Ropecon Warmachine Tournament

I took part in Warmachine main tournament at Ropecon. It was 50 point event that used "Masters" rule set. Top 8 players would qualify for next days event.

Game 1: Scaverous vs Protectorate of Menoth

Feora, Protector of Flame
- Judicator
- Castigator
- Reckoner

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith
Aiyana & Holt
Covenant of Menoth
Wracks
+ 5 points I can't figure out. My guess is Hierophant + Vassal + Mechanic.

Cryx started game and scenario was Destruction. Even if the tournament had Divide & Conquer 0, I thought I'd play with Scaverous list at least once. I was hesitant to bring any of the more important models forward. A fully loaded Reckoner with all the Protectorate buffs would've made a heavy dent to Kraken, and after that there would have been a Judicator to take care of...

So somehow advancing on my toes and shooting AoE's seemed like a good idea. But the first turn is taken from the end of Cryx turn 2. I actually noticed my mistake when I switched the clock for opponent. I didn't have anyone to contest the zone other than my objective. Yay. Pro play.

Opponent took full advantage of that, and wrecked my objective with Castigator.

Also, it's my suspicion that this wasn't the first time opponent was playing epic Feora. Her feat was so beautifully orchestrated that in the end all of my models in he control area were set on fire even before she got to move the fire effects around, and despite casting spells and allocating focus and whatnot she still camped 8 Focus. She entered the zone, and look at that. Suddenly Protectorate had 3 control points.

I guess I had some sort of chance for assassination there, as Feora was easily within the range of most of my army. There were just a couple of... obstacles. First, Feora with ARM 25. Second, ton of Holy Zealots that were untargetable by spells and who wouldn't take damage from anywhere else except for spells.

There was at least three Zealots who blocked charge for Kraken, and they were spread over a large area. Taking them out with a single Feast of Worms was out of the question.

In the end I opted to use Scaverous' feat and cast Feast of Worms on Feora, and telekinesis on Gorman diWulfe, throw Black Oil over Feora, shoot her with everything I got and then trample to her with Kraken. But it had failed from the get-go. Even the damage roll Kraken made was insulting, something like 2,2,1. Second picture must be after resolving continuous effects on Protectorate's turn.

Looking back now I wonder if I could have made this "assassination" some other way. I don't remember the exact position of my models, but I think at least Warwitch Siren got burned by Feora's fire. But maybe I could have moved incorporeal Pistol Wraith close to two Zealots and taken them out with Feast of Worms, and slammed the third away with Ogrun Bokur? Most probably not. The loss of Warwitch Siren cut down my options quite a lot.

Having not learnt any lessons, there was only Kraken contesting the zone when it was opponent's turn. Arm 21 Kraken just isn't going to survive a full onslaught of Reckoner, Castigator, Judicator and whatnot.

Feora dominated for second turn, and it was a scenario victory for Feora there.

I swore I'd never-ever play this list again.



Game 2: Warwitch Deneghra vs Legion of Everblight

Bethayne & Belphagor

- 2x Angelius
- Shredder

Maximum unit of Hex Hunters + Bayal
Blackfrost Shard
Striders + Unit Attachment
Shepherd
3x Spell Martyrs
2x Strider Deathstalkers

Scenario was... Fire Support? Anyway, I was against Bethayne, who is a new acquaintance for me. Come to think of it... I got to play against three different warlocks I had never played against before during Ropecon. Lovely.

Anyway... I don't remember who started. Probably Cryx again, judging from the suicidal positioning of Deneghra if the picture wouldn't be from the end of Legion turn.

Deneghra uses her feat this turn, catching all but, what, three Striders and a Shepherd. Though it wasn't without risks... Aimed and boosted RAT 3 shots just might hit Deneghra, and Angeliuses did ignore her stealth.

But before all this happened, Warwitch Siren seduced one of the Hex Hunters so that once Deneghra activated she got back strike bonuses. Feat and a boost later Hex Hunters had Crippling Grasp on them. Arcane Wonder allowed Deneghra to even cast Parasite on Belphagor.

Then I kind of waste a lot of my feat potential - all thanks to Black Ogruns. I just HAD to go and drag Belphagor to one of the Ogruns. The rest Ogruns then shot their harpoons at Belphagor, but nobody ever hit it again.

Boosted harpoon from Malice at least hit it, but didn't kill or drag, because lane slightly clipped the Black Ogrun who dragged the warbeast in the first place. At least Defiler could shoot Belphagor... Technically, at least. That goddamn warbeast was immune to Defiler's gun, and Defiler didn't even succeed to kill the Black Ogrun! Finally I resorted into charging the Black Ogrun with Bane Thralls so that Belphagor would stop gaining melee bonus. Nightwretch and Aiakos thankfully were able to score those last few damage points Cryx needed to score a kill. But that was pretty much the straight damage output of Deneghra's feat - Belphagor, a couple of Hex Hunters and Black Ogrun.

At least the feat gave me quite strong position. Legion mostly just backed off with the heavy warbeasts at least. Hex Hunters came to engage Malice a little, and Bethayne moved closer to Legion's objective on the hill. Striders, inside Deneghra's feat or outside of it, killed quite a few Black Ogruns. In fact... looks like they killed all but one.

