Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Exulon Thexus

In my previous entry, you'll recall that my initial outing with Bradigus against Tom's Severius1 list proved to be successful for me.  Next I would find out how it faired against another local, Nate, playing Exulon Thexus!  Just for the sake of making things easier, here's the list that I played again:

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Megalith (11pts)

* Woldguardian (9pts)

* Woldguardian (9pts)

Shifting Stones (2pts)

* Stone keeper (1pts)

Shifting Stones (2pts)

Blackclad Wayfarer (2pts)

For Nate this was his first outing with Cephalyx, but he has been playing Mercs for a while, interspersed with playing Khador.  Here's the list he brought:

Exulon Thexus (*6pts)

* Wrecker (7pts)

* Subduer (6pts)

Cephalyx Agitator (2pts)

Cephalyx Agitator (2pts)

Cephalyx Agitator (2pts)

Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)

Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)

Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)

Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

Croe's Cutthoats (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)

* Cephalyx Dominator (2pts)

Pistol Wraith (3pts)

Pistol Wraith (3pts)

Looking at this, I knew things would get interesting because there is a surprising ability to break ARM in that list.  We ended up using the same table and the same scenario because they were sitting out there.  I again won the die roll, and opted to go first again.  I'll definitely want some practice where I go 2nd soon I think, as I suspect how those games unfold could be a very different situation.

Deployment:

I deployed the exact same way that I did the first time actually.  Nate had a Cephalyx Mind Drudge unit behind a Slaver unit on each side, Monstrosities in the middle, Croe's left of center, Pistol Wraith on each flank and the Agitator's spread out for coverage.

Round 1:

Nothing fascinating here really, move up, animus, stone form, etc.

He move's up what I'll call "semi-aggressively",  biggest things of note is that he's seemed to have put the Pistol Wraith's close to aiming range with my Watchers on each end, but certainly IN range.  He's also moved the Dominator up pretty far with the Croe's, and he does NOT have Stealth, so that's going to be a big deal.

Round 2:

Here's where I make something if a big mistake I would say.  I saw that the Dominator was up, and I thought that I could get the Rift from Megalith on him if I advanced, but it looked close.  So instead I trampled probably ~6.5" so that I could kill the Dominator with a Rift, which I did, more on that later though.  Next mistake was that I thought the Watcher was going to be in aiming range with the Pistol Wraith, but I ended up being off by maybe 3/8", so that guy ended up doing nothing.  Instead the other Watcher moves around, caps him, and he becomes a lovely autumn forest.  On the other side, I look and feel like 2 forest templates will be better, but I miss one of the drudges which would have actually changed the entire complexion of the game.  Everything else moved up and got into positions

On his turn, he looks and feels like he can kill Megalith, he's right.  Focus goes on the Wrecker, TK on Megalith I believe, move an Agitator into position ...  he dies.  Definitely not worth that trade just to put the Croe's out for a turn.  I think I could have floated the AOE and gotten him or possibly should have done a turn 2 feat where I can do a lot of aimed shots and that AOE.  Not sure, but losing Megalith was definitely subpar.  He also uses some of his Mind Benders to get a few charges on some of the watchers, and one of them ends up Death Chill'd from the Pistol Wraith that I ignored.  The other big play here is that he does manage to get a Drudge on 1 Shifting Stone from each unit, which is just a positioning mistake on my part.  So no teleporting

Round 3:

I'm looking at the board, and I see that with the Stones gone that I can feat to take out his heavies as well as a bunch of infantry and be back to a good spot.  So, that's the plan.  Blackclad manages to get me a free charge, both heavies go down, some drudges, I think 1-2 Agitators too.  Clear out a lot of stuff at this point, but with the pieces he can put together, its not too far out of the question for him to still put some hurt on stuff.

He does his best to put things in the zone, I think he managed to clear the near zone this turn so he would get a point from Dominating there.  Uses TK to get some backstrikes with the now rally'd Croes on one of the Guardians, which some how manages to knock out its Spirit.  Lots of damage spread around to other Wolds as well.

Round 4:

Now I'm just thinking about scenario.  Its going to be about nothing to get damage on the objective to kill it, and there are only a few models in each zone.  I start going to work clearing them out, finally clearing the zone on my left out with Bradigus so that I can score.  Guardian takes down the objective.  Other things start killing models off.  Its not a great position for him.

He thinks things are pretty grim, he suggests that the game might be able to be called right there as I'm just going to slowly whittle him down and win on scenario.  He looks though and thinks he can maybe do some work, but he's got I think 4 transfers to go through or something ridiculous.  Something with a combination of Croes and some other things.  It doesn't work basically, and then we call it.

Another win for Bradigus!

I'm thinking that I would have just keep trying to slowly kill stuff off and then win on scenario.  I think I could have put down Exulon maybe too, but would depend on plenty of factors.  BIG, Big mistake was losing Megalith like that, no reason for it and it changes a lot of the tempo.  I again felt that the Blackclad was "nice" but not sure how needed he is/was.

I'm hoping to start taking some quick pictures of the game state as I'm playing.  Basically one at the end of each step, but we'll see.  Certainly would help me analyze things I think.

Things that I'm currently analyzing include whether another geomancer needs to make it in, and also whether any other support models need to make it in (Druid Wilder, Una/Rotterhorn, other road bumps).  I'm also sort of biding my time until I see his theme force, based on some rumors running around there's a chance that it could be pretty interesting/compelling.

