Lists Galore!

2013: The Year of Mercenaries continues! This weekend is going to be my first 35 point tournament with my Mercenaries and I'm really nervous. I already have my Connie list playtested and ready to go but I'm nervous about my options for my second list. There are a couple of models that I still need to find (look for an asterisk * for models I don't own yet) but I'm confident that I can get what I want for Connie, not so much for my other options for lists. Today I'll share the Connie list that I want to run with a brief justification about some of the changes I've made recently, and then I'll share a couple optional lists in order of likelihood of running. To keep things fairly brief I will include a quick pros and cons of matchups for each list so you can understand my misgivings and why I'm not exactly excited about any particular list. Let's start with Connie:

New England Team Tournament 2013

I just realized today that the New England Team Tournament (NETT) is less than 4 months away. It's currently scheduled for July 13th and this year I have to make some difficult decisions. The first decision, of course, is whether I should even attend.

Steamroller Prep: Escalation Tournament

So there's an Escalation Tournament on December 9th at The Battle Standard in Manchester, CT that sounds really interesting.  Unfortunately, I'm on duty that weekend so I will be unable to attend *shakes fist* but in case I can get someone to switch duty weekends with me, I still would like to prepare for it.  What will be interesting about the tournament is that there will be 4 rounds and the points values for each round increase, so you'll play at 15 points the first round, then 25, then 35, and lastly you'll play at 50 points.  Where it gets most challenging, however, is that you must keep building on your previous list.  In other words, the models in the 15 point list must be present in your 25 point list and so on.  The other major challenge is that your 15 point list is warjack/warbeast only (although you can be 3 points down).  That's where things get tricky because it means infantry warcasters will have a tougher time first round, and so the event as a whole will likely favor warjack/warbeast-heavy lists.  So what would I be bringing?  Well I first had to start with looking at viable 15 point lists, since those elements will carry forth into the later rounds.  Here's what I considered:

35 point Fall Steamroller Results

Sunday I played my first tournament in well over 2 months and it felt great!  While I was definitely pretty rusty, I found myself in my element and on my game, for the most part.  There was a little issue in the last game because me and my opponent were pretty tired and forgot that scoring for Incursion meant scoring each turn instead of round, but we were able to retroactively determine that I did, in fact, win the scenario.  He was a great sport and we had some good laughs afterwards about how tired we were.  So let me share the lists that I finally decided upon and then I'll briefly break down my games.

List Building Advice: Gorten 50 points

Continuing from Friday's post, a fan had messaged me through the Steam-Powered Gamer facebook page asking for some advice with building lists in preparation for Templecon.  My disclaimer is that I admit I'm not some mastermind player but I do enjoy the theory and building lists with particular goals and restrictions in mind.  If anyone wishes for advice on building a list, I'm glad to offer some feedback and I will rarely suggest an alternative warcaster (unless that's a flexible criteria).  I understand that not everyone has lots of money to drop on a brand new list (I'm no exception) and so we enjoy working with the collections we already have.  Fortunately, this particular individual has been investigating lists via Vassal and hasn't purchased anything yet, so there's a lot of flexibility in the list design.  I have to admit, I'm probably the most proud of this particular list, even if he ultimately decided to go the full Khador route (although not with the Harkevich list presented on Friday).

Here's the list that he was looking at for Gorten Grundback:

Searforge Commission, 50 points
Gorten: +7

- Driller: 6

- Rockram: 8

- Rockram: 8

- Avalancher: 9

10 forgeguard: 8

6 forgeguard: 5

10 high shields + UA: 11

Thor: 2

My feedback:

As far as the Gorten list goes, I do have to ask if it has to be Searforge? Unfortunately, Searforge is a very limiting contract and I think I could come up with an interesting list if you took a Highborn Covenant list instead. Mercenaries can have VERY different looking lists and the Rhulic 'casters are no exception. Here's the list I've come up with using the Highborn Covenant:

 

Gorten (+7)
- Basher (7)
Gun Mages (6)
- Officer (2)
- Mule (8)
Hammerfall High Shields (full,
- Officer and Standard (3)
Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile (2)
Thor (2)

- Rockram (8)

Rhupert (2)
Rorsh and Brine (9)

The problem with Gorten is that he has so little focus so you basically just have to rely on getting him far upfield to make the most of his feat - and that means making sure he camps as much focus as possible so you can keep him alive. Rock Wall and Solid Ground help keep him alive and are really fantastic for units like Gun Mages since they're so vulnerable to blast damage. I like the Highborn list the best because it's such an awesome shooting list (I'm biased about shooting, despite what the meta says).  The High Shields can trod upfield while in shield wall shooting stuff while the gun mages sit behind them taking advantage of Ranked Attacks, safe from reprisal!  The Gun Mages will have a marshalled Mule to stick with the ranged theme without putting more of a focus drain on Gorten. Even if your opponent gets close enough to disrupt your shooting abilities, you pop feat, push everything back and slap them with a DEF penalty so you can shoot them even more reliably and the SPD penalty will prevent them from simply charging at you next turn.  You effectively can have multiple rounds of shooting and mitigate one of the biggest weaknesses to shooting in Warmachine/Hordes. 

