4+ Tournament 06/15: pGrexy's Reports

So I played another tournament, and had a super fun time.  It was a 4 round 50pt SR 2013 with 2 lists and Specialists.

I ran Makeda and the Exalted Court, and Supreme Aptimus Zaal:

Makeda and the Exalted Court (+2pts)
*Molik Karn (11pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Archidon (7pts)
*Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)

Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

Agonizer (2pts)

Specialists:
Paingiver Bloodrunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)


Supreme Aptimus Zaal (+5pts) - Immortal Host Tier 3
*Titan Cannoneer (9pts)
*Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
*Cyclops Raider (5pts)
*Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
*Kovass ( - )

Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
*Praetorian Swordsmen Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Immortals (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)

Hakaar the Destroyer (4pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)

Specialists:
*Cyclops Brute (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)



Game 1 vs. Ken's Trollbloods

He had eDoomshaper with the Mountain King and eMadrak.  The scenario was Chemical Reaction, which has 2 zones and 2 objectives, one each on each player's side of the table.  Dominating your zone gets you one point, as does destroying your enemy's objective.  Controlling your opponent's zone nets you 2 points, and dominating it nets you 3.

I went with Zaal to counter the Troll brick, and he went with Doomie:

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (+6pts)
*Mountain King (20pts)
*Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
*Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
*Troll Axer (6pts)

Kriel Stone Bearer and Stone Scribes (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
*Stone Scribe Elder (1pt)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pt)

Janessa Stonetide (3pts)
Troll Whelps (5 Whelps) (2pts)

I'm not going to go into great detail about this game.  Ken was just getting back into Hordes after a few months off, and he'd been kind of new even then.  The short version is that he played a pretty strong game if the only condition had been caster kill, but he basically ignored the scenario.  On the bottom of round 3, I was able to clear his zone, and win by controlling it and dominating my own for the 3rd straight turn.



Game 2 vs. Lust's Trollbloods

He had pGrissel with infantry and Long Riders and pDoomshaper's Runes of War Tier 4.  The scenario was Supply and Demand: One control zone in the center, and two destructible objectives on either player's side.  Players score one point for controlling the center, two for dominating it, and one for destroying the enemy's objective.  Warlocks cannot dominate the zone while the enemy's objective is in their control are.

I picked Zaal again, because Runes of War would lock Makeda 3 down.  He picked Grissel:

Grissel Bloodsong (+5pts)
*Pyre Troll (5pts)
*Storm Troll (5pts)
*Troll Impaler (5pts)

Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
*Kriel Warriors Musician and Standard Bearer (2pts)
*3 Caber Throwers (3pts)
Trollkin Long Riders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Kriel Stone Bearer and Stone Scribes (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
*Stone Scribe Elder (1pt)

Horthol, Long Rider Champion (5pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Saxon Orrick (2pts)

Lust won the roll off, and decided to go first.  He deployed the Kriel Warriors on the right, the Long Riders and Horthol on the left, and Grissel, her Warbeasts, and the Kriel Stone in the middle.  Saxon deployed in front of the Long Riders, and the Fell Caller deployed behind the Kriel Warriors.

I deployed the Immortals against the Long Riders on the right, and the Swordsmen against the Kriel Warriors on the left.  I was somewhat worried about his Warbeasts getting a ranged assassination on Zaal, so I went for the Krea and Brute over the Cannoneer.  They all went in the middle, with Extollers behind them, and AG's Advance Deploying in front of the list.

Round 1

Lust put all of Grissel's Fury on the stone, and had everybody run, with Grissel ending up behind a wall.  She used her Hoof It Fell Call to get the Kriel Warriors even further up.

I ran most of my list up.  Zaal put Last Stand on my lead AG, passed out a Soul, and put Spiritual Awakening on the Raider.  Marketh also walked, and put Inviolable Resolve on Hakaar for +2 Armor.  The AG's ended up just behind the first line of infantry, except the lead AG, who was just ahead.

Round 2

Lust charged the Long Riders at the Immortals, and killed 4.  Then Grissel walked up, and hit the lead AG with Calamity.  The Kriel Stone put up its Aura again, and used it to deny Incorporeal within the bubble.  The Troll Impaler damaged the lead AG.  Then the Kriel Warriors charged the Swordsmen, killing 2 or 3, and the lead AG, finishing it off.  Finally, the Pyre Troll shot down the Kovass with its AoE.

Lust had meant to use Hoof It on the Kriel Warriors to move them in front of Grissel, but he'd forgotten, and now the only thing between her and Hakaar was one Long Rider and a low wall.  She was camping 2 Fury.  I decided to go for the kill.  I cleared out the Long Riders with no problem, put Last Stand on Hakaar, and Feated.  Then he charged Grissel.  Due to a few bum damage rolls, he came up 2 short.  I had Marketh swap Last Stand to a nearby AG, who also tried to charge, but had a tricky angle due to the Immortals, and came up a quarter inch short.  The Swordsmen used their Mini-Feat to do automatic damage, and killed off some Kriel Warriors.

