50 point Steamroller - Game 3 - eVayl vs. eMakeda

eMakeda

Molik Karn

Titan Gladiator

Titan Gladiator

Archidon

Min Incendiarii

Max Nihilators

Min Beast Handlers

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Extoller Soulward

Once again, down a point

Again, I am down a point on his list and I’m not sure where. Oh well! I won the roll off and chose first turn. My opponent chose the side with a forest in the center and a wall on my left just a little ways out of his deployment. I got the side with a hill in the middle and a house to the right side. I place two Angelius on the left side at the edge of Vayl’s control. The Ravagores and the last Angelius deploy to Vayl’s right. Vayl goes just right of center. The Hex Hunters go to the center left with their attachment, the Spawning Vessel. My opponent placed the Archidon and Molik Kharn to my left. Makeda goes in the middle with the Nihilators and the Incendiarii. The Titan Gladiators went to the right side. The support was spread around the back. On to Legion turn 1!

Turn 1 – Legion

I ran both Angelius up the left flank one behind the other, hoping to remain out of Kharn’s threat range. I activate Vayl and place Refuge on the nearby Anglius and Admonition on one of the Ravagores. She puts Occultation on herself and charges forward onto the hill. My Hex Hunters activate and run forward and spread out. The Spawning Vessel gets carried up behind them. The Refuge Angel flies up on the right. The two Ravagores run and place themselves in front of Vayl. The Shepherds run up behind. The Spell Martyr runs forward.

Turn 1 – Skorne

My opponent thinks Kharn has range on my Angelius. I’m surprised because I am quite a ways out. Makeda goes and casts Leash on Kharn and the spell for +2 movement for everything. She then walks forward into the forest. The Nihilators run straight forward and spread out. The Incendiarii run and spread out, and a key thing is that one goes in front of Makeda to block line of sight. One of the Gladiators goes and walks over to Kharn, putting Rush on him. The other Gladiator moves close to Makeda. The Beast Handlers move forward, removing some Fury and giving the +2 strength and free charge buff to Kharn. The other solo’s move up. Kharn goes and gets a charge on my front Angelius in my line. He only hits with one initial, and after 3 bought attacks puts the Angel down. He then decides to Fatewalker rather than attack the other Angelius, and uses it to walk over the nearby wall.

Turn 2 – Legion

I leach Fury and upkeep all spells. I start with the Refuge Angelius. It kills some Nihilators and Refuges into the right zone. I then activate the Hex Hunters, doing a run charge on the Nihilators, killing a large portion of the unit. The Spawning Vessel then moves up and pops out a Shredder. The Shredder walks over near the left Angelius. Vayl goes and shoots the Shredder in the back and arcs a Refuge onto the Angelius. One of the Ravagores goes left, boosting a fiery shot into Molik Kharn for some nice damage and lighting him on fire. The Angelius goes next, and after an Armor Pierce and some bought attacks, Kharn goes down. The other Ravagore walks forward and boosts a fiery shot into the Incendiarii right in front of Makeda. It kills the Incendiarii and lights a Beast Handler, Makeda, and the Archidon on fire. I boost blast damage on Makeda and do about 5 points. The Spell Martyr was actually used for an Icy Grip into the Nihilators from Vayl I think. That’s how my Hex Hunters were able to hit them relatively easily. Shepherds wipe some fury. Over to Skorne!

Turn 2 – Skorne

My opponent is on his back foot now, with Kharn being dead and my beasts in position to score some points. To make matters worse, the fire does not go out on Makeda and does another 6 points of damage. The Beast Handler burns and the fire on the Archidon goes out. His turn basically revolves around boosting the speed of the Archidon to crazy levels and getting into Vayl. He misses most all his attacks, needing hard 9’s. With that, my opponent concedes, as I score two control points in his turn and would gain another 2 and very likely 3 as Vayl could easily dominate if I can kill off the Archidon. Legion victory!

