Cassius the Oathkeeper vs Madrak Ironhide, World Ender

Taking me a long time to get around to posting some of these games, but I definitely wanted to discuss this one.  Still at Warmachine Weekend and kind of moseying around Saturday afternoon/evening thinking it would be nice to get in another game or 2 perhaps.  After Zosia ducked me I still hadn't found a game.  Also my wife was looking to enter some of the models she had beautifully painted for me, meaning that my Krueger2 and Bradigus lists were off the table for the time being.  Then, fellow PG Jamie walked by and I was very happy to hear that he wanted to get in a game.  Jamie is a great example of the type of guy you come to a convention to see, so I was glad that we could grab a game.  He's playing Trolls these days, and I figure I'll try out a variation on Cassius.

Lists

Cassius the Oathkeeper (*6pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Megalith (11pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Tharn Bloodweavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Tharn Ravagers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
* Tharn Ravager Chieftain (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender (*5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Fennblade Kithkar (2pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)

Scenario

Incursion

Special Rules

Place three flags in accordance with the diagram below. At the end of the second player's first turn, randomly remove a non-center flag from the table. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows:
Outer Flag: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP
Center Flag: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 1 CP

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within 4 inches of each flag

Game & Analysis

Jamie wins the die roll and opts to go first.  We're actually playing on one of the camera tables because they weren't being used, but sadly the game was not recorded.  I don't recall there really being anything intense as far as how the deployment went.  I recall the Warders being on my left, Fenns and friends on the right.  My stuff was pretty typical for me, Cassius and Wurmwood central, Ravagers I think faced off against the Warders, etc.

I'm remembering a decent amount of this game, but probably not in enough depth to go fully turn-by-turn much like I like to.  I really need to start remembering to take pictures, or video or something.  Anyway, the game being Incursion is always interesting.  With the way the scenario plays in SR2014 I'm generally looking to get my warlock on that outside flag early because a lot of armies can't really handle it and it puts them super on the defensive.  Doubly so if they have a small foot print, or if they commit heavily to the wrong flag.

Early turns went about how you'd expect.  He has Hero's Tragedy on the Fennblades the majority of the game, which is very wise as my army is largely melee focused and the Ravagers for instance would love to get multiple attacks in and thus really don't want to be knocked down.  The way the game basically unfolds though is that I try to use spells to kill off some of the Fenns.  On turn 2 I see the flag on my right go away, and I see the Warders aren't contesting the flag on the other side.  I jam my Ravagers into his Warders, Unseen Path and teleport my way over to that flag, throw up my feat and now he has DEF 15 guys in his way.

To end the game I basically try to clear off the middle flag and keep him off of my outside flag, and after spending a bunch of time I succeed.

I really wish that I could recall more of this game because I'm mostly able to remember my play and less of Jamie's.  I do really need to start playing my games faster, this was another one where I saw something and took forever trying to manufacture how to make it work.  Its bad for tournament games and I'd like to not bore my opponent while I'm taking a hugely long turn.  This has been something of a perpetual problem for me, so I think I just need to really start hammering out more games, might even need to start just putting myself on some timed turns for a bit.

Anyway, I recall it being a fun game against a good guy and that was the last game I got in for Warmachine Weekend 2014!

Krueger the Stormlord vs Saeryn, Omen of Everblight

After playing the prior game for about 1:57 my brain was pretty fried.  I'm hoping for a scenario where I can play Bradigus.  I get matched up against Saeryn and I believe Vayl2.  Even thought there is a bat rep where I played against Saeryn in Incursion I didn't feel good about it.  Unique thing here is that he was playing with 2 Neraphs and 2 Angelius.

Basically, he played very well and I didn't have any favors or dice to help me out with the fact that my brain apparently to put together a good game plan.  In the end I made a hard play for the outside flag and my feat because he didn't have enough stuff over there.  Had dice helped me a little more at the end I should have been able to win on scenario, but he was able to kill Krueger with a Naga at the end of it.

At this point, I decided with a 2nd loss and where my head was that I needed to step away from the table from a little bit, get some food and re-energize a little, so I go ahead and drop from the event.

Krueger the Stormlord vs Lich Lord Asphyxious

Next I headed into day 2 where I signed up for the 50 point Steamroller.  The event was capped at 64 players, so that would have us going I think either 6 or 7 rounds but I forget.  I am actually going to short hand this game by quite a bit for some of the same reason as before ... I'm starting to forget the details.

