Ides of Derp, Part deux

Game 5 I drew against Ian with his Legion. He used pVayl, and I again dropped eXerxis, on Two Fronts.

I had heard how good a player Ian was, that he basically doesn't play for the entire year but emerges from the muck once or twice a year to roflstomp dudes. Things started well for me, when he positioned his Scythean where Molik removed him trivially. Following the Legion reprisal, I got greedy eyes seeing him place his Seraph within side-step range of Vayl. I took the bait, and got a prompt reminder that Vayl had Dark Sentinel as the Seraph slipped away. I tried to mitigate things as much as possible, with the rest of the game jockeying between the two of us throwing models in each other's zone, and ticking off control points. After a bit of to-and-fro Ian closed it by dominating his zone once more, and flinging Typhon into the objective. Another awesome game, but I was ultimately outclassed.

Game 6 saw me plonked in front of Shed regular Dan Lister, with me dunking eXerxis into Butcher 2 Doom Reaver spam, in Fire Support.

Dan pretty trivially took the scenario win. By and large, that's the way things would go with this particular match up. And some people have questioned my list choice, considering I had things like Nihilators, Keltarii and Incindiarii in my Mordikaar list. But the way I figured it was that Mordi just didn't have the bodies to be able to get up attritionally, whereas the Xerxis list had pieces that would negate berserk, and the speed to bully a flank and start working across the board. It was a bit of a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't. And my idea with Xerxis may have worked had I chosen the correct flank to bully; with a shitty obstacle, bang smack in the middle of the table just out of my deployment zone, I veered to the right away from my objective and flag. As I started shaving away at Doom Reavers, darting in and out with my Archidon, Molik and Brutes, Butcher trotted up the board and claimed the scenario victory.

Final round placed me against Andrew who dropped Gorten with a tonne of dudes, and I went with Mordikaar, into Incursion.

The match up favoured me in the attrition battle, but I discovered I had so many small component pieces in the list that I ground down my clock WAY too much over two particular turns. Having several pieces gives the list a lot more dynamic play, but holy shit did it make me work for it. By the end I had chewed through 30 Forgeguard, and half his high shields, with the Despoiler in their midst creating a new Void Spirit every turn. the Cetratii kept being Revived back, and the Agoniser again wouldn't die, shutting down his jacks. But to get to that point I ended up with only 3 minutes on my clock before I finally committed Mordikaar to the flag on the far right and started to tick off the CPs. However that wasn't enough, and I clocked as Mordikaar shot off an offending High Shield that has run to contest the flag, leaving me on 4 CPs as the buzzer went.

So that was my Ides of March experience. My worst tournament result to date, coming out with 2 wins and 5 losses. I was pretty flustered about that, but the immediate sledging I copped definitely drew me out of any foul mood I may have had. But beyond that, it wasn't like I felt I compltely mishandled things; some of my losses were really close, and in the games where I timed out I was winning in other areas. The other losses hinged on missing one vital rule, or play, and I can strike that one up to experience and now knowing what to do next time.

Overall, my performance is like this drawing of a cock I found in the Takapuna Grammar toilets:

Bent and flaccid, and while still arched threateningly, all I produce is dotty piss.

It is with some ambivalence I consider where I move forward. There's definitely consideration to give Mordikaar and Xerxis a wee break, and I think that would be healthy. The lists I still like a lot though, and if I had not made those mistakes, or managed my clock better, I would have a far more respectable win-ratio. But for now I'm looking to the Hexeris's and Makeda's for a break, and revisit Zaal.

But mad thanks must go out to David Stent for running yet another great event. All my playing and rumination on this game is in preparation for these tournaments, and its just a pleasure when you come out the other end of an event like this just wanting more. A large part of that is the result of Stent's organisational abilities and the hard work he puts in.  

He's still way eviller than I am though.

Ides battle reports - Part 1

Come one, come all, partake in this greek tragedy of minor proportions, the trials and tribulations of a befuddled wargamer down under, read the ramblings of a man pissing into the wind.

All aboard for this glorious train ride, the tales of my games at the Ides of March.