The Mule can also push stuff around if it scores a Crit but also sports a wonderful POW 15 and an AOE 4 and the Basher will have fun slamming things around and exploding all over their face while the rest of your troops laugh at blast damage (thanks to Solid Ground). Brine is also around for some heavy hitting without an increased focus load on Gorten and he's a slamming machine. Him and Rorsh offer great support on a flank since they're so fast and Rorsch can feel comfortable chucking dynamite or using diversionary tactics near the rest of your troops since, again, Solid Ground will protect them from blast damage.  In essence, you can take full advantage of fantastic blast weaponry to deal with targets both near and far without fear - and that's huge for a shooting list.

Rhupert is around for giving Tough to the high shields - making them even more annoying to deal with (especially with Solid Ground keeping them standing) and as if you need more shooting support, Dougal can pop his mini feat early to give +2 RNG to all ranged attacks and he will consistently throw Artillerist on the Mule to make it hit even more reliably (at least until he wants to shoot stuff with his quad iron or chuck some grenades).  Lastly, we have to include Thor because he's an awesome 'jack marshall and since he can marshall Rhulic 'jacks, we should give him the Rockram to take the most advantage of his and its capabilities.  The Rockram is solid and will be capable of providing solid shooting support with the rest of the army, but can also hit hard in melee if it needs to - again, without requiring any focus from Gorten.  And even if you're worried about a 'jack marshall dying, the High Shields officer is around to pick up the slack if needed.

What you get is a list that literally pushes around your opponent all across the board and is incredibly resilient. It's a solid tournament list, in my opinion, but it would need some practice.  Fortunately, however, there aren't a lot of complex synergies that require specific activation orders, so that should make using the list fairly straight forward to use.  You just have to make sure to upkeep Solid Ground and maybe throw out Rock Wall where/when you need it, but otherwise you should have a fairly easy time using the list.  Rorsh and Brine take some getting used to, but they provide a fast moving element to the list that can protect a flank from getting overrun and keeping your backfield safe.

In fact, if I didn't have to spend so much money buying so much of the list, I'd probably try playing it myself!  Maybe if they release a plastic Rhulic 'jack kit...

Road to Templecon 2013: List Building

 So we have confirmation that the Team Tournament at Templecon will be 2 lists, 50 points, and Divide and Conquer.  Damn.  This is also a bit strange to have such a decision already made without the SR 2013 document available yet, at least as far as I know...  Either way, this is a little disappointing for me because it severely limits my options.  One of the reasons why I was hoping for a 3 list format is it means that you'd be less likely to see the same tournament lists over and over again because players could experiment a bit more and worry less about bad match-ups.  Indeed, I can almost guarantee that every Cryx player will bring Terminus, Cygnar players will bring eHaley, etc.  *Sigh*  Well, let's consider what I'll be bringing.  At least the field will still look a bit different with the addition of colossals/gargantuans and there are a few new warcasters on the field these days, so maybe there will be some variety.

Team Tournament Prep: 50 points

I've certainly distracted this week from Warmachine/Hordes.  First, I've been distracted due to orientation week for work, with various meetings and classroom prep.  Secondly, I've been getting ramped up for Relic Knights since their Kickstarter has almost ended.  I've been trying to shift gears, though, since even when the Kickstarter ends, product isn't expected until May (yikes!).  Alright, so it's time to start preparing for Templecon in February and start getting into tournament prep and playtesting mode.  I had hoped that this summer I could get lots of practice in with my Cygnar as a potential option, but I've since decided that I should stick with what works: my Circle.  So today I revisit my Circle in preparation for the tournament.

I still need a good Cygnar tournament list - Part 2

After Sunday's relatively poor tournament performance I've been pondering what kind of list I should build to make up for my poor performance against Warmachine armies.  My Sloan list has been perfected to deal with Hordes well and now I need to find something to deal with Warmachine, since pStryker and pHaley have let me down.  It's not just losing games with them that has been the problem, but an overall shift in the Warmachine meta, that leaves me needing to change up my list.  Like I said yesterday, it's less common these days to see high-DEF low-ARM models out there since everyone seems to have a solution to them these days.  No, the Warmachine meta has shifted to high-ARM models instead.  Suddenly it seems everyone is bringing infantry with Shield Wall and/or ARM 16+ to counteract all of that lightning out there these days.  Yesterday I shared a pNemo list that I think might be fun to try but today I have another list that I wish to share.