My opponent was playing Lich2 with 30 Bane Knights and some other things.  I opted to play Krueger2 as I did not think that it was a good idea to drop Bradigus in this match.  I'm not 100% in hindsight, as I'm typing this, that it might not have been more playable, but Krueger it was.

This was a very close game, problem being that it took me far too long to kill off that many models with that list.  He was also pretty lucky to hit a high number of 8s on my warpwolves and manage to kill them off.  The Fulcrum did live through the entirety of the game.  Una and the Rotterhorn were once again phenomenal.  The biggest problem was that there were turns where I took entirely too long was the biggest problem.  I'm sure there's a little more that I could do I'm sure, but that's really what I recall

My opponent played very well in addition, but he did manage to get me to clock out at the end!

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Xerxis, Fury of Halaak

I dropped from the Last Chance Qualifier after that loss figuring I'll use the opportunity to grab some dinner, sign up for tomorrow's 50pt SR and so forth.  I then grab a pick up game later in the night against my buddy Andy from college who's trying some stuff out before the invitational.

Lists

Image Courtesy of Griffon's Roost Painting

Woldwar - Tier 4
Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

Xerxis, Fury of Halaak (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Archidon (7pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Molik Karn (11pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
* Titan Sentry (9pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

Game & Analysis

I don't actually recall too much of this game.  The early part he had been drinking and was definitely not making super great decisions, and as a result I think I was winging it pretty hard too.  The game went with a lot of trading because I committed to a zone to kill some things to get up on scenario when I didn't need to.  That started some piece trading which if I'm remembering correctly required me to get Bradigus into the game and eventually he ended up dead.  Andy kept Xerxis back basically the entire game afraid of the assassination, which was wise.  I think I screwed up some shifting stone placements somewhere in there too.  Either way, Andy gets there in the end!

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Major Victoria Haley

I'm now 3-0 and I sit down against Ben who is playing Haley2 with a bunch of Stormnouns and Kraye with 2 Stormwalls and 2 Sentinels.  I don't want to play Krueger into that particular Kraye list I don't think, and I'm ok with Bradigus against either of them.  I choose Bradigus and he chooses Haley2!

Lists

Image Courtesy of Griffon's Roost Painting

Woldwar - Tier 4
Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Ironclad (7pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Storm Lances (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
Anastasia di Bray (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Stormblade Captain (2pts)

Scenario

Supply and Demand

Special Rules

Mark a zone (12 inch-diameter circle) and place two Supply Cache objectives in accordance with the diagram below. The objective on Player 1's side of the table is a friendly Faction model to Player 1 and vice versa. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows:
Artifice: Kill Box
Zone: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP
Enemy Objective: Destroyed/Removed from Play = 1 CP (once per objective)

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game.

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within the zone

Game & Analysis

I have decided that for this game I am going to short hand the battle report.  This may hold true for a few more of my games from Warmachine Weekend as there were a much higher density of games than usual and its been a little while so my memory is a little rusty.

The biggest thing about this table that is relevant is that there was a pretty significant forest in the middle of the table.  I believe he went first.  This scenario was basically not going to be won until really late in the game if ever and that definitely proved to be the case.  It was a lot of back and forth thoughout the game.  I definitely made some positioning mistakes, he definitely made some mistakes on when he popped his feat.

The Stormblades and Stormlances in the list definitely made a bigger difference, as they can hit pretty hard and he had a lot of them.  The way the game wound down, we both were able to destroy our objectives to get to 1 CP each.  At the end of the game I had just lost my Wold Guardian which tipped the points destroyed in his favor.  I had kept my feat basically the whole game, so he aggressively moved Haley forward, and then TK'd my remaining Woldwarden so it couldn't charge and was too far to walk.  Had dice down not been called I planned to feat choosing the left board edge, get Synergy to 2, and kill Haley with the Woldwarden hopefully.

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls

Off a couple of wins in the first two rounds of the tournament and I get paired up against Cory who I believe is from the Phoenix area.  He's packing the Trollkin Flanzer Extravaganza™of Runes of War and Grim1.  I think that Krueger2 is probably ok against Grim1 for the most part, but Bradigus should be solid against either of them, so I go with him.  Not shocked to see my opponent choose to play Runes.