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Grand Scrutator Severius

Bradigus was pre-released at GenCon, and let me tell you that model is pretty bad ass looking.  I'm pretty excited for his rules too!  Chance to play Synergy in Hordes?? That is one of the spells that if you had asked people a few months ago to list their top 5 spells that will never be on a Warlock, you'd definitely see that one near the top.

Hopefully after I play a few more games I'll post up more of a tactica, but for now I'm just going to go over my game.

To start with though, here's the list that I played:

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Woldwatcher (5pts)

* Megalith (11pts)

* Woldguardian (9pts)

* Woldguardian (9pts)

Shifting Stones (2pts)

* Stone keeper (1pts)

Shifting Stones (2pts)

Blackclad Wayfarer (2pts)

As I look at Bradigus, basically I feel like all of his game revolves around his battlegroup.  To that end then, if its not something for his battlegroup or supporting it, I'm uninterested.  I'm sure there'll be some debates over what the list I prefer is, but for the time being, this one definitely seemed to work with a lot of his strengths and did its best to support him.

In this game I got to play against local Tom who was playing Protectorate as the title eludes to, and he decided to play the Sevy list that he's been playing.  Neither of us discussed the pairing ahead of time, we just kind of threw down, so I don't think if he know he had to face Bradigus that he would have played what he did, but there it is.  Here's the list he brought:

Grand Scrutator Severius (*6pts)

* Blessing of Vengeance (7pts)

* Fire of Salvation (9pts)

* Hierophant (2pts)

Avatar of Menoth (11pts)

Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)

Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)

Idrian Skirmishers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)

* Idrian Skirmishers Chieftain & Guide (3pts)

Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

The scenario was Rally Point, no kill box on this one, otherwise a fairly balanced scenario that is definitely win-able.  I won the die roll and opted to go first.

Deployment:

I decided basically to deploy centrally with the non-AD models, which was the 2 Guardians, Megalith, Bradigus and the Blackclad.  My AD then became all 4 Woldwatchers spread out across the AD line, with the non-stealth Stones behind 3 of them, and the stealth ones fairly spread out there too.  I may need to try some more interesting deployment styles with this army, but that's what I went with for the time being.

I don't remember 100% of how he deployed, the Idrians and the Daughters both have AD though, so it was going to take no time at all for our lines to clash.

Round 1:

Pretty simple turn for me, all 4 Woldwatchers move up, and cast their animus for free due to Earth Magic.  Megalith and the Guardians run up, Shifting Stones move into positions to be able to utilize the Shifting Stones.  Bradigus casts Synergy and the Blackclad goes somewhere.  I make sure that I have Shifting Stones in place to be able to remove some fury and the Watcher's are setup to make sure they're able to Shield Guard the Stones and Blackclad.

His turn, he looked and realized that the only work the Daughters were likely to get done is jamming, so they run and 3 of them from each unit are basically engaging my Woldwatchers, with the others hanging back to help jam the next time around.  Idrians advance and Go To Ground.  The rest of the stuff moves up to get into the fray later, with Vision going on the Blessing, Eye of Menoth going up, and Defender's Ward going on the Idrians

Round 2:

So, now its time to do some work.  First thing I do is activate Megalith, and he advances to a position where he can start the chain and kill a Daughter that's jamming one of the Watchers on the left.  I advance, use Undergrowth, hit on the 6 to kill the Daughter, Synergy goes to +1, he then tries to Geomancy a Rift over at another Daughter that is near the Avatar, which works out fairly well.  With the animus up, I'm able to use the Woldwatchers over on that side to start turning Daughters into Forests and increase Synergy.  The watchers on the other side do the same, and everything else moves up.  Bradigus I believe made sure to have Flesh of Clay up this time just in case the Idrians decide to get cute.

I do believe I nearly made a mistake here that almost cost me my Stone Keeper, which I put in Stone Form, but he shouldn't have been able to get to him anyway.  So that Daughter doesn't kill, but is right in Bradigus' way.   Idrians try to do some CRAs on Megalith, definitely do a little bit of damage, but nothing of consequence really.  I think this turn he forgot somewhere along the way that the Watchers have Shield Guard.  He also ran the Avatar from my left side all the way to the right side (much as a 10" run allows for anyway) because it was just going to get a teleport'd in Guardian that was going to smash it, and it got Defender's Ward cycled over to it.

Round 3:

Kind of go with the same plan here as before, but I definitely see that I can get the Guardian in on the Fire of Salvation, so I build for that.  Megalith moves up, animus, start the chain, the watchers start making Idrians and Daughters into forests.  I think Bradigus got a kill on a Daughter that was right in front of him as well.  Teleport the Guardian over, and it made short work out of the Guardian.

On his turn the Avatar is able to take out the Guardian, which I had basically expected, Blessing made himself a problem and moved into an awkward position because I think either did or wanted to channel something.  The remaining Daughters go into an extreme flanking position and I think this is when they kill my Blackclad maybe.

Round 4:

As I look at the table I realize that if I can kill his 2 jacks its pretty much just a matter of time after that.  I can still teleport both Bradigus and the Wold Guardian.  Its tricky here, so I start killing stuff with the other things to get Synergy up there.  Then I send in Bradigus against the Blessing to get it dead.  I need to use the Woldwatcher's animus, which I should have done on the one I sent in to remove Vision to begin with, but I didn't.  It takes the full stack to get him dead, so I feat, choose 0" and then later I'll choose 4" to move backwards out of the range of an Immolation barrage from Sevy and so I'm engaging the Daughters to not get charge damages.  After I put him down, I send in the Guardian on the Avatar, and his dice are on fire and I think I kill him with an attack to spare.

