Devastation Event - GMI Games - Circle Orbors

Our store is holding the Devastation Event over 3 weeks so we can get more participants and I had my first 3 games with Circle and the Effigy of the Devourer tonight.

Game 1: The first game was pKromac vs. eMakeda. I went first and we both placed our objectives on opposite ends. I deployed my Stalker, Ghetorix, and Feral Warpwolf to run as fast as possible to his objective. He did the same with eMakeda, Molik Karn and a Gladiator. He saw how fast I was at getting to his objective and decided to swing all his guys over to defend his objective. On the next turn I was able to trample though his tar pit unit and get to the objective with the Stalker and Ghetorix followed up with a charge allowing me to win on Scenario on turn 3.

Game 2: I decided to try the same thing again for my second game. This time it was pKromac vs. Legion's pVayl. I won the roll and decided to go first again and we placed our objectives on opposite sides. I tried the same tactic with having the Stalker, Ghetorix, and Feral Warpwolf run up as fast as they could towards the objective. My opponent deployed his Carinvean, Ravagore, and 3 shredders and tried to run as fast as possible to my objective. I had 2 sets of stones and figured they weren't going to make much difference to my Warbeasts' advancing in an open field so I decided to place them near my objective and use them as tar pit units.

On his turn he used a spell martyr to Ravager my Feral Warpwolf and had him advance backwards and attack my Stalker. On turn 2 he was able to un-jam all of his Warbeasts that were being blocked by Stones and sent a charging Carnivean at my objective. He fell 12 hp short. On my third turn I was able to easily kill his objective for a scenario victory.

Game 3: In this match up I played eKreuger vs. Trollblood's pGrim. This was a much more interesting game because he was able to screen his objective with Warders and he was able to basically negate one of my turns with pGrim's -3 speed feat. We went back and forth. I was able to kill a couple Warders and Kriel Stone Bearers and put about 7 points of damage on pGrim. He took out a crucial Stone, some Druids, my Gallows Grove, and my Stalker. It was looking bad but I had better positioning and I also got his Mountain King down to 1 hp. I thought about trying to kill the Trollblood objective with a primaled Ghetorix, Stone Keeper, Blackclad Wayfarer, and 4 Druids but my opponent told me that his Krielstone also gave the +2 ARM bonus to his objective which quickly threw the math way off. I decided to go for the assassination instead. I am able to land the first ranged attack with eKreuger and with Sustained Attack I was able to remove all his fury and get him down to 6 health. My Ghetorix was able to get into range and hit pGrim once to kill him.

Some things I learned: Our objective doesn't come into play very often unless to plan to play really defensively which is probably a bad idea. I leaned that it takes 2 Warbeasts to kill the objective reliably. It's also much more beneficial to go 2nd so you can counter their deployment and get the extra 3". I also learned that it's very hard to get to the enemy objective on Turn 2 and you should plan to get there and finish it on Turn 3.

I will most likely get 3 more games in next week. If anyone has any experiences with the Circle and the Devastation Event please share

My First Warmachine Tournament - My First Victory!

GMI Warmachine Steamroller 2015 Tournament

Part 1: My List Pairing for 35 point Steamroller 2015

Part 2: Khador - Butcher 3 vs. Menoth - Harbinger

Part 3: Khador - Butcher 3 vs. Circle - pKreuger

Part 4: Khador - Old Witch vs. Skorne - eMakeda

Part 5: Final Thoughts for the Tournament

This Coin is very special to me and is something I now carry around with me so I can explain to friends and family that I won a game where I pushed around plastic little toys vs. other grown men's plastic little toys for hours on end.

The Coin represents the hundreds of hours I've spent sitting on the toilet reading strategy guides on how to win at this game and studying the countless models and their stats.

It proves my dedication for something that only means anything to very few but sometimes you just need some validation for being a total nerd.
 
I hope to one day pass The Coin on to my son, Ronan Wolf Lim. Maybe it will inspire him to become the ultra nerd that he was destined to become.

My first tournament was incredibly fun but I didn't realize how stressful it would be though because I've never really played Warmachine in a timed environment. After decompressing after each match I was physically exhausted which I found really weird.