Round 3

Grissel held onto 4 Fury, and Feated  Lust wasn't about to leave her open again.  The Stone shut down Incorporeal again.  The Long Riders killed some more Immortals, and the Kriel Warriors killed some more Swordsmen and the Kovass (which had popped out of Hakaar).  The Storm Troll killed the AG which had failed its charge on Grissel, and the Kovass (again) with melee attacks.

I managed to kill off the last of the Long Riders with a Last Standed Shaman, though there was still Horthol to contend with, and put some damage on the Troll beasts with my Extollers.  The AG and surviving swordsmen killed a few more Kriel Warriors.  The Brute ran to screen Zaal.

Round 4

Lust methodically picked off the Extollers, the last AG, and the Kovass which popped out of it.  Grissel put Heroic Call on Horthol, and moved well out of all my threat ranges.  Horthol slammed the Brute into my objective, and finished it off in melee with good damage rolls.

I looked at the meager handful of models I had left, measured Zaal's Control Area to see if he could have Marketh Last Stand him for an assassination run, but he was out of range.  I decided to concede, and let Lust have the scenario win.

Thoughts

I almost had that assassination run - statistically it should have been mine.  Ultimately though, it was a greedy move.  I should have played for attrition and done as much damage as I could to the Long Riders and Kriel Warriors.  If Hakaar and the other AG's had been in a better position, I probably could have ground the Trollbloods out.

Except for forgetting Hoof It that one time, Lust played a very solid game, and contested me on every point.  I overextended to try to kill Grissel, and he ground me down for it.  Well played.



Game 3 vs. Caleb's Trollbloods

It was nice to get a game in against my co-blogger and frequent tiny-metal-dude-sparring partner Caleb in the tournament, although I was less than thrilled to be going up against Trolls again.  I went with Makeda, because Zaal's activation order and time constraints had gone from exciting and fun to draining and stressful by the end of the last game, and I was up for a change of pace.

The scenario was Process of Elimination, which has 2 rectangular zones 8" apart in the center of the table, each with a destructible objective.  Players score one point for destroying an objective or controlling a zone, and two points for dominating a zone.  A player could only damage one objective per turn.

Caleb had pGrimm with a Mountain King, and a Calandra brick with with Champs and Mulg.  He went with Calandra:

Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (+5pts)
*Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
*Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
*Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
*Troll Axer (6pts)

Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
*Skaldi Bonehammer (3pts)
Kriel Stone Bearer and Stone Scribes (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
*Stone Scribe Elder (1pt)

Caleb won the roll off, and decided to go second.  We both set up in bricks across a mostly open table from each other.  There were a couple of walls in the middle, but otherwise only the objectives were separating us.

Round 1

I ran up in my standard formation with all the melee beasts at the front, and the ranged beasts slightly behind.  Makeda cast Vortex of Destruction on herself, and put 4 Fury over on the Agonizer.

Caleb had his whole army run, even Calandra, who put all her Fury on the Kriel Stone.  The Kriel Stone used Protective Aura before running.

Round 2

I decided to get the first hit-and-run in on the brick.  Molik Charged Skaldi on the left, and the Archidon charged the Mauler on the right under Lightning Strike (which the Shaman had cast on it).  The Archidon did some damage, but failed to kill its target, but Molik killed Skaldi, and Fate Walked away.

That turned out to be a mistake.  Caleb moved Calandra up, popped her Feat, and cast Star Crossed.  Then she cast Befuddle on Molik, and walked him back into the Champs' charge range.  Three charged in, and with the Axer's help, they finished Molik off easily.  The Mauler killed the Archidon without breaking a sweat, and the Earthborn destroyed the right objective, netting Caleb a point.  Mulg charged up to support his Dire Troll Brethren, and used his Animus, Rune Breaker, to shut down Makeda 3's potent spellcasting on my coming turn.

Round 3

Apparently, this was an excellent time to outdo myself in the mistake-making department.  After the Gladiator cleared out two intervening Champs, I had Makeda activate, pop her Feat, and walk into combat with the 3 Dire Trolls.  Her Exalted Guardian failed to scratch the paint on one of the Champs, and Makeda herself just about took out Mulg, but failed.

Ugh.  I didn't concede, because Makeda is made of pretty stern stuff, but I didn't hold out much hope either.  The Agonizer used Gnawing Pain to give Makeda's armor an effective boostie, then I had the Warbeasts wipe out the three remaining champs and the right objective to leave me on 4 Fury.  At the end of the turn, I controlled the right zone, so I had 2 Control points.

