Weekend Gaming Reports

This past weekend a bunch of my friends headed over for our occasional "hey lets get everyone together and hang out" gaming events. Over the course of the day everyone got in two games. Here's how mine turned out.



First, a couple of notes:

I used the same list all day. It's been a little while since I've had a chance to play Warmachine and I wanted to come back to something familiar, so I was going to roll with the Irusk2 list I've been running unless something really ugly cropped up (one person was bringing Cryx, so I did have another list ready.)

Here's the list, for reference:

Supreme Kommandant Irusk (*5pts)
   * Behemoth (13pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
   * Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Kayazy Eliminators (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Also, due to a variety of factors I totally flaked on taking pictures of my games. I have on picture from the conclusion of game one, but that's about it. Apologies in advance.

Game 1:

My Friend's List:

Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed (*4pts)
   * Juggernaut (7pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
Greylord Outriders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
   * Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Kovnik Andrei Malakov (3pts)
   * Beast-09 (11pts)

This list is scary. There's a whole lot of business in the list along with a fair bit of infantry clearing, and all of it is pretty well keyed to give my infantry trouble. And backing all of that up is Butcher3; dealing with him can be a game in and of itself and I have zero experience against him.

Scenario: SR2014 Into The Breach (yep, again. I swear we roll on the random scenario table)

Deployment:

Terrain is a spread of a few walls, a couple of forests, a hill, and a patch of rocky terrain (difficult, cover.) All of the elements are spread across the table, with none in a particularly sticky/advantageous position.

Irusk gets first turn. IFP + Kovnik go on the right flank, Shocktroopers + other Kovnik go on the left along with Elminators. Behemoth, Irusk, and TAC are deployed centrally, with the Mortar right behind them. Great Bears sort of float centrally.

For Butcher's deployment, his IFP and Kovnik deploy to my left (opposing Irusk's Shocktroopers,) with the Outriders on the right (opposing Irusk's IFP.) Butcher, Malakov, Juggernaut, Beast, and the Ternion are deployed centrally.

Advanced Deployment sees each Widowmaker unit deploying opposite the opponent's IFP unit, and Butcher's Doom Reavers set up behind his IFP.

Round 1:

Standard first round of running. Irusk gets Fire For Effect (FFE) out on the Mortar, and Tactical Supremacy out on the Shocktroopers. Irusk's IFP advance more cautiously, as they're staring down the barrels of Widowmaker guns.

Butcher's first turn is spent running everything up. The IFP cloud out on a hill for elevation bonuses, while everything else presses up the field. Ternion put up the usual set of protective clouds on Butcher's buddies (in this case, the Juggernaut and two dogs.) Butcher's Widowmakers run over behind a wall on the far right flank.

Round 2:

Irusk Turn 2:
Irusk upkeeps FFE, lets Tactical Supremacy drop, allocates 2 focus to Behemoth's Sub-Cortex.

Behemoth advances into a forest and shoots at the Outriders, killing one. On that flank the IFP advance in Shield Wall with Iron Zeal to mitigate Outrider sprays, while also trying to stay out of range of Widowmaker shots.

On the left flank, the Mortar and aiming Widowmakers pick off 7 of Butcher's IFP. The Shocktroopers and Elminators toe into the scoring zone, while the TAC advance and put up a smoke wall for Irusk to hide behind. The Great Bears run to back up Shocktroopers and threaten the zone.

Butcher Turn 2:
Butcher allocates one to his Juggernaut, keeps the rest.

The Juggernaut leads off the turn by running into the zone. Butcher charges the Juggernaut with his dogs in tow, then Energizers for 1 at the end of the charge to shuffle the Juggernaut and the Arguses around. Butcher then Impending Dooms, but only catches one of the Shocktroopers. Butcher kills the Shocktrooper on his first attack, but the Shocktrooper Toughs, forcing another focus expenditure. After killing the Shocktrooper, Butcher camps his remaining focus (1 or 2.)

The rest of the army runs in place to jam up lanes on Butcher. Butcher's IFP run to engage Irusk's Widowmakers, while the remaining Outriders run to body block Butcher. Butcher's Widowmakers take shots at Irusk's IFP, picking off one (due to some being out of range.)

Round 3:

Irusk Turn 3:
Irusk upkeeps FFE, keeps the rest of his focus.

Everything that can pushes towards Butcher. The Mortar and the remaining Shocktroopers killed the Outriders and one Argus in the way, then Battle Lusted Eliminators and Great Bears charged Butcher and killed him.

