Another Warmachine tournament, another round of information and tactics to assimilate.
So how did I do? I did well enough for what I was up against. Most of the players today, have been playing for years; one of which is the reigning UK National champion for the 4th year running. The first game was against Mercenaries, which was a foregone intimidating defeat before we had began. The bulk of the army was 3 full units of Steelhead Halbardiers (10 troopers), so on the board without anything else was 30 troopers. Add to this Alexia & the Risen, which respawn undead; when a living model is killed within 2 inches. There is also no limit on the number of undead, so it just kept increasing with each Steelhead I killed.
2nd game was my first match up against Retribution, which was really helpful and interesting. It was helpful, in the sense that I learned a lot about how this faction work. I think in the case of this game, Caste choice was the problem; not my tactics. Army list consisted of the following:
Iron Lich Asphyxious, Slayer, Stalker, Defiler, Ogrun Bokur, Skarlock Thrall, Bane Thralls, Mechanithralls and Warwitch Siren.
As Retribution can shut down magic attacks and abilities, running this list was a poor choice. I might have been better running this list, which is less magic focused; more combat heavy.
Goreshade, Stalker, Stalker, Skarlock, Warwitch Siren, Ogrun Bokur, Mechanithralls and Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders.
Third game, Protectorate of Menoth. This was a really tight game, which could have gone either way. Going to time, Menoth was up 1 control point. My final turn, I had Asphyxious (aka Gaspy), the Slayer and a stalker I think. Slayer was in melee with Revenger, Gaspy in melee with a single Exemplar Errant; with another an inch from the control flag. It was risky, but a plan formed to at least get a draw. Slayer, 3 focus; picks up the Revenger and double handed throws it 5 inches way. Gaspy ignores the Errant in melee; taking a free strike attack and surviving. So far so good. Gaspy walks up to other Errant, smacks it senseless; but is still an inch away to claim control point. 2 focus spent, Teleport next to the flag and claim the point. As it was a draw, it went to secondary conditions, which in this case I claimed 5 points for caster claiming flag and 3 from Slayer being within a certain distance. A win, but not the clean victory it could have been.
Last match up was against Mercs again, this time with Dwarves and Trollblood mercenaries. I ran the Goreshade list, just for the fun of it; being the last game. It actually turned out to be a reasonable choice, though some poor dice rolls and opponents superior playing; made it look easy for them.
Thoroughly enjoyed myself, with the only blemish being that I didn’t win the Wooden Spoon this time. Oh well, there is always Glasgow in 20th November.
