combat Action the turn it is put into play.

Retribution - Thyron isn't going to be the only Ellowuyr swordsman on the table. He's going to have a whole mess of friends real soon to show those snobby Dawnguard who the real sword masters are.

Convergence - There are new Convergence Models in the works

Minions - Wrastler has the Rage Animus (+3 Strength)

Mercenaries - Shae will be able to take Kayazy Assassins

Lord Kozlov Viscount of Scarsgrad 2 (eKozlov) SPOILER!!

New Epic version of Lord Kozlov Viscount of Scarsgrad SPOILER

My sister-in-law's brother's dog's hairstylist's cousin served in the Cold War with a guy who works at the Russian Privateer Press and they've already got designs for eKozlov. He used his secret AOL dial up account (They're not allowed to have internet) to send me this spoiler. I had to give him 2 loaves of bread and a Shamwow for it.

New 4/20 Insider for MK3 - Eiryss New Card, Mountain King, Trenchers, and Slayer!

Ahh! Privateer Press Insider has new spoilers! New card previews! Looks amazing!!!

http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-04-20-2016

Few bullet points on stuff

• Melee has ranges now
• New icons for Assault, Disruption, and Blessed
• Version numbers on cards
• Getting rid of "Epic" and just adding #'s
• Reposition [x] - Variable movement after activation
• Not all Warjacks are Constructs?
• Mountain King is super good!
• Trenchers get Tough and Brutal Charge
• Spell Breaker - Upkeeps can kept on if caster taks D3 damage
• Purchasing additional ROF attacks don't cost Focus/Fury
• Unit Attachments are now same FA as unit
• Something about taking a mix and match of Weapon Attachments

Other fun stuff! The new post broke the interweb and the Privateer Press forums are busted but those were the highlights.

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?249433-Insider-04-20-2016

Mercenary Spoilers 4/21?

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?249418-Our-Prayers-are-Answered

The History of My Miniature Adventure

I've got a fairly insane collection going on now that I've paired down with a little trading. I guess it's not really getting rid of stuff if you're trading for more stuff but I've certainly reduced my factions. I'm getting closer to my ultimate goal which is to own all of Khador and my second objective to own all of Mercs. Ultimately I'd lilke 1 complete Warmachine faction and one complete Hordes faction, both fully painted, and then I can finally rest.

My current miniatures collection

I really just got into the hobby a couple 3-4 years ago and it started with board games. I can remember the first gamer game: Last Night on Earth that I bought from Barnes and Noble. I actually loved it so much that I made a how to play video of it that now has over 35,000 views. After that I introduced that game to my friends it began my table top obsession. I ended up purchasing dozens and dozens of games which I loved. I got involved with Boardgamegeek.com and began trading games.

It got to the point where I wasn't playing the games and I was more trying to collected the newest and the best. After a friend of mine introduced me to his giant box of unplayed Heroclix I began my obsession with them. I read about them, collected them, traded them, and occasionally played them. 

That died out pretty quickly because of the game's not so great balancing. I was able to wipe out my friends quite easily with more expensive and powerful models.

After that I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a Warhammer 40k starter box called Dark Vengeance. The act of building and painting miniatures blew my mind and I fell in love with it. I began purchasing models and trading board games for them, I own 3 large armies but I've only actually played 1 game ever.

I loved displaying the models and it scratched a creative itch that I've been missing in my life.

I tried to get my friend into 40k but he actually owned Warmachine already which I never heard of. I thought the models were much more boring because of the tiny legged jacks and the not so interesting fluff but it stuck with me. One day I ended up selling a lot of my Heroclix to Coolstuffinc and traded it for both 2 player battleboxes of Warmachien and Hordes. 

Once I got my first game in I was so amazed. There was so much complexity and diversity that it made my brain happy. It was far superior to 40k and even though the models and stories didn't wow me, I was deeply entrenched. 

The faction I gravitated to the most was Circle Orboros. I began playing games with them with some friends and doing very well with them. The lists I created were able to overpower my friends and I soon drifted away from them because they were a negative play experience for my game group.

I then moved on to Menoth. Menoth was ok for a while but the whole religious theme wasn't for me. I didn't like the Warjacks or the Warcasters very much and I faded away from it.

I then got into Khador. Khador is my true faction. It's not my usual play style but I felt that it didn't give my opponents a negative experience. Later when we integrated Steamroller I was told I was not very fun to play against because I would always find ways to win on scenario instead of the "Play Like You Got A Pair" mentality. I was too calculating and played moves ahead which made my friends angry because all they wanted to do was smash models against each other.

