Fail Tournaments

Ok, so due to personal issues I showed up for the Domination Release event at Matrix Cards and Games, but had to leave before the games started.  I have no idea how many finally showed up or even who won.  *sigh*  I have a suspicion, due to the relieved look in some people's eyes, that I would have cleared house.  Oh well.

I showed up to the Quarterly Warmachine/Hordes Tournament at the Armory.  Turns out... it was just Gramut and I.  Oh well... so much for tournament lists.  We had a friendly 35 point game.  I brought the following list:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight (+6)

• Typhon (12)
• Shredder (2)

Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Max) (6 pts)
Blighted Nyss Swordsmen (Max) (8 pts)
      w/ Blighted Nyss Abbot & Champion (3 pts)
Incubus (5 pts)
Blighted Ogrun Warmongers (Min) (5 pts)

VS.

Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (+5)

• Ol' Rowdy (9)
• Ironclad (7)
• Squire (2)

Horgenhold Forge Guard (Max) (8)
Precursor Knights (8)
     w/ Precursor Knight Officer & Standard (2)
Reinholt, Gobber Speculator (1)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2)

For me, this was an insanely infantry heavy list.  I basically set up my Legionnaires in little pyramids with the Swordsmen in a line behind them.  I would always activate Rhyas first in order to cast Dash and then run everything up the board.  The Warmongers ran up the side opposite Siege as a flanking unit.  My infantry were completely torn apart by Siege's AOEs and two Trampling Heavy Warjacks.  Typhon obliterated Ol' Rowdy with just his 3 initial attacks.  Rapport is overkill on Typhon, he doesn't need the 8 MAT or 7 RAT to take down a rival Heavy.  In the end the Warmongers and the Incubi forced Siege to move closer to the the center of the board and the ninja-Rhyas.  It did not matter that 3/4 of my army was gone, it only took one Critical Decapitation from a charging, Weaponmaster Rhyas to end the game.

I always enjoy a game against Gramut.  It never feels like it is forced and it is great to throw strategies back and forth while we play.  I haven't touched Rhyas since MK1 so it was nice to take her out for a spin.  Infantry LoE is a whole different game than the one I am used to.  I can almost see taking something like the Throne of Everblight with Rhyas.  She is faster than most of an already fast army and is rather Fury inefficient.  But, if you can open up a charge lane (and by that all I mean is provide her with room for her base) she can be an incredibly vicious melee assassin.

Forsaken

Despite claims to the contrary, by the distributor, Chris at the Armory received two blisters of the Forsaken on Monday.  I happily handed over cash for the two beautifully blighted solos that will make my tier 4, 50 point Absyliona army dominate the field.

I plan on running the following infantry destroying list:

Absylonia (+5 WBP)

• Shredder (2)
• Shredder (2)
• Shredder (2)
• Typhon (11)
• Carnivean (10)
• Angelius (9)
• Seraph (7)
• Seraph (7)

The Forsaken (2)
The Forsaken (2)
The Forsaken (2)

Bwuahahahaha!  I plan on utilizing the terrain for this scenario to the fullest.  The narrow canyon down the middle makes for an awesome killbox.  Few things are capable of passing the 6" obstruction down both sides.  Note: Abby, 2x Seraphs, and the Angelius all have Flight allowing them to run over the sides if necessary and (hopefully) unexpectedly.

Distribution Problems

So I had a plan for the Domination Release event this Thursday.  That plan involved having more Forsaken in my army.  Apparently the Forsaken seem to be out of stock with every distributor my LGS's order from.  As far as I know, I am the only legion player in the area.  I cannot even seem to find someone to borrow at least one Forsaken.

So... without at least one more Forsaken, I cannot run Abby's tier list.  This increases the cost of all my heavies, and basically rules out my chances of using Advance Move and Advance Deployed Lessers to mob the centerline. 

*sigh* 

*growl* 

*grumble*

This is the first time Privateer Press' distribution problems have truly affected me.  For a basic model such as this, they really need to step up their production capacity.  I can only imagine how much worse it is for Warmachine players who cannot get things like basic units.

Proteus and Modular Kits

Let me start out by saying how much I love PP for introducing the tentacle-love in Domination.  The evolution of land-shark to flying snake to tentacle horror is not only awesome, but gives me a happy tool box full of variety.