I still need a good Cygnar tournament list - Part 1

Okay so, as expected, yesterday's performance with pHaley was not so great.  Not so surprising, I guess, considering we have the "Andy Rule" on the Regular team after our first NETT appearance where Andy played eThagarosh for the first time and got rolled.  I posted some general results on the Steam-Powered Gamer facebook page.  I wasn't taking this tournament too seriously anyway, so it's not the end of the world that I broke the rule.  Well, it just goes to show that it's a good rule.  I still went 2-2 and my Sloan list continues to make me happy, so now I just need to find a replacement list based on some information I did gather from my 2 games with Haley but also couched with my experiences with pKrueger against Warmachine.

Surprise! Also Templecon Prep (yes, already)

So a couple of good friends are going to GenCon this weekend (jealous) but guess what they've graciously agreed to do for me?  Getting me a Woldwrath!  That's assuming, of course, that they'll be able to snag one before they sell out, but I'm really really excited to get my hands on this model - especially before the normal release date.  While I won't be able to use him in tournaments, I'll be eager to get him painted up in the style of the rest of my constructs and get him onto the tabletop soon so I can start playtesting him in preparation for Templecon this year.  Oh yeah, it's only 6 months away and I want to see if it's worth taking the giant rock-ape!

NETT: Results

This past weekend was the New England Team Tournament and boy was it interesting!  You can find some great pictures of the event and teams on the Privateer Press forums and LostHemisphere.  My Circle made an appearance in the photos of both locations, although my display board was cluttered with my tokens and tools at the time (bad timing!).  That's alright.  Regular Team made a pretty solid appearance this year, although not as strong as last year.  My team decided that since I showed up a little late that they would make me the captain.  It ended up being a good decision, because my 1st and 2nd Lieutenants admitted that they needed a bit more practice and we'll try again at Templecon.  Needless to say, Regular Team did not make it to the final rounds and we didn't really place, although I'm pleased with my own individual performance.  So, today, I'll share with you a brief summary of the day's events and then my closing thoughts at the end.

Tournament Prep: Circle or Cygnar? Part 2

The New England Team Tournament approaches!  My teammates and I have been playtesting, sharpening our skills and refining our lists.  We're feeling pretty confident, representing Legion and Menoth, but I'm still unsure of whether or not I want to bring my recently successful Cygnar or my confident Circle.  Yesterday I shared the two lists that I'm considering for my Cygnar and I anticipate that I'll use either list in equal measure, depending on my opponents of course.  So what lists am I considering using with my Circle?  Well I'm once again considering my two old stand-by warlocks: pBaldur and pKrueger.

Debriefing: 25 point "Ambush" (part 2)

On Sunday I participated in a 25 point "Ambush" style tournament, where each scenario played used the Reinforcements artifice.  In part 1 I shared the lists that I brought to the tournament and shared the general results from my first two games.  After both of those games I was feeling pretty good, but I felt like I still had room to improve and I had to keep on my game.  I had made some big errors with my first game with Sloan and I was determined to make sure I did not repeat those errors.  Similarly, I needed to make sure that I kept the scenario in mind, as I had yet to earn any control points and those could be huge in future games.  Boy, was I right!

Debriefing: 25 point "Ambush" (part 1)

First I want to apologize for the lateness of this post.  I awoke this morning to find that my power was out at home so I had to go out to get some internet so it took me a little longer to get this all written up.  I had the fortune of being able to attend a 25 point “Ambush” tournament in Manchester CT at The Battle Standard on Sunday.  The tournament was really well attended (24 participants) and the store itself is… awesome.  I highly recommend anyone within an hour of driving check it out because it is certainly worth it.  I attended the tournament and decided to bring two Cygnar lists with me and I convinced myself that I probably wasn’t going to be able to do much but get some games in and get some experience with the Stormwall, since I had not had the opportunity to play with either of the lists I had brought yet.  Today I'll share the two lists I brought with me and a brief synopsis of my first two matches.  Tomorrow I'll share the 3rd and 4th matches as this post would be too long if I included them too!  I'll also share some of my general thoughts on the Stormwall tomorrow too.