Lists

Image Courtesy of Griffon's Roost Painting

Woldwar - Tier 4
Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

Runes of War - Tier 4

Hoarluk Doomshaper (*7pts)

* Troll Axer (6pts)

* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)

* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)

* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)

Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)

* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)

Janissa Stonetide (3pts)

Scenario

Close Quarters

Special Rules

Place two flags in accordance with the diagram below. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows:

Artifice: Kill Box

Friendly Flag: Dominate = 1 CP

Enemy Flag: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game.

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within 4 inches of the enemy flag.

Game

I lose the roll to start the game, so he goes ahead and opts to go first, which is a good idea I think.  I don't recall anything particularly interesting about the terrain on this table, but I definitely set up in such a way that I can start scoring on scenario on my friendly flag.  He also is very careful about placing the walls from the feat.

Round 1

He moves up, gets the Krielstone full, and throws out animi on the relevant warbeasts with the Janissa wall out there to keep his army safe.  Runeshapers spread out a little bit to be able to hit my flanks if they can.

Since I'm going second I go ahead and basically move up, getting Bradigus heading towards my flag.  He throws Synergy up, and I think Mystic Wards as well.  Mannikins throw forests up to cover my army essentially in its entirety.

Round 2

He tries to get as many rock hammers into me from his Runeshapers as he can, I think he picks off maybe 1 or 2 Mannikins.  Since I haven't really given him much in the way of options he basically just slowly advances his brick forward, recasting Elemental Communion where it needed to go, and throwing Janissa's wall out there.

Since I'm going 2nd my plan is to start dominating my flag since I'll be the first to score and with it being timed turns that seems to be pretty important.  I look and see that I can definitely get some Synergy going, and get a Wold Guardian on Mulg, so I go for that.  Kill off some Runeshapers with the rest of my models, teleport a Guardian into Mulg and take him out without really feeling like I gave him much else.

Round 3

Well, I'm mistaken about what I didn't give him, as Doomshaper has Rampager and I forget to cast Mystic Ward!  This is the first of a couple of turns that I forget to do this, as it also let his Runeshapers get more work done than they should have been able to.  Anyway, the Mauler kills the Warden I believe, and the Earthborn either killed or all but killed and had the Mauler help kill the Guardian I threw out there.  He manages to contest with a single Runeshaper and he's clearly me away from his flag so he scores a point.  This is also the turn that he feats.

Now, I'm looking and I'm pretty able to clear out my flag again, and I'm definitely going to be able to get into contest again.  Problem here is that he's left a landing spot for my other Guardian with a double teleport, and I have a Sentry Stone that can certainly get a fury off of Doomy.  So, I get Synergy up to +3 or so I think, send in the Guardian and a couple of punches get it done

Analysis

Again, could have played a little faster.  Also, this is definitely one where my memory is failing me because I'm pretty sure there was another round in there because I recall Mystic Wards mattering twice when I didn't cast it.  On the turn that I went in on the assassination I think I was going to go to either 2 or 3, and at that point I'm pretty sure I can just jam him out of contesting and I can easily contest his flag with some sort of stick or stone.  Looking at playing this now twice I think the ONLY chance Doomshaper has against Bradigus is if all 3 heavies are behind the wall basically the whole game until he can trade for some beef ... which is going to be hard, and I think he'll potentially suffer from scenario loss over time.

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Drake MacBain

After the long game, I sit down with Professor Lust who's playing Mercs.  He's rolling with MacBain and Durgen.  I have a pretty solid idea that I'm going to see MacBain, but either way I think the right answer is to bring Bradigus again, so I do.  He does go ahead with MacBain.

Lists

Image Courtesy of Griffon's Roost Painting

Woldwar - Tier 4
Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

Drake MacBain (*6pts)
* Galleon (18pts)
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts) (5pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Kayazy Eliminators (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)
Ragman (2pts)

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

Scenario

Process of Elimination

Special Rules

Mark two zones (12 inch × 6 inch rectangles) and place two Monolith objectives in accordance with the diagram below. The Monolith objectives are enemy models to all other models. Only the player who destroys/removes from play a Monolith earns 1 control point. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows:
Artifice: Kill Box
Objective: Destroyed/Removed from Play = 1 CP (once per objective)
Zone: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game.

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within each zone


Only the active player scores when multiple players dominate the same zone or flag.

