Here's one of Steven's official taped Warmachine matches at the Last Chance Qualifier in St. Louis. John showed it to me. It's only 27 minutes long! He assassinated his opponent. Check it out, if you're interested!
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Day 2: Friday Afternoon - Evening Intro Be warned - I didn't have time to edit this post - had to write it quickly - so there are probably loads of spelling errors. I apologize in advance. I have to say, some AMAZING things happened this weekend. I forgot to mention – on the drive down on Thursday – mom texted me a million questions about peptide nanotubes – 42 to be exact – asking me all sorts of questions – which I answered one-by-one until she ran out of questions and I got tired. I was deeply amused at the time. I guess she knew that I had time on my hands. After my post of Friday morning, I found John playing in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) for the 16th Invitational spot. He was just starting his first game at 11:30 a.m., due to a mix up with his first name being listed as his last name and the judges not being able to find him on the list. Adventure to Find an ATM Since he was near the back wall, I was able to settle down on the floor beside him with my laptop and phone, write stuff and grade IR reports. Then, I decided to find food for John. There was a concession stand outside the door, but it only took cash. The ATM in the hotel turned out to be broken. At first, I thought that was the end of it, because I wasn’t about to leave the hotel by myself … but then I decided – NO – John MUST have food! So I went on an adventure to find an ATM, one block down from the hotel, at a credit union via my iphone Google maps. At the time, I felt like I was going on some dangerous fantasy expedition and coming back with treasure. I’m very easily amused, I suppose. Story of the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) John was really frustrated after his first game, because he had it well in hand – well up on scenario points and was about to win, when his opponent killed his caster in the last fifteen seconds of the game. I’m not sure of the details but it was some slight details that happened in the last second that favored this happening. Sometimes, this kind of thing happens. There are two ways to win a Warmachine game – either by killing the opponent’s caster (assassination) – kind of like check mating the king in a chess game – or through scenario. Each game will have a scenario named for it – there are several that change at intervals, and all involve variations of dominating or controlling flags on the board to gain points or making sure that your caster is always 14” from a board edge and such. John was able to win all three of his next games in the LCQ. Walter won his first game, lost his second and won his other two. Matt and Jesse won their first two games, lost their third and won their fourth. Frank chose not to participate because his back and knees were hurting and it’s a grueling all-day event. Brian and David Kelley had already qualified for the invitational. Steven was the last that was left undefeated. The officials cut the matches short at round 4 and decided to just play the undefeateds on Saturday. While it was going on, I was able to move to each new table location John played at, camped out near a wall in his line of sight, and sat with my laptop writing, posting photos or grading IR reports. After finishing the IR reports, I took a break and wandered around the room, taking more pics, watching a game here and there, going over and hugging John and making sure he didn’t need anything, finding out what was happening at our other people’s games and giving John status reports, etc. David Kelley’s Insistence on the Youngblood Tournament At one point, I was sitting by the wall typing and Matt came by and asked if I was having fun. I said yes. David Kelley was bugging me to join the Young Blood’s tournament. He was like – Jess! You’re going to play in Youngbloods, right? Right? Huh, huh? You BETTER! Gotta represent! I was like - *shoulders slump* - oh ok, ok, David Kelley, I’ll play. Playing tournaments makes me nervous and I haven’t played in SOOO long. My last game was against Daniel Stabley how many weeks/months ago? But, I decided I wouldn’t be able to look David Kelley in the eye if I didn’t play, and I had planned on it anyway, since – I felt like – if I was here, I *ought* to participate, for John and to say that I had played in a real tournament at Warmachine Weekend and to be “official” and all that. So it was more than just David Kelley. He just provided the last push of momentum over the cliff. John made sure to emphasize I didn’t HAVE to play if I didn’t want to. But, for all of the above, I decided to. However, I was not going to play on Friday. There were Youngblood tournaments going on – different point levels and types – on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, I didn’t want to leave John’s side while he was playing and I hadn’t looked over my list. I couldn’t remember everything I had in