I Didn’t Lose!

November 7, 2008

Mark Thursday, November 6th, 2008 on your calendars, dear friends. For it was upon that day that your humble blogger finally succeeded in not losing a game of Warmachine. I got in two games last night, drawing on the first (as my opponent had to leave), and winning the second by concession.

First match: Cygnar vs. Magnus’ Agenda (500 pts.)

Matched up with an opponent and army that I hadn’t encountered before. The game was marked by both of us forgetting rules / failing at math, but was ultimately a satisfying slugfest. There was horrific Trencher on Trencher violence since Magnus can field a unit of of them as traitors and I countered with a minimum unit plus UA and WA. If I recall, he fielded no solos, just three ‘jacks, the trenchers and a unit of Idrian Skirmishers with UA. Highlights of the match include:

• Total trencher wipeout; mine to the Idrians and his to my Ogrun Bokur and Captain Finn. Poor bastards.
• My first use of the Grenadier showed his capabilities with his 2″ range mattock rather than his launcher, tearing into the remaining Idrians with abandon.
• The Bokur (with Finn as client), won MVP. Getting to roll 15+4d6 on the charge without having to spend focus against any target is terrifying. Add that to a possible, additional 2 attacks at 15+3d6 will just wreck a warjack.
• Haley scrambling a Mangler, causing it to trample over his last fleeing Trencher, and both the Bokur and Thorn disabling it as they got free strikes against it.

Sadly, this game ended before either caster could get whacked, so we shook hands and called it a draw. I look forward to playing (sorry, dude; forgot your name), again.

Second match: Cygnar vs. Cryx (750 pts.)

My frequent opponent, Ward, stepped up to the plate with a pretty diverse army list headed by the Witch Coven. It included a Deathjack, a couple of bonechickens, only one minimum unit of Bane Knights (shock!), Soulhunters, Darragh Wrathe, The Withershadow Combine and a Skarlock. I had to modify my list somewhat (my 750 point force was designed around Epic Haley, but I didn’t bring her), and I’m sure glad I did. Switching to nHaley and dropping Reinholdt allowed me to bring in the Bokur who’s swiftly becoming my go to guy. Much of my list reverted back to my first units: the hapless Stormblades and the meh Long Gunners, but this time with UAs. ‘Jacks were Thorn (this one is now auto-include), a lancer and a Centurion. Solos were the GMCA, the premiere of Aiyanna and Holt, the JWC and the Piper. Oh, and the ubiquitous Stormsmiths (x2). Highlights:

• The seemingly unkillable Bane Knights: these guys are a pain under the best of circumstances with their Shadow Shift ability, but hitting them (thus triggering SS) and consistently rolling 1 under their ARM (even boosted!) and failing to kill them allowed them to survive the entire game.
• Wildly varying die rolls. There was no middle ground, either rolls were unusually high and effective, or upsettingly low and ineffectual.
• My ‘jacks surviving the entire game with only the Lancer suffering significant damage.
• The rout of the Cryxian Cavalry: Holt, the GMCA and the somewhat reduced Long Gunners tore into Darragha and the Soulhunters and never let up. Only the last turn, during Haley’s feat, Holt Virtuoso’d Wrathe to death, freeing the GMCA from combat, who turned and put down the remaining Soulhunters with 2 Blaze shots to the back.
• The Bokur, even though he lost his client (the JWC), managed to wedge himself into a charge lane and never be moved.
• The redemption of the Stormblades. I had absolutely no luck with these guys previously, but last night I was able to see just how effective they can be against the right targets. Case in point, the following sequence of events:
  1. The Deathjack slams Thorn backwards, killing the JWC, causing her Centurion to go inert in base to base contact with the Withershadow Combine.
  2. The Combine try their darnedest to heap damage on the stationary Centurion, but can barely scratch it though it’s shield and armor.
  3. Haley feats and puts up Temporal Barrier, catching everything on the table.
  4. The Stormblades step up and engage the units attacking the Centurion. The Sergeant completely destroys the nearby bonechicken in 2 hits with his Storm Rod.
  5. Two more ‘blades engage one of the Combine and destroy it in 4 hits (there goes their special ability to turn any ‘jack they disable into a Cryx ‘jack).
  6. The Stormblade Lieutenant moves up next to the Centurion and re-activates it. This came as somewhat of a surprise to Ward. Now, the Combine cannot disengage without dying horribly.

As time was growing short, we surveyed the table and Ward concluded that it was pretty much over. He had lost more than half his army to my handful of troops and solos, and his units could not move into effective positions against my caster without suffering free strikes. Since the Combine were likely to die on my next turn, attack lanes would be open to the very squishy witch coven. He conceded and I finally broke my losing streak.

I think I’ll stick with these lists for a while and I’m anxious to see how the slightly modified versions function against Hordes. Guess I’ll find out in a couple of weeks…

Written by kingmob | Filed under: Warmachine |