Game

I lose the roll, and Matt decides to go first.  I choose a side that seems advantageous to me.  This particular table has a larger than medium sized forest in the middle of the table, which bodes fairly well for me I think.  Also, this scenario being a Kill Box is pretty important I'd say.

Round 1

Everything does their running on turn one for him to try to get things setup and ready to be a pain the next turn.  Failsafe goes on Galleon I do believe, counter measures is thrown out on the Kayazy, and that's more or less what happens there

I set up my usual, I take advantage of the forest in the middle of the table, and use my other mannikins to block LOS to my entire army.  Everything else moves up, with Bradigus casting Synergy.  I am able to get a setup where I have Bradigus in 2 triangles, ditto for the Woldguardians on each side.

Round 2

He's looking at the board, and decides to jam into me, which puts a decent amount of stuff for me to handle, Galleon doesn't get any focus because of a positioning mistake with Eiryss, but I don't think its too big of a deal.  MacBain does upkeep Fail Safe though, and then recasts Countermeasures on the Kayazy I believe.  He has to move into the killbox too.  He jams into me with the Eliminators, Assassins and Boomhowlers.  He puts 2 models in front of MacBain, but there is a narrow gap between them.  MacBain had also feated this turn on 10 models, all key solos and other models that'd be in my way.

With the gap between the models, I have an assassination with Bradigus on him.  I activate all of the models that I can in order to get Synergy up, I think one misses, so I get +4 I think.  I do the teleport to get a bigger triangle, followed by double teleporting Bradigus to MacBain.  Take I think 4 attacks and that's it for MacBain.

Analysis

I think another game against this list and player and its a pretty different game since he'd know what was coming.  I'm not sure here if I would try to send in 2 heavies on the Galleon, probably worth while if I can take it out, because he has very little in the way of ARM cracking.  Either way, fun game with a good friend that I get to see at conventions quite frequently.

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Dominar Rasheth

Its one of the greatest times of all of the year for Warmachine players, and its Warmachine Weekend!  Like every year, they have what basically ends up being the largest single tournament of the year which is the Last Chance Qualifier.  I decided to once again try that out figuring that I'm looking to get a lot of good games in and try my hand at finishing out.  I brought with me Wold War and Krueger2 for the event, which was D&C 1 and only 2 lists.

Round 1 sees me paired up against a fella named Daniel who I believe is from Indianapolis, and he's brought Skorne with him.  You'll have to forgive me that I forget what the other list is, but needless to say he goes ahead and chooses Chain Gang.

Lists

Image Courtesy of Griffon's Roost Painting

Woldwar - Tier 4
Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

Chain Gang - Tier 4
Dominar Rasheth (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (9pts)
* Titan Gladiator (7pts)
* Titan Sentry (8pts)
* Titan Sentry (8pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Paingiver Task Master (2pts)
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunts) (1pts)

Scenario

Incoming

Special Rules

Mark two zones (12 inch × 6 inch rectangles) and place two Ammunition Cache objectives in accordance with the diagram below. The objective on Player 1's side of the table is a friendly Faction model to Player 1 and vice versa. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows
Friendly Zone: Dominate = 1 CP
Enemy Zone: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP
Enemy Objective: Destroyed/Removed from Play = 1 CP (once per objective)

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game.

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within the enemy zone.

Only the active player scores when multiple players dominate the same zone or flag.

Game

In this game I am reminded that we're playing timed turns, and it has definitely been a long time.  I'm still definitely not a fan of timed turns over deathclock either, as I frequently find that I have a big turn that leaves me in sufficient position to win a lot of the time.  Its definitely something I need to improve though.  It also highlights the importance of sniping out an early scenario point though.  Anyway, I win the die roll, my opponent chooses a side and we're off!

Just as a caveat now, and I'll try not to repeat throughout all of these posts, but I didn't get pictures of any of my games.  There was definitely too much going on for that sadly.

Round 1

This game was the first one that I played, so you'll have to bear with me, because some of the things just aren't falling into place.  I definitely run up this turn with everything.  I can't recall if I did the forest wall to cover my army or not, its definitely not necessary in this matchup because nothing really has a long enough threat range to get to my army until the next turn.  Bradigus casts Synergy.  Shifting Stones are setup to give me the potential access to a triple-port assassination potentially.