To reiterate, I brought along Mordikaar and eXerxis. Both lists of my own design, shaped and chiseled with the help of such luminaries as Chas A Roberts, Chris Baker, Nikola Jaksic and Adam Oakson. Your input and help through this was most appreciated, the dojo'ing of lists always an enlightening and enjoyable process.

Game 1 vs Josh W, facing the eHaley with Mordikaar in Close Quarters.

Josh having 2 Stormwalls with eHaley, I felt I couldn't drop eXerxis. There was past discussion that the amount of shield-guards I have in that list complicates things for him, but I still felt Mordikaar was the better drop, particularly with the agoniser in there. And boy did that mewling little fucker get some work done. After Josh failed to stick any shots onto him, Aggy went on to deny allocation to both colossals for the rest of the game. Things also didn't look too flash when I set Haley on fire with the perfect scatter at the bottom of 1. With Keltarii swarming around the Stormwalls and refusing to die, I got Mordikaar and his Reptile Hound onto the flags to get me the scenario win.

Game 2 vs Louie, Axis tier vs eXerxis, in Recon.

This was one brutal game. I dropped eXerxis figuring that it had the beef to weather the attacks of massed infantry, and in theory, this more or less worked out; even though I barely dinged his army overall, I was steadily claiming control points on my left flag. I did not focus properly on this goal however, and ended up burning through my clock getting too caught up in killing irrelevant stuff. My last seconds were spent using Xerxis *Pitch for the first time ever to fling his jack away from contesting the flag. Such a rad game.

Other notable radness was Rhadiem holding a flank by himself for ages. Remember the rules for Evasive, I was able to duck and weave through the sprays of his Reductors to end up engaging them and preventing further sprays. He's so money, and I'm beginning to think he's actually worth his 5pts more and more.

Game 3 vs the Big D, Daryl Painter and his legion; eAbsylonia vs eXerxis, in Destruction.

This game hinged on me making one vital mistake: running Rhadiem off to the side to allow Abby to proc Conferred Rage. It was a little frustrating that I ran through the math, figured out the threat ranges, sussed out everything academically, but still fucked it up. I think I had a vague idea that getting Abby to Rhadiem off to the side would pull her away from the center of the table and her battle group, but her feat is a pulse anyway and more importantly she has Teleport.

AHURRRRR.

I promptly lost all five of my cyclops' on that turn, and just expected to die after that. Some how I managed to hold on for a few more turns, miraculously destroying his Carnivean, Scythean and Seraph with only my Archidon left out of my battlegroup ( a big part of that was hurtling it into Abby in the attempt to kill her). At the end though, it was Abby and a mangled Ravagore vs Xerxis and some support staff, so big X finally went down.

Game 4 vs the Big Show; Chris T, again running Kara Sloan into eXerxis. Scenario was Incoming me thinks.

After our game at Battlecry where I fumbled things pretty bad, I was stoked to have a chance to make up for the loss. With the speed and shield guards in tow, and no Stormwall in sight, I felt confident Xerxis would be able to bring it home. Going into the tank for a while on my second turn, I decided it was time to feat and get the alpha, removing both his Hunters, and leaving Thunderhead with no arms or cortex. I almost fucked things up though, thinking I had to push my Brutes out the far edge of his zone, but out of shield guard range. But I weathered Kara's feat turn, and the position of the Brutes prevented any of his Murder-ponies from contesting. My following turn was just mop up; killing the objective to make sure I secured the scenario win, before sending in Molik to one-two Kara.

That being the end of the day, a group of us headed back to my place, then back to the Shore to pick up Luke H's keys, then back to my place, where beers, curry and discussion degenerated into how lethal paracetamol is for cats. And perving at Nikola's crotch.

Ides of March prep, and playstyle musings.

All things Warmachine related have started to fade for myself some what. I've been more of a passive participant in this game as university has started back up and I've begun my psychology internship. I'm training to become an over-thinker by profession, so how about that. With the rest of life occupying my thoughts I've largely switched off on the armies I've prepped for Ides; the lists are submitted and now I don't want to worry about it.

The lists being in has allowed Eviler Dave to post up a numerical break down of all the lists on the Thrallblacks page. there's some pretty tasty food for thought there, though I'm unsure how accurate it is knowing there were at least two drop outs; the number 1 taken caster was Butcher3, though his tally should be siting at 3 instead of the giddy heights of 5. That pushes Krueger2 into the number one spot, and hopefully I have the answer to that particular caster in my Xerxis2 list.

