First Convergence Battle

My first battle with Convergence of Cyriss is a 25 point battle vs. Thyra.

Thyra
-Reckoner
-Blood of Martyrs
Errants + UA
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard
Choir

vs.

Forge Father
- Monitor
- Cipher
- Inverter
- Galvanizer
- Mitigator

Turn 1 I threw out Synergy on Forge Father Syntherion, Hot Shot onto the Monitor and Reconstruct on the Inverter. Then advanced my army taking advantage of passing focus down the line running my army with 1 focus.

Thyra positioned the Errans in front of his heavies took a shot with the Reckoner and rolled very low on damage.

Turn 2 I took a shot with Forge Father Syntherion killing a errant. Convergence has a lot of great speed boost modifiers, but not in the units that are completely spoiled rules wise. So I positioned the Inverter with reconstruct to take the charges from his heavies. Mitigator punctured a few Errants.

Thyra charged with Blood of Martyrs doing some damage to the Inverter then side stepped out of the way to let the Reckoner charge in and finish the job, but fell short by 2 points of damage.

Turn 3 Inverter repairs from the Field Marshal rule. Cipher moves up with 1 focus kills an errant, powers up synergy, then Mitigator punches an errant not killing it (but powers up Synergy), Galvanizer moves up and repairs the Inverter by 4 points, Inverter destroys the reckoner with a pow 22 initial then a series of pow 19's after synergy. Then the monitor charges into Blood of Martyrs leaving it at 2 points. Leaving a cortex and arm.

Menoth goes powers Blood of Martyrs who finally finishes off the Inverter. Thyra then slams into the Monitor putting it at 2 points destroying everything except one hand.

Turn 4: This is basically mop up turn. Killing Blood of Martyrs to free up the Monitor who then moves up and kills Thyra. The things of special note that I found very entertaining this round was Convection allowed me to allocate a focus to the Monitor after it's self repaired fixed the system allowing it focus then the induction system passing a focus to it giving it 2 focus.

Sythnerion is an amazing jack caster. Resourcefulness makes him one of the strongest synergy casters in the game. His field marshal ability seemed lack luster in compaison to some of the amazing other ones like shield guard, counter charge and arc nodes. Self-repair does something that a lot of Warmachine players have asked for though. If you don't kill a jack within the round it'll be fully functional next round. Hordes no longer are unique in this area.

Warlock Round up -- Kaya1 Part 2

As my last Kaya post I mentioned I wanted to try her non tier. It worked out a lot better, but unfortunately I don't remember everything that was in the list. I almost wonder if I played down 9 points. Which would be very amusing!

Kaya the Wildborne (*6pts)
* Gnarlhorn Satyr (8pts)
* Shadowhorn Satyr (7pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
* Druid of Orboros Overseer (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Tharn Wolfriders (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2pts)
Druid Wilder (2pts)

Kaya1 is a very interesting warlock. My second game I basically forgot about pack hunters for the first two turns which was exceedingly brutal since I was fighting defense 16 temple flame guard. I must say, obnoxious! A very solid little menoth block from my friend Greg. I don't remember if this is 100% correct  list, but I'm sure its near accurate.

Hierarch Severius (*6pts)
* Blessing of Vengeance (7pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
* Hierophant (2pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Temple Flameguard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard (2pts)
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & 2 Honor Guard (4pts)
The Covenant of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal Mechanik (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

With the threat of eye of menoth and ignoring stealth he brought some very solid counters too my list. I proeceeded to make massive mistakes left and right this game slamming into his forces as hard as possible without much success. To keep this part short as I don't remember everything very well (definitely a mental note on write the blog the day of the game!). I pressured old man Severius to the right corner of his killbox with the tharn wolf riders. Then proceeded to land a few key pushes with the druids of orboros and through a bounding on the stalker and flung him 11 inches giving him 13 inches of threat. *Psst I love you reach* And proceeded to eat the old man.

Things I've learned of Kaya1. Spirit door can be very crafty. You can use it to pull some very odd shennaigans, including spirit fangs then retreat, throw stalkers at people then yo-yo (yes I know very standard) or spell assassination run with spirit dooring next to a beast that ran near the enemy warnoun. This only works well if you can teleport behind for a back arc. Then boost a spirit fang on him and lowering his defense by 2 giving you an effective 10+2d6 to hit on the next 2-3 spirit fangs. Once you hit you should pop your feat and fill up on 6 fury again and throw 2 more spirit fangs. This isn't a give me to hard to kill casters, but more forces weak casters to camp.

