Stickier fruit

Following up from my last post, I realised that while I was waxing lyrical about the things I refused to take, I maybe neglected to discuss the things that I enjoy bringing, and find are performing in ways that surprised me. Also, I was trying way too hard to make a bad fruit story analogy stick. But that just allows me to write another post, so wahey win-win.

I'll just collect a broad bunch of thoughts that encompass both individual units, as well as lists. I'm wary to just talk about units alone, as the lack of context means I'll be telling people absolutely nothing about how they perform - but I'll try to elaborate as much as possible.

First to the block, from my most recent games with Skorne, is the humble Cyclops Brute. I used to hate this guy, a situational 5pt sink that did a terrible job at protecting anyone, and would otherwise flail wildly in the wind whenever I needed it to do anything. Then I brought THREE of the bozos to the table, and boyoboyoboy do they do work. I really feel they are a sum greater than the individual parts, surviving for far longer than they have any right doing, tying up units, and smacking over things they shouldn't be hitting either. Largely, this is due to the maneuverability eXerxis gives them, as well as the hit/damage fixing they get from his feat. But beyond that I see potential running the Brute Gang with Naaresh, Mordikaar, pXerxis, eMorghul, eMakeda, Rasheth, ahhhh just anyone who either tips their defensive schtick over into the obscene, or bumps their hitting power up just a tad.

<3 nice one Florian

Credit to David Potts from the Wargamerau forums for suggesting this - he was using the Brutes with Zaal, theoretically as a Legion drop to trade 5pt beasts for 9+ pt heavies by putting Last Stand on them. Its an idea I like, but have yet to try.

Further for Skorne was my developing love for the Drake - this is something that is still being fostered, as I have yet to assemble my third Drake, and have only run a single one in a couple of lists, but that spray is pretty obscene. I can only dream of what it would be like when it's spammed.
I'm beginning to appreciate ranged games more and more, having only played Skorne and Cryx, and therefore been limited to what I can bring that is ranged. Obvious place to put him would be with eHexeris, trying to trigger off 6 sprays with Black Spot sounds like a hoot. The other place is with eXerxis, where there's been talk of putting out 10, and still having room for Molik Karn, Beast Handlers and maybe even Willbreakers. Graus. I feel  have mentioned this list several times, but just to make sure, full credit of it goes to Nikola and Chas.

Its interesting seeing that people overseas have also made similar conclusions where there's a list doing the rounds with 7 drakes and 3 Kreas I believe. Its far more tool-boxy, and isn't as stylish as 10 Drakes, but I'd be damned interested to see it played. Here's hoping someone's filmed it in action.

Another consideration I want to explore further is Rasheth out of tier. Ol' tubs is seen as best being run with Chain Gang, and its a list that just doesn't work for me - the beef is actually countered fairly trivially, and all your threat ranges are pretty well projected with Rush as your only speed buff. Conversely, I get far more excited at the idea of running him in a gun line. His feat, coupled with Blood Mark allows for a decent ARM swing on living models, and even blast damage will sting a fair bit more. Admittedly, this is a match-up dependent scenario, where it works best against a lot of single-wound infantry with mid-strength armour. But I still think pushing Rasheth out there with the full Mammoth package (mammoth with Raider, Krea, Extoller and Willbreaker in tow) is worth exploring. I began to, but got caught up trying to learn Mordikaar and the Xerxis'ss's. Additionally, I feel Incindiarii would be marvelous with ol' tubs behind the wheel; effectively POW14 (or even 16 on that one target with Blood Mark) fire damage on your feat turn? Sure, why not? Then there's the Aradus Sentinels coming along to spit AOEs all over the show too, so conceivably there can be a gunline Rasheth list that has a core of 2 full units of Incindiarii, plus two Sentinels and a Raider, with the rest to shore up the gaps. Just need to get those damned bugs, which don't look to be dropping till at LEAST August #@$!@#$%.

Skorne stuff aside, looking back I tried to apply some sort of hipster logic to my playing of Cryx too; my first warcaster was Scaverous, and holy shit that was a tough learning curve. But I keep going back to that guy, and love using him in so many different match ups where his toolbox just provides me so many options turn-to-turn. Even going back to play him from time to time has been a rewarding experience and he in no way feels lacking. One would expect the opposite according to the odd post on the PP forums, and I can understand how developing play experiences with eGaspy or other Cryx casters could lead people to consider Scaverous as being meh. My experience just happened to occur from the opposite end.