I'm always a little (or a great) bit scared when I play against Legion. Statistically Legion of Everblight is my nemesis, and as I didn't fully know what to expect from Bethayne, I decided to try an awkward assassination. I guess my other option would have been to remove one of the Angeliuses with Malice & company, back off with Deneghra and then reap whatever infantry models I could. But as I said... I was afraid of Legion, and a cornered beast is the most desperate and most dangerous one.

Deneghra allocated one Focus to Defiler and upkept Crippling Grasp just in case this long stretch would fail. Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on the Defiler, who then ran into position. Deneghra cast a boosted Scourge on Bethayne, needing 11+ to hit. It was 11+, so Bethayne was knocked down.

I don't remember who or what killed some engaging Hex Hunters in the middle, but I see Malice has gained at least one additional soul.

I was quite sure Escort 8" advance + 8" range in Malice's harpoon would get to Bethayne, but there still was two blockers on the hill. One was Spell Martyr and the other was a member of Blackfrost Shard. I was getting rather desperate, as the only attacks against either were a RAT 5 shot from Aiakos, a RAT 5 shot from Black Ogrun and possibly... maybe a spray from Warwitch Siren if moving around a Hex Hunter wouldn't take too much movement away.

Since Blackfrost Shard member had damage boxes (and stealth?) I thought my best bet was DEF 15 Spell Martyr. Black Ogrun missed it. Aiakos missed it (he didn't even have any focus to boost, since one went into upkeeping Escort and rest was allocated to Malice) so Warwitch Siren was my only chance now.

Turned out that I had been over-estimating the amount of movement Warwitch lost when walking around a Hex Hunter, so Spell Martyr was in range. So. I needed 8+ or only a miracle would save my overextended forces from retaliation next turn. And 8+ it was, and damage roll wasn't double 1's either.

Malice walked up front, shot harpoon at Bethayne and had three focus and two souls to kill her. It was more than enough, so game over.

I guess I was a bit lucky in this assassination. I had two 10+'s on two dice and one 8+ chance on two dice to succeed, and this was after a 50/50 roll of succeeding at knocking down Bethayne. I do have this bad tendency of going and trying random assassinations at tournaments. This is mostly because of deathclock. There is nothing more boring than losing or winning with deathclock... in my mind it's better to lose to a badly executed or far fetched assassination attempt.

Though sometimes they work. Sometimes.



Game 3: Warwitch Deneghra vs Cygnar

Temporal Barrier Haley

- Stormwall

Gastone Crosse
- Galleon

Tactical Arcanist Corps
Journeyman Warcaster
Dougal MacNaile
Squire
3x Stormcaller
Gobber Tinker

Scenario was Incursion, and Cygnar started game. Opposing list was disturbing. I'm not sure if I have played against two colossals ever before. Though I was familiar enough with Haley1, I was unsure again what to expect. Throwing my whole army at one colossal might destroy it, but getting there under Temporal Barrier felt nigh impossible. But at least scenario was really good for Deneghra against an army with very low model count.

First picture must be from the end of Cryx turn 1.

And... ugh. Double Powder thingy from Dougal and Fire Group from Gastone cost me Malice right away. Gun Ports didn't do that much, but a turn later they would be easily able to get to the soft targets. Not that I valued Bile Thralls in this match-up too much. But in the end it did open a very real scenario game for me when enemy colossals were unleashing their awe-inspiring firepower at my forces.

Deneghra activated, used her feat and cast Crippling Grasp on Stormwall via an arcnode. She was quite dangerously close to enemy even when she had used her feat, so I thought it to be better to camp for four focus. Amazing blast damage rolls wouldn't kill her, then.

Cankerworm killed Stormsmith Stormcaller on the right, and Machine Wraith started to control the flag.

Black Ogruns shoot the second Stormcaller from middle flag, and then I almost mess everything up. To me it looked like the Tactical Arcanist closest to Galleon might be within 4" of the middle flag, so Aiakos advances, jumps and shoots harpoon at the guy. It's just that... I place Aiakos really damn badly. Somehow it escaped me that once I drag TAC member to Aiakos, he'd be left at the other side of the flag, since there was no space for his base! And... that's exactly what happened. Aiakos scored a hit, dealt damage but didn't kill. Hooray. Well, at least there was no longer any question if that particular Arcanist was contesting the flag...

So. I had two options left - Defiler and Nightwretch. Luckily Tactical Arcanists didn't have reach, so their DEF was only 10. Obviously Nightwretch went in first as I didn't really want to spray Aiakos dead with a lucky shot. And I didn't have to resort to that - Nightwretch scored the kill. Two control points.

There wasn't much Cygnar could do here. Galleon advanced 3" closer to rightmost flag and shot harpoon at Cankerworm, scoring a hit and killing the snake.

Arcanists came to contest middle flag and I believe Stormwall shot a pod there, too. Stormwall had only 1" of movement that turn, so it couldn't come and contest middle flag. But in the end Cryx went to three control points.

Rightmost flag was secured, so Cryx would get to at least four control points on my turn. I was rather surprised that, at most, I needed to kill two TAC's and possibly a storm pod. I don't remember how much of my infantry was left after last turn's shooting, but whatever it was, it was enough to clear middle flag and win the scenario.