His turn looks pretty bleak.  I believe he charged Sevy into the zone at one of his own Choir models, he measures to see if he can Immolate, which isn't there.  Then he looks at trying to setup for Ashes, and that doesn't really go well either.

Round 5:

Tom insists that I table him, so Megalith kills a model, geomancy to kill another, some other things die I think and then Bradigus goes ahead and takes down Sevy.

A few things were learned in this game.  First, I probably needed to play my feat turn differently, because now that I think back on it, I don't think that I can have the Watcher's animus up AND move myself later with the feat.  I could also have just attacked until I was beyond 3" away, and then feated myself back into base, and still been able to back up.  

Megalith was a rock-star in this particular game because his animus allowed for some fairly trivial starting of Synergy.  That said, even boosted MAT 6 would likely amount in a synergy starting, so its maybe icing, but it was delicious icing in this game.  The watchers did their job nicely, lots of forests created, things dying and Synergy moving up.  It definitely did fix the major concern which was the hitting power of the Wolds.

I did feel like the Blackclad was sort of out of place here, his purpose is mostly to get a free charge for a battlegroup member and that didn't happen this whole game.  Might be better off being the Druid Wilder, but time will tell on that.  Only other thing is that a lack of a 2nd geomancer and/or Gallows Groves did prevent Bradigus from doing something on at least one turn because he was so far back.

The Watchers did an alright job not dying in this game even without Roots of the Earth to help make them invulnerable.  All in all a good game to kick of a new caster with!

Regrowth!

Going to just start off with a short post.  Basically, I'm bringing this back because I realized that I'm posting most of this stuff in a Google Spreadsheet anyway, I might as well actually start documenting my thought processes and writing some battle reports.  Enjoy!

Hardcore & Adepticon

With winter rolling around the Warmachine events are pretty quiet.  The first big convention is TempleCon, but I'm not flying out to Rhode Island or Connecticut so that one doesn't matter for me directly.  So the first big convention for me is going to be Adepticon here in Chicago.  I'm currently signed up for 2 events.  Hardcore and the Team Event.  Team Event is more or less decided that its going to be Krueger2 and Nemo3 and more on that later.  The other thing is that the Masters is 8 people, top 8 of Hardcore and top 8 of the theme force event.  Masters is 3-list divide and conquer, 50-points.  So we'll need to explore that more too.

So leading into this event I think that I need to narrow down my lists to see what I can get the right amount of practice in for.  I had originally narrowed it down to Kromac, Cassius, Krueger2, Baldur1, Kaya2 and Mohsar for Hardcore.  I've been thinking about it and I don't like the bad matchups for Kaya2 and Mohsar, so they're off the Hardcore consideration.  Also, for purposes of SR2013 I'm going to be playing Morvahna.  Only thing that might throw a wrench into this would be the imminent release of Epic Morvahna, but presently there's no timetable for that.

So, with that in mind lets investigate some lists.  First, Kromac is a pretty straight forward one for me.  Will Pagani's Kromac list just seems too good to ignore honestly.  I've looked at it, and I like everything  about it.  Here it is...

Kromac the Ravenous
- Ghetorix
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Feral Warpwolf
- Gorax
- Druid Wilder
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Gallows Groves x2
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Kromac has the tools to handle a TON of stuff.  He can play an attrition game with some hit & run, he's got a lot of assassination potential too.  I don't think he's the strongest at scenario, but I don't actually care for Hardcore.  He's got the tools to deal with almost every faction in different ways.  I'd say his weaknesses would be against shooting and Purification is not a good time for Kromac either.

So then we move on to someone who's got a lot of game against shooting and doesn't have any upkeeps ... Krueger2.  Krueger2 with Storm Wall is quite possibly at his strongest with how much the environment is now focused on shooting and with Menoth being all over the place.  The biggest thing I'm not super sure about with him just yet is the ability to crack heavy ARM.  That said I think he's still got a solid amount of game.  Here's the list I'm going to be playing

Krueger the Stormlord
- Woldwrath
- Pureblood Warpwolf
Celestial Fulcrum
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Gallows Groves x2
Druids of Orboros
- Druids Overseer
Totem Hunter

I'd say that spot with the Totem Hunter is definitely up for some debate, as are a few of the things in that list, but by and large its something like that I would go with.  If a 2nd Fulcrum were to get painted in time, it'd likely make its way into the list as well.

So from there we move on and we've got tried-and-true Baldur to look at.  He's just so good in his theme force that I can't imaging not putting that on the table.  There are a few different versions that I'd play around with, but here are the lists.

Baldur the Stonecleaver
- Megalith
- Wold Guardian
- Woldwarden
Shifting Stones x2 + UA
Druids of Orboros
- Druid Overseer
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers

I've played this list a decent amount as well, not 100% its the final product I'd throw down for hardcore, but its a list that's been around for a long time.  I'd say its also entirely possible that I'd play it with 2 Woldwardens or 2 Wold Guardians instead of one and one.  A second Guardian or Warden in place of the Druids unit is a distinct possibility as well.  The list does a decent job at a lot of things.  I sort of worry about its ability to handle a colossal.  I might be able to work out a list with Woldwrath and Baldur1 as well but since he can't benefit from Stone Skin either I'm hesitant.  He also does rely on a couple of upkeeps, animi and spells quite a bit for me to feel great about his Protectorate matchup.  I've been seeing some are still having success with him though, so I can't ignore his potential.

