Battles 2-6: WTC Practice

Hi again!

This past Saturday we had a small-ish WTC practice day for the players of the Swedish teams who live in or close to Stockholm, plus Christoffer Wedding who apparently is the only one living far away with proper priorities. That means we're 8 people in total; 6 from Stockholm, 1 from Västerås, 1 from Gothenburg. We should've ideally been 9 but sometimes people prioritise real life. Sickening, I know.

The weekend started off at Rickard's (the famous Arlaharen) place with what was supposed to be a couple of games with drinks and nachos. At least we had drinks and nachos.

For the weekend the only match up I had requested to try was Lylyth3 to see if it really was as bad for Haley3 as "people" was saying. I got the chance to play it 2,5 times roughly, and in addition I faced Madrak2 and Haley2.

Since it's been a few days and I've not been great with taking pictures, the battle reports won't be as eloquent as I would have preferred, but I'll try my best to describe the games played and particularily my thoughts and plans.

Anyway, let's go!

GAME 1 & 2: Versus Gustav Berggren.

This is going to be two games reported simultaneously for reasons which will be made clear as you read (I got killed top of 2 first try and we reset just a little bit, haha).

Haley 3 [+25]
 - Grenadier [9]
 - Grenadier [9]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Thorn [13]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Charger [9]
Ragman [4]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4]

This is the list used for every Haley3 game in this post.

Lylyth 3 [+29]
 - Naga Nightlurker [8]
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower [11]
 - Seraph [14]
 - Typhon [24]
 - Succubus [4]
Rorsh [15]
 - Brine0]
 - Battle Boar [7]
Strider Deathstalker [4]
Strider Deathstalker [4]
The Forsaken [4]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Annyssa Ryvaal [8]

And this is the Lylyth3 list used for game 1-3 this weekend. Gustav isn't a big fan of Lylyth3, believing her to be more of a noob-stomper than anything else, but he took one (or a couple) for the team so to speak. 

Scenario is Entrenched.

First game (or first half of game 1 if you prefer) was over quickly. Lylyth advances with her army in a semi-circle around herself under windwall. 

I advance too, get in the trench, flux up, figuring DEF 22 is going to be okay. I've got my storm lances away on my other flank to contest his zone, trenchers go down the middle and a grenadier, thorn, ironclad and the Haley unit is aimed towards keeping my zone clear.

Turns out this wasn't a safe space.

Lylyth wraithbanes herself, hits the first boosted 12 under her feat, and I'm dead from her third shot.

We change up the game a little bit, put three storm lances in front of Haley, like so. In return the ironclad has to shift off towards the left.

Then Lylyth gets a bit cocky and advances to here. Two storm lances are in range, a couple of trencher charges, a few spells from Haley and she goes down. I suggest we reset a bit again, but Gustav rightly suggests we just rerack and go from the start again. 

Draw (or something)!

GAME 3: Versus Gustav Berggren.

Same lists and scenario as above. Lessons learned from the first game; keep 3 arcane shielded storm lances in front of Prime Haley at ALL times. The leader of the unit can't be one of them, he and the last lance has to be able to do something.

I sadly didn't remember to take a lot of pictures of this game, so it'll be more for memory and less of a turn by turn report.

We're at the same sides as before but I chose to deploy Haley more towards my left. This will decrease my scenario pressure by almost 100 % but the forest can help me stay a bit more safe this way.

The first couple of turns Lylyth advance with windwall and her beasts covered by it. I can't shoot back (obviously) but with temporal distortion up my army is mostly unharmed. Outside of Lylyth herself, his army just doesn't get enough good shots off to work its way through mine very fast.

By the mid-game we've advanced closer to each other, me to get any possibility of getting something done to him, and him to 1) not get pressured off his own scenario zone, and 2) keep the pressure up versus Haley Prime. 

At this time, I decide I'm just going to charge my grenadiers into the windwall since they're doing jack shit otherwise. Two charging trenchers, the grenadier and a storm lance does 2/3 of typhon's boxes, another grenadier does a bit over half of Brine. 