Post game thoughts

  I think my opponent made a few mistakes this game. He really should have held Molik back until the later game, as it was unlikely he would kill to Angelius in one round (but far from impossible!). It is crazy how far eMakeda can throw her beasts though! Man I was not ready for that first charge from Molik! I think I played against these crazy threat ranges well though. I made my opponent pay for throwing Molik out there, and that set the tone for the whole of the game. With that victory, I am off to final table! My next opponent: Mercenaries!

Warmachine and Hordes: Expectations vs Reality

Warmachine and Hordes:

Expectations Vs Reality

           

            When I first got into Warmachine and Hordes (Warmachine, specifically), the big draw for me was how awesome the ‘jacks were. The concept of leaders with magical powers that could command these huge, badass robots was the primary reason why I went with Warmachine right off the bat. Yeah, the big beasts of Hordes are cool too, but I mean, these are robots! Unfortunately, I’ve been a bit dissatisfied lately with how things have been playing out.

            To begin, I started with Retribution. I picked up the Battle Box during a local Journeyman league because 1) Warjacks seemed super cool and 2) Retribution’s aesthetics were my cup ‘o tea. I’ve since learned that Ret is not exactly a beginner faction, and even though I have pulled a win out once or twice, the majority of my games so far (biggest was 25 points) have been sloppy and disappointing, especially in the realm of my Myrmidons. The Manticore is expensive and seems to get one good hit in then gets wrecked. The Griffon, though fast and potentially deadly, is difficult to get in the right spot without the perfect combinations. Don’t even get me started about the Chimera…If it wasn’t so expensive I’d consider it. Long story short, I wanted to play an army that relied on their big bots to do the bashing, but Ret is definitely not what I was looking for. I still love how they look, but they don’t play how I wish they did, so lately I’ve been reconsidering my choice.

            I want an army that relies on its big bases to do the dirty work, not an army that relies on infantry. I switched from 40k to WM/H for a reason: I wanted to build and paint less models and use the big stuff. Warmachine was basically turning into a Kill Team sized army in 40k. After chatting with Andy for a bit about how I was standing with Warmachine and Hordes, I realized that Warmachine wasn’t going to deliver the game that I wanted. My play style was better suited for a warlock.

            Circle of Orboros is my new pet project. I’ve always loved wolves and they seem, in theory, to fit the style that I want to play. I have planned out a 25 point list with eKaya, since she’s all about the big beasts, along with some different Warpwolves and a few other fun toys. I’m still in the planning stage but I’m really excited to begin learning and playing them.

           

The main reason I wanted to write this article was to articulate that, coming from a beginner, Warmachine and Hordes is a bit misleading. When I was first learning about the game, it seemed like each Warmachine faction relied on their huge bots (I mean, they’re all over the artwork AND they’re in the name!). In reality, however, it seems that Warmachine is definitely more reliant on infantry and uses their ‘jacks as supplemental pieces to a much larger game. Hordes, on the other hand, relies on their beasts to generate power, meaning that they have to be more flexible than ‘jacks. Yes, if your beasts die, your power starts to slip. You’re only as powerful as your beasts. But that dependency on the beasts is why I’m now leaning towards Hordes. In the end, I have to play an army that I both like aesthetically and how it performs on the table to enjoy the game. I want my big models to be able to run up and obliterate whatever I hit on the first go, not scratch away at it, run out of focus then get overrun while it waits for infantry to come in to save the day. Warmachine can’t deliver both aesthetics and play style to me personally.

What I say should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m still a beginner, and I know that Warmachine factions are just as powerful as Hordes can be. It’s just that Warmachine seemed like it would be about the ‘jacks, but for the most part, it’s not. Hordes is all about the beasts, especially with eKaya (as well as many other Warlocks), and so that’s why I’m making the switch.

- Aaron

Andy's new project - Menoth

Hello again, Andy here to talk briefly about my new project I've been working on, Menoth.