I got the friend who got me into Heroclix to purchase a set of Mercenaries. I told him not to choose that faction but he wanted to be the special unique snowflake and ended up getting Pirates. I ended up trading him some D&D stuff for his collection which he never even took out of the box.

I played some Mercenaries for a while but it didn't suit me. I did ended up getting the Cephalyx All-in-One-Army Box because I thought it was such a great deal.

We began playing at our local store, GMI Games in Riverside, and we entered a Steamroller tournament which I ended up winning with Khador. 

Later I entered another tournament with Circle of Orboros and also won. 

In the store there were a couple people playing Infinity and we were in awe with the amount of terrain they used and decided to get armies for it. We took a break from Warmachine and played Infinity for a couple of months. I did very poorly at first because I tried to play it like Warmachine but there were too many things that dependent on dice rolls for it to be a fun game for me.

Towards the end I was very good at calculating the odds and playing very safe and began winning most of my games. We decided to quit after I convinced my group that Warmachine was far supperior, and after a few games they agreed.

We've taken a break from Warmachine now that MKIII is coming I'm gearing up to start playing again in June. If I had to do it all over again I probably would have never gotten into Heroclix, 40k, or Infinity. Warmachine is the clear winner in table top miniatures as far as game play is concerned. The fact that they are trying to dumb the game down to lower the barrier of entry with Pre-Measuring and simplified rules worries me though. I still hope that the game will be as rich and complex as it was in MKII.

My First Games with Vladimir, the Dark Champion

I've been thinking about adding eVlad to my Steamroller paring but I don't have the model yet so I proxied him with pVlad for a couple games.

I've been running a list with eVlad, War Dog, Behemoth, Greylord Outriders, Kayazy Assassins + UA, Kayazy Elimators, 2x units of Doom Reavers, Man-O-War Drakhun, and eEiyriss.

The first game I played was vs. Phinneus Shae and the Pirate Boat and I was able to use the Greylord Outriders with Hand of Fate to clear a lot of units except there was some massive Tough-ing going on and made it really hard. I also has Assail on the Behemoth so he could trample for free and lob shots at the infantry. The Behemoth eventually got to the Galleon and destroyed it. The Galleon couldn't drag Behemoth in with his Trident because the Kayazy Eliminators stood in front of him and were very hard to kill.

Shae was able to get to the flag and they quickly rose to 3 points. The Mercenaries had two choices: Try and kill eVlad who had 6 health which means he was DEF 17 - ARM 23 with Might of Kings or Kill the Objective (Bunker) and see if they could hold out for 1 more turn.

The Mercs chose to try and kill the Objective with the Press Gangers who the only units close enough and alive enough to try. They failed after eVlad stepped up and made sure that if they wanted to kill the objective, they'd have to take a eVlad free strike.

The Greylords and Behemoth were able to clear a path and a 7 Fury eVlad with +2 stats from Might of Kigns was able to decimate Captain Phinneus Shae.

The next match up vs Butcher 3 did't work so well as you can see above. Butcher and his Warjcks (Spriggan, Beast 09, and Ruin) were way too much to handle. The sniper package of Widowmakers, Marksman, and Kell Bailoch kept the Doom Reaver rush to a minimum and the Iron Fang Pikeman were able to hold off the Kayazy and contest the zone.

In the end some bad dice were rolled vs the Beast 09 and Ruin which swung the tide of battle. I don't think it would have mattered much anyway. Butcher 3 out threatens eVlad 16" vs. 11" and would have put axe to face even with Might of Kings and a full camp. In the end Beast 09 and Ruin finished of eVlad for a Khador vs. Khador victory.

Circle vs. Mercenaries (Captain Phinneus Shae vs. Morvahna the Dawnshadow) Steamroller 2015: Incoming

This was an interesting match up. I really wanted to get back into Shae's A Pirate's Life theme list again since it's fun and unique. The match up today is Shae vs. eMorvahna.

Mercenaries List: Phinneus Shae, Galleon, Press Gangers, Sea Dog Boarding Crew + 1 Weapon Attachment + UA Mr. Walls, Lady Aiyana & Master Holt, Dirty Meg Jack Mashalling a Mule, Doc Killingsworth, Bosun Grogspar, First Mate Hawk, Lord Rockbottom, and my favorite: The Commodore Cannon.