The overall representation of factions is pretty broad, with a pretty even split between Hordes and Warmachine, making the playing field pretty diverse. For what looks to be a 50 player event, I'm looking forward to seeing who I draw against, with the hope that the odds of facing someone from my garage nights are lower. It'll be something like 4 or 5 to 1, so still a pretty high chance, but better than the near 2:1 chance there was at Battlecry. The one stat Dave hasn't included is the lesser warbeast breakdown. I just want confirmation that I'm the only person who's bringing a Reptile hound :P

Beyond the whole lead up to Ides, I've been ingesting way too many podcasts. there's been a veritable wealth of stuff to listen to. Arcane Assist, Muse on Minis and Chain Attack, all the Ozmachine Steakhouse stuff, and I'm sitting on the new Thrall Life. What I found most intriguing lately was episode 28 of Ozmachine with Jason Flanzer. They covered a pretty broad discussion on what a playstyle in Warmachine and Hordes actually looks like. Defining their approaches to the game was illuminating in considering the ways I could relate within my own games, and just what I personally brought to the game besides what the game developers had designed themselves.

They weren't able to definitively define what 'playstyle' in WM/H looks like though, instead discussing their own approach to playing,m and how that is enacted through their choices of faction, army list, and activation sequences. So do we as individuals have a particular playstyle that each of us bring to this game? Well I would argue this is something that can be developed over time and with experience within the game. Initially, we have to work within the limitations of what Privateer Press has set out for us, and gather experience on what works, and what doesn't. As that progresses, I suppose a person would gravitate towards a particular suite of choices, or change faction if they do not like the choices presented to them. I see this as being separate from possessing a particular form of analysis of the game that allows you to exert your own agency within the game's rules.

And perhaps this is what they were talking about when they referred to Will Pagani hating the term 'playstyle' in reference to this game; people would like to think they express their agency and an individual approach to the game, but because we all play by the same rules, the same moves/options are available to EVERYONE if they buy the same stuff. That isn't to say that I agree with Pagani that there is no such thing as playstyle, its just that my concept of playstyle can only ever describe the individual choices one makes within the limits of the game.

So what is my playstyle? Or rather, what I should be asking myself is what are choices that I've made in this game that somewhat dictate the ways I play?

And because I've written this with nil pics, here's a kid with a chicken nugget pez dispenser

decision/indecision

Today lists for the Ides of March, two-day steamroller were due, and I was finding it really fucking hard to wrangle those last few odds and ends for my lists. I played two games with my Mordikaar list, as part of gaming to celebrate a mate Josh's birthday,

and tried on various modifications to the list in attempts to hit that magical 50pt sweet spot.

Holy shit it was hard. Vorkesh came in, and went out, Nihilators went down to a min unit, and disappeared, Incindiarii came back, Tiberion made a brief appearance, the Archidon tried out, Gladiators were considered and then hastily scrapped. Discussions and dojo'ing followed, and I noticed something a little funny; others were able to discuss with certainty what I should bring to make the most of my lists, but would struggle with their own. Similarly, I can say with confidence what others should slot into their lists, based on what knowledge I may have, but can work myself into circles putting things into and out of my lists.

Part of that I guess is a level of emotional attachment you have with particular key pieces in games. Often my choices with units are based upon how they perform in my games, hence my exclusion of Gladiators and Kreas from my recent lists, but more presence of Archidons and Tyrant Commanders. You can become stuck to the particular instances where certain models performed in particular ways, and that can begin to influence army list decisions, or potentially worse, railroad one to repeat previous moves to try and replicate past games.

Cognitive entanglement aside, I got my lists together and submitted them into Lord Regent and WarmaHordes Grand Dictator at large David Stent, so he can crunch some numbers and spit out some handy stats for people to ooh and aah over. My loins tingle in anticipation.