One mistake that I made, he was able to capitalize on this turn I believe, which is that Rasheth was able to throw a Blood Rain I believe that it is, at a Shifting Stone and take it out, the other one lives though.  Otherwise, he moved up with a Titan Sentry sort of on my left and central, the Krea and Gladiator are fairly central and a Bronzeback towards the outside on the right, and the Posse to the far left which are basically engaging me because they ran.  One Agonizer got pretty close too I think.

Round 2

This is where timed turns go to bite me a bit.  I've managed to trap my Woldwarden in just a bit, which is pretty unfortunate that he's not going to be able to be pushed straight ahead, but oh well.  Game plan is to try to get 2-3 heavies dead and then ride things out.  Gators are more or less in my face now.  I have one of the Woldwardens and Woldwatchers get Synergy going.  Then plan is to teleport my beasts into his and get some work done.  Problem with that is that I basically run out of time even with my extension, which is my fault for just not thinking through my plan faster.

With some of my stuff not killing his heavies like I had planned on, he takes advantage for sure.  I don't remember completely how it went, but I'm relatively sure that I don't have at least 2 of my heavies at this point.

Round 3

I still have Shifting Stones that are up, and I think a Guardian was in them.  I am fairly sure that I kill the Bronzeback this turn with one of my heavies after helping it with Synergy.  Bradigus charges in on the Sentry, manages to slam it out of the friendly zone.  Some other stuff happens that I'm not really recalling unfortunately, but I do know it includes putting some forest templates down.  I score a point though for dominating the friendly zone, which I think is important with it being timed turns, and also, Bradigus is in a Shifting Stones triangle, which is pretty important.

He forgets to shake the Sentry, which at the time I thought maybe there was some reason he didn't want to force it, but he just forgot the order you have to do that in.  Anyway, more work happens, including I think my other Woldwarden dying, and maybe one more thing.  He doesn't quite manage to clear any zones out though.

Round 4

I'm looking at the board, and my side of the table is full of Sentry and Shifting Stones, and the other side only has 1-2 Gatormen in it and the Taskmaster.  So I figure if I can clear that zone out, I'll go to 3 control points and he HAS to contest it or I win.  There is a Sentry over there, but its not that close, and its going to have a hard time getting to Brad, and its definitely not getting Rush on it because of where Rasheth and the Gladiator are.  So the Wolds over there clear out I think 1 Gator.  Bradigus gets double teleported so that he's in melee with both a Gatorman and with the task master, but also within 6" of the Sentry so that I can potentially Battering Ram it.  Problem with this plan is that it takes me all but 1 fury to get the stupid Taskmaster dead.  However at the point that I was about to do that, I realized that I wouldn't have fury left, and Bradigus beatbacks himself all the way into the corner of the zone, but I do score 2 control points, so I'm at 3.

He starts to take his turn basically trying to kill as much as he can and contest that zone.  I think I maybe have a chance at that point, but Dice Down gets called sometime during this turn.  Since I am winning 3 control points to 0, the win goes to me!

Analysis

Biggest take away in this game is just that I need to play my list faster, and definitely watch out for the little things for sure.  Was a solid game, solid opponent and starting with a win was what I was hoping to have, so that's great!

Krueger the Stormlord vs Vice Scrutator Vindictus

Alrighty, going 2-0 means that I'm paired up against Jordan Nach, who as of this writing is ranked #1 in the US by the only poll that I suppose I could work with which is the Warmachine Weekend rankings.  He's got Vindictus and Harbinger today for a change of pace.  With the scenario and his lists, I feel like Krueger is the right call, he chooses Vinny D!

Lists

Krueger the Stormlord (*5pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Feral Warpwolf (9pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Celestal Fulcrum (9pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
* Druid of Orboros Overseer (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2pts)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Una the Falconer (3pts)
* Rotterhorn Griffon (3pts)

Vice Scrutator Vindictus (*6pts)
* Devout (5pts)
Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Attendant Priest (2pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Attendant Priest (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
The Wrack (3 wracks) (1pts)

Scenario

Process of Elimination

Special Rules

Mark two zones (12 inch × 6 inch rectangles) and place two Monolith objectives in accordance with the diagram below. The Monolith objectives are enemy models to all other models. Only the player who destroys/removes from play a Monolith earns 1 control point. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows:
Artifice: Kill Box
Objective: Destroyed/Removed from Play = 1 CP (once per objective)
Zone: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game.