it and that was embarrassing. I wanted to at least re-familiarize myself with it and read all the cards again. Two Caster Tournament While everyone played in the Last Chance Qualifier, Brian and David Kelley played in the Twin Towers, two caster tournament, list size of 75 points. A typical game is 50 points. These are big games. There were about twenty-five participants and Brian ended up winning. Discussions of the Day We all piled in the van and ate at Hardy’s for dinner. Everyone discussed the Warmachine matches, the different strategies, what they had seen and what had happened. Apparently during the day, someone asked Walter a question about who had won a particular event and he said that he didn’t know, but he knew the winner of the Twin Towers two caster tournament – and he pointed over the way at Brian. The guy asked him – oh, is that one already over? He said, “No … and yes.” I thought that was a hilariously awesome line. Apparently, the two caster tournament is “Brian’s event.” People hailed him as keeping up the genius – and that his opponents couldn’t beat him because they were merely human. In spite of being very good, Brian is actually not nearly as well-known or famous as Jason Flanzer, Jake Van Meter or some of the others because he purposefully avoids the spotlight. He refuses to do podcasts, videos, post voluminously on forums or appear on anything. He just plays the game. I wish he would do a podcast or two, if only so other people could learn from one of the best how to play Menoth. Jason Flanzer is very famous for playing ALL the factions and winning tournaments with crazy lists that people say are no good or with factions that people claim suck. He’ll do something new with stuff – then everyone will start copying it. If you play Warmachine, you will have heard of Flanzer. Basically, there are two schools of thought in Warmachine to master the game. 1) You play one faction exclusively against all the other factions, and you know your own faction SO well, that you can beat anything with it. 2) You play ALL the factions equally and thus learn them all decently well, so that no matter who you face, you know are they play and can counter their strategies. Flanzer is good, but John says, he’s not as good as he could be if he only played one faction. He spreads himself too thin. John’s a proponent of the first school of thought and thinks that players who concentrate all their energy on one faction will ultimately be even better masters of the game. Friday: FIN Friday ended with Max buying beer and calling off the bet against him drinking – which is what I expected would happen. He had said he wasn’t going to pay anyone anything – so everyone else said fine – if he kept it, THEY weren’t paying either. Walter said he’d pay the whole bet himself, but Max still called it off. Brian said he’d dearly love to know what I’d act like drunk and is convinced I’d become violent, start slugging everyone and yell at them all to stop cursing. I sincerely hope not. The very idea is incredibly disturbing. Gratefully, I’ll never know. To be clear, John and David Kelley don’t participate in any of the bad language thrown around; and they and Frank also don’t participate in the trash talk horrible humor. John is my man – awesome. I wasn’t sure how Brian came up with this and worried about it, slightly. It’s NOT my job to change or condemn anyone – I hope I don’t give such an impression. I guess maybe it’s just obvious I don’t like it. In fact, I hate it, but I really like the guys. They’re all sweet and very nice to me. It’s just expected that, whether I’m there or not, they will act no differently. And honestly, I can’t complain about that. I don’t want people to wear false fronts around me. I want them to feel like they can be themselves. It’s important. I’ve noticed so far at Emory remarkably less swearing in the labs than I was used to at UGA. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s so nice. It makes me feel so much more comfortable and relaxed. Photos from Day 1Day 2: Saturday, The Youngblood TournamentBrian’s Funny Shirt Pictures from Day 2Day 3: Sunday, the Invitational The Invitational: Round 1 Photos of the InvitationalPhotos of the Finals Table, Made by Mechanika StudioBeautiful set pieces and painted armiesMonday: Beginning the Trip (11:45 - 12:10 p.m.)Intro: What is this trip about? I'm sitting here on Brian's couch typing this while ~10 guys are starting to pack and laughing about everything. My aunt on Facebook was asking me - what is this? That's a good question! What is this trip about? John has wanted to go to this huge Warmachine tournament in St. Louis for a while called "Warmachine Weekend." It's the biggest Warmachine tournament in the country. The game is kind of like chess - a tabletop game with pieces that you measure with a ruler. It's official name is "Warmachine and Hordes." There are seven Warmachine factions and five Hordes factions, each with their own armies, generals (called casters) and special rules that you can build an army out of and play against each other. Warmachine factions are