End of Game

Result: Irusk wins via assassination!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This game was damn quick. I thought this game would come down to trying to get Butcher3 to low-ish camp, then throw enough damage at him to try to take him out, and that's how it ended up playing out. I don't think my friend expected me to be able to get so much stuff to him - he had quite a wall of models in the way, and in any other list I probably wouldn't have been able to do it due to the need to move through friendlies (Martial Discipline is a wonderful thing.)

If Butcher3 had feated to full camp it probably would have been very bad, though at that point I'd stall for a turn and see if I could get him next round. Once Butcher3's feat is off the table he needs to be careful how much he spends down to, and with Battle Lust and Behemoth I'd hope I'd be able to wear him down.

Things That Went Well:

Eliminators and Great Bears were crucial models to be able to buff up and toss in. The Eliminators in particular are fantastic little damage missiles.

Things That Did Not Go Well:

Thankfully in this game, not much. My big push against Butcher3 worked out - it easily could have shanked if the Shocktroopers whiff attacks - and the Eliminators and the Great Bears were able to get the job done. This game was short enough that there wasn't a lot of time for things to play out, but at least the majority of decisions I made this game panned out.

Key Mistakes/Things To Do Differently:

Somehow avoid fighting against Butcher3 in the future.

Barring that, having some kind of Focus stripper might be very nice. Being able to buff damage is great and all, but some 'casters can camp up to very problematic levels. Finding the three points for that Eiryss is quite difficult though. The easiest swap in this list are the Eliminators and I've been very happy to have them in the list so far. If camping 'casters end up being a problem in the future, it's something I can look at tweaking.

Noteworthy Model Thoughts:

See Eliminator and Great Bear comments above. Eliminators are very difficult to keep away from their choice targets, they hit hard when they get there, and they can be a pain to take out. Great Bears with Battle Lust are a goddamn atom bomb.

List Changes/Tweaks:

None, with the possible previously mentioned caveat of finding some way to fit an Eiryss in the list.

Closing Thoughts:
A very quick game that was nonetheless super tense. Butcher3 is absolutely terrifying, especially when you have squishy 'ol Irusk at the core of your list. If a few rolls flub in trying to clear out Butcher3's screen, the whole game turns on a dime and I go into scramble mode. His ability to dominate the table just with his presence is amazing, and it makes me very excited to play him more in the future.

This game also highlighted why I'm so interested in trying out different ideas with Butcher3. A big part of Butcher3's power comes from holding onto the threat of his feat as long as possible - either as a way to rest his camp after going nuts, or as a way to have a huge turn (ideally ending in an assassination.) However, it's also often the case that the turn you commit Butcher3 to anything is also the turn you end up having to feat.

What I'm very interested in trying to find is a Butcher3 list that can protect Butcher3 on a turn he commits without him necessarily having to spend his feat to do it. Just one turn of that is probably enough to turn the tide strongly in your favor, especially since you'll still have a feat turn queued up for when you need it. Definitely something to explore more.

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After a lunch break, we shuffled around the pairings and I ended up playing another friend who has been starting up Convergence. Both the Warmachine factions I play in one day!

Game 2:

My Friend's List:

Father Lucant, Divinity Architect (*5pts)
   * Corollary (3pts)
   * Diffuser (3pts)
   * Cipher (9pts)
   * Conservator (7pts)
Eradicators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Optifex Directive (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)
Reciprocators (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
   * Transverse Enumerator (2pts)
Accretion Servitors (1pts)
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex (1pts)
Attunement Servitors (2pts)
Attunement Servitors (2pts)
Enigma Foundry (3pts)
Reflex Servitor (2pts)

Butcher3, then Lucant. This list is very different from the usual Lucant list you see, but it's still nasty: that's a lot of multi-wound infantry to chew through, backed up by Deceleration, Lucant's feat (blech), and an Enigma Foundry recycling models. It's not necessarily as fine tuned as some con-going lists may be, but it's still very dangerous.

Scenario: SR2014 Incoming

Deployment:

Terrain uses similar pieces to last game, just shuffled around.

Irusk wins the roll off, and opts for first turn. The IFP + Kovnik, Eliminators, and Great Bears are deployed towards the enemy scoring zone, while the Shocktroopers + Kovnik are deployed to advance on Irusk's friendly zone. Irusk also deploys that way along with the TAC. Behemoth goes in the middle of the table along with the Mortar (since it can take advantage of the special objective this game.)