Caleb did not miss the opportunity.  The Mauler frenzied into Makeda, doing 1 damage.  Then the Kriel Stone handed out its Arm and Strength bonus.  Calandra tried to knock her down with Force Blow, but came up short on the damage roll.  The Earthborn swung in, dealing some damage with multiple boosted P+S 21 (yikes!) attacks.  Makeda and the Gladiator both took a beating.  Then Mulg head-butted Makeda, knocking her down, and made 3 more attacks against her.  When the dust had settled, the Gladiator was dead, but Makeda was alive at 3 boxes...

Round 4

I leached Fury and upkept Vortex of Destruction, and started off with Makeda.

As I started making attacks, Caleb remembered the Kriel Stone's Strength bonus, and said he'd forgotten to apply it to Mulg's last 3 attacks (he'd remembered for the Earthborn and Mauler though).  Makeda was at 3 boxes, and the Gladiator had been her only transfer target, so I offered him the game.  He didn't want to win by remembering his rules a turn too late, though, so he let me finish my turn, which just goes to show that Caleb is an awesome guy.  Looking back on it, I actually think Caleb was rolling correctly at dice -1 on Makeda's effective Arm of 21.  Mulg would have been at P+S 20: 19 base, +1 thanks to the Kriel Stone.  I'm not super reliable at remembering things that happen while I'm stressed out and sleep deprived, though, so I could easily be wrong here.

Makeda killed Mulg, and cast a free Ground Zero with Blood Boon, because she could.  Then the Bronzeback attacked the Axer, Beat Back its way to Calandra, and killed her.

Thoughts

Well I didn't deserve that win by any stretch of the imagination.  I made a bad mistake on turn 2, when I got Molik and the Archidon killed, then decided to more or less hand Caleb my Warlock on turn 3.  Admittedly, if Makeda had rolled a little better on damage, she'd have killed Mulg, and wouldn't have been in such a pickle.  Still, I've learned a valuable lesson about not doing the exact opposite of what you should do in Warmachine.

Caleb probably should have Head-Butted Makeda with the Earthborn, which would have settle her right then and there, but forgot about it until Mulg's activation.  Other than that, though, he played a tight, conservative game, and took advantage of my stupendous mistakes.  Only Makeda's extreme toughness (and probably not even that, since Caleb was forgetting about the Strength buff for Mulg)


Game 4 vs. Todd's Cygnar

I wanted to actually do Makeda 3 justice here (and not luck out), so I went with her again.  Todd was playing an eCaine infantry swarm, and a balanced eHaley list with a Stormwall and some Cavalry.  He went with Haley, on the grounds that Caine probably couldn't handle Makeda's wall of beasts.

I decided I'd want some infantry cushion for my brick, since I'd probably get hit first, so I swapped out the Archidon for the Bloodrunners and Willbreaker.

Major Victoria Haley (+5pts)
*Stormwall (19pts)
*Lancer (6pts)
*Squire (2pts)

Storm Lances (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
*Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4pts)

Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Ragman (2pts)

The Scenario was Rally Point.  There are two zones, one on each player's half of the table, and two objectives.  You can teleport the objectives 5" by dominating them, and they count as your Warlock/Warcaster for the purpose of dominating zones.  Players scored one point for destroying their opponents' objectives, one point for dominating their zone or controlling their opponents,' and 2 points for dominating their opponents' zone.

I won the roll off, and decided to go first.  I deployed in my standard brick, right behind my objective.  I would be ready to play any kind of game, but I would probably try for assassination or attrition rather than try to contest a spread out scenario against a caster with eHaley's level of control.

He deployed Haley, the Stormwall, Junior, and the Squire near my zone on the left, the Gun Mages and Aiyanna and Holt in the middle with Ragman, and the Storm Lances and Lancer on the right.

Round 1

I ran and charged up with Vortex or Destruction on Makeda, 4 Fury on the Agonizer, and Paralytic Auras up on the Shaman and Krea.

Todd ran the Lances and Lancer, and tried to blast me with the Stormwall's big guns, but was just out of range.  The Stormwall did put some Covering Fire in front of Haley to stop the Bloodrunners from running up and pinning her in place.  Then, the Gun Mages advanced and killed 2 Bloodrunners, and Aiyanna and Holt and the Ragman ran.  Todd also moved his objective up near his zone, something I'd forgotten to do.

Round 2

I continued to sprint for the Stormwall and Haley, throwing most of my army into my Zone (which was contested by at Storm Pod, annoyingly).  Sadly, I forgot to move one of Makeda's Exalted Guardians with her unit, and she was crushed underfoot when the Gladiator was forced to trample over her.  Whoops.  I used the Bloodrunners to block off access to my army as much as possible, and tried to get the Agonizer in range to keep Focus off the Stormwall (though I came up short).  All my models ended up on the right side of the table in front of the Storm Wall, and out of range of the Storm Lances.  Haley's Feat was coming up, and I didn't want to eat two Cavalry charges in a row.