 

Circle Orbors List: eMorvahna, Druid Wilder, Ghetorix, Warpwolf Stalker, Gorax, Bloodtrackers + Nuala, Warpwolf Skinwalkers + Alpha UA, Lord of the Feast, and Shifting Stones + UA.

Staring Deployment

I've been trying to figure out the math for Pirates and decided to go 2nd with them. They have such a long threat range with all their movement tricks that they're highly likely to get the alpha strike.

Circle deploys with the Bloodtrackers to the right of the field and Prey on the Sea Dog Boarding Crew. He also sets up Ghetorix and the Stalker towards the right to try and take care of the Galleon.

I wanted to try out a different deployment with the Pirates and I spread out the Commodore Cannon and the Galleon so I could control both of the zones with long ranged shots. I kept the Sea Dog Boarding Crew more centralized with the super Pirate support staff behind them.

Circle Top of Turn 1

Circle runs up and spreads out a bit. eMorvhana stays in the middle while the army splits in two. The left side is controlled by the Warpwolf Skinwalkers, UA, and Lord of the Feast while the other side has Bloodtrackers, Stalker, Ghetorix, and Stones with UA.

Mercenaries Bottom of Turn 1

On my turn I activate Shae first and pop feat. This gave me 3" to position everything except the Galleon and some Press Gangers on the fringe. I also cast Storm Rager on First Mate Hawk. The Feat gave me a good charge against the Lord of the Feast which the unboosted Sea Dog Boarding Crew were able to handle with a good charge(I forgot to activate Lord Rockbottom first to get extra melee attack dice but it worked out) They also took care of 1 Blood Tracker.

The Press Gangers at the top spread out a bit. You can see that I try to hide one behind the ruins so that Circle would have a tough time trying to control the zone. The rest move charge in and take out 2 Bloodtrackers.

The Commodore Cannon blasts a cannon ball at a Skinwalker and does 5 damage. The collateral damage also knocks down the Skinwalker next to him and does 6 damage.

The Mule jackmarshalled by Dirty Meg moves up and does nothing.

The rest of the Pirate support staff (Lord Rockbottom, Grogspar, Killingsworth, First Mate Hawk) set up to give their Tough, No Knockdown, and +4 Knockdown to the Sea Dog Boarding Crew.

The Gallon missed a shot vs. Ghetorix because he was too far but was able to use his AOE Rapid fire shots (4 total) and killed 5 Blood trackers with AOEs which worked out great.

Circle Top of Turn 2

Morvahna 2 upkeeps Carnivore on the Skinwalkers and they activate. Two are knocked down so they give up their action to stand and just move. The rest of the Skinwalkers are able to kill off 3 Sea Dog Boarding crew guys with charges. The Alpha stays back and toes the zone hoping to stay alive.

The Bloodtrackers activate and clear up some of the Press Gangers and Sea Dog Boarding Crews at their right flank. The Stone Keeper and Stones activate next and try to Rock Hammer a group of Press Gangers behind the ruins but only manage to kill 1.

This left a lane for the Warpwolf Stalker to charge in and Berserker into  5 Press Gangers. He needs 7's to hit and is able kill one but when the Berserk triggers, the Press Ganger toughs. This goes on for 5 hits with Tough and needing 7's to hit being major roadblocks for the Stalker. It would have been a better idea to swap over the Carnivore +2 MAT to the Stalker. He would have be able to wipe out the Press Gangers instead of leaving 3 alive.

eMorvahna then activates and decides to feat and brings back 7 Bloodtrackers. I think saving it for the Skinwalkers would have been much better but Circle needed a way to block the Drag shot from the Galleon to Ghetorix. She then casts Fog of War and camps 3.

Ghetorix moves into place and gets ready to charge the Galleon.

Mercenaries Bottom of Turn 2

My goal for Turn 2 was to dominate the right zone. It didn't seem like a huge problem with the tools I had on that side of the field.

I was really excited to get some Commodore Cannon action going so I activated them first. I probably should have debuffed them with Kiss of Lyliss before I shot though. The Commodore shot the Skinwalker with RAT 8 and blasted him back 4" which knocked down the Alpha. The shot killed the Skinwalker hit and did a good chunk of damage to the UA.

Aiyana and Holt activate next and Aiyana successfully casts Kiss of Lyliss on a Warpwolf Skinwalker that is out of eMorvahna's Fog of War range. I should have just targeted the knocked down Alpha, duh.

