Thursday, December 21, 2017

Warmachine Tournament

There was a smallish Warmachine tournament held in Jyväskylä about a week ago. And there might be more to come, so an enormous yay for that.

My lists were:

[Theme] Infernal Machines
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver [+27]
- Corruptor [16]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Leviathan [16]
Necrotech [2]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [5]
2x Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
2x Soul Trapper [1]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Mechanithralls (max) [9]
- Brute Thrall (1) [2]
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls [4]
Soulhunters (max) [18]

No theme
Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- 2x Deathripper
- Nightmare [18]
- Stalker [8]
- The Withershadow Combine [9]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
- Reaper [13]
Machine Wraith [2]
Necrotech [2]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
2x Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [5]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]

Game 1:

First game was against Skorne.

I chose Deneghra who had to face:

[Theme] Imperial Warhost
Makeda & the Exalted Court
- Agonizer [0(6)]
- Basilisk Krea [0(7)]
- Cyclops Brute [8]
- Molik Karn [19]
- Titan Cannoneer [17]
- Titan Sentry [15]
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Tyrant Zaadesh [4]
- Titan Gladiator [15]
2x Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

Scenario was Spread the Net. Opponent kept a keen eye on ambushing Mechanithralls, so they didn't get to do much. I played, true to my ill-advised style, rather aggressively with Deneghra, starting to score points with her from flag on my side.

Opponent forgot to bring anyone to contest the rectangular zone, so scenario game opened with 3 for Skorne and 2 for Cryx. To make it even, for some reason I forgot to activate Inflictor and Deathripper along with one Pistol Wraith. You know, the incorporeal solo. Against army that had close to zero magical attacks. Contesting the circular zone with no retaliation was a real possibility.

I tried to shoot Titan Sentry off the board, and, well. Sounds a little absurd, yes. But I did get Mortality on it (no healing) and nail it stationary with Pistol Wraith and break Spirit.

I tried rinse & repeat approach, again casting Mortality on Sentry and making it stationary, but this time there was quite a bit more planning to do, as opponent had more shield guards now. But mortified & stationary it was, but somehow I got fixated over killing the beast. It wasn't until some post-game talk where I realized it would have been more advantageous for me to leave it to block charge lanes from such inconsequential models as Molik Karn.

I got scenario to 3-4 for Cryx, and having used Deneghra's feat. Something moronic happened there. I wanted to give some trouble for opponent by casting Grave Wind on Leviathan that charged mid-field to kill one of the Exalted Guards - my idea here was to prolong Cryxian presence on the circular zone for contesting purposes.

Then Deneghra also made a spray just for giggles against nearby Swamp Gobbers. Well, there was this that I was afraid they'd run to contest my flag. Deneghra boosted both attack rolls and killed only one Gobber before repositioning herself back to flag, having two focus for damage mitigation.

So, what could have been a def 17, poltergeist, arm 16 target with four focus points for Molik Karn was def 15 and two focus points.

Yup, Mk3 Molik Karn still comes from far, far away.

To ease my pain somewhat, first two attacks Karn made would have hit Deneghra even if she would've had Grave Wind. But it was the third attack that killed her, and attack roll was eight.

Game 2:

Second game is against Legion of Everblight and I picked Deneghra list again.

Opponent has something like this:

[Theme] Primal Terrors
Vayl, Consul of Everblight [+28]
- 2x Carnivean [19]
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower [11]
- Seraph [14]
Warmonger War Chief [0(6)]
2x Blighted Ogrun Warspears (max) [15]
- Warspear Chieftan [5]
Hellmouth [0(6)]

I might be mistaken and I believe opponent forgot to deploy War Chief. Opponent started game and I did get to make acquaintances with these Hellmouth shenanigans, when Icy Grip is cast on Bile Thralls on the first turn.

Ambushing Mechanithralls got a nice charge against one of the Warspear units. I would've wanted Mechanithralls on different side of the table, but situation was too good to pass.

