2013 - Year of Mercenaries

I decided that 2013 would be the year I would focus on my Mercenary collection. I've had my Mercenaries for a long time now and it started back when Mk. II was still really fresh and I loved the idea of the Broadsides Bart theme force - a bunch of Mariners with their ship guns blazing away was just too awesome to pass up! I shelved them for a while and later picked up Fiona because I thought she was cool and I thought that she'd be quite powerful if I focused my efforts on her. Last year I came up with a list I was pretty proud of and playtested her a little, but she never got the focus she deserved. I decided at the end of last year that I would focus on my Mercs for 2013 and that I would further keep a log of my games so I could accurately reflect back on my gaming experience for the year. Well, it's been 3 months so far and I figured it was time to analyze my results so far.



I must admit that I was still really tempted to play games with my Circle this year. I love them and it's hard to say no to them - especially when they're fully painted. In fact, I didn't really play any games with my Mercenaries until the last month (whoops) and most of that is my timidness with the Mercenaries in tournament settings. My Circle has been tested in the flames of battle and I'm nervous about playing in tournaments with my Mercenaries for fear that they won't do as well as I want. Typing that out makes me feel pretty childish, but I have to admit that if I'm gonna pay an entrance fee I at least want to feel like I have a chance at winning something.

Well, looking at my gaming log so far has actually made me feel much better about playing with my Mercenaries in a tournament setting. I've only played 7 games with them so far, and 5 of them were with Constance Blaze while 2 were with Fiona. Of those 7 games I've only lost one and that was my first time playing with Connie as a Mercenary and it was a 50 point game in a tournament. I also had to use Rocinante instead of Gallant since I didn't have Gallant with me, so it was not an ideal list for me. I was pretty stupid though and could have avoided the loss fairly easily if I had been paying better attention. The rest of my games have been quite successful, however, and so I'm feeling a little more confident about bringing the Mercs out into a tournament setting. I'm often fortunate that most people aren't familiar with the Mercenaries or what they're capable of (especially Fiona) and so I have a slight edge in that department. It also helps that both lists have fantastic defense mechanisms to keep my warcasters safe from getting killed.

What have I learned so far? Connie is a beast. In my most recent game, Connie charged into pMadrak who was in range of the Krielstone aura, had Sure Foot on himself, and had 4 transfers (I accidentally killed an Impaler and he reaved the fury) and still killed him. Granted, I needed Gallant in melee range to Flank off of and 12 focus points to do it (yay, feat!), but it was impressive nonetheless. I wasn't even at the full threat range, I just needed to charge the Impaler blocking LOS and was in range (yay, Reach!). I really like Connie.

I've been less impressed with Fiona lately, but I think that's because I want to re-evaluate her list. Don't gettournament setting. With Colossals/Gargantuans becoming far more common, my Fiona list needs to come up with some answers. Affliction has potential to be a great spell against Colossals/Gargantuans, but I need models which can swing with a volume of attacks in order for it to be most effective, and Press Gangers just aren't doing enough for me. While Sea Dogs might be the next answer, they are too expensive and require too much support to make them worth taking. Fiona needs variety and at 35 points it's tough to squeeze in all of the elements I want to include. I'm still figuring out exactly what I want to do with her but as soon as I stumble on a list that I like, I'll be sure to post it here.
me wrong - I like the list I've played with her! I just worry that it's not good enough for a