The Sea Dog Boarding Crew activate next and do some charging. I screw up again and forget that First Mate Hawk gives them Weapon Master vs. Warrior models. They are able to kill everything except they leave 1 Skinwalker on 4 boxes which would have been dead if I remembered the rule.
Since I didn't clear the zone, I didn't have to run Shae into it so I just moved him within walking distance of it next turn.

The Mule does nothing again. I really need another unit of Press Gangers.

The Galleon activates next and moves up to walking distance of the left zone. He gets 4 Rapid Fire shots again and with AOEs he is able to kill 5 Bloodtrackers. His last shot with his Trident is boosted and smashes a Bloodtracker that is within 5" of him

Lord Rockbottom gets aggressive and aims for a spray shot. He is able to kill the Stone Keeper and removes the teleportation threat off the table.

Circle Top of Turn 3

No points have been scored yet due to some bad dice and bad strategic play on both sides. eMorvahna lets Carnivore drop on the one Skinwalker and moves into kill some Press Gangers behind the ruins. This also gets her away from the Galleon but keeps her in the zone to Dominate. The Skinwalker activates and with some bad dice and tough are only able to kill 1 of the 2 Press Gangers contesting the zone.

The Bloodtrackers clear a path for Ghetorix by moving out of the way and putting all their Weapon Master ranged shots into Bosun Grogspar that is contesting the zone. They are able to kill him after a couple Tough checks.  The Stones without their UA also get out of the way of Ghetorix.

The Druid Wilder users her special action and casts the Primal Animus on Ghetorix. Ghetorix then charges in with MAT 9 - POW 21s against the Galleon's ARM 19. On Average dice he should do about 39-43 damage on the Galleon but only does 37 which takes out his Left side.

The Gorax has nothing left to do and moves into the right zone and hopes to survive.

Mercenaries Bottom of Turn 3

The game is pretty much mine because Circle failed to score on their turn. I just need to keep Shae safe. Even if Cirlce were able to Dominate for 2 I think my Pirates would have had enough tools to defend the Objective and contest for a scenario win. Circle was pretty wiped out by now.

Shae gives 3 Focus to the Galleon and camps 2. Aiyana and Holt activate and get Kiss on the Gorax and the Sea Dog Boarding Crew finish him off. Phinneus Shae handles the last Skinwalker and Dominates the zone.

The Galleon activates, moves in a little closer and boosts to hit Ghetorix. After spending all his focus he leaves Ghetorix on 6 boxes.

Dirty Meg runs toward the Galleon hoping to repair him next turn. The Mule follows her and sets up to contest the zone next turn.

The Commodore Cannon is too slow and too far way to do anything. I definitely need to centralize it more next time I play this list.

Mercenaries score 2 Points

Circle Top of Turn 4

Ghetorix frenzies because of Primal and does 11 damage to the Galleon. The Galleon still has all systems functioning for his right side. Circle has to contest or lose the game so they run a Bloodtracker into the zone. Another Bloodtracker tries to charge First Mate Hawk but fails to hit needing 9s.

The Stalker is faced the wrong way and has a Giant rock separating him from the Galleon so he just runs towards the edge of his zone to protect it from being contested.

Score: Mercenaries 2 - Circle 0

Mercenaries Bottom of Turn 4

The game is mine if I can complete 2 simple tasks. 1 - Kill the Bunker Objective. 2 - Kill a Bloodtracker. If I can do these things I will Dominate the zone again and get a point for destroying my opponent's objective.

I decide to play out all my pieces just for practice. The Galleon with 3 Focus is able to take out Ghetorix, Rockbottom sprays and takes out a Stone, and the Mule charges the Stalker and misses. Woo hoo.

Shae then activates, boosts to hit and annihilates the Bloodtracker. Three Sea Dog Boarding Crew members charge into the objective with POW 10 boosted attacks. I was able to do just enough damage to kill it. In retrospect that was a bad idea because the average damage would be around 6 and I need 15 damage to an ARM 18 to kill.

I didn't realize it but I could also Kiss of Lylss the objective since it's a model. I could have also shot it with Holt and pull back Hawk to hit it with 2x POW 9 Weapon Masters giving me a better chance to destroy the objective. Either way, I got lucky and took it out and Mercenaries won the game with 5 victory points.