Kaya1 1 - 1.

Up next - Cassius

A Saturday of gaming and painting

Bart's loyal Mariner

Gaming this Saturday was very low key. It was only my friends Greg, Steve and myself interested in playing. Nicole and I painted earlier in the morning, while she continued to paint throughout the rest of the day. She cranked out two beautiful Pirate Jacks AAARGH!  I finally finished up my warlock, Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III.  You can discuss a lot about his spells and stats, but nobody can argue he has easily the best name in HORDES.

Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III

The first battle today was a quick Kaya vs. Sorscha where Steve taught Greg the 19 inch threat trick.

Freebooter, Master of Hog Throwing

After that battle Greg challenged me and we had a Carver vs. Kaya battle. Just one game for the league, and then we decided to do a 50 point battle for fun.  I learned a lot of tricks this battle, one them being spirit door is a very hard, specially when Greg filled out the rest of his force with two units of shifting stones to add on to the movement shenanigans of his force.  He picked me apart with Spirit door slowly removing my Gun Boars then doing a drive by on the War Hog and poor carver trapped in the middle of shifting stones.  A very dirty trick I had taught Greg years ago!  As Carver was smashing through the stones Kaya lined up her Feral Warpwolf and proceeded to go piggy bowling! All in all a very amusing game.

The second game was a Harbinger vs. Maelok. Greg has a very effective Harbinger list he's been practicing and I think Maelok is one of the better options for Minions when facing the all powerful 12 year old blind girl.  The game started out very much in my favor with a good Bog Trogg ambush onto his knights errant.  Destroying everyone in the unit except the standard bearer that turn. Totem hunter and Gator Posse finished off the Seneshal.  Greg retaliated with a very powerful ranged turn from a Reckoner doing devastating blows to Maelok.  I didn't protect him nearly enough, and with purification removing spiny growth he was down to his 17 armor. Harbinger also popped her feat.

Maelok retaliated by popping his feat, effectively negating Harbinger's feat, though the Bog Trogs and Wrong Eye were too far away to be affected by Maelok's counter feat. I slammed into the paladins with the Gatormen Posse and Bull Snapper forcing Harbinger to martyr roughly 8 times, this was only doable because Greg kept rolling 1 point of damage!

The next turn Greg opened a charge lane with some paladin killing blows, including Vilmon slaying 1 of his own paladins of the wall! (Moral victory right there in my opinion.) Then sent the Avatar right at Maelok who was sitting on 3 transfers but only 2 hit points left.  The Avatar with guided hand rolls 3 1's missing Maleok with the charge attack. After the laughter subsided he took two more attacks forcing me to pass off 2 transfers.  Then the Reckoner took a ranged shot at Maelok needing an 11 to hit and connected, also setting him on fire.  This was transfered off as well.  Now for all the marbles.  The vassal moved up to the Reckoner and did an ancillary attack needing a 9 to hit on two dice.  Rolled an 11 and finishing off Maelok.

All an all a I like Maelok.  I think I would drop a turtle for another Gatormen Posse and tweak the list a little further.  I also want to experiment with Calaban vs. Harbinger.  I think I might be able to angle some good tricks vs. her.  Maelok is a little heavily reliant on some key up keeps, that are hard to manage with purification on a 10 focus caster.

Next up on the painting block is Thunder Pig!  Though I have no idea how long he will take to crank out. Until next time!

Week 2 of Journeyman League

Paul's Denegra

Week 2 is upon us and it started out with a really fun Friday night.  We had lots of games going on and people showing up with painted models to show off, all in all a good gaming session.

To start off Paul showed up with a really killer Machine Wraith that my picture doesn't give any justice, sorry Paul!  Paul also finished up his Warwitch Denegra, earning him 3 points for painting.

   I finished up a pair of my Gun Boars, they've definitely earned their paint job throughout the course of the week.  Those pow 13 guns are not to be understimated!  I have been blessed with some nice caster shots and a few devastating blows to crucial warjacks.  They did fail me tonight vs. Bart, but only after using all the good ammunition vs. Paul's Cryx, but i'll dive into that as we approach the battle reports.