After this, Brine gets primalled and goes off for my Ironclad. Being 14/18 he doesn't take too much damage, but Typhon helps bring him down to 1 box. I think the only real play Gustav had at this time was to go off after the scenario, but since typhon sprays down a storm lance and ironclad, the seraph isn't enough to get it done, and Lylyth doesn't move over there anyway. 

This is the end of the game. I think the proxy base is where Typhon was, and past Haley with Ragman just killed Brine. The left grenadier decides to shoot Lylyth herself to get her to transfer into the nephilim but Gustav choses not to prolong the game.

Victory!

I was told beforehand by Olov, a good friend and player on Sweden's WTC Team Nobel that he thought Lylyth3 was unplayable with Haley3. I wasn't convinced but couldn't really articulate a counter-argument to his, which was that Lylyth's windwall and decent ability to deal with high defense would shut down Haley3. After playing the match up a couple of times I believe it's a decent match, but keeping Prime alive while getting the echoes active is a tight rope to walk. 

After a great lunch at the local Greek restaurant I was matched up against trollbloods.

GAME 4: Versus Niklas Bergmark.

Niklas is a team mate of mine on Team Sweden Bofors, our third time. This means this game is of utmost importance; establishing the pecking order within the team is more important than winning the WTC after all.

Haley 2 [+25]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Thorn [13]
 - Stormwall [39]
 - Squire [5]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Firefly [8]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Ragman [4]

Niklas plays a Madrak2 variant. Very unexpected..

(Madrak 2) Madrak Ironhide, World Ender [+28]
 - Dire Troll Mauler [15]
 - Mulg the Ancient [19]
 - Troll Bouncer [9]
 - Trollkin Runebearer [4]
Trollkin Warders (max) [17]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
 - Stone Scribe Elder [3]
Fell Caller Hero [5]
Thrullg [6]
Pyg Burrowers (min) [8]
Alten Ashley [5]
Gremlin Swarm [3]

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]

I have to admit, Madrak2 scares me a little bit. I know he's not impossible to beat by any means, but it's like I fail my personal CMD check (Mk 2 lingo - kids, ask you parents what it means if you don't understand). I also want to see how hard he is to kill. I learn better by failing than by reading.

Scenario is Recon.

I decide to go second to get the first opportunity at scoring. I deploy a bit haphazardly with my Stormwall across from Madrak and Mulg. 

After my first turn this is the board state. My stormwall got Temporal Acceleration and advanced and shot two pygmies down, since they were the only worthwhile targets within range. Maybe I should've tried pegging Madrak just to get him to either take some damage in preparation or get some damage on a Shield Guard.

Niklas advances warily a little bit into the zone, keeping a fair few Grim Salvation targets around Madrak. Anyway, in the quest of knowledge I want to give Madrak a fair beating. I can TK him around, hit him with Hunter's Mark and send in a Stormwall with Temporal Acceleration.

He doesn't die, well, at all. I get a pod to try to kill the stonebearer but he toughed. It would only have helped to bring his ARM down by 2, the TK got him far enough for the stone to not be a valid Grim Salvation target, but 3 pygs and 1 warder was. He at least had to transfer a medium sized hit to Mulg and took 3 damage himself. I feated to protect the Stormwall.

Following this, Niklas gets nothing done really. He runs warders, stonebearers and everything in to protect Madrak, who also camps 3. At this time I decide to change gear entirely and go for a scenario play. It's probably what I should've been setting up for last turn anyway. I kill the 4 warders in the zone, TK the mauler out. The Ironclad moves in and kills the objective and also manages to get in a good hit at the mauler. However, I notice the pyg in the far end of the zone and only manage to get one attack at him, which he toughs...

Mulg does a ton of damage to my stormwall, the ironclad dies. At this time I can easily clear what is contesting and go to 3-0, but too little too late. I can give killing Madrak a try again though. Ragman goes up, Haley kills a model, thorn kills lots. It's pretty much a dead assassination even as I start, and I fail and concede.

Defeat!

