Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Pod Tournament Report Game 1: Beast Master Xekaar vs. Tyrant Xerxis (75pts)

This past Thursday, I played the first game of the multi-week pod tournament that spans the Twin Cities meta.  Since I put myself down as being able to play at any store, I was used to make up the numbers at Fantasy Flight Game Center.  It's not my closest FLGS, but it's a great place, and the local meta includes a bunch of people I've seen around in various places.

I was running Beast Master Xekaar, Master Ascetic Naaresh, and Void Seer Mordikaar.  My opponent, Jeff, was also running Skorne, with Tyrant Xerxis, Supreme Archdomina Makeda, and one other (I forget who).  I picked Xekaar because the Xerxis list looked melee focused enough that I'd be able to grind it down with shooting, and out-attrition it, and I wanted Mortality in the game to stop Stay Death shenanigans from Mak2.  Jeff went with Xerxis because that list had the armor cracking to deal with my bricks, and plenty of its own armor to shrug off Mordikaar.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Skorne Skorne Skorne :D (part 1)

This is going to be long and a little rambly.  My goal is to put up some lists I'm eager to try, and go through my thinking with everything that's changed for the models I'm using.  I also have a tournament coming up.  The games will be spread out over a couple of weeks, which is nice because I'm busy most Saturdays.  So in addition to talking about out most improved stuff I'd like to try, I'll go into my lists for the tournament, and how I'm planning to run them.  If you're in the Twin Cities meta, and you're playing in this tournament, you probably don't need to read about my lists, right?  I mean, who worries about Skorne?

Lists and such after the break!

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Skorne Errata - pGrexy's Hot Take

Alrighty fellow Tyrants!

Privateer Press dropped our update errata today, and a heck of a lot has changed.

Overall, I'm very pleased.  The bottom end and support pieces of the Skorne war machine have improved dramatically in ways that give everything a role we actually want to fill.  I have a lot of thoughts on lists right now, and I'll post them all at some point (probably on Friday).  Right now, I'll stick to broad strokes, so as not to get bogged down in the details.  All the updates can be found in the latest PP Insider.  Warroom has also been updated for those who have it.

1). Remakes of our bottom tier Warlocks.  Hexeris 1 got a huge boost with Parasite, and Makeda 1 and Morghoul 2 both got major rebuilds.  Xerxis 2 picked up a speed boost with a Field Marshall, and and also got Rapport, which is great for him.  Overall, the changes mean that there's no more problem where each of these Warlocks is totally outclassed in their preferred playstyle by a different one who straight up does it better.  Great for Skorne, and great for the game.

2). Key support pieces get cheaper and/or more effective.  The Agonizer and Marketh went down in cost, and the Krea's Aura now adds to Arm.  This also affects the way the rest of the support feels.  Agonizers protected by the new and improved Force Aura certainly feel much less like I'm hanging my attrition game on a pricy and very flimsy model.

3).  Problem models have been brought up to par, and even made interesting.  The Rhinodon and Archidon both have roles.  Swordsmen have a place outside of Makeda 2 thanks to higher Mat and the Power Swell mini-Feat.  Keltarii are now Spd 7, which gives them more of a role as fast, shooting-resistant troops.

4).  Already decent stuff was made better or more flexible, which helps it keep a defined role.  Rasheth, Makeda 2, and Naaresh were already played, and minor upgrades to all of them (including a fix on Mak2's inexplicable low Warbeast points) will ensure that they still bring something unique to the table.

Coherent thoughts and lists to follow.  I'm doing another Kaelyssa battle report this Wednesday, but it will be back to Skorne for a good while after that!

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Monday Mercenary Mutterings: Battle Report! Ossrum1 vs Naaresh1

I meant to get this out yesterday, but I was lazy. pGrexy and I got one last game in on Friday before the end of 2016, with our age-old rivalry, Skorne vs Trollbloods Mercs.

He's been helping me with my Ossrum lists as I continue in my epic quest to find a list setup that works for me, and this is the result so far. I'm pretty pleased with it, and I've started taking his good advice to heart (for instance, "why are you trying to get the alpha strike in when you're list is better suited to sitting back, threatening a lot of good shooting, taking the hit on the bunnies, and counter-punching like a champ?"... I maaay be paraphrasing on most of that, but you get the idea).

But anyway, Battle Report!