Full Circle - Episode 3

Our third episode of Full Circle! In this episode we talk a bit about how Circle Orboros did at the WTC.  In addition I discuss Wurmwood, Una1 and the Death Wolves!

Battle Report - 9/24/2016 - Games Plus SR2016

Managed to get to another tournament this month, this time a bit into the suburbs of Chicago.  Ended up being a very small event at only 7 players, and with FOUR people (including myself) playing Circle Orboros.  Here were my lists for a refresher:

Tanith the Feral Song [+31]
- Feral Warpwolf [18]
- Warpwolf Stalker [19]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Druid Wilder [4]
Una the Falconer [4]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Totem Hunter [6]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Fuel Cache (Steamroller) [0]


Wurmwood, Tree of Fate [+27]
- Cassius the Oathkeeper0]
- Feral Warpwolf [18]
- Megalith [20]
- Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Shifting Stones [3]
Shifting Stones [3]
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max) [16]
- Nuala the Huntress [4]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [6]
Fuel Cache (Steamroller) [0]

Round 1

I am paired up against Pat playing Protectorate, you may recall him from my last battle report blog where we played Severius2 vs Tanith.  This time he has Vindictus and Reznik2.  I feel like Wurmwood is going to be a strong drop here, he goes with Vindictus so this is going to be interesting for sure.  Bloodtrackers put Prey on the Idrians, they Prey a Sentry Stone.  Really biggest thing that's a pain is Vindictus' spell on the Idrians that causes my guys to take a point of damage for dealing them a point of damage.

I get to two points early in this game because its the Pit and I'm able to clear the zone and flag and feat.  The next turn I need to kill two Flamebringers and after MANY attacks I fail to do so, which is frustrating, but we go on.  A lot more attrition than was planned on happens, but I eventually clear my flag to score my last points with only seconds to spare.

Learnings in this game are definitely that I should have probably put Prey on the Flamebringers and used my Bloodtrackers on that side to keep them off my flag because the table and Mannikins would keep the Idrians and other infantry at bay long enough.

Round 2

I'm paired up against Justice who is also a Circle player who has brought Krueger2 and Bradigus and we're playing in Incursion.  I don't really expect Bradigus in this scenario and since its Circle I've decided to drop Tanith into the matchup.  I win the die roll, and I push my whole army up the table as far as I can basically, creating a bunker for Tanith, Una and Lanyssa to hide behind.

On his turn, he moves incredibly aggressively at me, he misunderstands how Lord of the Feast now works, so he only manages to kill a Mannikin.  Totem Hunter who Prey'd Lord goes ahead and kills Lord of the Feast and then Sprints.  After that Tanith feats, puts out 3 Primals on three different Scarsfells.  I am able to kill his Ghetorix, Feral and one of the Woldwyrds, as well as putting the other one down to 2 life with attack rolls on Krueger.  Spray some Reeves, position by the outside flags.

He feats to try to stay safe, puts a bit of damage on a couple of pieces, doesn't contest one of the flags.  On my turn, I put more damage on Krueger, clear out the outside flags again, and leave him with only Krueger and his Woldwyrd and maybe a solo or something.  He can't contest the outside flags though, so I win.

Round 3

In the final I get to play against Jordan who's not been playing as much in MK3 but is an absolutely respectable Warmachine (and miniature games in general) player.  He has Kromac1 and Wurmwood.  If he were to drop Wurmwood I definitely want Tanith and I feel like Tanith should be able to play into Kromac.  He brings Kromac I bring Tanith.  I win the die roll and opt to go first.

I try to move up the table pretty aggressively, but I don't really have much that I can do about any of it.  He has the advantage of out threatening me because of Warpath, so he's cagey enough to stay out of the threat of any of my Griffons.

I then make what I think we decided was an error by not playing forward aggressively enough because I can't really contest his zone.  I also can't kill off an opposing Rotterhorn which is unfortunate.  He's able to start from here attritioning me down while Kromac sits behind his objective.  I don't really get enough momentum and he's able to play his superior threat ranges to his advantage.  In the end I don't have enough to stay in the game, he's able to get it on scenario 5-2.

Conclusion

So I end up being in 2nd place, which is fine.  Jordan is a good player, and I definitely learned something here.  I think that I need to play some more games where I'm out threatened with that list to see how it should play when that happens, as well as trying to get better at being able to use my threat extensions that I do have (Hunter's Mark and Dog Pile).  Also, a big reminder of how good Kromac1 his combination of options is, he might need some more table time at some point so that I can see if he has a place in the line up.

Full Circle - Episode 2

Check out Episode 2! Talk about the new release of Druid Mist Riders a little bit as well as Bradigus, Woldwrath, Shadowhorn Satyr and Tanith the Feral Song!