Lucant deploys centrally along with the Corollary and the Cipher. The Conservator and the Eradicators deploy in line with Lucant's scoring zone, while the Reciprocators deploy opposite the enemy scoring zone. The Opifex Directive, Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex, and Servitors deploy as appropriate throughout the army.

During advanced deployment, the Widowmakers deploy opposite the enemy scoring zone while the Reflex Servitors deploy spread out across the table in front of Lucant's army.

Round 1:

Another first round of running. Irusk gets Tactical Supremacy out on the Shocktroopers again, and puts FFE on Behemoth (since the Mortar will get boosted damage from the scenario objective.) Everything runs forward.

Lucant gets out Watcher on himself, puts up Deceleration, and Induction starts to fill up the Corollary. Everything runs forward, with the exception of the Reflex Servitors, who advance and Dig In.

Round 2:

Irusk Turn 2:
Irusk upkeeps both spells and keeps the rest of his focus. Most of this turn is spent aggressively advancing: both the Shocktroopers and IFP advance in Shield Wall (under Shield March.) The movement of the IFP allows them to engage the Reflex Servitors (one is killed in melee.) They also pop Iron Zeal for extra durability. The Shocktroopers move further up the table, killing one Servitor with Shield Cannon fire.

The TAC advance and put down clouds, while Irusk advances and puts an Artifice of Deviation template next to a forest, in front of the Obstructors (leaving them nowhere to move forward that isn't difficult terrain.)

The Mortar lobs a shot into the Convergence backfield that kills two Optifex Directive (giving 2 souls to the Enigma Foundry,) while the Behemoth threw templates around that killed some Servitors. The Widowmakers manage to pick off another Attunement Servitor.

Lucant Turn 2:
Lucant upkeeps Watcher, allocates one to the Diffuser. Lucant starts off the turn by advancing, popping his feat, and casting Deceleration.

The Diffuser shoots one of the IFP, failing to kill but putting Beacon in play. The Eradicators then charge the Beacon'd IFP, getting two into combat with three hanging back. The ensuing attacks kill two IFP. The Conservator floats up near the Eradicators to also be in the zone.

On the right flank, the Obstructors advance in Shield Wall into the difficult terrain and forest. An Attunement Servitor and an Accretion Servitor both move into Irusk's scoring zone to contest.

The two remaining Reflex Servitors attack IFP; one misses and explodes without incident, while the other connects with it's melee attack and forces a successful Tough check on that IFP.

The Cipher, ADO, and remaining Optifex move up behind a wall that is between then and the friendly scoring zone.

Round 3:

Irusk Turn 3:
Irusk upkeeps FFE, drops Tactical Supremacy, allocates two to the Behemoth's Sub-Cortex, leaving him with 4 Focus.

The TAC continue to advance and create a cloud wall for Irusk to hide behind. Irusk then pops his feat, Energizers for 1 to get near the IFP to cast Battle Lust on them, then advances to toe into his friendly scoring zone. The Shocktroopers get Shield March again and advance in Shield Wall to block off the Obstructors from the zone, and position in such a way to also chop the two contesting Servitors.

On the left flank the IFP Shield Wall and stab at the Eradicators, doing minimal damage. The Widowmakers do four damage to an Eradicator hanging around outside of combat, then the Great Bears walk over and finish it off. The Eliminators charge the Conservator, doing a few points of damage and Side Stepping around it.

The Behemoth and the Mortar both shoot at Lucant's objective, doing 7 damage total across the three boosted damage rolls.

End of turn, Irusk scores 1 CP for dominating his friendly scoring zone.

CPs: Irusk 1 - Lucant 0

Lucant Turn 3:
Lucant upkeeps Watcher and keeps the rest of his focus. Lucant starts off the turn by casting Positive Charge on the Conservator and the Cipher.

The Enigma Foundry leads off by replacing the destroyed Eradicator. The Eradicators then activate and swing into the IFP, killing a few after attacks and Tough checks are resolved.

The Corollary pours 3 focus into the Conservator, Inducting one to the Diffuser in the process. The Conservator tramples forward over one of the Eliminators, missing her with the Trample attack and taking a few points of damage from a free strike from the other Eliminator (outside of the Trample lane.) The trample puts the Conservator in front of the Great Bears, and it is able to kill two of them with follow up attacks.

On the right flank, the Reciprocators throw attacks into the Shocktroopers for some light damage while the Transverse Enumerator torches one of the Shocktroopers for a couple of points of damage and sets it on fire.

The Diffuser shoots at one of the TAC, boosting the attack roll (Induction to the Cipher) but does no damage on the attack. The Cipher lobs templates at the Eliminators, one of which finds it's target, doing 3 damage to one of the Eliminators with blast damage.