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within each zone

Game

I win the die roll and for some reason think that its a good idea to go second so that I can choose the table side.  I basically deploy like I normally do centrally, and have the Fulcrum threatening the zone on the right.

Round 1

I am immediately reminded why I should have gone first after Vindictus uses True Path.  He also puts Defender's Ward onto the Errants.  After that his army comes screaming across the table and basically puts it so that I'm only going to get a few inches out of my advanced deploy line.  All game the Attendant Priests chant for Warding so I can't cast spells at their Forgeguard.

As I eluded to, I can't really get that far out of my deployment, and the Druids aren't doing much because there isn't many things which they can target.  I do believe I tried to throw The Devouring out there and try to hit something.  Krueger threw out a Lightning Storm that managed to catch Gorman and kill him (along with a zealot or 2 I think).  He cast Stormwall.  Una I think moved up maybe shot some.  Everything else basically just hid behind a wall that I had which was out of the kill box

Round 2

Vindictus moved up into the Killbox, camped his stack.  The Daughters manage to get I think the Gallows Grove and a Shifting Stone dead unfortunately.  Errants kill some Druids I believe, but not all of them.  Everything else floods into the zones.

I'm looking at a boat load of models to try and kill.  Fortunately the Daughters are now all bunched up, so I send the Rotterhorn over there, he Shrieks and I think kills 4 of them, so that's quality.  Fulcrum aims, kills a few more models.  Una is able to aim and kill off 3 models I'm fairly sure, this is a trend that will continue to happen in games that I talk about her.  I think I get off a couple sprays maybe with my Blackclad.  I believe that I send in the Stalker to kill some models and sprint away.  I make the mistake of when I do so not having him toe the zone.  Krueger moves up and shoots at a model, and then feats defensively, I realize that it would have been smart to throw out a Lightning Storm almost anywhere and I might have gotten some more models.

Round 3

He's in a position where basically his whole army can't get much work done, but they can fill into the zones, so they do.  I think a couple of attacks do get made, but largely with that much infantry the feat does a pretty solid job.  He still fills up the zones, and we've both scored points from killing objectives as well as he got an additional point because I didn't contest.

On my turn, I need to kill more models.  Una goes ahead and shoots 3 more models dead.  The Fulcrum aims some more, gets a few more.  The Feral kills a couple models, so does the Rotterhorn.  I Warp for Berserk with my Stalker and send him in on the Forge Guard on that side that are closer, and he kills I think all of them, then Sprints away.  I make the mistake of having my Gorax charge a single Zealot, mostly because I think that I need more to contest that zone.  In hindsight, I don't know that I think that's true.

Round 4

Jordan sees several of my mistakes and capitalizes on them.  He gets Forgeguard on the Gorax, a few on my Feral as well.  Fortunately I dropped some Druid clouds on that side, so the Feral is even harder to hit, so he survives.  My Gorax is not so fortunate.  I had used my Stone Keeper the turn before to try to kill some Aiyana and Holt, and I managed to kill Aiyana, but Holt now charged in on the Stone Keeper, and misses 4 times.  Everything else gets put into good positions for him.  Defender's Ward goes onto the Forgeguard on my left.

I think on my turn that there is a good idea to Trample with my Feral over the Forge Guard.  I kill off a few of the Forge Guard that would get a free strike from him doing so, I go ahead and trample, and unfortunately without the Gorax to help things along I need 8s to kill, and only get 1 of them.  I then kill the UA at the end of that trample.  I had used the Stalker to try to kill some things as well I think.  Then realizing I left charge lines to Krueger, I swing the Fulcrum around and try to kill some of them, and fail mostly.

Round 5

Jordan is massively up on clock this time.  Holt finally kills the Stone Keeper, then shoots at the Stalker twice, and he goes down.  The Feral was out there too, the Devout gets in on him, as does some Forge Guard I think.  The Rotterhorn dies here too.  I think maybe one or two of the last Druids maybe get shot at too.  Defender's Ward gets put on Vindictus who hides in a forest.

My only option, because I'm at like 2 minutes on my clock, is to try to kill Vindictus.  Krueger needs to hit a 13 ... he doesn't.  I let time run out at this point.  Victory Jordan!

Analysis

Fortunately for me Jordan talked me through a lot of the game afterwards and places where I could have done better.  There are 2 really big ones though, the first being that I should have gone first when I had the chance to do so, it really changes the game significantly.  Also, I need to play a LOT faster.  It would be nice getting more games in against some really infantry heavy lists because I sort of had to spend more time in the tanks to try to solve the puzzle I was presented with.