Oh well. I played badly and deserved to lose. Flip flopping between plans to victory really isn't a way to play, but in my defense part of what I wanted to achieve is get a feel for how close I can get to killing Madrak in different situations (so that I don't get tricked into trying in an important game...). I think this is a very playable match up if I decide to go for scenario properly turn 2 rather than whacking away at Madrak ineffectually. Haley2 likely has enough control to keep Madrak and his BG busy for long enough.

For the last game of the day it's decided I play something I've put off for a few weeks - the cygnar mirror. I dislike playing faction mirrors (not to mention caster ones, but that didn't happen here). I face off against Olov and he says we should play Haley3 versus Haley2. 

GAME 5: Versus Olov Winroth.

Fresh off of winning the Iron Moot Invitational Olov is as always a daunting opponent. I have earlier struggled a bit with playing against players who are a "big deal" in Sweden but as I've gotten to know them better it's become easier. Olov and I talk about Cygnar a fair bit too. 

I play Haley3 as above. Olov plays the same Haley2 list as I played last game. 

In theory I think Haley3 vs Haley2 should be rather even. Haley3 has the stronger attrition game by far, but Haley2 has great scenario pressure, and with the Stormwall being able to throw accurately a long ways her assassination game is strong as well. My plan is therefore to keep Haley3 behind the wall to deny throws into her, and stall scenario with Bunker forcing a melee commitment and echoes being general PITAs while grinding Olov down. As soon as the Stormwall is close to my lines without Temporal Shift covering it it should go down to my shooting combined with Past Haley beating the crap out of it.

I win the starting roll and chose to go 2nd to give me a wall perfectly within the killbox (or outside? I never learn) as well as deny Olov the ability to score bottom of 2. 

Early game nothing much happens. I advance warily under smoke (but I don't leave enough room for one trencher to get back behind the smoke, as you can see), Olov can't do much as a result. Top of 2 he puts down a pod to bounce off with the Firefly, but I think he only got one Trencher or something. His stormwall advances quite aggressively though (left of the trench, pretty much), and he feats and jams both my grenadiers, the right one with 2 storm lances and the left one with Thorn.

I think I have an unusual opportunity to get work done under Temporal Shift, costing me only my feat. Past Haley advances laterally, right next to Olov's Storm Lances and Force Hammers one into the other. The original target dies (unsurprisingly - hell yeah raw talent) and the second one is shot down by Future Haley and the Charger. This frees the Grenadier to down the third Storm Lance, at this juncture positioned at my right flag. In a rare display of impotence, the little robot fails me though.

Failing to kill the 3rd Storm Lance gives Olov an opportunity to score 3 this turn though. I contested the left flag with a Trencher and the right one with but a Storm Lance. Had I gotten the last storm lance Olov could only really have gotten 2 CP here which would be fine. 3 however, might be too many.

Karmic justice (or blind luck) saved me though, and Olov's lance failed to kill my contesting one. The Stormwall goes in and punches the shit out of my objective though, and throws down a pod to disrupt my Charger AND kill Ragman. 0-2 and I'm in a good position even though Ragman went down.

After my response this is what the board looks like:

The Stormwall went down as expected after repudiate strips Arcane Shield, Olov's last Storm Lance died and my right flag is secured (albeit not scored on yet). I again chose to contest with only a Trencher on my left flank, I don't think Olov is going to get to 5 CP before I can grind him down. Olov's Thorn is tangling with a Grenadier as well as my Thorn, which I'm feeling okay about. Thorn is more important for Haley2 than Haley3, especially so when Haley2 is trying to close out a scenario.

Olov scores his third control point in his next turn but can't kill much else.

After my next turn I've scored my 1st control point after killing the firefly. Both echoes charged into the ironclad and kills it (though I think the charger helped a lot as well, beforehand). I run the rightmost grenadier towards the left flag to help contest, but in a bout of failure I neither declare intent nor measure the distance to the flag. I'm just out of 4'', like a scrub.

Olov charges Haley2 in to score his 4th point by stabbing past Haley in the back and TKing Future Haley away from the flag. Lanyssa runs from the left flag to contest the right, denying me a second CP.