That brings us to a "dark horse" of consideration for Hardcore: Cassius.  Cassius has a lot of things that don't work like how people think of when they think Hardcore, especially for Circle.  He's putting infantry on the table, he's got some specific bad matchups namely looking at Siege, and a decent portion of Legion.  I think he's got decent matchups otherwise though.  Purification doesn't really hurt, and most of the things that seem like a bad match can be mitigated.  Here's the list as I'm seeing it presently.

Cassius the Oathkeeper
- Wurmwood, Tree of Fate
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Gorax
- Woldwarden
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Tharn Ravagers (max)
- Tharn Ravager Chieftain
Wolves of Orboros (max)
- Wolves of Orboros Chieftain and Standard
Wolf Lord Morraig
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Gallows Groves x3

Cassius' spell list is absolutely bonkers.  Hellmouth does a ton of things and if you thought the spell was good with Epic Deneghra you haven't seen anything after you see him throw it out there.  Stranglehold is great at holding off a heavy target while other things are dealing with it.  Curse of Shadows kind of speaks for itself too.  He's not an easy warlock to pilot obviously because he's all about positioning Wurmwood to get souls and also not die.  Another big issue with him for Hardcore (and lesser extent for Adepticon in general) is that much of this is not done being painted.  I love the work my fiancé does painting my stuff, but takes time and April could likely sneak up pretty fast.  Only possible adjustment to this list would be that Farrow Bonegrinders might be a better fit than the Gallows Groves.

Then finally, my last list.  This one isn't for Hardcore at all, but likely will be one of my SR2013 lists that I'd want to be bringing to Masters should I manage to get in, and that's Morvahna!  I've got a couple of possible lists I'm going to give a go, here's the first

Morvahna the Autumnblade
- Woldwrath
- Pureblood Warpwolf
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Gallows Groves x3
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max)
- Nuala the Huntress
Warpborn Skinwalkers (max)
- Warpborn Alpha

This is a variation on what I had been playing.  First change you'll notice is the Woldwrath.  He's got a great gun, he hits like a truck, has auto knockdown.  Nothing bad I can say about him at all.  The Pureblood gets the nod to start with because I think providing Wraithbane to Woldwrath is going to be very useful.  Not 100% on this list yet, but I do like it in principle.  Another variation on this list has the Gnarlhorn Satyr and then the ability to cut a Grove to get in another 2 points (probably a Blackclad).

Another variation looks something like this


Morvahna the Autumnblade
- Wold Guardian
- Wold Guardian
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Gallows Groves x2
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max)
- Nuala the Huntress
Warpborn Skinwalkers (max)
- Warpborn Alpha
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Tharn Bloodweavers

The last 4-5 points of this list is up for debate, but being able to add in the Witch Doctor I think would be a massive boon to Morvahna's list.  Bloodweavers, Lord of the Feast, Thrullg, Totem Hunter and Scarsfell Griffon all have potential in that last spot.  There's also a possibility of dropping the 2 Guardians for a more "traditional" battle group of Stalker, Feral, Gorax and playing it that way.  She doesn't like Purification at all, but damn is she just too much of a monster not to be putting on the table IMO.

Triple Threat - 35 point SR2012 at Dice Dojo

I would do some write ups about Warmachine Weekend, but basically suffice it to say that even though I didn't do very well in the win/loss way, I had a blast.  That said, this past weekend, following Warmachine Weekend, we had a 35-point 3-list divide and conquer tournament at the Dojo.  I had the time that day, so I figured I'd go ahead and throw down.  Here are the lists that I brought

Morvahna the Autumnblade

- Wold Guardian

- Wold Guardian

Shifting Stones

- Stone Keeper

Tharn Bloodtrackers (max)

- Nuala the Huntress

Warpborn Skinwalkers (max)

Gallows Groves x2

Grayle the Farstrider

- Ghetorix

- Pureblood Warpwolf

- Winter Argus

Tharn Ravagers (max)

- Tharn Ravager Chieftain

Lord of the Feast

Gallows Grove

Krueger the Stormwrath

- Warpwolf Stalker

- Feral Warpwolf

- Gorax

Shifting Stones

- Stone Keeper

Blackclad Wayfarer

Tharn Wolf Riders (max)

I used a Blackclad and Scarsfell Griffon as my reinforcements for all of the lists.  I'm glad for the change that I've heard coming from the beta for SR2013 that all scenarios will be able to handle reinforcements and they'll be an option for the entire tournament or not.  I like the change.

Round 1 vs Cryx

My opponent of course had all of his lists available to him.  I believe he was running Deneghra1, Skarre2 and Gaspy3.  He decided to run with Gaspy3 I guess because he thought that the feat would be powerful against Circle.  I think this was the list that he threw down.

Asphyxious the Hellbringer

- Vociferon

- Cankerworm

- Nightmare

Mechanithralls (min)

- Brute Thrall x2

Mechanithralls (min)

- Brute Thrall x2

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

Withershadow Combine

Warwitch Siren

Pistol Wraith x2

I'm not going to break it down by each turn, just a brief over view.  The scenario was Close Quarters so a scenario win was unlikely to happen here.  I played Morvahna here thinking no matter which of his lists that I could deal with his infantry and the Wold Guardians deal well with anything else.  My opponent hadn't played this list much from the looks of things, so he was asking a lot of questions and I'd say using up a lot of clock time.  He had a point in one of the turns where his Pistol Wraiths both missed my Wold Guardian needing anything but snakeeyes.  Morvahna was attritioning the hell out of Gaspy's army here.  Eventually my opponent ran out of time and I still was in a good position.