As you may have seen, I've been thinking of trying Menoth and after a few battle box, I couldn't resist.

I bought the Menoth portion of the two player battle box and got started painting up pKreoss. I wanted to do an evil looking Menoth, as I don't like painting white, and I thought Menoth can look pretty menacing in dark colors.

Kreoss was painted using a mix of blacks and reds, with some bronze and gun metal to pick out details. It was a really simple paint scheme that made for a good effect. I also tried out the gamesworkshop technical blood paint and man does it look nasty. I added plenty to his flail, and then flicked it all over his chest and face as perhaps you can see.

As for story, I want them to keep their name, but I don't think "high exemplar" fits with his theme haha. So I decided to call him "Kreoss the Blood Quenched". Bad ass, no? Maybe a bit cliché but whatevs haha.

Now for tactics. I think Kreoss is an awesome caster. Purification, along with his feat can end games, and end them quickly. However, I recently played a battle box game against convergence and learned some very important lessons. First, their heavy vector, cipher, is steady. No knockdown for me! He hid his caster behind it and there was little I could do about it. Second, their light vector,... I forget what it's called, has an aoe gun that can knock down. Third, Menoth jacks are very very easy to hit, and when your opponent has an aoe knockdown gun, it is best not to have your caster in base to base with those low Def jacks. Fourth, Kreoss is very soft. Without Defenders Ward and a solid focus camp, he is really easy to kill. And that is just what happened in that game. I got knocked down and assassinated with ease. Oh how the tables turned! Oh well, live and learn.

Well that's it for Kreoss, hopefully I get my jacks all painted up real soon!

- Andy

Battlebox Battle Report – Menoth vs. Legion

Hello all! Andy here and I have a battlebox battle report with me trying out Menoth for the first time against my friend playing my Legion battlebox. I have always enjoyed the aesthetics of Menoth and have wanted to try out a warmachine army, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity! I have to admit, using focus feels like so much more work than using fury haha. So without further ado, here are our armies!

pKreoss - +5

Crusader – 6

Revenger – 6

Repenter – 4

pLylyth - +6

Carnivean – 11

Shredder – 2

Shredder – 2

Shredder – 2

Shredder – 2

I won the roll-off and decided I should go first, as I know my army is going to be pretty slow. I deploy with the Revenger and Crusader to pKreoss right, and the Repenter to the left. My opponent deploys pLylyth right behind a forest with a line of shredders to her left. The Carnivean is deployed at the maximum range of her control.

My first turn is pretty quick, as is the norm with Warmahordes. I pass out focus to everyone so they are able to run, then I put Defenders Ward on the Revenger and walk Kreoss towards the wall directly in front of him. Everyone else activates and basically runs straight ahead.

My opponent’s turn saw him making 3 Shredders go Rabid and walk forward. The last Shredder simply walked behind the rest. The Carnivean advanced directly forward. Lylyth just walked into her forest and cast Tenacity 3 times.

Now things become more interesting. I upkept Defender’s Ward and ran my Revenger forward. My Crusader simply walked forward. My Repenter walked in behind the Revenger. Kreoss just walked up behind the wall.

My opponent now decides he doesn’t much care for that Revenger standing in the front of the rest of my army. Lylyth starts things off by Bushwacking, popping feat, then shooting the Revenger. She casts Parasite on it with her auto-hit from her bow. She drops the last two fury she has. Next up is the Shredders. Each activates and free charges the Revenger due to Blood Lure on Lylyth’s bow. They put some serious damage on the poor Revenger. The Carnivean comes in to finish the job with an assault charge. The spray does a bit of damage to my Repenter. The Carnivean puts the Revengers down with ease. 