Of course, its rather self-focused and myopic to think that I'm the only person that has come to these conclusions. And I hope it doesn't come across that way, these are things/units/lists/casters that I've discussed with friends at length, and have also read about on occasion on blogs and forums. I'd just like to think that these summations I've made have taken on board others suggestions, as well as my own hunches, to then go on to try things on the table top. My thoughts are strictly anecdotal and circumstantial, but I don't think this discounts them as being credible and viable sources of information to take to the tabletop.

All else aside, its the Auckland Open this weekend, with a core group of 20 players coming to play 7 rounds of 3-list, D'n'C(1). I've been reluctant to write anything on the process of choosing the three lists, as I find that I can work myself into a frustrating circle of thought, both in list-formation as well as trying to write about it. I'm keen to just chuck some lists down, make amendments should I feel like it, but not wrack torture myself about it too much.

I'll leave that to David Stent to do, here and here ;)

Sticky fruit.

Its feijoa season! I love these tasty little fruit grenades, and the feijoa season typically coincides with me having very regular bowel movements. Fancy THAT.

My sweet little bowel fairies

I used to be quite ambivalent about this fruit growing up however. There was a period of a few years where I'd alternate between having a season where I gorged myself on them, and a season where I refused to touch the fuckers.

I realise the above lead-in for this post is a bit of a stretch, but I'm drawing a link here to a topic that's been doing the rounds among my friends and in head, and that is to do with a certain ambivalence towards units in WM/H. Particularly those units that have a reputation in the broader global WM/H community as being 'must-haves' for their respective factions.

These thoughts have come about as I've deliberately locked horns with people on the Skorne boards, looking to challenge the perceived conventional wisdom of the players there (and to troll to some extent :3). So I'm actually going through a process, like the feijoas, for hating on these 'must-have' units. But unlike the feijoa situation, much of these opinions I have are born from the interactions of other players, the weighing of multiple opinions with my own play time experience. There seems to be a real attachment, particularly among Skorne players, with certain units/beasts, and part of me is wants to go against the tide to be antagonistic, but also part of me is resentful for these group-think for influencing my own thinking into rigid patterns of list-creation.

Much Skorne advice demands players reach for the Gladiator and Krea. I'm currently of the opinion that this is flawed advice. The Gladiator is taken largely because of his animus, and while Rush is great, it only pushes many Skorne warbeasts up to a modest threat-range from an utterly crap one. It is a modest beat-stick in its own right, but I've just found that people can anticipate its threat range all too well, and it either gets taken off trivially, or is never given the opportunity to hit anything of value. In which case I'm left with an 8pt animus. The Krea herself is another animus-bot, where Paralytic Aura is taken mainly for its defensive capabilities - a problem when the enemy doesn't bring guns, or chooses not to shoot the stuff effected by the aura. Otherwise the Krea has little battlefield influence, with a gun that does no damage and a singular nibbly bite. I guess at least its only a 4pt animus.

Now I want to be reflective that these thoughts are both born from my own games and so are very much flavoured by subjective experience. There's also the factor of what is going on in my gaming group and tournaments in general that leads to many of these units or pieces not living up to the hype generated by those on the other side of the world. This last point seems well illustrated by Chas' refusal to take Gun Mages in any of his Cygnar lists; they just did not lift enough weight, and would trade poorly. After being told constantly that they were essential, he decided to go his own way and has subsequently had a far more effective gaming experience.

And while I want to actively challenge consensus that particular units are vital for competitive play, the danger of trying different shit is obviously attempting to be a snowflake just for the sake of being different. And this can lead to negative play experiences too. But that's just another process to be aware of, and to not become too entangled with. Becoming 'unstuck' (psychological terminology here) from a particular thinking process allows one to be more fluid in the way with which they approach particular problems, and in the world of Warmachine and Hordes (where the meta shifts constantly due to player influence as well as the appearance of new units being released) I can see a fluid approach to the game can be beneficial on several levels. Can I see instances where I'd take the Gladiator and Krea? Heck yeah! Those beasts are great! But I refuse to take them simply out of habit.