Round 2 vs Trollbloods

The scenario was Bunkers, so we have reinforcements for this.  My opponent is running Doomy1, Doomy2 and I think Grissel1.  Looking at the lists I would probably have preferred to play Morvahna, but definitely didn't want to be locked into a list later on.  He's already played Doomy1 who'd be a bad matchup for her.  Looking at it I decide to drop the Grayle list.  He goes with Doomy2, who I've never faced.  List looks like this I think...

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia

- Dire Troll Mauler

- Earthborn Dire Troll

- Mulg the Ancient

Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (max)

- Stone Scribe Elder

Janissa Stonetide

Whelps

Reinforcements:

Trollkin Champion Hero

Trollkin Runeshapers

This game was honestly over very quickly mostly because I didn't take Goad into account nor in general the speed with which Doomy was going to deal with me.  I charged my Ravagers at his beasts behind the wall Janissa made, putting 2 of them right there and the rest in charge range.  This didn't work out at all because of Goad.  Also cleared a path and Ghetorix bit the dust to Mulg.  After that some stuff happened, but not of much consequence.  I get tabled.  Definitely need more time playing against more trolls.  Also, I think after this bad streak with Grayle that he's going on the bench again for a while.

Round 3 vs Retribution of Scryah

The scenario is Restoration for this round.  My opponent is not locked out of a list, and has Rahn, Rayvn and Kaelyssa I think (Rayvn might have been Ossyan).  He's played everyone but Rahn.  At this point I haven't played Krueger1 so I'm looking and against either Ossyan/Rayvn I definitely want Morvahna.  In general Kaelyssa doesn't worry me a ton, but he hasn't played Rahn so I'm banking on the fact that Rahn will be the pic, so Krueger1 is the right call.  He does in fact pick Rahn

Adeptis Rahn

- Phoenix

- Chimera

- Sylys Wyshnalyrr

House Shyeel Battle Mages x2

Dawnguard Sentinels (max)

House Shyeel Magister

Artificer

That may not be 100% accurate, but its something like that.  I win the die roll, Wolf Riders prey one of the units of battle mages.  Terrain helps me out quite a bit here.  Standard move up, throw up Lightning Tendrils on the Wolf Riders, Deflection, Skyborne, and we're off.  He moves everything up, runs his Chimera close, starts throwing out Chain Blasts, one of which takes out my blackclad and just misses Krueger.  Another puts a little damage on the Feral.  This was also the turn that he feated, so those were putting up some pretty solid damage and hitting accurately.  Battle mages put a little damage on my wolf riders, but ARM 16 helped keep them alive.  Everything else moved up, and most importantly the only thing in the zone was the Chimera.

At this point I'm going first, I evaluate the chances that I can get a scenario point on his turn to be pretty high, and I know for certain that I could get it on my turn.  Wolf Riders deal with the unit of Battle Mages they prey'd, they use their cav movement to tie up the Phoenix.  Shifting Stones move the Feral, its going to need reach.  Gorax Primals him up.  Krueger goes, feats and puts the templates between the Sentinels and the zone, being that they take more damage moving through than while they're in DLine. Casts Lightning Tendrils on the Feral, puts up Lightning Strike on the Stalker, and here we go.  Stalker takes out the Chimera, runs back.  Feral takes out the objective without too much problem.

After this basically he was trapped by the templates and decided not to try to run the sentinels anywhere, the Phoenix combusted and then couldn't move.  The other unit of battle mages couldn't get through some of the terrain that was there.  So he gives up a point on his turn, I only need 2 to win, so that's it.

Round 4 vs Cryx

Yup, Cryx again.  This time I think I'm looking at Gaspy3, Denny1 and Goreshade1 though I'm honestly not 100% on that.  He has all of his options available, as do I.  Worked in round one, so I opted to go with Morvahna again, he chooses Denny.  The scenario is Incursion, so the fact that I won the die roll seems pretty huge.  Here's what I remember of his list...

Warwitch Deneghra

- Deathripper x2

- Nightmare

- Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (max)

- Bane Thrall Officer and Standard

Pistol Wraith

Gorman di Wulfe

Darragh Wrath

Game starts as you'd think.  Bloodtrackers fill up the middle of the table, Regrowth and Harvest go up. Everything else mosey's on up the table.  His turn was more or less the same on his side with things getting into position.  One thing to note, and we didn't realize it until about turn 3 was that he forgot to put the Skarlock on the table.  Obviously once so much stuff is moved around can't go back, so that sucked for him (though not sure it ultimately decided the outcome).  Middle flag disappears.

Now it gets interesting.  I camped a Gallows Grove on each flag on the outside, Bloodtrackers are killing stuff, other things are moving up.  More Banes die, eventually the bloodtrackers become crip grasped which of course sucks, but fortunately aiming they're still killing banes.  He leaves me an opening though to teleport my Guardian to the node that was contesting the flag on the right, I smash it into the ground with impunity and have the guardian camp the flag.  I get a point.  His next turn a bunch of stuff happens, a couple of Skinwalkers died, bloodtrackers were decimated.

This is when I look at the table though.  I've got 3 skin walkers, like 2 bloodtrackers, both beasts, full stones, and that grove is still camping the flag on the left.  He also had to reposition the node over there, so it was easily in teleport range of the other guardian.  On my right I need to kill a Pistol Wraith and i think one bane thrall.  Guardian, manuevers around the flag so he's still touching it and pounds the Pistol Wraith dead.  Skinwalkers aren't engaged, so 2 of them charge the bane on the hill, 3rd one goes and stands right in front of Denny1.  They kill the bane (first one).  So then I teleport the guardian, he pushes the node out of 4" (and scraps it in 2 hits).  Three control points, so I win.