more mech/machine/robot based. Hordes are all about beasts and magic. Each faction has a certain style of play and many casters to chose from. Each different caster also has a style of play and completely changes how the army one takes will play, giving its units special rules and abilities unique to him. Casters also have different tierrs or upgrades of themselves - the next tier of a caster isn't necessarily "better" - he's basically a different "flavor" of the same thing, with slightly different rules - things that he does weighted slightly differently. There are now three tiers: "plain," "epic," and the third tier, "legendary" or "three." Thus, casters will be denoted by a letter in front of their name to indicate their tier: "pNemo," "eNemo" and "Nemo 3" for example. People won't say "L-Nemo," so it seems the vocab is in the process of being switched to a "Nemo 1," "Nemo 2," "Nemo 3" idea, but people will use both interchangeably. Some casters only have one form. Most have two tiers. Some now have three. Each unit has a certain "points cost" based upon its valuableness in an army. Armies are made by "building lists" of a certain total points. Most common point levels to play are 35 and 50 point lists - meaning, everything in the army has to add up to that point cost. This keeps the game balanced between factions. Short Description of Warmachine/Hordes Factions (nickname in parenthesis) |
WARMACHINECygnar: My faction. 10 casters. Noble, followers of justice, heavy on science/tech. Known as best long-range shooting faction. Casters I play = pNemo, Nemo 3 (mad scientist based off of Capt. Nemo character) and Siege. May try eCaine in future. Cryx: 11 casters. The undead, their mechanothralls and slaves. Known for its deadly troops. Khador: 11 casters. Think, warrior Viking/Russian type people. Known for powerful mechs. Played by Steven. Protectorate of Menoth (Menoth): 10 casters. Vigilante, zealots of Menoth who want to burn all heretics. Known for their ability to light most everything on fire. Brian's primary faction. Retribution of Scyrah (Retribution/Ret): Has 8 casters. Think, "space elves." A newer faction, not quite as strong as the rest but still good. Our Matt of ATL was the first person to figure out how to use them effectively, making them competitive and is currently the best Ret player in U.S. Convergence of Cyriss (Convergence): Has 3 casters. Newest faction. A race of robots from people who transferred their souls into machines because they view technology as perfection and worship math. Most focus efficient faction. Mercs: Has 11 casters. This faction's units can be taken into other factions' armies. It is not often played on its own and the casters don't get used as often. Their casters are great but their units don't support them well. | HORDESTrollbloods (Trolls): John's faction. Has 9 casters. Trolls are ... trolls. They like to beat up things with clubs and brute force. Known for their toughness and difficulty to kill. Circle Orboros (Circle): Has 10 casters. Think, druid-like spiritualist people of the woods. Known for their tremendous mobility. Most mobile faction. Walter's primary faction. Legion of Everblight (Legion): Has 9 casters. People of dragons. I don't know much about them. Played by Chip. Skorne: Has 9 casters. Sadist and masochist warrior killers who live off of pain and the pain of others. Known for their deadly beasts. Steven's primary faction. Minions: Has 8 casters. Minions is the Horde's version of Mercs and acts exactly the same way. It is almost never played on its own but its units can be used in other armies. |
Our Group and Their Skill Level (Updated, See Note)
Brian: In his 30s. Plays only Menoth. Best Menoth player in U.S. and arguebly the world. Among top 25 best all-around players in the country and top 25 in the world. Winner of the team 2nd place in the World Tournament! Computer programmer in real life. Known for being cool as a cucumber when he plays and somewhat cold.
Walter: In his 30s. Plays primarily Circle. Arguably one of the best Circle players in the U.S. One of the top 40 best all-around players in the country. Known for playing annoying lists that are difficult to kill. Enjoys dramatizing games.
Steven: Age 23. Plays primarily Skorne. Close to top 25 best all-around players in the U.S. Also plays many other factions, among them Khador, Cryx and Cygnar. He's been playing a lot of Cygnar this year, which is what he's playing in the tournament this weekend.
Matt: In his 30s. Plays primarily Retribution. Also Mercs and many others. Was first to make Ret competative. Best Ret player in the country. One of the top 40 best all-around players in the U.S.
David Kelley: 30s-40s. Plays Cygnar. One of the top 50-60 best all-around players in the country. Hosts the tournaments and runs the store at Gigabytes Cafe in Marietta.
John: Age 31. Mid-level Trolls player. He started with Cygnar, which he still plays occasionally, and is currently working on collecting and playing Menoth. His playing has improved dramatically, since he started 2 yrs ago since he plays against the best.