Sloan and the Stormwall

Don't get too excited, it's not completely done yet.  I've spent the past 24 hours painting this guy and it is quite intimidating to paint.  Unlike some other large models you might encounter, this guy is still packed full of detail and it's quite challenging to paint it without accidentally getting paint somewhere where I don't want it.

Anyway, I'll be taking more pictures when it's actually finished but for now I want to share some of the thoughts I've had about the Stormwall and Colossals in general.  First I want to share a list that I'm considering bringing to the 25 point "Ambush" scenario this weekend, featuring the Stormwall itself:

Steamroller Prep: 25 points - Mercs

Today is the third and final part of my Steamroller Prep articles for the 25 point "Ambush" Steamroller event at The Battle Standard in Manchester, CT.  I currently own 3 main factions right now: Cygnar, Circle, and Mercs and in the first two articles I discussed some lists worth considering for Cygnar and Circle.  Today I wish to present the lists for my final faction: Mercenaries.  Unfortunately, I only own a select few Mercenary models, and only 2 of them are warcasters, so my options are somewhat limited.  The fortunate thing about owning Mercenary models, however, is the utility of using them in other factions as well, so it's a bit easier to build up a Mercenary collection on the side!  In fact, many of the models that I'll be using in today's lists I picked up for their utility in other lists - notably for Cygnar.  So what warcasters am I bringing?  First is my favorite underdog: Fiona the Black.

Steamroller Prep: 25 points - Circle

Like I mentioned yesterday, there will be a 25 point Steamroller tournament next weekend that I want to attend.  One neat feature of this tournament is that every scenario will feature Reinforcements which will make it far more interesting and predictable when it comes to designing lists.  I already shared two Cygnar lists worth considering (although I came up with another today that is so scary I want to keep it secret!) and today I wish to share two lists that I'm considering if I were to play Circle instead.  One of the greatest advantages of playing my Circle is not only that I'm more familiar with them but that they are mostly painted - thus I can enter into the raffle easily!  The two lists I'm considering from Circle will feature some models that have already been painted, but there will be some more that I would need to paint in order to be completely painted for this tournament, so I'd still be motivated to paint.  What two lists am I considering bringing?

Steamroller Prep: 25 points - Cygnar

One of my long-time Warmachine/Hordes buddies has been the Press Ganger running events over at the Battle Standard for a few months now and, despite living in CT, I haven't made my way out there yet.  I've been tempted to do so a number of times, but with a lease on my car and limited mileage, I have to be careful to keep track of how far I drive.  This will change, however!  There is a 25 point Steamroller tournament in less than 2 weeks that I think I want to attend since it's a good opportunity to get some guaranteed gaming in.  What makes this tournament so interesting to me is twofold.  First, it's an "Ambush" themed Steamroller where all of the scenarios will use Reinforcements and secondly, even if I don't win anything, if I can get my army fully painted then I will be entered into a raffle drawing.  With this being summer vacation for me I could certainly use some motivation to get more models painted so this seems as good of an opportunity as any!  So what lists am I considering taking?  Well for the next three days I'll look at creating lists that I would feel comfortable bringing considering the factions I own/play.  Today I'll start with the 2 lists I'm considering for Cygnar.

Stratford CT Steamroller (6/9/12) Results

This past weekend there was a 35 point Steamroller tournament at Gamingetc. in Stratford CT.  While the expected turnout was fairly low but there ended up being about 15 players in the end (I think...) - pretty solid around here for Warmachine/Hordes tournaments.  I wasn't sure if I was going for sure until the morning of the tournament and I'm glad I attended!  I decided to bring along my Circle because they never let me down and are my go-to tournament army - plus the lists I bring are fully-painted!  I was also fortunate enough to bump into some friends who regularly play at my old LGS who decided to make the trip down too!  So let me share the demographics of the tournament (to my best recollection), the lists that I brought, and how I performed in the tournament.

New England Team Tournament is coming!

Alright, today is the last day this week that I'll plug the Steam-Powered Gamer Facebook page, but I really think you'll "like" it as I plan on using it to present various news bits so that you can read some thoughtful articles here instead of reposts of common news items.

Speaking of common news items, the New England Team Tournament (NETT) is coming!  Is it really that time of year again already?  Yikes!  Just last year I participated in my first ever NETT with the Regular Team and we were surprised that we ended up with a winning record going into round 3, only to find ourselves defeated by our own pride against team 'Cryx are for Kids'.  This year, we plan on reuniting the Regular Team to have our hand at this tournament again and to prove ourselves after our terrible performance at Templecon this year.  Today I want to share my initial thoughts on the lists that I may bring to this tournament, since there have been quite a few releases since last year to consider.