One more stray thought before I bury this post; relying on internet consensus does mean you get to use someone else's playbook. Mr JS Imbeau pointed out that while developing my Xerxis2 list, I was going to play it heaps to be able to use it effectively and develop the list's game. Using another tried-and-true list does allow one access to the established tricks, which begs the question; how much of the power of these casters/lists is the result of unbalanced rules or of people just having played that list a vastly larger amount of times?

Humberly Dumberly

Thinking back over my last two posts on my Ides games, I'm hoping I didn't come across as too salty; sure, at the time I was disappointed at my performance, but I'm somewhat surprised that I'm actually REALLY excited about the game and what I can look forward to over the next wee while. Every game, I had something to learn whether it be a particular rules interaction, finding out what an unfamiliar warcaster/warlock does, or even what sort of plan would apply to a particular match-up/scenario, the 7 rounds of play I feel presented me with situations where I feel I had to rely on my ability to play, not just the inherent strengths of my list/faction, or herpaderp dice.

I thought it important to perhaps to mention this after reading a blog post on the Muse site, here. It comforts me that others elsewhere are frankly discussing negative performance experiences, and that others seem to also be pulling themselves out of a slump to chase the types of play experiences they DO want. There was suspicion that I may be blindly optimistic, but feeling positive about this game even when I pull a 2:5 win ratio should say something. I sure as shit didn't feel like that when playing 40K

From there though, I haven't been able to squeeze in a game lately - as mentioned previously, time is in short supply, and my brain meat is getting a very heavy workout as I get to grips being a pysch intern, attending cultural events and psych workshops, reflecting on my processes within a healthcare organisation, and beyond that, what it means to work in within the context of a practitioner-client relationship.

But I had a chance to do some watch-machine last night, dropping into the Dojo. There, some trolls were getting tussled by some Cryx and Cygnar, and I got pretty involved in how the lists were constructed and played, particularly from the troll side. I may have also been sticking my nose in it inappropriately, and if I was apologies to Nick and Dave. 

But holy shit do Trolls have some game - Nick was rolling with a Grim2 list, sporting Burrowers, Scattergunners and Highwaymen as the meat of the list, and on paper it had all sorts of game against the pDenny list Dave was using. It was interesting to see how the medium bases of the trolls really interfere with the type of damage output a shooting army like that has, but even then; one unit of Highwaymen do a shit load of work. Better gauging of the threat ranges and reach of his units, will lead to Nick having a list that will just be steam-rolling melee-centric infantry armies.

Matt meanwhile was trying out a Doomy2 list with a twist; Dozer and Smiggs, double Blitzer, plus light warbeasts and those new fire trolls for flavour. Recalling previous discussion with him about the list, it banks a lot on using Refuge to yo-yo the beasts, getting shots off and keeping enemy models at arm's-length, and use Repulse on the Blitzers to manipulate the board. It sounds like a hilariously fun list to use, and something that plays completely different to how I imagine trollbloods typically would want to. The game ended with Stryker getting the drop on Doomy with an inch to spare, but till then the troll list was clocking CPs and seemed to be holding out rather well.

But more to the point; an inventive troll list with no Warders!

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 prologue

As Venus travels across my astral passage I become gifted with the foresight to identify my future performance over the next 7 rounds of WM/H. My vision is somewhat hazy, but I will consult with the stars to divine the next day's worth of games.

My first round 1 fills me with a feeling of dread. A feeling reminiscent of a post-three-piece quarter pack from KFC with an extra pack of wicked wings. Wait wait, yes yes it is Peter Hunter. Hmmm I run head first into the eGaspy butt fuck again, finishing with regret at bad decisions and a chicken hang over.

The second round is filled with hope. Oh sweet sweet hope. This time I draw against a new player fresh off the blocks, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to have his hand at this game we've all gathered to play. The excitement! The camaraderie! The bottom of two assassination! I get a brief glimpse that I might be good at this game, and my opponent leaves with my apologies for a short game and early lunch.

hhmmmm...This third round feels foreign. It has a southern taste to it, and the sounds of bristling mustache hairs. Oh fuck, its Hooch. I get promptly roflstomped by whatever Legion crap he's concocted.

Shit. This fourth round is looking bleak. Long and tedious. Its like I'm playing a game of 40K. YUCK. Oh it's a troll opponent. Double Warders. Dear god WHY.

WHY STENT,WWWWWHHHHHHYYYYYYY

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