I manage to kill Haley2 in retaliation, shooting her down with Future Haley, the charger and the grenadier even before the storm lances can activate. 

Victory!

As predicted Haley3 can win out in a long grind versus Haley2 but can be pressured on the scenario. Had Olov decided to go for attrition instead of the scenario top of 3 I think the game would've dragged out for a while with a similar conclusion, though maybe the stormwall could have survived a turn longer had it chosen to kill a grenadier instead, or maybe just shot down 2 storm lances. Haley2 feat is very strong versus Haley3, effectively shutting the cloudwall down. 

After 4 (and a half) games I felt finished and was glad we were done for the day. My pairing of Haleys 2 & 3 has served me very well lately not leaving any obvious holes that I've encountered so far. I've yet to play versus Skorne in Mk 3 though, and Mercenaries, so maybe there's something I haven't encountered yet.

Next opportunity I have to game is at Battle of Westridge, the 10-11th of September. I'll 100 % be running these lists at that tournament. 

These reports were likely shit from lack of pictures, rambling style of writing and lack of experience battle reporting.

Good night, readers!

Battle Report 1: Cygnar vs Cryx

Welcome to my first attempt at writing a battle report! 

This is obviously new to me so I guess I'm going to write a few bad reports before I start getting some kind of hang of it. I'm trying to remember to take pictures while playing, but for this first game I didn't get all of them. So sometimes there will be a start of my turn, sometimes a start of my opponent's turn and so on. It will have to do.

So this game was set up against a friend playing Cryx who wanted to practice versus Haley3. I was happy to oblige, as you can imagine. He was going to play the Witch Coven of Gharlghast, with a new list for him.

I ran Haley3 as I wrote about earlier:

Major Prime Victoria Haley [+25]
 - Grenadier [9]
 - Grenadier [9]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Thorn [13]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Charger [9]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4]
Ragman [4]

NOTE; I proxy the two grenadiers for this game, using a hunter and a firefly.

This was Stefan's list:

The Witch Coven of Garlghast [+26]
 - Egregore [0]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Barathrum [15]
 - Deathjack [23]
 - Scavenger [7]
 - Scavenger [7]
 - The Withershadow Combine [9]
Soulhunters (max) [18]
Ragman [4]

We both use the objective which is harder to shoot down.

As for what Stefan's list does, I didn't really know beforehand except that it assassinates squishy spellcasters well. Luckily I only brought 3 of those..

Stefan set up a scenario for us, and choses Extraction from SR 2016. We roll of for starting and I win with a 3-1, so I go first. Stefan choses the side with the incredible forest hiding the objective, but at least I get a hill a little bit off center.

Deployment and Cygnar turn 1:

I simply advance and cloud up top of 1. I dislike having to cloud up top of 1 but versus arc nodes running 18 and bolting 8 more inches it's necessary. The two heavies with AD also pushes me back a fair bit without clouds too. I've already misplayed a bit here; thorn should be more centrally, pretty much where the Ironclad is. For this turn Arcane Shield is on the storm lances, as is dirge. 

End of Cygnar Turn 2:

Okay so here's an example of me forgetting to take a picture. Coven has feated here, st up Egregore, Deathjack and a node in a Veil of Mists and pushed forward agressively. Had I had Thorn more centrally I could've scared Deathjack back a fair bit by threatening a domination into shooting death. For my turn 2 I can't really get anything done due to his feat. I push the cloudwall up an inch or two, leave a trencher in his cloud to contest both flags. Storm Lances threaten Deathjack's position. 

I've left the grenadiers a bit back from the cloud wall to maintain their Dig In and stay away from walking threat of his heavies. An important note here is moving Arcane Shield to the Haley unit; without it dying over the course of two turns (or even one if unlucky) to a few Stygian Abysses is far too likely.

Start of Cygnar turn 3:

Stefan scores 2 on his turn, charging the two trenchers with a Scavenger each. One of them can't get away due to tough, so a soulhunter kills the left trencher while a node has to run up and score the flag. I'm down 0-2 but this isn't that big a problem, Haley3 stalls scenario very well. My plan is to take the 2 scavengers and the arc node, score on the left flag. I also want to feat for a Force Hammer onto the Soulhunter in front of Barathrum and shoot the jack with my Grenadier and Charger. 