Predictably, Haley Feated.  The Cygnaran shooting killed the Tyrant Commander's Standard Bearer, all but one Bloodrunner, the Agonizer and the Mortitheurge Willbreaker.  The Storm Lances and Lancer ran again, sweeping in to cut my army off from Todd's zone next turn.  Todd also teleported his objective into his zone to start scoring.

Round 3

My army mostly fuffled around, and set up in a more defensive position, putting the Exalted Guardian, and last Bloodrunner between my power pieces and the Stormwall.  Makeda managed to pull a hit-and-run with Eliminator on the Gun Mages, killing 2 and moving back to safety.  I also managed to score a point this turn, but Todd now had two.

The Stormwall killed off the Exalted Guardian with shooting, and popped a Pod out to contest my zone.  The Storm Lances and Lancer ran to keep my Army out of his zone.  If he could stop me from contesting it, he'd win on his next turn.  The Gun Mages and Aiyanna and Holt also advanced, and did some damage to the Gladiator and Krea with their shooting.

Round 4

If I didn't get something into Todd's zone, he'd win.  The Tyrant Commander used Press Forward on Makeda to counteract Time Bomb, and moved out of the way.  Makeda Feated, advanced into melee, and cut a swathe of death through the Cygnaran lines.  She wiped out the Gun Mages, Aiyanna, Holt, the Journeyman, and 2 Storm Lances, and ended her activation camping one Fury.  The Gladiator killed off 2 other Storm Lances, and the last one failed its Cmd check.  The Shaman turned and Rushed Molik Karn.  Molik charged and killed the Ragman about 12" away, then Side Stepped into the Lancer, hit it, then Side Stepped past it.  I remembered to cast Fate Walker (so Molik could actually contest Todd's zone) before I started wrecking the Lancer.  The Lancer went down to Molik's next attacks.

The next second, I said "That's it, I'm done."  And the second after that, I said "Waitwaitwait! Fate Walker!"

Todd called me on my words, and again I found myself offering my opponent the game after a stupid, avoidable mistake.  However, he said it was pretty clear what I'd intended to do, so we could have a roll-off about it.  I won the roll, and Molik moved 6" into Todd's zone.  Basically, Todd is also an awesome guy.

Todd basically had one chance to kill Makeda.  He had Haley use Temporal Acceleration on the Stormwall, and Telekinesis on Makeda, turning her to face away from it.  Then it charged in full of Focus, but Makeda was camping 4 Fury, and it failed to kill her.

After that, Todd conceded.  The Wall would likely go down to the Bronzeback, and Haley would likely die to Molik once the Possibility of Free Strikes from it was removed.

Thoughts

I actually played a very solid game this time, and I have no major complaints about the way I handled eHaley or the scenario in general.  Refusing one flank was the right choice, and the Lances didn't get to run amok through my list.  I was still able to defend my zone, and force Haley to win on scenario the long way by dominating hers.  I definitely had a couple embarrassing brain farts, like forgetting to move my objective, and forgetting my Exalted Guardian on turn two and having to crush her under my Gladiator.  And of course, declaring the end of my turn a second before I intended to move Molik Karn.

Todd also played solidly, focusing on the long game, and keeping me cordoned off away from his zone.  He might actually have succeeded in pulling off that win if he'd spread his forces a little thinner while blocking me off.  His placement was good for preventing a model from running or trampling over to contest the zone, but dense enough for an army with a lot of movement tricks like Molik and Makeda under her Feat to actually gain ground from every kill.


Overall Thoughts

Another incredibly fun tournament!  I went 3-1, which was good enough to get me 3rd overall.  Lust, my opponent from game 2, took 1st, and Zackstack, who'd come in from Mankato with Zaal, eMakeda, and a great attitude, took 2nd.  Although I'm happy to have done well, I'm a little annoyed to have done so with possible rules irregularities in 2 of my games, especially the one against Caleb.  I beat him most of the time, and it would have been cool for him to finally get me this time in an official match.

I had a lot of fun overall, and got some good experience in with Makeda 3 and Zaal, who are very fun and rewarding to play, as well as very strong.

I'm a little burned out on them for the moment though, so I'll probably be focusing on Retribution for a while (and maybe pMakeda and pMorghoul, who I haven't picked up in a few months).

Thanks to all my opponents, who were all courteous, classy, and fun to play against, and to Jamie, who orchestrated the event.  I'll try to be at the official Convergence of Cyriss release event this July, but my schedule is very fluid right now, and it might not happen.

Thanks for reading!