Conclusion

So after the dust settled, I ended up getting 2nd place due to winning on scenario in both of those games, so that was pretty clutch.  The only loss was to the guy who won the event, so I believe that gave me favorable strength of schedule and then control points gave me 2nd over the guy who didn't lose until the last round.  Felt pretty good as I've been on sort of a losing streak lately.

There are some other things this has made me think more about too.  First and foremost being that Morvahna is still a powerhouse caster.  Yes, she definitely hates Purification and is going to have a bitch of a time (if its even possible) against that, but there are still only 4 casters in the game that do that.  She's going to be back to seeing more table time with me.  Grayle as I mentioned is going to get benched again for a while, I just haven't had the luck with him that I want to.  Krueger1 isn't a warlock I've played a ton, but I do really like what he brings to the table.  Lightning Tendrils is an amazing spell, and his ability to just wipe infantry off the table allows for me to worry less about that in list construction.  Playing for 2-lists I'm not 100% that pairing him with Morvahna is the right call, but it could happen.  Krueger2 also has a ton of promise because the Storm Wall spell hasn't ever been better than it is now.

Circle Orboros Theme Forces

There's a tournament coming up in a couple of weeks out this way where it requires theme forces.  When I started playing the game I looked at theme forces and saw them as a great way to get an army together.  I'd say like many new players that I saw them as a great way to build armies.  Now that I've been playing a lot more though, I am actually feeling more hemmed in than normal with respect to them.  This isn't to say that Circle has "bad" theme forces, in fact we have a few that are actually really pretty decent, I'm just having a hard time getting a build together with more than one 'caster that I'm liking.  That said, lets see if I can try!

First, the most solid theme forces, in my opinion, are both of the Baldur theme forces.  In fact, I've pretty much exclusively played Baldur1 as a theme force.  Here's my build for that...

Baldur the Stonecleaver
- Megalith
- Wold Guardian
- Woldwarden
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druids of Orboros
- Druid Overseer
Blackclad Wayfarer

Reinforcements:
Wold Guardian
Blackclad Wayfarer

Benefits:
- Sentry Stone & Mannikin units can be placed up to 20" from the back edge of the deployment zone
- 1 warbeast per Shifting Stone unit or Sentry Stone unit gains advance deployment
- Druid Stoneward & Woldstalker units gain Advance Move
- Heavy Warbeasts cost 1 point less

This theme force is great, you get up the table quick, lots of movement shenanigans, many ways to play it differently.  One modification I might consider is swapping out a 'warden in the main list for another Guardian and then having 2x Woldwyrds as the reinforcements since I don't own a 3rd Guardian.  Anyway, on to the other Baldur...

Baldur the Stonesoul
- Megalith
- Wold Guardian
- Woldwatcher
- Woldwatcher
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Druids of Orboros
- Druid Overseer
Celestial Fulcrum
Lord of the Feast

Reinforcements:
Woldwyrd
Woldwyrd
Blackclad Wayfarer

Benefits
- Shifting Stone units and Gallows Grove solos can be placed up to 20" from the back of the deployment
- For each Druids of Orboros unit in the army a Celestial Fulcrum gains Advanced Move
- Heavy Warbeasts gain +2 SPD during the first turn
- Light Warbeasts with Construct cost one less point.

This army is a brick.  Baldur2's feat definitely allows things to have a massive amount of ARM to survive an attack.  Woldwatchers get to ARM 21 on their on, the Fulcrum brings a healthy amount of anti-infantry.  The biggest "problem" here is that you have to play either epic or regular Baldur because they both want Megalith.  Also, there are some tweaks available, mostly that Lord of the Feast can become 2x Gallows Grove and a Blackclad.  Lord has been good to me though, so unless I have another list that he might be better in, I'm giving him the nod.

After this things start to get a bit dicey, not to say that there are bad themes, just that building them isn't as easy or I'm not enjoying the trade offs.  Lets look at the Forces of Circle Orboros book themes first and what we're restricted to...

Cassius the Oathkeeper - Widower's Wood
- Circle construct warbeasts and heavy warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Reeves of Orboros, Sentry Stone & Mannikins, Shifting Stones, Skinwalkers
- Feralgeist, Reeve Hunters, War Wolves, Lord of the Feast

The benefits in this army aren't strong either.  All of the access to souls in this list are pretty expensive, so any of these builds are going to rely on the enemy bringing living troops to kill.  Not feeling it at present.

Kaya the Wildborne - The Wild Hunt
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Reeves of Orboros, Bloodtrackers, Wolf Riders, Wolves of Orboros
- Druid Wilder, Reeve Hunter, War Wolf, Wolf Lord Morraig

If you want to play a lot of Reeves this list isn't too bad.  Also, Kaya can support living warbeasts pretty solidly.  Wolf Riders are a GREAT target to put Occultation up on IMO, and I have access to Bloodtrackers.  She can bring any of the living beasts.  Only loss here really is Shifting Stones aren't here.  That said, Tier 2 requires Morraig, which then makes you want to have the 13 point investment of a unit of WoO and Morraig, when I kind of also want to play 18 points of Reeves to really get the benefits.  I also don't own 2 units of Reeves, so at present not likely to happen.  Tier 1 is an option though, even though I get no benefits basically.