Max: In his 20s. Mid-level Trolls player. John thinks Max and Jesse are probably just above him in skill level. Max is known for drinking excessively.
Jessie: In his late 20s. Mid-level Ret and Khador player.
Frank: Age 52. Mid-level player. Plays mostly Cryx. About the same skill level as John.
Me: Beginner Cygnar player.
Note: I double checked my stats with John last night and this morning, updating them. He says, once you get to Brian's level, it's really difficult to determine top 10 to 20 players, because ALL the players are so good and it's in constant dynamic flux. Matt and Walter are closer to top 40 players rather than top 25. David Kelley is closer to top 50-60. Matt, Walter and Steven annihilated each other in his qualifier, which is probably why one of them didn't win it. Jesse plays Khador these days, not Cygnar. Frank plays Cryx.
And Continuing About the Trip
I really enjoyed sleeping until the sun came up this morning! We got everything packed up and got to Brian's house at 10:45 a.m. We were supposed to meet up at 11 a.m. Brian said, we were really early! Traffic was great. We sat around watching things while he dropped off his dog. Suddenly, everyone has now arrived at 11:55 a.m. Ha!
A ludicrous bet
Max, one of the guys, made a bet with ALL the guys that he wouldn't get drunk over the Warmachine Weekend trip. They all immediately took him up on it because they think he'll totally fail and don't know why he's even betting this. Several of them jokingly tried to "convince" me I should slip alcohol into his drink and get him drunk some time during the four days - this discussion has happened multiple times over the last month. I cannot even begin to describe how completely averse to this idea I am. I think they know this. That's why they like talking about it, maybe. I politely refused. John finds this whole thing intensely amusing. I kind of do as well. It's hard not to be amused. He's not betting so he won't offend me. Ha.
Observing and comments on some of the guys
I'm greatly looking forward to observing at this event and taking lots of pictures. Matt asked me if I was excited and said that yes, there'd be lots to observe. I really like Matt. Matt, Steven, Frank and Brian are my favorites, always are nice overall and try to include me in stuff. Jessie is driving the van. I don't like him so much. I'm going to try to stay away from him, more or less. Unlike Rolando, his teasing is not amusing. He tends to harp on people sometimes - repeatedly, nonstop, demeaningly in a silly, annoying fashion - but he doesn't really know how irritating he is. He's well-known from this trait. I've been the butt of his jokes before and learned to avoid him. He makes fun of everything and everybody - it's just what he does, but he's pretty nice overall. I like everyone else.
Amused and interested - this will be fun!
I think this will be a fun adventure. It's completely hilarious. I'm surrounded by nerd guys. I told John I feel really badly that I'm not more nerdy - I'm not sure I'm worthy to be in their company. John says don't worry about it - someone has to be the top nerd and it doesn't have to be me. I thought about that. He's right. I guess I feel competitive about everything.
Gallery: our luggage
Gallery: Brian's house
Monday: The Drive (12:30 - 11:00 p.m.)
We all piled in the car. It was amusing. Walter was the last to arrive. We were standing around in the driveway. Walter drove up rapidly, I dodged out of the way, he hit Frank’s car – a wack/thump – and got out as if nothing had happened. Brian was like – did he just hit Frank’s car? Everyone said yes. But apparently, Walter didn’t know until people made fun of him for it later. He denied it but eventually said well, everyone couldn’t be lying he supposed. He was just proud of not hitting me.
Traveling: not as bad as I thought
I was surprised. I was expecting the car ride to be more painful, but it was somewhat less painful than I expected. There were certainly plenty of threats to make it so, but everyone settled down in an hour or so and mostly talked about Warmachine. There was the expected lots of inappropriate humor. And terrible music. Fortunately, these earbuds James got me are truly great – they block all noise.
Traveling: silliness that did occur
We got out at a gas station early on and John and I, Brian and Matt stayed in the car. Jessie actually got out and plastered his face against the side of the van and licked the window! …. That was completely disgusting.
Apparently, John threated to put a hot tamale down Brian’s nose (Brian hates cinnamon in all forms) and as a result, Brian crushed two chips in his hand and THREW the crumbs all over John. I was VERY annoyed and made exclamation about why the heck this was done.
Steven was like – Brian! Don’t do that!