I was actually only really nervous or stressed out in between matches. When I used to play sports I would always puke right before every game. It's a problem I've always had to deal with but once I'm actually performing all the nerves work themselves out.

Some of the key factors in why I did so well was the composition of our local meta. It looks like there's only 1 person in the store that plays Cryx which is the Achilles Heel of my favorite Warcaster, Butcher 3, and it's my buddy Ryan who I've played against dozens of times before so I've got practice against him. There also seems to be only 1-2 Circle and Legion players which I also have trouble with.

I also felt my lists were very flexible. Not in terms of dealing with skew lists but in terms of adapting and capitalizing on my opponents mistakes. The mobility and threat that I had in my lists helped me surprise my opponents and allowed me to switch gears quickly when I felt I had better opportunities. This also worked in my favor because it confused my opponents and ate up their clock which forced them to play sloppier.

I look forward to playing in next month's Devastation Event which I will either bring Circle or Legion. I'm looking to trade my Menoth army and someone offered me some Legion. I'd much rather have Skorne or Circle but if the trade works out, I'll most likely bring them.

I hope to see you guys at GMI Tuesday for some games!

My First Warmachine Tournament - Butcher 3 vs. pKreuger

GMI Warmachine Steamroller 2015 Tournament

Part 1: My List Pairing for 35 point Steamroller 2015

Part 2: Khador - Butcher 3 vs. Menoth - Harbinger

Part 3: Khador - Butcher 3 vs. Circle - pKreuger

Part 4: Khador - Old Witch vs. Skorne - eMakeda

Part 5: Final Thoughts for the Tournament

I learned that Steamroller Tournament strength of schedule is determined by 3 factors. The first factor is your Win/Loss record. The next factor is how many control points you scored during your matches. The final is how many points of enemy models you killed.

Since Andrew and I were the only players that won on scenario and scored 5 control points, we were the #1 and #2 seed and faced each other in the next match. Andrew is a very experienced player but mentioned that he hasn't played competitively in a while. He brought a very strong control army with eKreuger and another hit and run style anti-infantry army with pKreuger.

After everyone submitted lists I saw what Andrew brought and I knew that was going to be the toughest match up for me and I did not want to play against him unless I had to.

Before our match, Andrew and I talked about our lists and not wanting to get List Locked. (You must play both your lists at some point during the tournament) Knowing that he was going to be the hardest match up for me in the tournament I decided to go with my stronger list and play Butcher 3 while Andrew gambled and played pKreuger hoping to save eKreuger for the finals.

Kill Stroked (35 Points)
Warcaster: Butcher 3 (-4)
Warcaster Unit: War Argus x2 (+2)
Warcaster Attachment: War Dog (+1)
Warjack: Ruin (+10)
Warjack: Juggernaut (+7)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Assassin Underboss (+2)
Unit: Widowmakers (+4)
Solo: Widowmaker Marksman (+2)
Solo: Saxon Orrik (+2)
Solo: Ogrun Bokur (+3)

VS.

pKreuger (35 Points)
Warcaster: pKreuger (-5)
Warbeast: Warpwolf Stalker (+10)
Warbeast: Feral Warpwolf (+9)
Warbeast: Gorax (+4)
Unit: Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers (+5)
Unit: Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers (+5)
Unit: Shifting Stones (+2)
Unit Attachment: Stone Keeper (+1)
Solo: Blackclad Wayfarer (+2)
Solo: Gallows Groves (+1)
Solo: Gallows Groves (+1)

He beats me on threat range and has answers for my high DEF Stealth infantry but I beat him on big bald fat guys that hit hard.

End of Round 1 

Andrew won the roll and went first and set up on the side with the linear obstructions. He moved both his units of Woldstlakers in a straight gun line and set up for my advance. The double Gallows groves move into position for Arc Noding while the Stones set up to use Shifting. His Stalker and Feral Warpwolf stay back and wait to be Shifted.

What I didn't realize was that Shifting says "within" and not "completely within" so the actual distance of placement is not 8" but more like 9.5" which is much scarier.