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Captain Kara Sloan

So another Michael has arrived to game night, and he's a Cygnar player.  I was hopeful to get in a game with Stryker2 actually, which I know he likes to play.  He tells me he has Kara Sloan tonight though.  I actually try to convince him to play something else, but that was the only list he brought.  So we figure we'll see if this is as bad of a matchup as it sounds like.

Lists

Image Courtesy of Griffon's Roost Painting*

Woldwar - Tier 4
Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

Captain Kara Sloan (*6pts)
* Hunter (6pts)
* Defender (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Grenadier (5pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Trencher Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Trencher Master Gunner (2pts)
Trencher Master Gunner (2pts)

Scenario

Close Quarters

Special Rules

Place two flags in accordance with the diagram below. Starting on the second player's second turn, at the end of each player's turn a player earns control points (CP) as follows:
Artifice: Kill Box
Friendly Flag: Dominate = 1 CP
Enemy Flag: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

Victory Conditions

The first player to earn at least 5 control points and have more control points than the opponent immediately wins the game.

If time runs out before a player has won the game via scenario or assassination victory, break the tie as outlined on the Scenario Reference Sheet. For the 3rd tiebreaker, double the army points within 4 inches of the enemy flag.

Game

We do the rolling off, he wins, goes first and I choose the side that I'm on already.  Nothing particularly interesting with the deployment other than I'm planning for the Mannikins to be much more relevant in this game

Round 1

He moves most of his army forward, Kara Sloan throws a focus on the Defender and 2 on the Hunter I think and then she casts Fire Group and gets behind a wall on her side of the table.  Her defender moves up and puts a nice damage roll on one of my Woldwatchers.  Trenchers move up and dig in.  Grenadier tries to throw some blast damage at me, doesn't succeed.

My turn is pretty uneventful, but fairly potent.  Then my Mannikins cover my entire army's line of sight with forest templates.  Bradigus casts Synergy and Flesh of Clay and everything else sets up in a Shifting Stone triangle

Round 2

He's feeling mostly at a loss, but basically the army shuffles around.  I do recalls the Hunter going near the bigger forest on my right.  Everything else gets into some better spots I believe.  Stormblades get closer, etc.

I move up, there are 2 shots that are able to take out a couple Stormblades hamper him.  Woldwarden goes up and tries to Rift the Hunter, misses.  A Mannikin goes over there, boosts a spray, and 6 points to the 1 blows the Long Arm off the Hunter.  Other than that, everything else repositions to get into a good place for the following turn.  Bradigus doesn't quite get to his flag.  The other Mannikins get up farther and cover the army in forests again.

Round 3

He realizes that he needs to try to stop the forests, he's right.  5 of the Trenchers try to get in on my Sentry Stone with a CRA, that doesn't pan out.  Grenadier tries to get some blast damage over there after he gets the thing from the master gunner to prevent hurting friendlies.  Hits his Trencher each time, so no progress there.  The Defender, Kara Sloan and the Stormblades get ranged attacks on the Woldwarden that missed the Hunter, it almost dies.  The Hunter runs over for Arlan to repair the arm, he does that and removes all the damage.

Now I teleport a Woldguardian onto his Defender and on the flag, my 2 Woldwatchers each kill 2 infantry models.  The undamaged Warden kills 2 infantry models in melee and then throws a Rift out at the Grenadier which kills off 4 Gun Mages.  Bradigus gets to his flag, another Woldguardian aces a Stormblade and throws up his animus.  The Guardian on the Defender kills it even missing the first attack.  I score 2 points.

Round 4

He does everything that he can basically to salvage something.  He puts a lot of attacks into the Woldguardian that is over by Kara Sloan, it does finally go down by the end of the turn.  He had also used Gun Mages to get it off of the flag and clear a lane to Bradigus.  Kara shoots at Bradigus, 2 damage rolls get transferred.

Unfortunately, she's sitting within walk range of the other Guardian.  I go ahead and crank the Synergy up a bit, and then punch her in the face with ram hands twice and that's it.  Also gets me to win on scenario too if I had wanted it to go that way.

Analysis

I don't want to get into this one too much, but if its a Cygnar list that wants to shoot as much as this one does ... its a matchup you want to put Bradigus into.