Kaya the Moonhunter - Call of the Wild
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Shifting Stones, Skinwalkers
- Druid Wilder, War Wolf

This tends to be a theme force that people have a lot of good things to say about.  I've played it and I don't hate it.  Tier 1 is BIG really, all heavy beasts getting advanced deploy is pretty big.  The thing here is that you have to play Skinwalkers and Druids to get to tier 4, once you do though heavy warbeasts are -1 point.  Its still not a bad theme at all, but playing Druids and Skinwalkers isn't really what I'm looking for with her.  Tier 1 is an option, maybe Tier 4, it might be the list that's played.

Krueger the Stormwrath - Storm Front
- non-character warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Shifting Stones, Wolves of Orboros
- Blackclad Wayfarer, Druid Wilder, Wolf Lord Morraig

The big advantages to this theme are that you can play unlimited druids and attachments, also you get the ability to bring extra blackclads to the list if needs be.  Has most of the pieces that are wanted, that said tier 2 requires me to bring Morraig to the table again, and this is just not the list that I think he nor a unit of Wolves makes much sense.  I know, I know that a lot of people think you can play Morraig without flank, and you can, but since he's a character I want to maximize his potential.  To get to tier 4 then I'm going to have 33 points in infantry.  Might be do-able, nothing special jumping out to me.

Krueger the Stormlord - The Devourer's Host
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Tharn Ravagers, Skinwalkers
- Ravager solos, Lord of the Feast

First thing is that the army requires 2 units of ravagers, and I'm not buying more ravagers until they get released in plastic sometime next year.  Tier 2 gives Lord of the Feast a corpse token to start with, getting to tier 4 gives warpwolves advance move which is solid.  Krueger actually does have the ability to help Ravagers up the table so that I don't mind, but I don't think this is the theme force that I like with Krueger.

Kromac the Ravenous - Heart Eaters
- Living non-character warbeasts
- Tharn units
- Tharn solos, Lord of the Feast

Again, need mulitple Ravager units, lots of Whitemanes and lord of the feast.  Can get some advanced move, but as far as the rest its just too many points in infantry for Kromac to like.  I just don't see this as being a build that I'm interested in.

Mohsar the Desertwalker - Sandstorm
- non-character Warbeasts
- Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers, Reeves of Orboros, Sentry Stone & Mannikins, Shifting Stones, Druids units
- Blackclad Wayfarer, Reeve Hunters, War Wolves, Lord of the Feast

This theme force is just weird.  It wants you to play 2 units of Druids, at least one unit of Woldstalkers and 2 heavy warbeasts.  You CAN get some free pillars out of the deal, which in the right match up would be pretty big, but to make it work you need a minimum of 19 points of infantry and that's before even adding in any support of heavies.  It could work adding in the 2nd unit of Woldstalkers and then working out the right build of 31 points in beasts.  That said, I don't know that Mohsar wants or needs 2 units of Druids.  Not impossible to play I suppose in any case.

Morvahna the Autumnblade - Harvest of Blood
- non-character Light Warbeasts
- Druids of Orboros, Bloodtrackers, Bloodweavers, Wolf Riders, Shifting Stones
- Blackclad Wayfarer, Druid Wilder, War Wolves

The benefits in this theme are fantastic, free nuala, upkeeps to begin, +2 inches of deploy.  There is a glaringly big problem here though, and that's no heavy warbeasts.  Circle begins to have a problem when they need to try to crack ARM 19+.  In this list, there are a lot of 'casters who are going to be able to camp.  I've considered playing the list, just because it'll be something a lot of people don't have a lot of answers too, but it has a TON of bad matchups.

To mention the other Domination warlock, here's Grayle...

Grayle the Farstrider - Claw & Fang
- non-character Argus and Warpwolf warbeasts
- Wolves of Orboros, Reeves or Orboros, Skinwalker units
- War Wolves, Wolves of Orboros solos, Reeves of Orboros solos, Skinwalker solos, Wolf Lord Morraig

I have a soft spot for this theme force to be honest.  I wish that I owned a 2nd unit of Wolves of Orboros because I think 2 is the right build for him since they can both get a UA.  This is actually the list where Morraig fits the best, with Grayle.  He also gives WoO Hunter, which can be good.  I like Grayle with Winter Argus, he's great with warpwolves and really the only things for this list that I want to have are Shifting Stones, Druid Wilder and Lord of the Feast.  I think it could be worked out.

I'm not going to go over the NQ themes at this point.  I don't like the Cassius one all that much at present, and probably won't play it until Woldwrath is legal and/or I have 75 points to work with.  The Krueger one is the better one, and I do think it also is begging for a Woldwrath to be honest.  Additionally, the list I want with Krueger is a double Fulcrum list ...

Lord of the Feast!!

I've been pretty lazy about writing here, probably because I realized that I don't need to type stuff out to be essentially talking to myself, but whatever.  This write up isn't going to take very long either, but I felt like it was needed to highlight one of the most awesome solos in Warmachine / Hordes!