On my turn I move my army, cast Energizer so my battlegroup moves 3 extra inches and get ready to dominate the flag on turn 2. I keep Ruin behind Juggernaut and hope that the Warpwolf Stalker will take the bait. I know once I can trade for one of his Warbeasts, I'm in a really good spot to attrition.

I position my Kayazy and Widowmakers in a way that I feel would best protect them from pKreugers feat but I was sorely mistaken. The Widowmakers do some work and killed 4 Woldstalkers.

Round 2

On Turn 2, Andrew moves his unit of Woldstalkers on the right side of the picture so they can pop shots at Ruin. With Concentrated Fire they are all able to hit and do quite a bit of damage to him. He then casts Primal from the Gorax on the Warpwolf Stalker and ports him 9.5" into Reach range with Ruin. He makes quick work of him and also cripples both of Juggernaut's arms. I'm a bad spot but I still feel like if I can take out the Warpwolf Stalker I have a shot.

Andrew then pops pKreuger's feat and decimates my Kayazy. As you can see from the picture above, I spread my Kayazy out and feel like they're safe but I didn't realize that the 3" AOE templates didn't have to be centered on models but instead placed anywhere he wanted. He was able to wipe out 7 Kayazy and all 4 Widowmakers. Luckily the Kayazy passed their command check.

I suffered mass casualties so I had to shift gears. I charged Butcher into the center of the pile of Woldstalkers and Feral Warpwolf and cast Impending Doom and pulled everything in. I then used Flashing Blade and wiped out 4 Wold Shrimp, a Blackclad Wayfarer, and the Warpwolf Stalker. I popped my feat and got back to camping 6 focus bringing his defensive stats to DEF 14 ARM 24.

I then decide to use Energizer to place Butcher base to base with the flag but unfortunately the action was challenged because Butcher was inside a wreck maker that counted as rough terrain. A judge was called over to mediate. Energizer states that he gets Pathfinder on activation he charges. I felt that, since he charged, he had Pathfinder for his entire activation but it was ruled that he did not. It's ok though, I was still able to get a War Argus next to the flag to get 1 point.

I gave up the safety of Butcher and sent out the Ogrun Bokur and the War Dog to contest my friendly flag in future turns. I knew that I was down in attrition with my Juggernaut's crippled arms and if I could just play 1 step ahead of Andrew I could pull away with a scenario win.

MARK: 1 - ANDREW: 0

Round 3

Andrew was successful with Electro Leap attacks from the Feral Warpwolf attacks that had Lightning Tendrils and focused on clearing out the Kayazy's threat and killed all but 2. He used then used his Gallows Grove and moved it based to base with my flag and gained a point. I didn't think this was legal because the Gallows Grove shouldn't be able to control a flag but couldn't specifically find the rules. Andrew said it could and confirmed with the Press Ganger and was able to get a point. I was fine with it.

Later I found out that Immobile models cannot control zones and that Gallows Groves were in fact Immobile. It was my fault because I used the word "Construct" when asking Joe, the Press Ganger, instead of the word "Immobile" which he confirmed that Constructs could control flags.

It was all good. Andrew had to move pKreuger out of the way because the 2 Kayazy had a shot at assassinating him. This made it so that he couldn't dominate on his turn. He also used the Gallows Grove as an Arc Node and used Tornado to Throw the Juggernaut into Butcher knocking both of them down. The Juggernaut took some more damage but luckily Butcher did not.

MARK: 1 - ANDREW: 1

On my turn I played it safe and just moved everyone to guard Butcher. I felt that killing him would be the only way Andrew had a chance to win now that I controlled the board. I put my crippled Juggernaut in front of my army with the War Argi behind him and finally positioned Butcher behind everything camping 6 focus.

I used the remaining Kayazy to kill the Gallows Grove that was controlling the flag and positioned the Ogrun Bokur and War Dog on opposite sides of the flag in hopes that Andrew wouldn't be able to kill both in one turn.

At the end of the round I killed 1 shrimp and leader and dominated my zone for another 2 points.

