Starting a new series. TLDR Battle Reports.

I want to share some experiences in Warmachine/Hordes by doing some battle reports. I don't find the excruciating detail, of typical battle reports, to share an entire experience that worthwhile as a reader or exciting to do as a writer. So this series is going to focus on a few things;

• The lists
• Major game moments
• Learning moments
• Pictures!

So my first set of TLDR Battle Reports are going to be from SoCal Open. I didn't think about starting this blog until this morning (post tournament) so I'll be light on pictures.

My pairing

Game 1: Krueger2 vs. Borka2

Major game moments:

• Borka list moved very aggressively forward.
• Pulled Rok to his death bottom of 1
• Borka feated top of two, but forgot to power up Mulg.
• Assassinated Borka on bottom of 2 by positioning him to back arc in Megalith's animus for Wyrds to shoot him doing a heavy amount of damage due to an upkeep being on him.

Game 2: Krueger2 vs. Skarre1

• This was a great game.
• Skarre1's list focused on double wraith engine + stalkers on feat to do heavy lifting
• Removed a wraith engine and  Orin with shooting bottom of 1
• Lesson: Opponent learned a lesson to watch Orin's placing as we talked about the game afterward.
• Gave up too many scenario points easily. 
• Lesson: Should have sacrificed a Waywatcher earlier to contest and force something to remove him. I really need to take this lesson to heart.
• Failed to kill Daragh Wraithe with Megalith.
• Lesson: When game is on the line, just boost a TK and secure the control point
• Overall, won the attrition battle but two mistakes gave my opponent two more CP then I could afford due to him winning roll for first and having heavy jam.

Game 3: Krueger1 vs. Irusk2

• Bird threat ranges are scary as they remove opponents BE bottom of 1

• Opponent went for the scenario game and I positioned my Feral to contest left zone and right zone wasn't at risk. He did score the middle zone by destroying the zone 0-2 on CP. I did shoot down some bombadiers, dismounted the Drakhun and put some damage on shocktroopers.

• Jammed both birds into my opponent, in the picture below you can see how he killed the right 1, but that took most of his effort. Both jacks got disrupted, the drakhun died, the marauder died and more bombardier casualties. The left bird was able to get angle on his caster and assassinated him.

• Lessons Learned:
• The list needs more models to contest.
• Krueger1 list delivers speed and high value guns. It might be too niche.
• I don't want to primal since I can't afford to lose control of something for a turn.
• Krueger1's spell list is so expensive that I need to pick a single plan a turn. His costs don't let him do much in a turn.

Caw CAW!!! (...plus puppy)

Baawwwk!

Bones of Orboros - Krueger vs. Orion

I haven't played or even seriously looked at Warmachine since last year's Lock and Load. Started looking at different games. Painting lots of different models.

Deathwatch Squad.

I've been exploring a lot of other games. Played a ton of board games at Kingdom Con ... and I mean a lot ... I broke the games down into favorite to least favorite experiences(not game mechanics). The caveat I want to add is that a lot of these games are first impressions which changes as you get to play them more.

1. Cthulhu Wars - Something very compelling about having a battle vs. other ancient gods.
2. Dice Forge - Fresh experience of creating your own dice and it feels well designed.
3. CLANK! - I enjoy deck builders a lot and this is a very fresh take on that type.
4. Evolution the Beginning - Great quick game with solid tactical options.
5. Rising Sun - Great game. Only reason it's not higher on the list is we only had a 3 player game of it and I feel it's better at a higher number.
6. Mansions of Madness - Great narrative experience.
7. Rock, Paper, WIZARD - Super goofy fun. Fun game that can be played by anyone.
8. Lords of Hellas - Solid game, well designed, but your in it for the long haul. Takes awhile to play and has lots of chunky rules you need to get through before you understand everything.
9. Space Alert - Craziness. I didn't enjoy it due to the con being so loud and a real time game with an audio feature doesn't play well. I'd love to try in a different environment.
10. Scythe - Meh. Best feature is it's replayability. Fantasy doesn't match it's mechanics. Solid choices for the player to make, but I walked away unimpressed. (2nd time playing)

I might of played something else as well, but doesn't bode well for it if I don't remember.

Cthulhu Wars

I decided to give Warmachine a real look again since I have missed playing. I haven't seriously played Circle since Mk1 and while I love trolls I got pretty excited about playing Circle again.

I painted up a new Krueger2 list based on some advice by a friend who's been actively playing. Thanks Keith! While I had owned and painted most of the models previously, I painted up a Wold Warden, Stonehapersx3, Krueger2 and a Blackclad Wayfarer.

Took the new list out for a drive tonight. Played vs. Orion and I have to admit lots of gallows and a few tk's later I started to fall in love with the list. Game ended as a solid win, but I definitely learned in the future to not get super greedy. Even low chance caster assassinations are scary when you put someone in a corner and make that their last chance to victory.

Gunnbjorn

Still just getting back into things. Played a fun Vassal game with him so decided to get the real model painted up if I ever got the opportunity to play again.

                                       

Convergence Battle Engine

I haven't played Warmachine in like 6+ months but I got the itching to paint and I always enjoyed painting this scheme. I figured I might as well add one more model to my Convergence collection.

Imperatus

In preparation for LVO this year I needed to paint up some more Retribution models. Last time I had added to this army was back in 2013 and they have got some amazing new models/releases added to the faction.

The first model I knew I wanted to add to my Retribution was Imperatus. The model plays like a mini colossal. A solid beater with staying power is a rare option for Retribution and it being a character means it can only be in one list. I can see him very commonly making it into one of my two list pairings.

While I maintained the paint scheme of my old Retribution I did a couple color swaps on locations and spots to hopefully make him stand out differently. Instead of glossy black gems, the pink of the faction are his gems. I did a darker grey though I did highlight it a few times to hopefully make it pop. I also green stuffed a rock on his base that came out really well. Overall I am happy with him. I might in at some future date go back and do a few more extreme details, but I have lots of stuff to get ready for LVO.