Battle Report - 9/17/2016 - Dice Dojo SR2016

Figure that writing up some of my battle reports might be helpful for me to identify some of how my play and my lists are going, plus just let me sort of re-experience my games.  Not sure if I'll do this for every event or anything, but I felt the urge so why not.  Anyway, we ended up having 11 players for what would be a 4 round event at Chicagoland Games - Dice Dojo, which is my local store.  The event was run by our other local PG Felix.

Here are the lists I chose to bring for this:

Tanith the Feral Song [+31]
- Feral Warpwolf [18]
- Warpwolf Stalker [19]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Druid Wilder [4]
Una the Falconer [4]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
- Scarsfell Griffon [8]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Totem Hunter [6]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Fuel Cache (Steamroller) [0]

Wurmwood, Tree of Fate [+27]
- Cassius the Oathkeeper0]
- Feral Warpwolf [18]
- Megalith [20]
- Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Shifting Stones [3]
Shifting Stones [3]
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max) [16]
- Nuala the Huntress [4]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [6]
Fuel Cache (Steamroller) [0]

The Tanith list I've been playing for a while now and I absolutely love it.  There's just something about being able to play with that many griffons which makes me happy.  Presently I'm not looking at any changes to that list, but I do want to keep getting reps with it for now.  Wurmwood everyone has heard about by now, I haven't quite gotten to a point where I feel like I have a list with the tree that I love.  Part of that is probably table time, and another part of it is just that I haven't quite found the sweet spot.  I do feel like this list is getting a lot closer though.

Round 1

I get paired up against a Protectorate player who's brought Harbinger and Severius2 in The Pit.  Since I have Wurmwood I'm definitely anticipating that he's going to play Severius2 which I don't love into Wurmwood (I think I could play it, but I don't like it) so I go with my Tanith list, but he decides to go with Harbinger.

I don't have a turn-by-turn analysis for any of these games, its going to be more of a summary.  This game turned into a slog, one of the biggest problems for me in this game is that without any respectable guns in the list that I can't really threaten Harbinger at all, so he's able to martyr pretty freely and he does so.  Something that Protectorate players may want to consider too is that the battle engine is still amazing.  I am constantly frustrated at how many boosted rolls that thing can put out and its not the easiest thing to take down due to its range and decent stats.

Anyway, the idea here was hopefully for me to score enough on scenario to get there, unfortunately I had entirely too many dice rolls that were poor and he had entirely too many that were fantastic which led to my plan not really working because he was able to get too many things to me to contest that had I gotten a few better rolls maybe doesn't happen.

Very frustrating game for me due to the dice, but well played by my opponent, I lose 4-5 on scenario.

Round 2

This time I have Khador across the table from me, and he's brought Zerkova2 and Malakov2.  Zerkova has a couple of heavies and mostly magic ability units/solos.  Malakov has like 4 heavies, some doom reavers and some other stuff.  Seeing no Irusk2 and wanting to get some practice in a tournament with Wurmwood my choice here is really easy, and it ends up being Wurmwood vs Zerkova2 in Entrenched.

To start off, I run up with basically all my stuff, keeping my battlegroup safe.  He decides to use his feat right away, so the two min units of Greylord Outriders run to try to get into advantageous positions, Zerkova feats, gets out he boosted rolls, I lose several mannikins and most of my Bloodtrackers.  Next turn I kill 2 of the three Outriders with Bloodtrackers, kill the other unit that's in my zone with various attacks, and then feat.  I think he contests that turn, not much changes on the board, but he runs around some.

After the feat turn, I clear the zone again, score a point, take out much of the rest of his things, I believe I'm able to score a point on his turn as well.  He brings Torch in on the Feral, and with that and some other attacks he kills it.  Megalith kills it the next turn, Pureblood kills the objective on his side, and that's game on scenario.

My opponent definitely had a few unfortunate die rolls, but overall I felt pretty comfortable in that matchup.  I probably could have been a bit better with my troops, but overall I think that it played out alright for me that he went for that and I had to rely on my Mannikins and battlegroup.

Round 3

Another Protectorate matchup, this time he's bringing Reznik2 and Severius2 in Recon.  I assume because of all of the discussion and just in general how things play that he's going to drop Severius2, which means that I'd rather play Tanith since I feel fine about that match in either case.  He does go with Severius2.  His list has 5 heavies and the Blessing, along with Roven and then some support.

I run up incredibly aggressively He doesn't get Warding (I think that's right, no spells) on turn one because the choir had to run.  This let me setup to get Hunter's Mark on the Blessing, which was also Totem Hunter's Prey.  Primal + Scything Touch on Griffon #5 and a Mannikin in position so that I don't get bumped out and I do a significant amount of damage to it, Totem Hunter comes in with a POW 18 and aces it, sprinting back.