Summary

Pirates are tricky because of all the synergy involved. They've got a Charge distance buff from Shae along with his feat of allowing them to move 3", they have Lord Rockbottom's coins which either give them Tough, +2 RAT +2 Ranged damage, or boosted melee attack dice, First Mate Hawk's +1 additional die vs. warrior models, Grogspar's no knockdown, Killingsworth's +4 tough, and they have Mr. Wall's +2 Movement + Pathfinder mini feat.

Trying to get everything to line up is pretty tough on model placement. You've also got the Press Gangers which benefit from the same thing but usually there's not enough room for everyone to get the goodies.

A Pirate's Life theme list struggles with ARM skews a lot but is great vs. lots of warrior models. The next time I play this list I plan to centralize the Commodore Cannon more and I'd probably swap out the Mule for 10 Press Ganges and 2 Sea Dog Weapon Attachments. It does mean I'd have to purchase more Press Gangers but people are now starting to play them in Butcher 3 which might be fun for me.

I could swap out the Mule which threatens 12" with a Mariner which threatens 20" (15 Range + 5 Move) and get more work out of it but that means Dirty Meg will have to ditch the Galleon and exclusively be tethered to the Mariner. I also lose 1 POW and 1" of AOE. A boosted RAT 5-7 at POW 14 - AOE 3 - with a 15-20" threat range could do way more work than a boosted RAT 7 POW 15 - AOE 4 - with a 12" threat.

Over all, I like this list because I haven't seen many people play it and a lot of people won't know how to handle it. I will practice it a bit more and get the threat ranges down in my next blog post.

Cygnar (Strkyer 3) vs. Skorne (eMorghoul) Battle Report

I was planning on playing some of my Steamroller Khador parings tonight but I didn't want to make Austin cry like a little girl so I threw together a Skorne army.

The Skorne army consisted of eMorghoul, Molik Karn, a Brute, Tiberion, Harpoony dudes, Incindiarii, Prateorean Swordsmen, the Warlock attachment, and the Paingivers.

Austin decided to play his Stryker 3 with a Centurion, Stormclad, Lancer, Storm Blades, Runewood, Finn, JWC, The solo Gun Mage, Strageways, Boomhowlers, and Rhupert.

Austin already confused about the set up

All of Cygnar ran up on turn one. Austin got Fuiry on the Sword Knights and set them up to take the first hit. On Turn 1 I was able to move up my Incidiarii slowly and lob a couple shots at the Sworsmen who Reformed closer. I was able to set 2 on fire and kill one.

Cygnar Top o Turn 2

Austin began drawing the line of battle with the Sword Knights and Boomhowlers. I was able to kill 2 Boomhowlers after he made 4 tough rolls which helped a bit. He lined up his Arcane Shielded Centurion up front for me to try and smash.

Skorne Bottom of Turn 2

Austin was able to tie up Molik Karn and blocked the charge lane to Centurion with Sword Knights. I used Morghoul with Fate Walker to clear a path and charged in.

Skorn Bottom of Turn 3

On my turn I was able to clear some room for Tiberion to charge the Arcane Shielded Centurion. With bad dice rolls I was only able to take out his left arm. On my next try, I trampled with Molik Karn and was able to get the Centurion down to 1 life. I had to send the Brute in which took a free strike from a Fury'ed Sword Knight and took out an aspect. I had to boost but I was able to kill the Centurion off. It took pretty much everything.

Cygnar Top of Turn 4

Austin feated and was able to kill Tiberion and didn't do much after that. His Boomhowlers failed to do any damage to Molik Karn and the Brute. In an odd strategic choice, Austin ran Stryker so he would be in Melee with Morghoul.

On my turn I moved Morghoul out of the way with that 2" thing and  then launcheda combined shot with 6 Incindiarii doing about 8 damage. Morghoul was able to charge in and finish off Stryker 3 for a Skorne victory.

Skorne is ok. Their beasts aren't as good as Warpwolves and their casters have low Fury with minimal spells. They're fun to play once in a while but I feel they lack deep strategy and flexibility. I am loving Incindiarii though. If Khador's Bombardiers were like them, I would take them in every list.

Khador (eSorscha) vs. Circle (eMorvahna) - Steamroller 2015 Destruction

We haven't played Warmachine at our local store for 3 months now because we started playing a little Infinity and when we got back into Warmachine, Austin and Ryan didn't feel comfortable in their play to get some games in at the store. 

I have a little table set up at my house and sometimes I'll just play little practice games against myself to get the feel of the movements and ranges of units I don't play so often.