Got Game? Pt.4 - dance partners

Sweet jangoes, but do I love the formats for Warmachine/Hordes events. The simple matter of having at least two lists that you can use over the course of your games simply blew my mind when I first made the transition from 40K - it was such a simply allowance, that enabled players so much freedom in list creation, as well as adding an additional layer to the game in the form of list-chicken with your opponents. Varying points levels, formats, and all the varied types of events that you can play (Who's the Boss, Foodmachine, Beermachine, Spell Draft, and I'm sure the list goes on), the game is constantly encouraging players to switch things up. And not just necessarily with how they build their lists, but also how they play.

Or at least, that's what it feels like here in New Zealand. I rarely see the players here necessarily relying on net-lists exclusively. There's the odd person (myself included) who may copy the typical eGaspy or Kromac or eGrissel Meat Mountain list as seen internationally, but that tends to be the exception, not the norm.

ugh trolls so meaty, so miserable

That aside, a big part of this game for me extends beyond the development of a single list and game plan, but to how I will pair my lists to elicit favourable matchups at events. Obviously, this is more important for competitive events. WM/H is still played as a more casual, bung everything together affair with friends on a lazy afternoon. But for myself, playing competitively is a very important part of this game. Even the casual games I play I have a default attitude that this is practice for a more competitive setting. 

So, list pairings. To date, the WM/H events I've attended in New Zealand have been two-list affairs. The points levels may vary, but two lists makes things easy for most contenders to travel with, and prepare for most match ups. I had some difficulty deciding my list-pairings. Initially, this was due to lack of models, but I don't have that excuse now - I've just been playing and buying models without fully considering how particular pieces will sit in concordance to two-list events. There were vague ideas that I could build one army that could deal with a high armour skew. Or for masses of infantry. What if someone skews for stealth? Or incorporeal? Gunline? Control casters? Or build something to deal with Cryx. But I was playing Cryx, so what should I do then? Guh.

To give an example of how I used to approach list pairings, I'll use my Terminus and pDeneghra pairing. The Terminus list I explained at length in a previous post here, and was designed to be my main list. I wanted to use that list, with the plan as explained by Lamaron, but I didn't know what to pair Terminus with. I decided on Deneghra for no other reason than people complaining about how nuts she was. I did not know what would be a bad match up for Terminus, or in what situation I'd prefer to use pDenny over Big T. And part of the problem I had going into this was thinking I had to develop both lists to be of equivalent strength. There was no real plan beyond that as to how the lists would even compliment each other; just build them to stand on their own and have at it. At this point I had tried to figure this stuff out predominantly by myself, looking at the odd forum post, but not really consulting the local players here.

Since then I've realised designing a list pairing also requires a type of focus. Where building a single list means assembling units to compliment and synergise with one another to achieve particular in-game goals, design of a list pairing has to step back and consider a series of games and potential match-ups. If you have only one list you try to account for that as best as possible. this was the attitude I had coming from 40K. Listening to an interview with Will Pagani describe his list design where he built an 'off' list to directly address the weaknesses of his main list. And it is this concept of having a 'main' list that I had been missing; make one list that you will generally use against the majority of games, where the 'off' list would be designed to counter those bad match ups.

With my main Terminus list in mind, how would I do things differently now? Speed seems to be a problem. Terminus has a decent threat range, facilitated by the presence of Darragh and Madelyn. Canny opponents have targeted them early in the game due to how they add to Big T's game. The other units in the list also have quite predictable threat ranges. From my perspective, Terminus will have some trouble dealing with control-casters, the likes of the Haleys, eDenny, and Harbinger to an extent. Also MMM Troll styled lists will give Terminus issues with the difficulty getting souls off multi-wound models and the lack of decent landing zones to place Big T. Its not that he doesn't have game in these matchups, but I feel this is where considering building a second list specifically to cater to these issues takes advantage of two-list formats.

Instead of pDenny, I reckon eDenny would be better suited in this pairing. Really, I'm of the opinion that on the surface level they're both damn good to counter issues of speed and control. But eDenny has a better feat for pinning models in place. Around her I'd want to develop a list that uses the fastest units in Cryx; Soulhunters, Bane Riders, Satyxis Raiders and Witches. For 'jacks I'm thinking Nightmare (he'd actually be the slowest thing in the list, outside of Prey buffs), or Deathjack for giggles, maybe a couple of arc nodes, points allowing. A further bonus to this pairing is the lack of character cross-over between the lists. Darragh Wrathe aside, eDenny doesn't want any of the characters Terminus demands. I could even switch things up, consider the eDenny list as my primary list, and consider how Terminus will serve as an off-list; eDenny doesn't like getting caught out by sneaky spell assassinations or getting shot to shit, things Terminus typically looks at and laughs.

shooting?