Following the devastation of the previous turn, I allocate 3 focus to my Crusaders and two focus to my Repenter. I start off the turn by activating Kreoss (Actually I started with the Crusader, then realized I wanted to feat and to do such a thing, I probably want to activate my caster first. Luckily, it was just a learning game and my opponent was fine with the mulligan). So Kreoss pops feat and shoots a Shredder with an Immolation to soften it up. Then I activate my Repenter and turn towards the two Shredders sitting in front of it. I shoot and boost damage on the closest Shredder and kill it. The second suffers minor damage. I now have a charge lane for my Crusader. My Crusader activates and charges the Carnivean. My Crusader takes the Carnivean down to 7 health. That ends my turn.

My opponent answers, and he answers with a vengeance. He spends fury to stand up his remaining Shredders. My opponent starts by activating Lylyth. She Bushwacks and boosts a shot into my Crusader. He hits my whopping Def 14 in melee no problem. He then casts Parasite and spends her last two to heal the Carnivean. Next the Carnivean activates. It sacrifices its movement to stand up. My now arm 16 is nowhere near enough to save me from a Carnivean and my Crusader gets trashed. The now unengaged shredders charge my Repenter for minor damage.

For my turn, I allocate a full 3 focus to the Repenter. I start off activating pKreoss. He walks forward and beats down both the Shredders. He then tries to fire off a Cleansing Fire and whiffs with double 1’s…. The Repenter activates and charges the Carnivean… And rolls a 1 and 2 to hit…. From there I did a bit of minor damage.

My opponent had no problem smashing my Repenter to pieces with the Carnivean at this points. Victory Legion!

So my first game with Menoth was a struggle. The Crusader not being able to one round a knocked down Carnivean was pretty disappointing. I should have tried to get Kreoss into the Carnivean’s face and take some shots on him. Without the Carnivean, my opponent would have been seriously hindered. I also realized at the end I never casted Lamentation…. It would have disallowed Lylyth from casting Parasite in my control area.

In my opinion, the Menoth battlebox is solid. I don’t really like the Revenger much, but it isn’t bad. It would probably be much more useful if I remembered it was an arc node... The Crusader is quite slow and can hit pretty hard, but needs a bit of help from another jack or the choir. The Repenter is a solid little jack that makes short work of Shredders. I don’t know how well it would perform against light or heavy jacks.

I would much prefer the alternate battlebox from the 2-player starter set. I think some ranged firepower like the Vanquisher would be great (Plus I really like continuous fire). I have the Menoth portion of the box in the mail so hopefully I’ll have it in hand and start painting it soon! I plan on going dark Menoth.

I hope you enjoyed!

- Andy

Andy's first Warmahordes tournament

Now that the Journeyman League had come to an end, it was time for a small 35-point 2-caster steamroller tournament. I was not entirely prepared for a 2-caster event, as I had largely been playing pThagrosh and I hadn’t played Warmahordes in an entire month. Bethayne and Belphagor had intrigued me near the end of the league, so I had those models on hand. I decided to go with B&B and prime Thagrosh as my two casters for the event.

pThagrosh +5

Carnivean – 11

Scythean – 9

Ravagore – 10

Max Hex Hunters – 8

Shepherd – 1

Feralgiest – 1

Bethayne +3

Belphagor – 0

Scythean – 9

Ravagore – 10

Raek – 4

Max Hex Hunters – 8

Forsaken – 2

3 x Spell Martyrs – 3

Strider Deathstalker – 2

I stuck with my pThagrosh list from the Journeyman League as I was comfortable with it and it had worked well for me. My B&B list, however, was just a hodge podge of models I threw together with no knowledge of how they would work with her as I had never played her. I knew she liked Hex Hunters and Spell Martyrs, so they went into it first. From there it was just random pick and choose. I intended for my Thagrosh list to be my brick list that can crack armor, while Bethayne will be my anti-infantry list.

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Game 1: Bethanye vs. pButcher

Game 1 set me against a seasoned veteran that helped me learn the game quite a bit. He brought his Khador with him (Which is an army I had not beaten up until this point). I was nervous and knew very little about most of the units in both his armies, but I knew that Khador generally favors infantry so I tried out Bethayne. My opponent chose pButcher. This game went by in an agonizing blur, so many of the details are hazy.