Ronan is tall enough to reach the table now

Today I wanted to practice one of my Steamroller 2015 list for Khador against Cirlce of Orboros.

The list for Khador was; eSorscha with a bonded Conquest, Sylys Wyshnaylr, full Winter Guard Death Star with Joe, a full unit of Nyss Hunters, Lady Aiyana and Master Holt (which I forgot to deploy) and eEiyrss.

The Circle list was eMorvahna, Ghetorix, Warpwolf Stalker, Gorax, a Druid Wilder, full unit of Bloodtrackers with Nuala, a full unit of Skinwalkers with UA, Shifting Stones with UA, and Lord of the Feast.

Deployment

All the terrain that I have is at the office so I had to make do with a bunch of rocks and left over stuff. The scenario was Destruction. Khador deployed with the Winter Guard on the right side and Nyss on the left. Circle deployed the Bloodtracks who Preyed on the Winter Guard on the left along with the warbeasts, and the Skinwalkers on the right.

End of Round 1

On the first turn everyone ran up. The Bloodtrackers tried to spread out while the Winter Guard didn't really care because they had Iron Flesh and Courage of the Forefathers.

End of Round 2

Circle was able to do some damage up top with the Lord of the Feast but he was still engaged after his first "thresher" and couldn't shoot his raven to move deeper into the Nyss line because he was still in melee and couldn't perform a ranged attack. He did end up buying more attacks with souls and was able to take out the 3 Nyss in the front.

The Bloodtrackers moved in and killed 5 Winter Guard but were left sitting ducks. The Skinwalkers moved up behind them along with Ghetorix and the Stalker. eMorvahna casted Fog of War and Carnivore on the Skinwalkers.

Khador was able to make up a lot of ground. The Nyss took out the Lord of the Feast by doing a 6 man combined attack and finished him off with good dice.

The Winter Guard wiped out the entire Bloodtracker unit and made it so they couldn't be brought back by eMorv's feat. The Conquest tried to crit devastate on Ghetorix but didn't get it off. The Conquest ended up doing 6 damage to Ghetorix. It's hard to see but the Great Bears are behind the Conquest.

Circle Top of Turn 4

Circle changed its strategy up a little and decided to jam the Conquest with the Skinwalkers. One Skinwalker was able to get a charge off on eSorscha and did 10 damage bringing her down to 7. Ghetorix then took out the objective and eMorvahna toed the zone for a total of 3 points at the end of Circle's turn.

Khador Bottom of Turn 4

Khador retaliated with eSorscha popping her feat and using Quadiron to take out most of the Skinwalkers that were stationary because of her bond with the Conquest. The Winter Guard Deathstar positioned themselves to block Ghetorix from charging eSorscha. I forgot that the Skinwalker Alpha was in the back and that eMorvahna could bring them all back on her turn.

Conquest charged and oneshotted both the Skinwalker and the Gorax. The Great Bears were still trapped behind him but they were able to charge in and kill the Stone so they couldn't port in Ghetorix. I positioned the Winter Guard incorrectly and blocked the Conquest from charging Ghetorix. I should have been able to kill Ghetorix and the Stalker or at least one and tie up the other.

Circle Top of Turn 5

Circle was able to use the Stone Keeper's Rock Hammer and eMorvahna's Death Knell to make enough room for Ghetorix to trample in and finish off eSorscha who only had 7 life left.

Ghetorix Kills eSorscha

There was some bad placement with Khador. I really don't like playing with a Colossal because of how much room it takes. The Nyss Hunters were ok but I might swap them out for Kayazy Assassins that can move through people once per game. It would help with some jamming. I figured the Nyss could get a good combined POW 20 on eSorscha's feat from 19" away. (12 range 7 move) 

I also forgot Aiyana and Holt because I left them at the office. I don't know if they would do that much more against this list. Conquest pretty much one shotted all the beasts he touched. Holt could have possibly taken out the Skinwalkers instead of eSorscha leaving her with some focus to cast Iron Flesh on herself. Ghetorix would still be hitting at bosted MAT 7 so he would need 12's. That would have changed a lot since he would spend 1 to trample, 1 to buy an attack, 1 to boost. It would only leave him with 1 good boosted shot at 37.5% which if he failed, would have cost Circle the game.

Overall it was fun and I learned some good lessons with both factions. I would normally play Butcher 3 into eMorv but I wanted to get some more practice with eSorscha which I really needed.