MARK: 3 - ANDREW: 1

End of the Game

There was a ruin terrain that separated the Feral Warpwolf and Butcher which meant it was almost impossible for the Feral to reach him even with Lightning Tendrils. He was able to easily wipe out the Ogrun Bokur but the War Dog miraculously toughed.

There was nothing much left for him to do. He positioned pKreuger safely and toed the zone instead of Dominating his flag. It would have given him 1 more point but ultimately there was nothing he could do to contest his friendly flag.

MARK: 3 - ANDREW: 2

My resilient War Dog was able to get up and contest my friendly flag and the War Argi, with Gang were able to wipe out the Gallows Grove that was contesting my enemy flag.

I ended my turn with Butcher dominating which put me up to 5 control points for the scenario win. Khador Victory!

MARK: 5 - ANDREW: 2

Final Thoughts

This was definitely a very stressful match for me. There seemed to be a lot of things that didn't go my way which was ok because they didn't change the outcome of the game.

The Charge/Energizer/Pathfinder ruling was my fault because I didn't do everything in the proper order. I would have been able to do it if but just needed to do it before my initial attack. I would have had to change the order of my activation to make it work. I would have needed to Charge first, kill everything with the Flashing Blade spell, then Energizered because technically I would have still been in my charge activation and had Pathfinder. It didn't change much because I was still able to get 1 control point with the War Argi which was all that mattered.

The second rules that went wrong was the Gallows Grove that controlled a flag. It was my fault again because I asked the Press Ganger if constructs could control and he said yes when I should have asked if Immobile models could control. Again, this didn't change the game outcome but it did change the tempo and forced me to play more offensively instead of defensively.

I learned a lot during this game because I was able to play an experienced and fierce competitor which I really enjoyed. It was stressful and I was exhausted after it but I think it helped me become a better Warmachine player.

 

My First Tournament - Khador List Discussion - Butcher 3 & Old Witch

GMI Warmachine Steamroller 2015 Tournament

Part 1: My List Pairing for 35 point Steamroller 2015

Part 2: Khador - Butcher 3 vs. Menoth - Harbinger

Part 3: Khador - Butcher 3 vs. Circle - pKreuger

Part 4: Khador - Old Witch vs. Skorne - eMakeda

Part 5: Final Thoughts for the Tournament

In front of GMI Games. Getting ready for the tournament!

Hey guys! I just got back from my very first local Warmachine Tournament held at GMI Games in Riverside CA. I was pretty nervous because I didn't know what to expect since I only started playing in public 2 weeks ago but I was really excited to battle against some new opponents. 

I debated on taking Circle but ended up bringing Khador because I wanted to represent The Motherland and smash things with with shiny axes. In this post I will talk about the two list I brought and my thoughts on them.

The two lists I brought for the 35 point 2015 Steamroller were:

Kill Stroked (35 Points)
Warcaster: Butcher 3 (-4)
Warcaster Unit: War Argus x2 (+2)
Warcaster Attachment: War Dog (+1)
Warjack: Ruin (+10)
Warjack: Juggernaut (+7)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Assassin Underboss (+2)
Unit: Widowmakers (+4)
Solo: Widowmaker Marksman (+2)
Solo: Saxon Orrik (+2)
Solo: Ogrun Bokur (+3)

The anchor piece is definitely Butcher 3. If I can piece trade and take out the threats to Butcher, there will be nothing to kill him and I will control the game. Ruin is so awesome with any Butcher because he charges for free with +2 movement and Pathfinder. He can also wipe out large chunk of infantry because of Soul Taker and the Dispel on his Black Iron Mace.

Juggernaut is just a cheap beefy jack that I can threaten with.

The backbone of this list are the Kayazy Assassins. They do so much work! Once per game they will make your opponent think super hard when positioning because they can use Kill Stroke and move through models. Saxon gets them through rough terrain.

Widowmakers and Marksman are there to clear lanes for Ruin and Butcher. while the Ogrun Boker is there in case I have to deal with something with a huge cannon.

The list has high armor and high defense mixed in. It poses a lot of questions for my opponents:

Can I handle Stealth?
Can I handle DEF 14 ARM 24?
Will Dispel ruin my entire plan?
Can I handle fast Pathfinder Units?
Can I handle Shield Guard?