Brian: It was aimed at John.
Steven: But you got some on Jess. She will actually get upset and then you’ll feel bad. […] You don’t feel bad, do you.
Brian declared he did not. What Steven does not realize is that crumbs thrown at John and not hitting me is just as annoying as them being thrown at ME. They’re crumbs. *headdesk* I hate crumbs wherever they are. I chose to ignore them and got rid of them later at another gas station. Brian sneaked a chip onto my seat later, hoping I’d sit on it, which I managed to throw out the van door just before it closed.
We ate at a Kentucky Fried in Kentucky. I thought we’d get to St. Louis faster. It took until 11 p.m. pretty much. Jessie’s GPS kept saying that we had 3.5 hrs left to go for about 4 hrs. It was very mysterious. Frank told me not to worry – on the way back, all the guys would fall asleep. I told him, so far, I was ok.
Frank and David Kelley are actually normal folks who happen to also be nerd Wargamers – both married with kids. David Kelly has a young son. Frank is a much older guy, actually – in his 40-50’s somewhere I’d guess. And yet he fits in right along with everyone else here. At the Kentucky Fried, we discussed chocolate for some reason and Walter talks about how much of it he eats. It’s true. He beats me by a LONG shot. It’s unbelievable how much he eats just in general.
Arrival: the Doubletree hotel is nice!
We arrived at 11 p.m. or so and immediately signed up for the event. I really like this hotel. They gave us cookies when we checked in! The cookies were amazing. They even have a cookie award. Ha! It’s deserved.
Gallery: traveling and the fireworks sold in Kentucky
Gallery: the Doubletree hotel and registration
Friday, Day 2: The Last Chance Qualifier
Intro
The big event today is the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) - the winner of which will get the 16th spot in the Warmachine Weekend Invitation - basically, the championship tournament in the U.S. It's expanded tremendously from the 96 players of last year to 146. John's playing in it and is pretty nervous. It's about to start at 9:30 a.m. We're on central time. He says it's going to be a pretty brutal eight rounds all day with no breaks, what with the numbers.
Breakfast
We all went to McDonald’s this morning. Jessie has been attempting to herd us about somewhat like cattle – yelling for us to get out! Get in! We’re getting everything to go! He drives the van like a maniac – too fast, slinging us around corners, charging into parking lots like a bull and saying “America!!” while he does it. John threatened to take his keys after today. I really hope he does. I feel like, he makes our entire ATL cohort look like we must ALL be idiots. It’s ok though. Ignoring it is best option so as not to invite worse.
Setup and Other Things
I saw a guy from St. Louis who came to our qualifier at the Gigabytes Café that David Kelley hosted here in this tournament. Ha ha – I never expected to see him again.
I asked why David Kelley is called “David Kelley” – was wondering if it’s a double name. But no, it’s just there used to be five “Davids” in his vicinity and so people also called him by his last name. Now, he’s the only David, but the name format stuck.
Fortunately, there is internet here. I’ve setup on a couch just outside the last chance qualifier room and am going to try to grade orgo TA papers. Then, I’ll see what else I can work on. I’m not going to play today probably. I might play in the young blood’s tournament tomorrow. I met another girl here sitting beside me who wanted to talk and said she’s played the game for five years and would love to play a game with me tomorrow. So I guess I can’t get out of it now. That’s ok. It’ll probably be fun.
FIN for now
I’m enjoying observing this event so far. I always hear about our ATL friends going – now I get to see it all happen in real time! This is probably one of the biggest if not the biggest Warmachine tournament in the country. I'll be observing throughout the day, taking pictures and posting more notes up here as I have opportunity.
Gallery: Last Chance Qualifer and Morning Stuff
Gallery: Last Chance Qualifier at Noon w/ Videos
30 sec pan of the room from the back
Links to More Videos
Video: John discussing his first game with Matt. Walter and Steven in background. 22 secs.
Video: Shot of John's 3rd game against eCaine. 32 secs.
Friday: Afternoon - Evening Update
They cut off the LCQ short last night after round 5 and are just playing the undefeated people today. Steven is one of them!! We all know he has a shot at winning this thing, but he's GOT to beat Flanzer's Trolls to do it. *shudders* And he gets nervous under pressure, unlike Brian. Pray he doesn't get nervous. I really want him to WIN! Take that 16th spot! Proper update coming a bit later when I get a chance.