Severius is able to use his feat to kill Lanyssa and comes up short on the Totem Hunter.  Runs to engage another Griffon with his Templar on the right, Crusaders both move up a bit, Reckoners a little less, and #5 was killed in retaliation at some point.  Next turn, Feral puts Primal on Griffon #4 who Tanith cycled Scything Touch to the previous turn.  Griffons #4 (4 and 5 are in Una's battlegroup) and one of the other ones in Tanith's battlegroup are able to take out the Templar with some help from Una's shots.  Crusader on the other side I have awful dice on after feating, putting Admonition on the Stalker, Scything Touch and a pair of Primals on the other griffons.  I do finally get it taken care of with Totem Hunter at the end though, and then sprint away again.

Some Griffons die, he has to use too much focus to do it though so most of the game he isn't able to negate any of my attacks with is Field Marshall.  I get his Crusader dead with three Mannikins and Una, try to position for next turn.  As it turns out, I moved the Feral up a bit too far, the Reckoners get on him, kill him.  Tanith gets Shadow Bind on both warjacks though, so the Stalker with Scything Touch is able to kill one easily, do more damage to the other.  Got more damage on it from Una I believe, then Totem Hunter killed it.

Now its just Sev and Roven & Co.  He's able to kill an almost dead Griffon on my left.  He moves up, trys to get a bit of work done, doesn't.  I spend the nex turn clearing the zone, and then finishing Sev up.

Looking at this game he probably needs to play a bit more defensively I suppose, but he is out-threatened by everything in my list, so he's relying on something going in and failing.  Since I can trade 8-point light warbeasts for usually 1/2 to 2/3s of a heavy (sometimes more) and I have things with Sprint and Admonition I think that I'm alright in the mostly melee vs melee fight here.

Round 4

We've got the basic scenario of Take & Hold and he's got Madrak2 and Grissel1.  I'm honestly not sure how Grissel plays in this edition, but I felt that with either list that Wurmwood was the correct drop.  He chose Madrak2.  His list is basically the same list that Jay Larsen is playing at WTC, so dudes for days.  

I win the die roll, I have a forest near my flag, so I set it up for Wurmwood to head towards that, and my Bloodtrackers to head towards the other flag which is where the unit they put Prey on went.  He made a more aggressive play towards my flag, so he never tried to put Madrak on his own flag.  I killed a LOT of infantry in this game.  Bloodtrackers and Mannikins wiped out a unit of Fenns one turn, started into the unit of Kriels on the side where his flag was.  I did put the Pureblood in a bad spot though, so he was able to get on it with the Fenns and get it.

I'm able to, with Hutchuck's help ambushing in, clear out all of the Kriels near his flag, so I run my Feral to that flag because I'm not going to put Wurmwood on mine.  I clear out more Fenns and stuff on my side.  I feat, hit a Hellmouth to make sure that I kill the models that are in the forest, get a Stranglehold on the Earthborn so it can't Trample to me.  Score a point.  He tries to feat with his remaining Fenns to kill some Shifting Stones and get more damage on Wurmwood, dice don't help him out one bit this turn unfortunately.  He is able to contest his flag though, so I don't score any on his turn.

Next turn his whole army is over near my flag and almost nothing on the other side.  So I clear out the other side of the few models he contested with, run Cassius so that I can Dark Path and put Wurmwood on the flag, and get a Stranglehold on Madrak.  I score three and put him in a tough spot because he can't get enough over there to contest meaningfully.  I clear out the flag and win.

This game I was extremely happy with the performance of the Bloodtrackers, though I do need to remember to do their Swift Hunter moves.  Hutchuck was great Ambushing her as well, the Quake shot is great against things with Tough.  Where I could have been better though was that I don't think I needed to put my Pureblood where it was and I might have gotten more use out of it.

Wrap-up

I ended up getting third place, which I'm pretty happy with considering how badly I felt my first game went. With Wurmwood I originally was sort of surprised by Tom Guan's list with a bunch of infantry, but I'm starting to think that it might be the right direction to go.  It would have potentially hurt me more against Zerkova2, but I think that it would have been much better against Trolls.  Hopefully I can get some more games in with him to see.

Full Circle - Episode 1

In this episode I go ahead and discuss a few of the model/units in Circle Orboros, starting off with Sentry Stone & Mannikins, Argus Moonhound, and the Pureblood Warpwolf!

http://twitch.tv/cheddercaveman
http://youtube.com/cheddercaveman

Welcome to Full Circle!

I've decided to start a video show talking about Circle Orboros and Warmachine/Hordes! Check out a quick 5 minute video I've posted giving a rough idea about what I'll be doing.  More to come!



http://youtube.com/cheddercaveman
http://twitch.tv/cheddercaveman