With Valleycon fast approaching I'm going to have to figure out what my second list is going to be. Writing this post is partly me figuring out my process of choosing who will compliment my main list. It should be obvious by now that I'm going with a version of pXerxis and the Fist of  Halaak. The list is solid, has multiple tools to deal with multiple match ups (particularly tier match ups), and should be forgiving enough for those opponents I'm unfamiliar with. What are the FoH's weaknesses then? Well, maybe speed and control again? Getting jammed or locked in place, not having the threat ranges to take out pieces that can yo-yo into my lines. But this is tricky, because Skorne doesn't really have any solutions for this. Or at least any solutions that are necessarily better than what the FoH has; absorb the hits, then hit back harder...

Obviously the solution to my problems is blind optimism, 

while everyone else looks on in horror. Thanks Coach.

I've tried out Zaal, eXerxis and Rasheth tier lists, and to date nothing is sitting well with me. I've chronicled my games with the former two, and recently I played a game into Matt Bissel's eBorka with a Rasheth Chain Gang list, and was left wanting. It's not that the list was necessarily terrible, it just didn't feel exciting to play. Overall, the lists I've tried haven't performed all that well, and there were no situations where I thought I would prefer to use those lists over FoH. This tier restriction is really doing my head in.

For now I'm going to and idea that Mr Bissel pitched to me a while back, but I've been hesitant to follow up on: a pMorghul Big Game Hunters tier list. On paper there's a bunch of stuff there to make a fun beast heavy Skorne list; extended deployment range, free pathfinder, points reduction on titans.. My main reservation was needing two units of Arcuarii to get to the later tier levels. I wasn't ever planning on having two units of those guys for anything else, but running Fist of Halaak means I'll be using two min units now. So that argument kind of goes out the window now.

From here I'll be playing around with the list and giving it a go. Going back to my other posts on list construction posts, I think I'll have something developed that has a very straight forward game plan in mind - speed up the table, form a bunker around Morghul and feat. Stop any sort of reprisal with the feat and have a bunch of melee beasts ready to wreck face. This sort of dictates the type of match-ups I'll drop this list into; Beast and warjack heavy lists. I'll give it a go, I do like playing with pMorgs.

Moving on through the calender year, we're blessed here in NZ to have a bunch more events; February has a one-dayer run by Big Daryl Painter at the weekend nerd-fest Battlecry, with a simple 4 round, 2 list format. This is where I'll have the chance to fall back in to the warm and comfortable embrace of Mordikaar.

always Mordikaar, always <3

My list choice here feels so damn easy; Mordikaar happily goes into being my Cryx drop and facing down a bunch of other lists too. The only real issue would be heavy armour skews, or MMM style lists. Enter pXerxis, who will happily cover those match ups all day, every day.

From there, the Ides of March is next. At this stage I'm sure it will look like I'll run the same pairing. There will obviously be the need to see how it performs and if there are any glaring holes in my plans that need attention. But come April is the Auckland Open, and the first 3-list event I'll have attended. This is where I can see the ranged Skorne gunline lists coming in to play. so far, I've played it with Rasheth, and had good fun. I reckon the ranged game Skorne can bring presents an interesting question to opponents, even with out the Aradus Sentinel being available. I know they will swiftly be incorporated in a bunch of my lists once they come out. I will also have to consider how this type of list sits with the other two. And which warlock will even drive the list best. Currently Rasheth, eHexeris and eXerxis all look to be likely candidates.

Another part of the whole list selection and pairing game that I haven't discussed is the whole Divide and Conquer element that is often present at these events. I've already rambled long enough about this topic, but this element will probably feature in several of these events. In which case, I need to manage my match ups and try to build the lists to stand on their own as best as possible. I think I can do that, but this 3 list thingy happening April will be the real challenge.