I give you, Proteus:

I love this model.  Along with this, they are releasing a multi-part plastic kit for the Carnivean/Scythean/Ravagore body in February (YES!).  This does make me pause a bit in my desire to pick up a Scythean and a Ravagore for Xmas, maybe I should consider Gators or Skorne in the meantime.

I wanted to leave you with something that PPS_Simon (PP Community Coordinator) said about the evolving themes / looks within the Warmachine / Hordes armies.

Abysliona vs. Barnabas 35 points

I tried the proto-typical Abyslonia tier 4, 35 point list (with a few proxies):

Absylonia (+5 WBP)

• Typhon (11)
• Angelius (8)
• Sycthean (8)
• Shredder x2 (4)
• Stinger (2)

Forsaken x3 (6)
Shepherd (1)

I was facing Gramut who was running the following Blindwater Congregation list:

Bloody Barnabas (+6 WBP)

• Bull Snapper (3)
• Blackhide Wrastler (9)
• Blackhide Wrastler (9)

Gatorman Posse - Max (9)
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw (9)
Croak Hunter (2)

Gramut won the role and decided to deploy first.  Pretty standard deployment; beasts in the middle with a Gatorman Posse flank to my right and Wrong Eye & Snapjaw to my left.  I deployed my Angelius and Typhon in the middle with the Scythean a bit too far to my right, across from the Gatorman Posse.  Each heavy had a pet Forsaken and a Lesser.  The Scythean also had the Shepherd to help with Abby's small control range.  What I did not anticipate was being outside of the range of Abby's spells on the first turn.  Gramut was not so amused at my three heavies gaining Advance Move thanks to the tier benefits.

The first turn saw the Gatorman Posse run up through some rough terrain thanks to a Prayer and all of the other beasts advance slowly and rile.  I believe he tossed Spiny Growth on the Blackhide Wrastlers and Wrong Eye & Snapjaw Submerged.  I started my turn by advancing Abby and casting Forced Evolution on the Angelius and Playing God on Typhon.  Typhon prepped for the following round by using Excessive Healing.  I was irritated at myself that the Scythean was too far away to get Carnivore; live and learn.  Everything advanced together.  I could not reach the Posse on a charge, so I decided to just advance and gambled that the Posse could not take down the Scythean in one turn.  His pet shredder used Tenacity to boost his armor a bit more.  The Angelius also gained Tenacity, bringing his DEF / ARM to 17 / 18.  That always makes me giggle a bit.

Second turn saw the Gatorman Posse charge the Scythean.  They made a sizable dent in his life spiral, but failed to kill him.  One of his Gatormen decided to smash the Scythean's pet Shredder.  Poor little guy.  Then Gramut wanted to play around with gator-tossing so he threw Snapjaw towards Typhon and followed that up with the Blackhide Wrastler using Rise.  Snapjaw followed up with a charge, but failed to significantly hurt Typhon.  Excessive Healing was helpful, but not a significant difference in the long run.  I can see how it would protect Typhon or his Warlock from Anatomical Precision or Blight Field related death-by-a-thousand-cuts.  The irritating Croak Hunter that I forgot about got a lucky shot on the Angelius' pet Forsaken and took him out with Poison.  I don't recall Barnabas doing much of anything this turn.  My round saw the Scythean wrecking some Gatorman Posse face.  In one turn he took down three of the five gatorman and injured the other two.  His pet forsaken tore into one of the remaining Gatormen.  Sadly, the remaining Gatorman passed his command check.  Abby activated and moved to the middle to catch the Scythean in her command range and Feated to heal all three damaged beasts.  The other Shredder went Rabid, charged the Croak Hunter, and ate him.  Typhon tore into Snapjaw with multiple bites.  I could not get a decent angle on any sprays, but bites were sufficient to remove him from the table.  The Angelius took this opportunity to charge one of the Wrastlers and significantly damage him with a few well placed tail strikes.  My damage rolls were not sufficient to take him out of commission, ARM 19 is rough, but I did enough damage to take out two spirals for the round.