My second list is more of a control list. I debated on taking pVlad/Conquest but decided to settle for Old Witch.

Into The Woods (35 Points)
Warcaster: Old Witch (-3)
Warcaster Warjack: 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)
Unit Weapon Attachment: Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeer x2 (+2)

Solo: Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (+3)

Solo: Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (+2)

This list is more of a block your opponent out of the zone and slow them down kind of list. I like utilizing Unseen Path and have the Old Witch jump across the map to score points. I also have the Winter Guard Death Star in case I ran into Cryx

Behemoth is there to drop bombs on infantry and possibly get shots into the opposing caster.

I am not too comfortable in playing this list but I thought it would be tricky for my opponents.

So those are my two lists! I will write a battle report of the games I had during the tournament :)

FOR THE MOTHERLAND!

Khador vs. Mercs - Butcher 3 vs. Drake MacBain (35 Points)

Tonight was the second time I delved deep into the world of miniature table top wargaming, or as normal people call it, playing with my little plastic friends. Rob, the owner of Table Ready Terrain (tablereadyterrain.com) found me on Facebook and challenged me to a 35 point Steamroller 2015 match up.

For this game we played Outflank which has 2x circular zones that can be controlled for 1 point or dominated for 2.

Rob from Table Ready Terrain getting ready to deploy after winning the starting roll.

For my list I decided to bring Khador and flex my Butcher 3 muscles. He is definitely a fun caster to play but has his share of bad anti magic match ups.

Khador - Butcher 3 - Butcher Unleashed

Warcaster: Butcher 3  (-4)
Warcaster Unit: War Argus
Warcaster Unit: War Argus
Warcaster Attachment: War Dog (+1)
Warjack: Ruin (+10)
Warjack: Juggernaut (+7)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Underboss (+2)
Unit: Aiyana & Holt (+4)
Solo: Saxon Orrik (+2)
Solo: Widowmaker Marksman (+2)
Solo: Ogrun Bokur (+3)

Butcher is the driving force in this list. He won't start the fight but he sure will end it. The goal is to use the Juggernaut to initiate a piece trade and end that transaction with Butcher smashing face. The Kayazy are MAT 9 with Gang and DEF 16 in melee. They are there to jam while Aiyana & Holt are there to assist them against higher ARM. The Ogrun is just for security because Butcher sometimes gets shot off the table. Shield Guard allows him to dodge a silver bullet.

Mercenaries - Drake Macbain

Warcaster: Drake MacBain  (-4)

Collosal: Galleon (+18)

Unit: Press Gangers (+6)

Solo: Bosun Grogspar (+2)

Solo: Wrong Eye(+9)

Warbeast Snapjaw(+9)

Warbeast: Bullsnapper (+3)

Solo: Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (+2)

Rob brought a Galleon ARM skew list. MacBain's Fail Safe (+2 Armor, Warjack doesn't suffer crippled effects) and the Bullsnapper's Spiny Growth (+2 Arm) brings the ARM total of the Galleon to an impressive 23. The Press Gangers are there to jam and buy time while the Galleon drags heavies to their scrap metal death.

Rob wins the roll and elects to go first

Rob casts Fail Safe on the Galleon and runs everyone up. He ends his turn with casting Spiny Growth on the Galleon making his ARM total 23.

On my turn I run most of my units up but I cast Energize with Butcher 3 to get my battlegroup and Warjacks up 3 more inches. I almost screw everything up because I forgot that Ruin had Abomination instead of Terror which forced command checks on my Kayazy and Ogrun Bokur. Lucky for me they both passed. 

After that debacle I offer up the Juggernaut to the Galleon hoping he'll spend a turn killing it while I set up Ruin and Butcher for a counter attack. I tried to block the Juggernaut from being dragged by some Kayazy and the War Argus but forgot the Galleon had blast damage on his rapid fire guns.