End of turn, Irusk scores 1 CP for dominating his friendly scoring zone.

CPs: Irusk 1 - Lucant 0

Round 4:

Irusk Turn 4:
Irusk upkeeps FFE, allocates 2 focus to Behemoth's Sub-Cortex, and keeps the rest.

The Eliminators charge into the back of the Conservator, doing a chunk of damage to it and allowing the remaining Great Bear to scrap it with his two attacks.

The rest of the turn is mostly holding the line: The IFP continue to hold on in Shield Wall in front of the Eradicators while the Shocktroopers Shield Wall in front of the Obstructors. Irusk puts down another Artifice of Deviation template in the most likely path to his scoring zone and retreats further back into the scoring zone. The TAC advance to help block off the zone and put down clouds to block LOS to Irusk.

The Mortar shoots at the enemy objective, destroying it (+1 CP.) The Behemoth throws shots at the Cipher to try and kill the remaining Optifex Directive behind it. The shots do some damage to the Cipher but fail to kill the Optifex. The IFK hanging around that area charges the Cipher and misses it's charge attack.

End of turn, Irusk scores 1 CP for dominating his friendly scoring zone.

CPs: Irusk 4 - Lucant 0

Lucant Turn 5:
Lucant's army does all it can to break through the blockade, but unfortunately he is unable to get any models in to contest Irusk's scoring zone. At the end of the turn, Irusk scores the final required CP.

CPs: Irusk 5 - Lucant 0

Result: Irusk wins via scenario!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This game was my third against Convergence so far, and every game so far has been against a wildly different army - Syntherion theme list with Prime Axiom, Directrix ranged list with Prime Axiom, and now a multi-wound infantry list with Lucant. A big part of fighting any army is just getting used to it and I'm still getting used to fighting against Convergence.

This game went well for me because of three factors:

1) The scenario was a split scenario. Even better: I could score defensively.

2) I won the roll to go first. Getting up the table quickly was imperative to walling off the zone I wanted to use to score the majority of my CPs.

3) I've heard in a number of places that one of the few weaknesses that Lucant lists have is speed. This list isn't as pokey as others may be - Eradicators are quite nimble once they get going - but I figured that if I got first turn I'd have a decent chance at establishing a table position before Lucant's army could really get set up.

All of that worked out, though it just as easily could have turned the other way. As my friend noted after the game, he could have allocated his Servitors differently and used them more effectively to stall scoring; I'd still have been racking up CPs, but it'd have been at a much slower rate. Likewise, with Shield Guard throughout Lucant's battlegroup and Deceleration, I think he could have kept his objective alive much longer if he dedicated models to it (though whether that is worth battlegroup models hanging out there is another issue.)

There were also some mistakes on my part, but those have their own section.

Things That Went Well:

Operation: Shocktrooper Wall worked! I think the blockade may have worked out even better if I swapped the two units (more on this later) but the principle was sound and effective.

Aside from one almost-misstep (the IFK charging the Cipher near the end of the game was a hair out) I did a good job of not triggering Watcher. In a game where every inch of movement mattered, giving up a bonus move may have been very unpleasant for my long term prospects. I even passed on an opportunity to charge the Eliminators into Lucant, because giving up two Watcher moves didn't sound like a fun plan (and the tough 'ol robo bastard would have lived anyways.)

Things That Did Not Go Well:

Everything I can think of for this section should more accurately be discussed in the next section, so lets just skip ahead, eh?

Key Mistakes/Things To Do Differently:

Mistake #1: Walking the Great Bears right up into Trample + punch range of the Conservator. I didn't really need to kill the Eradicator that was near them and even if I did the Eliminators probably could have done it easily enough after the Widowmakers softened it up. The Great Bears were a big second wave punch on that flank, and losing two of them carelessly (and for essentially no gain as the Eradicator was just replaced the following turn) was a big mistake.

Mistake #2: I mis-allocated my offense during the mid-game. Battle Lusting the IFP was a waste of time and focus: it cost me 1 to Energizer over and be able to buff them, but they had Shields Up and it was Lucant's feat turn so I wasn't going to do a lot of damage to them regardless. Better to save that focus to camp, drop more AoD templates to confound Eradicator movement even more (-2 SPD and Difficult Terrain would really lock them in, even with Side Steps,) or Battle Lust the Shocktroopers so the couple of attacks I make at Obstructors may soften a couple up for later.