Third turn had Barnabas cast Swamp Pit in the center of the table, hide in the aforementioned pit and Feat.  With everything knocked down, but the Serpentine Angelius, the now slightly healed Blackhide Wrastler used a Two-Handed Throw to toss him back toward a Dug-In Stinger and Typhon's pet Forsaken.  He hit the Forsaken with the automatic Melee attack from the throw, but somehow nothing died.  In my round my remaining shredder failed it's frenzy check, and due to an odd rule in the book, he stood up and moved to engage the nearest Wrastler, but had to forfeit his action so there was no actual attack.  All of the other beasts added a Fury for Shake Effect and stood up.  The Scythean killed the remaining Gatorman and then riled for four so the Forsaken could Consume Fury and then move to a position to threaten Barnabas next turn.  Typhon charged a Wrastler, killed it on the first hit and then tore into the second Wrastler who was also in range.  My Angelius then charged the remaining Wrastler, killed it, used Overtake to engage the Bull Snapper, and killed that too.  The second Forsaken then used Consume Fury on Typhon and moved to threaten Barnabas.  So by the end of the third turn, I had destroyed his entire squad of 8 wound Gatormen, three heavy warbeasts, a light warbeast and positioned five different, and barely damaged, threats around a Fury packed Barnabas.

Playing through the Fourth turn, Barnabas charged Typhon hoping for a trophy kill.  Sadly, despite boosts and extra attacks, Barnabas would not be taking him down with him.  In my round, a Forced Evolutioned-Typhon ate Barnabas for breakfast.

This game was a lot of fun.  We took a while because a lot of strange rule questions came up, but it was a good learning experience.  Gramut is trying to relearn his Gators in preparation for the Domination Release event in two weeks.  I would like to bring an Abby list to the game and I wanted to test her tier before I committed to more Forsaken and a Scythean.  The trick at 50 points is deciding if it is worth keeping the tier benefits and adding a Carnivean and a Raek, or dropping the tier to add a unit of Raptors.  More beasts means more Fury, but Fury management is not a problem with this list.  Losing the tier means losing that important Advance Move for my heavies.  Gramut has decided to trade out Wrong Eye & Snapjaw for a second max-Gatorman Posse.

Angelius

I realized I do not have a very good web record of my full collection.  Here is a short photo-log of my Angelius assembly and the final, painted and based project.

Assorted parts, cleaned and ready for assembly.

Cygnar wreck marker as a base to counter balance the weight of the awkward wings.

Assembled and ready for paint.

Painted and ready to stab things.  

I am still working on figuring out how to shoot these mini's with a camera.  My point and shoot does not offer enough manual options to make it easy and my wife's DSLR is a bit intimidating.

Absylonia, Terror of Everblight

Abby is my second favorite warlock after eLylyth.  I love her style (in your face with an ass-load of heavy warbeasts) and her fluff (mother of dragonspawn).

Her tier lists fit my playstyle perfectly; lots of heavy warbeasts, some forsaken and shepherds.  On top of this, the tier grants AD lesser warbeasts, Advance Move heavies, cheaper heavies, and extra forsaken.  What's not to love.

Theme Army -- Winds of Change
     Warbeasts: Non-character warbeasts, Typhon
     Units: Spawning Vessel
     Solos: Blighted Nyss Shepherd, the Forsaken

Tier 1
Requirement: Army only uses listed models.
Benefit: +1 FA of Forsaken solos increases for each Heavy Warbeast in army.

Tier 2
Requirement: Battlegroup includes 3+ Lesser Warbeasts.
Benefit: Lesser warbeasts in battlegroup gain Advanced Deployment.

Tier 3
Requirement: Army includes two or more Forsaken solos.
Benefit: For each Forsaken you take, one Heavy Warbeast in battlegroup gets Advance Move.

Tier 4
Requirement: Battlegroup includes at least two Heavy Warbeasts.
Benefit: Point Cost of Heavy Warbeasts reduced by 1.

Based on this information, a Tier 4 list, at 35 points, builds itself:

Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (+5)
Typhon (12/11)
Carnivean (11/10)
Angelius (9/8)
Shredder x3 (2 each)
the Forsaken x2 (2 each)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1)

With free upkeeps for her battlegroup put Playing God on Typhon, Carnivore on the Carnivean, and Forced Evolution on the Angelius.  You can Advance Move Typhon, to make up for his slow speed, and the Carnivean to draw attention.

The best part about her tier list?  I already have the models I need, minus one Forsaken.  Buying a $12 model for a tier list is a lot more comfortable than buying a second unit of something I will never use outside of the Tier.  In the past I have avoided her tier list because I felt it was missing something without Typhon, but now that the three headed bugger is in my blighted fists I feel worthy of bringing the Terror of Everblight to the table.