End of Cygnar turn 3:

Past Haley missed her boosted 8 for the Force Hammer so no damage done to Barathrum. Occultation means I haven't really been able to punish his Soulhunters either. I position my Storm Lances badly here, the back two are far too close. Haley has to drop Tactical Supremacy for two reasons: I want the focus to camp and I can't think of a way to get meaningful attrition work done with my grenadiers while maintaining a cloudwall. The lights die very easily. The ironclad has moved up to present a target to lure something in. 1-2 on scenario.

Here I really forgot to take a picture after Stefan's turn 3 which really ruins this battle report to some extent. Stefan had a play for 3 points on scenario winning immediately, but felt it relied on three or four sort of dicey plays so he decides to go for a great attrition turn instead. Barathrum charged and killed my rightmost grenadier, he clears my left flag (including a Withershadow Combine member one-shotting a storm lance..) but cannot score it and the soulhunters kill the ironclad with the help of Curse of Shadows.

End of Cygnar turn 4:

So for my turn 4 I have to accomplish something big. I decide to kill Barathrum (who used to be right in front of where Thorn is), a soulhunter or two and get lots of damage done on Deathjack. The clouds where Prime Haley is standing shouldn't be there anymore. My trenchers get shit all work done, except the one managing to stab down a soulhunter engaging my grenadier and the one which toughs a freestrike from Barathrum to unengage him. The charger, journeyman and thorn kills Barathrum. I thought past Haley would have to help here, but midturn I decide to charge both echoes into Deathjack after the grenadier shoots it up a bit. Sadly it survives on 1 box.. Womp womp. 

I AGAIN forget to take a picture of Stefan's turn. He throws Stygian Abysses at my two echoes, crit blinds both. Past gets killed by a charging Soulhunter while Future actually survives the bolt and the deathripper since she camped 1. Deathjack healed a few boxes from killing trenchers, much to my chagrin.

End of Cygnar turn 5:

By now the game is done bar me getting assassinated. I shoot down Ragman so he can't contest the right flag, clear out 2 more soulhunters, an arc node and Deathjack. I decide to resummon past Haley - I probably shouldn't here and just camp since the game really is on lockdown anyway, but I like her so much. 2-2 CP.

End of Cryx turn 5:

Stefan kills Future Haley for fun, runs the arc node and tries to kill Haley3 with two Stygian Abysses. I'm only at def 20 so he hits both but with AS and 1 camp he can't get close at all. Stefan concedes at this point since I'm killing most of his things and winning on scenario next turn.

Victory!

Like many games when playing Haley3, keeping Prime alive and just carrying on killing works well. I think the match up is slightly favouring Cygnar, Cryx can't punish the smokewall well enough. 

As for my own play, this game leaves a fair bit to be desired. I positioned badly on several occasions, most notably Thorn, but I got Ragman stuck too far back so he couldn't come up and help the turn I wanted to kill Deathjack. Thorn being too far right really cost me the ability to Repudiate off Occultation and get working on the Soulhunters, but on the other hand that would mean not camping anything so maybe my positioning mistake just saved me from making a bigger mistake. 

Versus spellcasters like Coven (and casters like Lylyth1 shooting a couple of 12s) it's key to not get greedy and wait for too long to switch over arcane shield and dirge of mists (or tough) to Haley3. Turn 2 is usually when I go for it; rather safe than sorry and all that. 

Lesson learned, keep Thorn central. 

Mk 3 so far

Good evening!

Okay, ideally I would have started this blog as Mk 3 was announced, and I could have started writing directly, chronicled all my games and generally seem like an on the ball-kind of guy! Alas.