I updated our group's skill level stats after talking to John last night and this morning and he gave me the more accurate low down on it. I never get it quite right.
Saturday: Morning Update
Gaming has decreased for me to next to zero, as I focus on grad school. Perhaps, when I come up for air and strike a balance, some more will appear.
This post summarizes the game I played against Sean today, Jan 26th, 2013: Cryx's pDeneghra vs Cygnar's Siege, 50 pts. Siege was able to pull off a risky feat assassination on Deneghra after her feat, because of a ranger and Mage Sight. Due to the necessity of time, I've had to significantly shorten these battle reports from what I was originally doing, though I hope to get back into longer ones eventually.
Lists
Sean's - 50 pts - Cryx - pDeneghra
Kraken
Night wretch (2x, cryx bonejack, a.k.a. "bone chickens")
Pistol wraith (2x, solo)
Scrap thrall (solo)
Necrotech (solo)
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile (merc solo)
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (unit)
Cylena Raefyll and Nyss hunters (merc unit)
Mine - 50 pts - Cygnar - Siege
Stormwall
Black 13th
Rangers
Gun mages + attachment
Boomhowlers
Reinholdt
Stormcallers (2x)
Versh
Junior
Squire
My Setup
Sean's Setup
End Turn 1A (me)
I ran everything up and had Junior cast arcane shield on the boomhowlers, which called 4+ tough throughout the game. The rangers and Black 13th went into the forest. Unfortunately, I spaced the rangers and gun mages too closely together, as will soon become evident. I wasn't sure where to put everything. There were a lot of units. I forgot to put out the Stormwall's lightning pod.
End Turn 1B (Sean)
The Kraken 4" aoe-ed my gun mages to death and all but two of them died. Range 16 is a very lovely range on those guns. I didn't realize he had an aoe. >.> The Kraken also picked off a ranger or two with single shots, I think. The Nyss hunters moved up, but didn't do anything. The single model off to the right is the scrapper solo, which is basically a suicide bomber that blows up. I think he's a 4" aoe pow 16 when he blows up. The bone chicken on the left there arc noded pDeneghra's crippling grasp (-2 spd, str, def, arm, no run or charge, no special attacks) on the boomhowlers while the ghost raiders came up behind it.
End Turn 2A (me)
Siege gave the Stormwall three focus. Junior upkept arcane shield. It missed the Kraken with its left big gun and put 11 damage on it via its right big gun. I put out covering fire templates with the small guns, but it was mentioned that yeah, they wouldn't do much against ghost raiders. Ghost raiders are incorporeal and don't care about the templates. The Stormwall also shot a lightning pod out as close to the Kraken as it could (about 1.5" away).
Ryan risked her life to walk out of the forest and mage storm the Nyss hunters. It fell short and deviated five, about 4-5" I think, to end up on the hill in the center. The rangers moved a bit more into the forest, but not much. One of them ran over by the bottom right of the stairs. The stormcallers moved up (black models, left and right of the board). The boomhowlers tried to kill the chicken with their range 8 pow 12 guns and failed. Two of them stood still to aim and four of them walked up to shoot at it, but all of them missed.
Siege moved up behind Stormwall, to get closer to where pDeneghra was hiding in the left forest. She was very close, and I was thinking of killing her if she came any nearer. He also put fox hole (5" aoe gives cover) on Ryan to help protect her. Unfortunately, that was unnecessary, because Nyss hunters ignore cover (and forests and concealment).
End Turn 2B (Sean)
This is where it got interesting. pDeneghra moved up ON TOP of the hill, parasited the Stormwall (-3 arm, +1 arm on caster) and feated (-2 spd, str, mat, rat, def, arm, focus to everything in her control of 14"). The ghost raiders killed three boomhowlers (didn't roll any toughs). The Nyss hunters moved up and tried to shoot Ryan (some were within 5") but they missed her. They also missed the ranger at the top right of the hill (obscured partially by the plants). A pistol wraith shot and killed the pod in front of the Kraken. The Kraken charged through the pistol wraith at Stormwall (he has a 4" reach), crippled his R side and did ~11 damage to his left side, column 3.