So I won first turn. I ran my whole force forward as far as I could. My opponent did the same. I made a charge order with my Hex Hunters and a few engage his widowmakers and kill a few. I move my Scythean into the zone. I move a Spell Martyr up and get counter charged by Man O’ War Drakhun. A little piece of advice, look at cards for models you don’t know about before a battle. B&B are just outside the zone. My opponent is now in charge range of my Scythean with his Drakhun and charges and mauls my heavy. A Marauder charges the Scythean and slams him back into my objective, killing my Scythean. He moves a Demolisher into the zone. His Shocktroopers kill a bunch of Hex Hunters but they hold. My turn comes around and I pop feat and try to kill some stuff off but I have lost my most heavy hitter in the Scythean so things aren’t looking good. I try to block Bethayne from his Demolisher with my Feralgiest, only to find that everything can move through incorporeal models with no penalty. Needless to say, Bethayne didn’t live very long after this.

I was pretty discouraged after that thrashing. I didn’t feel like I could go back to Bethayne after that. I just didn’t know her spells well enough. Lucky for me, I didn’t need to.

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Game 2: pThagrosh vs. pLylyth

My second game was against another new Warmahordes player. She only had her battle box along with a few additions. I felt confidence in this matchup, as I actually knew what it was I was facing, and I knew pLylyth pretty well. My opponent won the roll-off and took first turn.

Her first turn saw her simply run everything forward. She had Raptors on one flank, Striders in the center by a wall, and pLylyth on the other flank with some Shredders and her Carnivean. Lylyth and her battle group were in a nice little forest. My turn I did the same. I didn’t run the Hex Hunters all the way forward, as she did not yet have the Strider UA for hunter. My beasts just followed behind the little wall of infantry. My opponent tried to stand behind the wall and shoot with the striders, but with stealth was unable. The raptors took some shots at beasts, but unfortunately she didn’t roll too well and did minimal damage. Shredders shot out in front of her force. Now it was my turn and everything was well within range of charges. My Hex Hunters went into the striders and caught two raptors as well. I did minimal damage to both. My Carnivean and Scythean charged into the striders and killed a couple. The Ravagore took a shot at Lylyth and missed. Lylyth tries aid her striders. Her Carnivean charges in and kills my Scythean. Nothing else major. I now think my Carnivean is within walking range of Lylyth. I take two free strikes from striders, not even scratching me. I make it to Lylyth and munch her. Legion (mine) victory!

Although this match was against a new player with a minimal collection of models to choose from, I still felt good that I was actually able to win a game.

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Game 3: pThagrosh vs. eThagrosh

Game 3 was another Legion on Legion match, this time against a veteran player. I was feeling good after getting a win under my belt. But I was worried as he had the Archangel (I had never faced a colossal/gargantuan up to this point). My opponent won first turn.

First turn he runs everything forward aggressively. The AA is dead center by eThags, with a Scythean nearby. He has some Shredders nearby, as well as a Raek off on a flank. I deploy my brick center with Hex Hunters on the flank opposite the Raek. My brick advances slowly as I was worried what he may be able to do if I move into charge range. My Hex Hunters run up the flank to a flag. My opponent manages to charge my Scythean with the Archangel and annihilates it. It is also close enough to be engaging my Carnivean. The Raek advances. The Scythean runs into reach melee range with my Carnivean. Now I’m on my back foot and not sure how to save my poor Carnivean. I decide to buff my Ravagore and charge it into the Scythean. I leave the Scythean on one box. I charge my shepherd in and finish off the Scythean. My Hex Hunters run and engage eThagrosh and a few shepherds and a shredder. My Carnivean beats on the Archangel some. The Archangel then proceeds to end the Carnivean. eThagrosh kills a bunch of Hex Hunters. Then his shepherd fails its abomination check for being by eThagrosh. Whoops! The Raek leaps and engages pThagrosh and pokes him a bit. pThagrosh then proceeds to cut the Raek to pieces. I pop feat and bring back the Carnivean and it moves to engage the AA and eThagrosh. My Ravagore charges the Archangel and kills it. At this point my opponent has only a few minutes and deathclocks. Legion (mine) victory!