End of Turn 1

Rob upkeeps Fail Safe on the Galleon and allocates it 3 focus. He then charges in with his Press Gangers but unfortunately isn't able to kill any Kayazy. He then activates Galleon and after a 3rd party confirmation and a laser line check, he is able to drag the Juggernaut to his death. He ends the turn casting Spiny Growth on the Galleon.

Yes! He took the bait! Now I just have to close the deal... but wait... am I too far? Uhh... I think I'm just a hair shy from Ruin and Butcher wreaking havoc on him! I activate Aiyana & Holt and cast Kiss of Lyliss on the Galleon but I'm about a half inch too far and miss. I am able to kill the Bullsnapper with Holt though which really helps. My plan was to get the -2 ARM Debuff on Galleon and charge in Ruin to remove Fail Safe, then finish him off with the Butcher. Unfortunately, I have to activate Butcher first and cast Energizer to make sure I am in charge range for everyone.

Butcher then charges and I roll incredibly bad on 6 hits, not damaging any systems. I have 3 focus left after popping my feat and I have a decision to make. Should I spend the 3 and take a shot at killing the Galleon and then set myself up to be Ganged by MacBain? No. I decide to camp the last 3 focus. 

I activate Ruin and he charges in with 3 focus. I almost forgot about Dispel on his weapon but that was crucial to remove Fail Safe. After Ruin's activation, Galleon has a crippled Left Side but still has his massive Trident.

I pop the Kayazy mini feat and charge them through the Press Gangers and get a couple shots at the Galleon only doing about 5-6 damage to him. I run the War Dog and Ogrun Bokur to help the Butcher against his final stand and end my turn. 

I do end up moving into position and scoring 1 point for controlling one of the zones.

Mark 1 - Rob 0

Mercenary Turn 3

Rob goes in the think tank for quite a while. He's trying to decide the best way to handle the situation. The War Dog is a huge problem for him as it bumps Butcher's defense to 16. In the end he decides to allocate 3 to Galleon and smash away. He boosts to hit on all of his shots and hits 2 out of 3 leaving Butcher on 6 health. He then buys 3 Jackhammer shots needing hard 10s to hit and misses them all.

He moves his Press Gangers in and try to take out the Kayazy but fail. He also tries to charge Bosun Grogspar at Butcher but eats 2 free strikes from the Kayazy and dies. Wrong Eye and Snapjaw are able to handle Ruin and leave him a steaming pile of wreck marker. MacBain, sensing impending doom, moves back since the scenario is not Killbox and ends his turn.

Mark 2 - Rob 0

On my turn, instead of risking being left wide open after killing the Galleon I decided to wipe out the Press Gangers instead. Those nasty pirates tough the hell out of their rolls and force me to use everything I've got. In anti-climactic fashion I am able to kill over half his unit forcing him to make a tough check. They fail and there's no one to contest the zone. I simply toe the zone with Butcher and dominate for 2 points and have Aiyana & Holt with the Widowmaker Marksman control the other bringing my total to a game winning 5 points.

Mark 5 - Rob 0

End of the Game - Khador Victory by Scenario

Overall a very good game. It could have gone either way with just a simple dice spike. Rob did a hell of a job almost killing Butcher. I got pretty lucky on making the call to camp the 3 focus instead of trying to finish off the Galleon because without it, Rob would have had exactly enough to kill Butcher.

Final Thoughts

I made a couple of huge mistakes this game. My first mistake was thinking Ruin had Terror instead of Abomination and forcing myself to make command checks on both my own Kayazy and Ogrun Bokur.

The second mistake is that I placed 2 Kayazy base to base with the Juggernaut trying to stop the drag, forgetting that the Galleon had AOE which wiped them out like nothing when the attack targeted my easy to hit Juggernaut.

I wouldn't change too much of the list at 35 points. If I were playing this in a two list pairing for Steamroller I might take out Aiyana & Holt so I can get better use out of them in another list. I'm pretty comfortable with the Kayazy and their mini feat really catches a lot of people off guard and is hard to plan for. I could try Iron Fang Black Dragons but that isn't my play style. I could also switch for some Nyss Hunters but lately I haven't had too much luck with them other than just being a contesting jam unit. I might put in the Widowmakers instead to help clear a path for Butcher and his Jacks.