Discussion (Turn 3A, me)
On my turn, I spent a long time looking at it, but I couldn't resist trying to kill Deneghra, even though Siege was severely hampered by her feat. What did it for me was the ranger on the hill. I wouldn't have tried it without him. He ran up next to Deneghra. Siege gave one focus to Stormwall (whose L side was going to finish off Deneghra if Siege failed, I hoped). Reinholdt used reload on Siege. Siege had to walk up on the hill to see her, from behind Stormwall (to where you see him now in the picture) and feated. I had given him an extra focus from Squire, but he still only had 5. He mage sighted Deneghra with two focus leaving him with two, and boosted to hit, needing tens. He missed with his first shot and hit with his second shot boosted shot. He rolled for damage unboosted and managed to roll a 10! Best feat roll I've ever done. It one shot Deneghra - 18 damage to her 17 boxes. That was very lucky and somewhat unexpected.
I think I could have done a bunch of things better here - particularly positioning all those gun mages and it would have been nice to have the Black 13th on the L side, to face off with the ghost raiders. I'm pretty sure that Deneghra didn't have to be up that far in order to catch me in her feat and could have been a little safer. Sean forgot about Siege's mage sight. It's a nice spell. I need to play more Cryx, as I don't know it well. This was a fun match up and I think my first 50 pt game. That was a lot of models.
Key Points
1. Needed to put gun mages on one side and Black 13th on the other, to better deal w/ incorporeal models.
2. Ghost raiders are incorporeal.
3. Watch out for Kraken's aoe.
4. Crippling grasp sucks. O.o
5. John thinks the pods of Stormwall cause disruption. Should have maybe shot a pod at bone chickens and/or had Stormwall shoot them. I can't decide if that would have been better than focusing on the Kraken. In this case, I suspect not.
January 19, 2013, John went to the Gigabytes tournament and I went to Tower Games. They were going to do a tournament, but ended up canceling it. I still got to play a 25 pt game against Chip's Legion: Cygnar's Siege vs Legion's pThagrosh, 25 pts. Note that pThagrosh's feat lets him bring back a dead beast. pThagrosh ended up killing Siege in this match, though I did have fun using force hammer. This report is a bit less detailed than previous, because I didn't take notes during it.
Afterward, I played a team game with Daniel's Skorne pMorghoul against Chip's Legion pThagrosh and Menoth's eFeora (Chip helped a new player play the Menoth). Siege killed eFeora by force hammering the reckoner over her, but the Angelius killed Siege and pThagrosh eventually killed pMorghoul as well. I don't summarize that game here, because I was so hungry at the time, I didn't pay a lot of attention and don't remember the game that well.
Our Lists
Chip's - Legion - 25 pts - pThagrosh
Ravagore
Carnivean
Scythean
Mine - Cygnar - 25 pts - Siege
Defender
Boomhowlers
Black 13th
Junior
Squire
Reinholdt
Versh
My setup
Discussion
Games against Chip's Legion have been painful. This one was no exception. John thought that the terrain was particularly to my disadvantage this game. I'd have to agree there. The large central castle forced me to face his beasts in a narrow pass over walls. He also had a forest to hide the Ravagore in and continually spit at my Black 13th, when I couldn't really get at him.
End Turn 1A (me)
The boomhowlers ran up and called 4+ tough (that didn't do them much good) and junior gave them arcane shield. The Black 13th climbed the hill on the right. Everything basically just moved up.
End Turn 2A (Chip has gone and I've gone again)
On Chip's turn, he moved up his beasts behind the wall. The ravagore got into the forest in a good position to be irritating.
On my turn, I ran the Boomhowlers up and tried to space them out far apart, having made the mistake of them getting all sprayed already once. The black 13th weren't really close enough to shoot anything. I can't remember what they did. I think that I should have tried to mage storm the Ravagore. I think I was afraid of walking too close to it and it spitting at Ryan and killing her, over a one shot mage storm. Probably should have done it anyway though. The defender walked up and shot the Carnivean since it wasn't behind a wall, doing some minor damage to it. Siege also shot the Carnivean.
End Turn 2B (Chip)
On Chip's turn, the Ravagore spit Blight Blast - a template - onto the defender that knicked him for a damage if he stayed in it. The Carnivean came over the wall and sprayed down two boomhowlers and Ryan and Watts, which was really sad. I forgot that Carnivean had that spray and had though the Black 13th were far enough back.