Mistake #3: During Turn 4 I didn't even make attacks into either medium based unit for fear of opening up some Enigma Foundry shenanigan that would allow a contesting model into the zone (or, worse, to get an attack on Irusk and lose him to a dice spike.)

However, that kind of paranoia was unnecessary and unsafe from a long term play perspective. My friend's list only had one Enigma Foundry in it and due to the restrictions (must be returned within 1" of the Foundry) and where it was positioned it wasn't going to be able to do anything amazing with the one returned model.

Conversely, I probably could have done a ton of damage to the Obstructors on the turn I just stood in front of them. Instead of putting focus into Behemoth (which I didn't end up needing, as the Mortar killed the objective and the Behemoth still had a FFE shot and a normal shot to use after that,) I could have Battle Lusted the Shocktroopers who have a solid chance to one shot Obstructors outside of Shield Wall (due to no orders last turn.)

Chopping the unit down would be way more beneficial than trying to hold them off forever. Same thing with the Eradicators - there is only one Foundry available to replace a model, and if it's putting an Eradicator back into play that leaves the Obstructors in a very bad spot (assuming I have a decent combat turn.) And if I can kill a few of the Eradicators it puts me in a good board position.

That last part is crucial because you just never know what your opponent is going to be able to pull off. My whole plan was based on delaying the game long enough to win via CPs, but I can only hold everything off so long; doing actual damage to his army was going to be the only way I was going to win if he was able to find ways to sneak models into my zone. The fewer models your opponent has, the harder a time they have contesting your zones, so it, uh, pays to kill a few during the course of the game.

Finally, this isn't a mistake but more of a "what if": I think the game works out even better for me in the long run if I switch the two units. Eradicators are never going to get through Shield Wall Shocktroopers (though they can potentially encircle them more easily which is something to be wary of,) and the body count of the IFP combined with Tough would make a solid roadblock for the Obstructors. And if I decide to Battle Lust the IFP in that scenario, the volume of attacks makes it that much more likely I can wipe out the Obstructor unit when they're out of Shield Wall.

Food for thought.

Noteworthy Model Thoughts:

After serving so long as the weight that ensures my case doesn't blow away, I'm very happy that the Shocktroopers can make a solid infantry wall under Irusk2 when backed up by an IFK. They still have some big issues - they don't hit especially hard and they're utterly reliant on Shield Wall for durability - but when they work, they work. Shield March makes it much easier to get them where you want and the first turn surge of Tactical Supremacy usually lets them comfortably Shield Wall every turn after the first.

What I enjoy most about the Shocktroopers is that they're very resistant to the things that normally shred out single wound infantry, even IFP (most notably continous effects/auto damage templates.) The dynamic between the two units creates a nice mix of strengths that makes it hard for any one anti-infantry measure to really crunch into the list while still being infantry based (which Irusk2 needs.)

TAC also continue to be completely clutch. It may be just the way I play, but this game highlighted the usual problem I have with trying to screen my 'caster with infantry: they always have to go off and do something else, so either you leave him hanging out or you put him closer to the enemy (danger! danger!) The TAC gives Irusk the perfect little wall to hide behind. The only way they'd be better is with Valachev, and as mentioned before I'd love to find those 2 points. Just not a lot of wiggle room right now.

List Changes/Tweaks:

None, other than what I've mentioned here and elsewhere. This list has held together very well and there aren't many changes I'd make to it.

Closing Thoughts:
This was a very tense, fun game. Unlike a lot of other games this one was all about positioning and formation, with very little in the way of big offense or attacks. Rather unconventional, and I guess it's one way to deal with an army that can be as durable as Lucant's.

Speaking of Lucant, that spiderguy is a beast. My friend was new to using him and it was my first time playing against him, but even then it was very obvious how potent his lists can be. The feat turn is a gigantic "stop" sign unless you can kick out a ton of damage, and Enigma Foundries help to even offset that. Back that up with Deceleration, Positive Charge, and Purification, and you have one helluva well rounded 'caster.

Thankfully my Irusk2 list isn't super reliant on upkeeps or ranged attacks, so I didn't feel tremendously behind the 8-ball, but Lucant's abilities are just as flexible as Irusk2's (lots of parallels, now that I think of it,) so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I got lucky in getting first turn, and having a decent scenario. In any other situation, this would have been one helluva grind.

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And that's it for my set of weekend games. Apologies again for the lack of images; one downside to getting out of the cycle of playing the game is you also forget the side things you do, like setting up clocks for games and taking pictures. I'll remember to get shots next time.

As always, thanks very much for reading!