I do love Butcher 3 and his pups. There's a tournament at GMI Games on Saturday and if I go I'll most likely play him with either pVlad, pSorcha, or Old Witch. There's a lot of Trolls in the Inland Empire meta though so I need heavy hitters.

Till next week!

Mercenaries vs. Trollbloods - Bartolo Montador vs. pGrissel

I was lucky enough to get 2 games in this week at a game store called GMI Games in Riverside, CA. I had never played at a store before so I was quite nervous till the league organizer, Joe, welcomed us in.

I had only ever played games against five other factions (Cygnar, Cryx, Retribution, Legion and Trollbloods) and I was excited to get a chance to play against something new. I ended up playing two games against Trollblood (doh) but the list was something I had never encountered.

The first game I played was my Mercenaris vs. pBorka in a 50 point mach up which you can read about here.

The second game was 35 points against the League organizer, Joe, and his pGrissel list.

(35 points) Bart's Batten Down The Hot Shot

Warcaster: Bartolo Montador (-5)
Warcaster Attachment: Slys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (+2)
Colossal: Galleon (+18)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Underboss (+2)
Unit: Aiyanna & Holt (+4)
Solo: Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (+2)
Solo: Ragman (+2)
Solo: Saxon Orrik (+2)

My goal with this list was to set up Galleon as a Hot Shot Colossal turret in the middle of the field while Bart gives him Batten Down the Hatches for +3 armor and gives him a second turn of shooting with his knockdown if moved into control area feat.

The Kayazys would jam while Ragman hid behind the Galleon using Death Field (-2 Armor) to make sure that anything the Galleon dragged in would be blown to smithereens.

Aiyana & Holt would be able to clear paths for the Galleon and Kiss of Lyliss (-2 ARM) would give allow the Kayazys (POW 12, Mat 9 with Gang) to take down some of the other Warbeasts and tough units.

(35 points) pGrissel List

Warcaster: Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller (-5)
Warbeast: Earthborn Dire Troll (+10)
Warbeast: Dire Troll Bomber (+10)
Warbeast: Troll Impaler (+5)
Unit: Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (+4)
Unit Attachment: Stone Scribe Elder (+1)

Unit: Trollkin Fennblades (+8)
Unit Attachment: Fennblade Officer and Drummer (+2)

Turn 1 Mercs - I gave the Galleon Hot Shot (Upkeepable Boosted Ranged Damage Rolls) and charged Bart up the field. Everyone else just ran and spread out a bit. I didn't know what was about to come.

In the middle of Trollbloods Bottom of Turn 1

Turn 1 Trollbloods - My opponent used his mini feat on his Fennblades (+2 Speed) and ran them up 16". He then ran up everything else and had pGrissel pop her feat which allowed her entire army to make a full advance. This meant he was 34" into my zone with the Fennblades. He was able to engage my Kayazy and my Galleon and built a nice wall of Fennblades blocking his Earthborn Dire Troll, Bomber, and Impaler.

 Round 2

Turn 2 Mercs - I was pretty shocked and didn't see that coming. I figured since I went first I'd dictate the line of battle with my Kayazy and then use a Hot Shotted Galleon to pick everything off one by one. At the beginning of my turn I kept up Hot Shot on the Galleon and gave him 3 focus. My goal was to find a way to get Galleon a path to drag in his Earthborn Diretroll any means possible.

The first thing I did was activate my Kayazy and used their mini feat which allowed them to move through other models. With this I was able to charge my Kayazy at the Fennblades blocking his Earthborn Dire Troll. With their MAT 9 and POW 12 (+2 to both due to Gang) I was able to clear most of the way for my Galleon.

Aiyana was unable to get Kiss of Lyliss (+2 to all damage taken) on the Fennblades and they were too far to get it on the Earthborn. Holt was able to pick off one of the Fennblades by aiming (RAT 10) vs. their 16 defense (+4 for being in melee). The Fennblades' reach really screwed with my shooting.