End Turn 3A (me)
I believe that this is the turn that Siege feated. Despite the template, the defender aimed and shot the Carnivean (I think) and did some damage. It wasn't much - I rolled a one, a two and something else - I know that much. The boomhowlers all surrounded the Carnivean and all missed their attacks, doing no damage. I had them call rage howl (-2 to attack rolls) this time instead of 4+ tough. One of the boomhowlers ran into the forest to engage the Ravagore. I think Siege shot the Scythean ... I can't remember what shot the Scythean, but it was probably Siege. Nothing died during his feat turn. That wasn't a good sign.
End Turn 4A (Chip went, then I went)
Ok. Things are slightly fuzzy here. On Chip's turn, the Scythean moved up and killed Lynch. The Ravagore moved out of engagement with the boomhowler and the boomhowler missed on the free strike. I think the Ravagore then shot the defender and did a bunch of damage to him. The Carnivean tried to kill the boomhowlers are him and amazingly missed most all of them.
On my turn, Siege was like ... what the heck ... and force hammered the Carnivean onto the wall. I wanted to see what would happen. It worked and actually knocked him down and did some good damage to him. The boomhowlers then all pounded on the Carnivean. He probably tried to boost shots into the Scythean, but was unable to kill him. Ironically, still, nothing died. The Scythean and the Carnivean both had 2-3 boxes left on them at most. I don't think the Ravagore took almost any damage.
After this turn, I think, as one would expect, the Scythean charged Siege and butchered him. Yep. Not good for Siege.
I feel like I could have made much better use of mage site in this match - maybe used it to help fire on the Ravagore. Also, I should have remembered the Carnivean's spray and positioned my Black 13th better. I enjoyed using force hammer. It was really useful and fun.
This post summarizes the team game we played today, Jan 12th, 2013: Merc's Fiona the Black and Cygnar's Siege VS Legion's eVayl Consul of Everblight and Cygnar's pNemo, 35 pts. In this game, Fiona perished, but Siege was able to kill both pNemo and eVayl for the win.
Lists
Matt's - 35 pts - Mercenaries - Fiona
Mariner - heavy
Sea dog rifleman - unit
Sea dog crew
Mr. Walls, the quartermaster - UA
Rhupert Carvolo - solo
Sylys Wyshnalyrr - solo
Lord Rockbottom - solo
First Mate Hawk - solo
Bosun Grogspar - solo
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile - solo
Mine - 35 pts - Cygnar - Siege
Stormwall
Reinholdt
Squire
Junior
Versh
Boomhowler's
Black 13th
Chip's - 35 pts - Legion - eVayl
Angelius
Ravagore
Scythean
Shredder
Blighted Nyss Strider
Nyss Strider Officer and Musician
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Spell Martyr
Steven's - 35 pts - Cygnar - pNemo
Junior
Lancer
Thunderhead
Gun mage unit
Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Strangeways - solo
Aiyana and Holt - solos
Gun mage officer and standard - UA
Our Setup
Steven and Chip's Setup
Turn 1A, us - End of Matt's Activations
This post summarizes a game that I observed between Steven and Sean on Wednesday evening Jan 9th, 2013: Cygnar's Kara Sloan vs Cryx's Asphyxious (pGaspy). Steven's Kara Sloan was able to take down pGaspy. I really enjoyed watching this game - I just have to finish the commentary on it. Pictures are up.
Lists
Steven's - 50 pts - Cygnar - Kara Sloan
Reinholdt
Squire
Junior
Defender
Stormwall
Gun mage unit
Gun mage officer and standard (UA)
Stormguard unit
Rangers
Sean's - 50 pts - Cryx - pGaspy
Deathripper (2x)
Cankerworm
Skarlock thrall
Satyxis Raiders
Satyxis Raiders Sea Witch (UA)
Satyxis Raider Captain
Pistol Wraith (2x) - solo
Warwitch Siren (forgot to add to the table)
Wrong Eye
Snapjaw
Soulhunter (leader + 4 grunts)
Darragh Wrathe
Author
Gaming has decreased markedly, but focus is still SWTOR, Warmachine/ Hordes and the random board game. That's what these posts will address.
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