I forget opponent took the magical weapon granting objective, so I lost both Pistol Wraiths early in the game.

I was slowly whittling away Ogruns and even managed to shoot Nephilim Bolt Thrower off the board. But opponent had the big beasts very much alive, and gained the upper hand in scenario game. Annoying piece of terrain made Hellmouth way too survivable and the game came into point that I just didn't know what to do.

I kept Orin Midwinter hugging Deneghra at all times.

I guess it was a sort of game-opener when Hellmouth popped a tentacle behind Orin Midwinter, hit, and dealt only three points of damage. Opponent had already (at least mentally) committed to assassinate Deneghra. I had given a fair opportunity for that, as Deneghra had taken a free strike from Hellmouth tentacle earlier that dealt ten points of damage.

Anyway, Vayl cast Icy Grip on Deneghra three times, burning away Power Tokens from Orin Midwinter. Last Icy Grip resulted in a miss, so Vayl had no transfers.

Carnivean charged Deneghra. It needed 11+ to hit, so it boosted every attack roll. Twice it rolled 10, one of which was the charge attack.

I don't clearly remember what happened with last attack. I have vague memories that Deneghra had three damage boxes or something. Anyway, Deathripper ran close enough Vayl that Scourge wouldn't deviate off. The spell missed, but at least Legion warlock was knocked down. Then Denegra cast Ghost Walk on herself and charged Vayl, killing her.

I was a bit lucky at critical stages during this match. And I can't congratulate me for choosing the tactic "let's place my warcaster in dire spot and let's see what we can do if she survives." But it was Vayl2, so I suppose I'll gladly take any victories over her that I only can.

Game 3:

Last game was against Circle of Orboros. I picked Scaverous, as I wanted to play with both lists at least once.

I think I got this list wrong, but generally it was:

[Theme] The Wild Hunt
Morvahna the Dawnshadow [+27]
- Gorax Rager [7]
- Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
- Warpwolf Stalker [19]
2x Gallows Grove [2]
2x Shifting Stones [3]
- Stone Keeper [2]
2x Warpborn Skinwalkers (max) [15]
- Warpborn Skinwalker Alpha [0(4)]
Wolves of Orboros (max) [11]
- Wolves of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [4]

This last game was, uh, kind of disappointing. I felt cheesy and like I was abusing something. I guess this is the apologetic Finnish mentality. Though really game was more about opponent having never played against Scaverous.

Anyway. As opponent didn't have excessively high model count, there was not all that much screen for Morvahna.

Morvahna was far enough that I had to bring a Deathripper within melee range of a Skinwalker. I thought Stalker would be able to kill him, but no. It took three Bile Thrall purges to get through the last three damage points or so. Sadly my Deathripper was inside all of the three sprays - but to my advantage, four damage boxes that were left after the automatically hitting purges had Arc Node and Movement.

Then Scaverous could activate and used Telekinesis to move three or so Skinwalkers out of Morvahna's way. Telekinesis also turned Morvahna around, and after that Scaverous was even able to cast Icy Grip on her.

Aiakos had upkept Escort, so Reaper could advance 8" to shoot harpoon at Morvahna. Reaper had Puppet Master from Tremulus, but didn't need to use it. All the rolls were adequate enough.

Morvahna had five transfers I think, four for sure at least. But also on top of Reaper I could charge with a couple of Bane Thralls as well as the Nightmare. Too many attacks, so she suffered an assassination on the second turn of game.

So two wins and one loss. And a sad notion how pretty much every list in the tournament were theme lists. On a more positive note, death clock didn't dictate the outcome of any of my games even if I hadn't really practiced with either of these lists. Though I have used Deneghra3 in Infernal Machines before, so there's that.

But just like it was after the tournament at Ropecon, there was this slight spark of enthusiasm from a few years ago when I went into tournaments a little more frequently. So I went to two tournaments this year. Let's make it at least three next year.

No comments:

Post a Comment