I then activated Ragman and had him cast his Death Field and hide behind the Galleon so I would be sure to crush the Earthborn. The Galleon went it and rolled fire. He was able to pop 5 shots into the Earthborn to soften him up and 1 into the Krielstone. He then used his Trident to drag the Earthborn to him and crushed him with melee attacks.

I rolled very well this turn and I almost felt bad. Most of my die rolls were 5-6 through the whole activation. It didn't matter too much because most of my attacks only needed 5's to stick and damage. I was also rolling +3 damage against the Earthborn which made quick work of him.

Before I ended my turn I was dumb and decided to put Bart on a hill and surround him with Kayazy thinking he'd be safe. I was wrong. I ended my turn casting Batten Down the Hatches (-2 DEF +3 ARM to Battlegroup)

I was also too eager and nervous and forgot to pop my feat which would have sealed the game right then and there.

Turn 2 Trollbloods - This was an all or nothing turn for my opponent. He really needed to get the assassination off because he had nothing left to take the Galleon.

His first move was to give Snipe to his Bomber (+4 Range) and then move him up so he could see Bart. I totally forgot that my Kayazy didn't block LOS because they were stealth! He made sure he outside of 5" of them but still within range of Bart and lobbed 2x RAT 5 POW 16 shots which were both boosted and hit bart for a total of 6 damage. I got off pretty lucky.

His Fennblades attacked my Kayazy (DEF 16 in melee) which missed a lot and only manged to get 2. He then moved up pGrissel behind the Bomber and launched Rift at the Kayazy, killing 3 and forcing me to make a tough check which they failed.

Turn 3 Mercs - I kept up Hot Shot on the Galleon and gave him 3 focus. I tried really hard to find a way to kill pGrissel but I couldn't. She was camping transfers and I couldn't get a good angle to her for a drag so I changed my plans to kill the Bomber.

My Kayazy run backwards to protect Bart from charges and rally at the end of their activation.

Aiyana fails to land Kiss of Lyliss on both the Bomber and the Galleon (whew) and Holt was able to take out 2 Fennblades with his guns.

Ragman moves up and gives himself (and Galleon) Death Field.

The Galleon then Activates and I roll fire again and was able to demolish the Bomber which left pGrissel wide open.

Dougal charges a Fennblade but fails.

I forget to feat again! I cast Batten Down the Hatches which was a horrible idea because it dropped my DEF by 2 boosting my ARM 3 but it cost me 3. There was nothing on his side of the board that could have taken Galleon anyway so I just nerfed myself 2 DEF.

Round 3 - Final

Turn 3 Trollbloods - pGrissel ran her beasts hot last turn so she was stuck making a frenzy check on the Impaler which failed. The Impaler charged and killed his own Fennblade.

I thought I was pretty safe vs, his army but I forgo that pGrissel has a spray and Rift. It was all or nothing again for my opponent and he moves up and casts a Rift needing a hard 9 to hit and it stuck. Bart takes a boosted POW 13 against his 19 armor which he takes 7 damage taking him to 4 health.

After that, pGrissel shoots her spray 8 at Bart needing 10's. He boosts and is able to hit and Bart takes a boosted POW 12 to his 19 ARM. My opponent rolls a 10 which does 3 damage leaving Bart on 1 box.

The store was about to close and pGrissel was sitting on no fury in melee with the Galleon so he conceded and shook my hand.

Final Thoughts: I definitely almost handed this game to my opponent by stick Bart on tht hill. What I should have done was to hide him behind the Colossal and he would have been just fine. I also forgot that the Kayazy had stealth which hurt me because they didn't block LOS. I also had 2 chances to Feat (Knockdown any enemy models that end movement within Bart's control and gives them -3 attack) which would have sealed me the game but I totally forgot to do it. I also shouldn't have casted Kiss of Lyliss against a Fennblade that was engaged with my Galleon but I was lucky I missed both.

Looking at the picture, Galleon might have had reach so pGrissel wouldn't be able to make her Hail Mary shot but I can't really tell.

It was really fun to play something and someone new. Joe, my opponent, knew what my models did and didn't have to sit and read my cards which was really nice. I'm looking forward to going back to GMI next week.