Warmachine Tactics To Pledge or not to pledge!

There is a bunch of new stuff available to those who pledge to the upcoming game Warmachine Tactics and 2 are gifts for Cryx.

We are getting a character journeyman warcaster Aiakos and Sturgis2 an epic warcaster.

Aiakos comes 4 focus, Escort (2 focus) and death bringers (2 focus). I think he could be great with a seether in this battle group. He can give it 2 focus, it generates its own 3rd. With escort it treats a solid 11,5 inch. I am going to try this.

He is also a solo with a high level of survivability, not only due to his 14 Def 14 Arm, 5 wounds, but also due to stealth. Sure legion laughs at him and kills him, and gun mages will need 2 hits to take him out, but against those unable to ignore stealth he will be a solid objective grabber.

I like that he brings a harpoon but love that it is magical. He will be great at taking out a solo when he keeps most of his focus for himself. Hitting will be his biggest problem having only a rat of 5, but with a boost we can hit Def 14 most of the time, and hitting Def 16 is 50/50. What is crazy about this is that he brings jump so the threat is 17 inch. Against those damn stealth soloes, I can tell you the treat is still 16. This is a big F to the U to Gorman and Eiryss. Damn I just convinced myself to pledge to get him.

Second thing we are getting is Sturgis2 The Corrupted. Comes with 6 focus, and bloodrain (3), convection (2), occultation (2), parasite (3) and teleport (2). I imagine needing parasite trough an archnode once or twice per game. Occultation is just plain great, and I will probably use it on something like blood witches, bane knights or bile thralls. Teleport gives him an option to bail when the going gets though, and makes using his feet safer. Convections special ability is good enough that I would build lists around it, but as a blast spell range 10 pow 12 is not bad for just 2 focus and could clean up some charge lanes. Two well placed bloodrains can do wonders against single wound shield walls/defensive lines. He might actually use the spell more than most casters with bloodrain outside of having an arch node due to teleport.

To use his feet to optimal potential he needs to be played offensively and most of his abilities enforce this play style. He has relentless charge, so a failed charge might be used often to get him into position. Snap strike, reach, two attacks, one with death strike and one with soul eater makes him great at taking out entire units of living models on his own. His feat is probably the most interesting part of his playstyle as he clear objectives with his pushes, and pow 12 auto hits. Even though his feat gives him some fuel for some jacks, I would be surprised to see him with too many jacks. A deathjack or a seether as his heavy and 2 archnodes would proberbly be his first battle group for me. I might even try aiakos with a seether and then just give Sturgis 2 archnodes and 2 stalkers. That would leave me with 28 points for perhaps satyxis raiders with UA and Solo, bane knights with tarterous and a war witch. Could be fun to try out and on feat turn those stalkers could go to town. Needs more thinking… Needs playtests…. Hate proxies…. Must pledge…. Guess I have my answer right there. I will be pledging to warmachine tactics to what about you?

Back from tournament – Fun was had

1st Game

 

 

His list was something like this.

2 Archnodes, Bane thralls with UA, Bane Knights, Min Bile thralls, Blood witches with UA, Saxon Orric, 2 Pistol wraiths, Bane Lord.

I had only played against this matchup once and knew that it had a huge advantage against my lists. My choice went to the coven as needed bile thralls to clear up some of that infantry to score some points or get a clear shot to the caster. I aggressively ran my kraken its 14 inch in my first turn and tried to esablish the line of skirmish far ahead, forcing my opponent to keep his caster way back. In the grind I managed to get my blood witches to take out his biles, a pistol wraith and some of his bane knights on one flank. On the other flank one of my archnodes and a scrap thrall managed to deal with his blood witches and a pistol wraith. This left his middle at a point disadvantage winning me the grind and finishing the game 5-0.

2nd Game

List was something like this.

2 angelius, 2 scythean, Aflector, 2 shredder, 2 death striders, 2 spell martyr, 2 forsaken and swamp gobbers.

I picked my skarre2 list in the hope that I could target his heavies with my feet. I managed to get deathjack in melee with the warlock on turn 2, sadly I forgot puppet master on him and rolled quite low so she managed to pull out with only 7 damage. I took out quite a lot, but I have never played against angelius so I underestimated their ability to clear a zone and lost. (15 models and an archnode is not enough, I know that now) Lost the game 5-3

 3rd Game

 

His list was something like this

Storm troll, pyre troll, Impaler, Full kriel with cabers and UA, Min Krielstone, Full Longriders, Fell caller, Horthol, Janissa, Runebearer, stone scriber

I played the coven since I imagined him playing a brig so my feet would effect all his models. Since one of the most common troll problems seems to be hitting minus 2 mat and rat should be great.

I was extremely interested in how this list was playing seeing as I have just bought some trolls. It started out well, but my opponent was new to his trolls as well. He played a slow game, and made loads of errors. As I saw the time was running out for him, I did not even bother to correct him in the spirit of fair play, but this player was so stressed by the clock that he kept activating stuff in the wrong order, targeted models with spell without having line of sight, activated and finished one long rider and then the other. It was a mess and I hope that if I were in his situation I would play more structured or just give up. Nice person however and he went and did well in the tournament later. Won the game by timeout.

 

4th Game

 

His list mercenary heavy and looked something like this.

Ol’ Rowdy, Boomhowlers, Nyss hunters, forge guard, Alexia, lady and holt, Journeyman, Reinholt, mayhaps Sylys.