So I decided I wanted to do a few things differently than I had been playing.  First, I wanted to play a game without a Gorax as I don't think its the ultimate in necessary for every list.  Also, I've been wanting to get some more time with a few other pieces in my collection.  So, I assembled this list

Grayle the Farstrider
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
- Woldwyrd
- Druid Wilder
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Lord of the Feast
Tharn Wolf Riders (max)
Reeve Hunter
Reeve Hunter
War Wolf
War Wolf

One thing of note with this list, is that it contains a lot of models with Hunter, which can always come in handy.  It also has access to a lot of movement shenanigans, a warlock who plays a bit of a different game for Circle, Wolf Riders that I've been wanting to play more with and Reeve Hunters that I've basically just wanted to get on the table more.  As far as the somewhat unique beast load out, first having access to Sprint for anything is always good for us, and the Stalker does a lot of good, so not much to explain there.  Without a Gorax in the list, I felt that the Pureblood was a good pick to hand out Blessed weapons.  Winter Argus is there because the sprays are decent, and Grayle likes having access to Winter Coat to give him +2 ARM.  Woldwyrd is another include because it can make some pretty solid use out of Awareness in some clutch situations, and is just good at being able to scalpel out some pieces.

Anyway, that's a lot of explanation for a night that turned out to be Lord of the Feast and the guys who help him do his job.

Game 1 vs Protectorate of Menoth - Reznik

I honestly don't remember the entire composition of the list.  It had choir, vassals, mechanics, 'jacks, covenant and some other stuff.  I opted to go 2nd I believe (or maybe I lost the roll and just had to go 2nd).  First, I was eye balling a situation where I thought that I could use the good Lord to cause a bunch of havok and put him up behind his choir and a few other things.  So Grayle Storm Rager'd him up (which was always the plan) and he tried to Raven, short by about an inch.  Do some other stuff, pass the turn.

On his turn, he failed to Perdition his Reckoner forward, so it had to settle on I think just killing one of my Shifting Stones and being a pain with where it was sitting.  He does some other stuff that was of very little consequence because I don't remember it, and passes the turn.

I upkeep Storm Rager.  Then I start to look, he's got the covenant in a spot that I can probably get Lord to, with some tricky moving and a good bird shot, and if i get behind there I have 2 choir and his 'caster that will take shots (and the book, but I'm not getting 5 attacks).  I figure, its going to kill some choir and be something he'll have to deal with.  So I do that, slip around, shoot the bird, hit the book, go behind it, do my thresher.  I have LOS to his 'caster because Reznik is on a medium base, otherwise I'd probably be blocked by his choir boy.  So at MAT 10, POW 15 i go ahead and thresher.  I kill the choir guys, 1 damage on the book, hit Reznik for like 6 (he's on either 1 or 0 focus).  I look, and figure I can hit, for some reason I decided to boost damage, I should have just bought 2 attacks, but my boosted damage exactly kills his 'caster.

Holy shit, that just happened.  Told me basically nothing about my list, and had his perdition gone off or my initial plan happened, none of this was likely to play out this way.  That said, it was pretty awesome that it worked like it did.

Game 2 vs Khador - Old Witch's Theme Force

My opponent and I will be the first to point out that her theme force is not the greatest in the world.  However, there is a theme force tournament coming up, so you have to try out a few things and see if they work.  This list had a bunch of Greylords, Kossites, Destroyers (I think), Man Hunters and so forth.  Kossites ambush, he gets to start with Old Witch's upkeeps out there.  Important to note is that Iron Flesh goes on the Old Witch.

I think he went first, but we both basically do the standard move up the board, only exception to this is that my Wolf Riders assault some Widowmakers that are in a trench, and I think killed 3 out of the 4 (which were the only shots I had).

On his turn 2, more moving up, Kossites jump out, I learned I needed to have been farther into the middle of the table.  He got charges with backstrikes on my Wolf Riders on my right, and 1 of the 2 Reeve Hunters and 1 of the 2 War Wolves that killed.  The rest of his army didn't do a whole lot that turn.

On my turn, first I want to highlight how Kossites being really bad allowed me to live out my dream with the Reeve Hunter.  Reeve Hunters can, in theory, kill 6 models in an activation.  Goes like this...
Melee initial attack #1, kill model, quick work generates a ranged attack, kill model #2, Swift Hunter allows a 2" move and Snap Fire goes off to take another shot, kill model #3, Swift Hunter into melee, kill model #4 with the 2nd melee initial attack, Quick Work triggers again shoot #5 kill, Swift Hunter another 2" Snap Fire model #6 and kill.  Mouth full.  Now, the reason its the "dream" is because Reeve Hunters are MAT 6 (MAT 8 on the charge) RAT 7, which is respectable, but a far cry from guaranteed hits and the melee weapons are POW 11 and 9, and the crossbow is POW 10, so again, chances of not breaking ARM can happen too.  Fortunately for me Kossites are DEF 12 ARM 10 ... so I did that entire sequence.  It was sexy.

Anyway, on pertinent matters, I'm looking at the table and I see that I can probably get to the Old Witch with Lord of the Feast, and probably blast her with the Woldwyrd.  The Pureblood puts Wraithbane on the already Storm Rager'd Lord and sprays some models.  Grayle goes, moves into a position, feats because I'm going to need more movement for the Wyrd and Lord maybe too (don't remember).  Winter Argus kills something to get which ever one needed to move to the right spot.  Problem here is that I had ALSO intended to get Wraithbane on the Wyrd, but I forgot to and then he got too far away. So it took some shots, but they didn't do anything.  Then I go ahead and move Lord up, he shoots I think a Greylord, gets behind it, putting him in melee with 2 Greylords and Old Witch.  He easily dispatches the Greylords, and needing only 5s to hit the old lady I put a pretty solid amount of damage on.  Buy another attack, some damage goes on, buy another attack, dead.

So, not sure how I feel about this list, but I at least do like Lord of the Feast and a Pureblood with the list.  I think I could do some manipulation with him and Sprint too.