Another really fun game. Although my opponent deathclocked, I am pretty confident I would have assassinated eThagrosh in my next turn with either my Carnivean or Ravagore or even my swarm of Hex Hunters.

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Game 4: pThagrosh vs. Syntherion

My last game was against a caster that I actually had a bit of experience playing. Unfortunately, my opponent brought a list with two Prime Axiom colossals. Although they were pretty intimidating, I felt pThagrosh was the guy to take them down. My opponent gets first turn.

My opponent runs Axiom’s forward, one to a wall and one to the edge of a small hill. Syntherion moves up and casts Hot Shot (I think that’s what it’s called) on the Axiom to my right. The shield guard solo moves up next to him. I have my Hex Hunters deployed center with my Scythean, Carnivean, and Thagrosh direcly behind them. The Feralgiest is to my far right and Ravagore with shepherd to my far left. I run the Hex Hunters straight forward. My Feralgiest runs towards the flag on my right. The Ravagore runs towards the flag on my left. Thagrosh casts Fog of War, free spiny growth on himself, and Draconic Blessing on the Scythean, then charges a Hex Hunter and fails. My Carnivean runs forwards. My Scythean runs forward and a bit right towards that Prime Axiom. My opponent starts his turn by passing out focus to his right Prime Axiom. He stands and shoots the right Prime Axiom at a Hex Hunter, forgot about stealth and missed. It then used its other shot to shoot the Carnivean for minor damage. The other Prime Axiom activated with some convectioned focus, tried to shoot a Hex Hunter and auto-missed because of stealth.  It then tried to shoot the Ravagore and missed a fair number of shots due to Fog of War. He then remembered to spawn his little mine thingy, which charged a Hex Hunter and killed it. Syntherion and his shield guard just chill a bit back. I upkeep all spells. I activate the Hex Hunters and run charge, mostly bringing the unit to the left Prime Axiom, not doing any damage. My Carnivean charges the right Prime Axiom and manages to engage. It does a fair bit of damage. My Scythean then charges and engages the Axiom and the enemy objective contesting the right flag. The Scythean trashes both the Axiom and the objective. I then run the Feralgiest to capture that flag. My Ravagore shoots and kills the shield guard thing. Thagrosh just wanders towards the right flag. I score two points. My opponent starts by activating Syntherion and gives Hot Shot to the left Prime Axiom, along with focus. The Prime Axiom activates and tramples over my Hex Hunters. It shoots at Thagrosh with all of its right side shots, hitting every one and doing major damage. Thagrosh is down to about 8 health. He then tries shooting with his left side and misses every shot! Lucky, lucky Thagrosh. He passes turn and I see that the Prime Axiom did not get close enough to contest my left flag, so I move my Ravagore to capture it, move Thagrosh to dominate the enemy flag and end turn, scoring 3 to win the game. Victory Legion!

I got a bit lucky that Thagrosh survived all those shots from the Axiom. He also had some hot dice for the first 3 shots, so it kind of balanced out. I also got lucky my opponent really didn’t pay attention to scenario, and would have struggled regardless with only two models to really contest. I still felt like I had the game from the start with my heavy melee beasties.

So with that the tournament ended. Wins and losses were tallied and I was tied with another player for second. We went to points destroyed for the tie-breaker and I had a total of 96 points destroyed, netting me second place! For my first tournament, I was pretty dang excited. I had to thank pThagrosh for the victories, without him I would not have stood a chance.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Andy