I picked Skarre since Cane can takeout the coven in a single round of shooting. The table had too much terrain and that worked to my advantage. I was second player and in turn two I was able to clear and scored at my opponents objective. Same turn I ran a skarre feat stalker in melee with Cain. Next turn Cain had little chance for a comeback, and due to difficult terrain, he was unable to put much into his zone. I cleared it, ran a witch and won the game. Won 5-0

5th and final Game

 

Same list as first game with the exception that he removed a pistol wraith and gained Darrah Wrathe. Good trade.

Since the coven did so well I tried to do the same thing. This player however knew how to use his list, and knowing what I know now, I should never bring a colossal against Aspyxious. His feet can almost always take it out, so the more expensive model you bring the more point he gain. I actually had a chance to make a shot on the caster with the kraken, but learned that kill shoot only activates when you kill “a living model” good to know, cost me a boosted hit and damage against a 15 – 16 caster. In the end I managed to get an achnode to cast 2 boosted stygian abyss on him, dealing some 7-9 damage just before being cleared off the table. Not having fired at him with the Kraken earlier when I had the chance was my biggest regret in that game. Loss - removed from the table

I ended up 5 place out of 20 since due to the tiebreaker strength of schedule. I forgot to take some pictures but I did win best painted jack and best painted army. To be fair I think that some armies where better painted, but those armies had a few unpainted models and thus could not win the price. In jack I won over one of my friends awesome Ol’ Rowdy. He was not the only participant, but without a doubt the best. I wanted to put my deathjack, but one of my friends said, “NO biggest model – Best model”. I won even though the skill put into Ol’ Rowdy was much higher, so who said size did not matter? Fools with tiny models, that is who!

Won me these:

 

Other than that we had a load of beer, barbeque, air hockey, and 2 horrible night of sleep. What the hell is up with my fellow geeks snoring like shit. Nice people, but damn I had to sleep with earphones playing music all night.

Most memorable in game moment Stalker hitting Cain with a free strike for 11 damage, most memorable moment outside of the game is a tie between loosing in air hockey 7 times in a row while drinking beer or some person sleeping, suddenly wake, yell and sprint out of the room. Wait, no, that wins, damn that was strange.

Best tournament yet, and it has inspired me do better at the Danish Masters in a few months. 3 list format with character restrictions. Might even turn to the dark side of cryx to improve my chances. Some would argue that cryx is the darkside of warmachine, but I might turn to the blackest black that exist in this game, Asphyxious2 the black hole from witch no light can escape. You can bring revenant crew of atramentus the bastion of all that is fair in cryx, and people will still call you beardy, even with his new errata. He is that black. Nuff said rant over, painting trolls, new technique I am working on, show you later. Relates to this:

 

 

The Witch Coven of Garlghast 50 point army list

Due to my local games stores inability to deliver Gorshade the Cursed, I will turn to the witch coven as my second army list. I want to bring a fully painted army so a few of my latest purchases will have to wait for the next tournament (I am looking at you Darragh Wrathe). The list I will bring looks like this:

The Witch coven (+5)

 

Comes with ghost walk to give me pathfinder, 9 focus and a discount on a great spell list. If you have yet to take them for a spin you should do that. They are not the biggest fan of legion tho.

Kraken (19)

 

With Infernal Machine this model becomes all that I wanted it to be. Threat 14 MAT 8.

Death Ripper (4)

 

The coven has the potential to casterkill with range 28 by putting infernal machine on this model, running it 18 inch and using the archnode to cast stygian abyss 4 times or 2 times boosted hit and damage.

Death Ripper (4)

 

I also need archnodes to get curse of shadows on the right target.

Bane Lord Tarterus (4)

 

Goes great with banes.

Necrotech with Scrap Thrall (1)

 

This one can ensure that my Kraken is functional when it comes to melee.

Necrotech with Scrap Thrall (1)

 

I heard someone say if one is good 2 is better. Also I have had the worst luck with succeeding my repair skill check, so need two for the effect of one ;)

Min unit Bile Thralls (5)

 

These like the spell occultation. My local meta is still stuck on infantry machine so these are the best five point to deal with that.

Full unit Bane thralls with UA (11)

Takes care of high arm.

Min unit Satyxis Blood witches with UA (6)

 

Gives me dispel and removes tough. You have to love that UA.

The list has a load of stealth and brings something to deal with high arm, loads of infantry regardless of DEF and has a horrible dispel option. I have played the list with success with the exception of a fight against Aspyxious2 who I carelessly sacrificed my kraken to get an assassination attempt. It comes short against loads of gunmages and legion but other than that does great.

I think it will prove to be a solid list. It is not fancy in anyway but I only need to paint two models to have it done and that is a big selling point. I do not know what to expect of the tournament so I go with an open mind. I will take some pictures and report how I fared, who and what I played, and hopefully show some awesome pictures of beautiful armies.

 

I do not know what to expect of the tournament so I go with an open mind. I will take some pictures and report how I fared, who and what I played, and hopefully show some awesome pictures of beautiful armies.

I finally finished two hyperions for a friend who will bring them for the tournament and I must admit painting these have been no joy. Having just gotten some trolls and new cryx models my morale for painting these has been low, and taken some of the joy out of painting. Not doing additional colossal anytime soon. I hope he will enjoy them however.

 

 



Still needs some paint on the bases but then his Downlord Vyros Double Hyperion list will be finished.