So now I’m 24 games into Mk 3. Except the very first game, where I played Nemo3 (which honestly was Mk 2,5 rather than Mk 3) I haven’t strayed very far from the obvious casters for Cygnar – Haley2, Haley3, Caine2, Sloan:

• 6-2 with Haley3.
• 6-0 with Haley2.
• 4-3 with Caine2.
• 0-2 with Kara Sloan.
• 1-0 with Nemo3

… Apparently Sloan isn’t for me.

This adds up to 17-7 which I’m sort of happy with. I’ve played in one tournament so far, a 12 player affair which I got lucky enough to take down with a 4-0 record, and participated in one training weekend for the Swedish WTC teams.

Not surprisingly I’m happy with Cygnar in Mk 3. We definitely feel like one of the top factions in the game, maybe 2nd to Retribution. I guess the actual ranking depends on how far Wurmwood can carry Circle, haha. I do wish they had buffed stuff like Stormblades a little more (or maybe Storm Lances should’ve been less buffed.. ) so we could see a little more variation in our lists – it feels a lot like Storm Lances, battle group and sometimes Trenchers wherever I look nowadays.

Currently I’m playing Haley2 and Haley3, just as I did in the latter parts of Mk 2. To me they’re definitely the two strongest warcasters in Cygnar still, though casters like Caine2 and Sloan certainly came a bit closer with the edition change.

The lists I’m playing right now are these:

Should've gone for less contrasts in the swirling cloak.

Haley 2 [+25]
– Ironclad [12]
– Thorn [13]
– Stormwall [39]
– Squire [5]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
– Firefly [8]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]

This list is stolen from Olannon.



I’ll edit in a picture of Haley3 when I finish painting them.

Haley 3 [+25]
– Grenadier [9]
– Grenadier [9]
– Ironclad [12]
– Thorn [13]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
– Charger [9]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Ragman [4]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4]

The thought behind the pairing isn’t all that interesting: as I said above I think these two casters are the two strongest ones in Cygnar right now. They’re also both very fun to play and the lists vary enough that the best choices against each list vary at least somewhat. Furthermore, it’s the two casters in Cygnar I have played the most in Mk 2 so I’ve got familiarity pointing me in this direction as well.

This early in Mk 3 I don’t think I can predict the meta to good enough a degree that I can take a main list and then make an off list to cover its worst match ups, so instead I’m bringing two main lists. Obviously there are some differences in which matches each list work well into, but they’re both very strong generalist lists.

That’s it for now! Next up is, hopefully, a battle report, on Tuesday or Wednesday.

An introduction

Greetings and salutations!

If you’ve found this blog you’re probably a fan of Privateer Press’ game systems Warmachine & Hordes, as I am. I have played warmahordes for over three years now, beginning to take it seriously something like fifteen months ago. I’ve grown into a competent player, albeit with a bit left to the absolute top. I’ve been suggested that making an effort to record and analyse my games could help me climb that extra bit needed to truly become a contender for the big games.

When I first got into warmahordes I picked up a Cygnar battle box, keen to get into robots and trenchers and storm knights. This was Mk 2; luckily I read up a bit before I started buying more. I played Cygnar for a bit, before the call of Ethrunbal became overpowering and I got into Legion of Everblight. For the bigger parts of Mk 2 Legion was my faction of choice, with smaller periods of Cygnar or Protectorate of Menoth. December 2015 I picked my Cygnar back up – in part a tactical choice since the list of presumptive players for WTC 2016 was filled with people who could pilot the dragonspawn better than I could – and I’m very glad that I did. Haley3 was (and still is) the most fun warcaster in the game so far, and I had gotten enough better to make good use of other casters in the Cygnar stable, such as Haley2.

My first warmachine model. I hadn't learned how to take non-blurry pictures yet.

When Mk 3 has rolled around I decided I was to stick to Cygnar as long as I could. I’m generally struggling with sticking to a faction for a longer while, but considering how fun Cygnar has become in Mk 3 I’m having less problems than I used to. That being said, later in the autumn I will likely dabble in Retribution of Scyrah a little bit.
So that’s for a rambling beginning. My next post is likely going to briefly talk about the games I have played so far in Mk 3 and following that I will try to provide battle reports and similar from the games I play after that.

Cheers!