Paul's machine wraith

Pair of Carver Gun Boars

Kreoss vs. Stryker

I admittedly didn't watch this game in heavy detail.  I can point out some of the highlights as I was battling Cryx on the table next to it.  Dave our Menoth player kept advancing into the guns of Cygnar trying to take advantage of his arc node.

While Eric kept blasting away with his charger and black 13th, as well as his own arc node on the lancer!  The powerful shot ability on the charger landed some damage early on and racked up some damage boxes on Menoth as they advanced.

As the armies started to collide it seemed the Cygnar army was impervious with Strykers feat +5 armor, and Arcane Shield +3 armor on the Ironclade.  Taking him to a massive 26 armor, which is typically unheard of in Warmachine!

Dave was not to be daunted though as his crusader began picking up and chucking Eric's warjacks in a nearby shallow lake extinguishing the furnaces!  It was both hilarious and mournful as Stryker's forces who've been doing so well are being defeated by body of calm cool water.

The battle ended with Kreoss taking home victory for Menoth.

Carver vs. Denegra

 This battle was truly about the Gun Boars as they opened up with a nice hit on one of Paul's bone jacks.  Paul retaliated by spraying and applying corrosion to half of my army.  Though the rest of the damage hits were mitigated by Batten Down the Hatches.  Such an amazing spell.

As the Cryx army rushed to calm the thunderous shots of the Gun Boars one Bone Jack bit the dust.  Once engaged quagmire on one of the Gun Boars helped mitigate the high defense of the Cryx jacks.  Though the one Death Ripper that closed in on a Gun Boar proceeded to heavily damage the pig.  With the mighty 20 armor the Gun Boar survived.

Carver decided to end this now as he saw his pigs taking a heavy toll.  With the help of his feat Carver charged the Slayer and landed a devastating blow.  This was followed up by a pair of Gun Boars battering the Slayer to dust freeing the War Hog to run off to engage Denegra.

Denegra being immune to free strikes (Doh!) backed away from the War Hog and proceed to shadow bind, parasite and bash the War Hog landed very powerful hits.

Though Denegra had lost too many much and Carver applied  lots of pressure as the Gun Boars finished off the Bone Jacks and Carver moved into position to charge next turn.  Denegra seeing her army disintegrate before her took solice in destroying Carver's War Hog before finally getting cut down by Carver's weapon, The Hand of God.

Bart vs. Legion

I didn't watch this battle at all honestly.  Only thing I noticed as I glanced over was Bart had removed all of Legions army and had put 12 solid points of damage on Lylth.  With Lylth's dying breath she landed a powerful bow shot, followed by a parasite and another bow shot to do enough damage to fell Bart (and Carver) has yet to pass a single tough check in the league so far.

Sorscha vs. Denegra

I only caught the highlights of this battle after it had ended.  Sorscha's crazy threat range of 19 inches got her into melee with Denegra and her trusty hammer Frostfang finished the job.

Carver vs. Bart


Going into this battle 1 to 1 a real grudge match has been a brooding.  Carver taking the first turn runs forward with everything except Carver who casts Batten Down the Hatches.

Bart using his superior range takes a shot with his Mariner landing one damage point to a Gun Boar.  The Gun Boars retaliated doing some damage to the Buccaneer and Freebooter.

Mariner taking a 2nd round shot blasts into Carver doing 4 points of damage.  The Freebooter charges into the War Hog doing really nice damage considering it was dice minus 7, but failing to hit with the grab and smash allowing to do its free two handed throw, the bane of the war hog's existence!

Carver calls his feat and charges the Freebooter.  I pick up my four dice happy to roll this devastating blow and see the dice come up 1 ... 2 ... 2 ... 3.  I did 3 points of damage to the Freebooter!  This throws off the rest of my plans the turn and I proceed to take a few pot shots off with the Gun Boars and attack the Freebooter with the War Hog who doesn't finish it off.  (I forgot to mention Bart's minus 3 to hit on feat turn is rough!)  Seeing a charge lane from Bart to Carver all be it too late.  Targ decides to eat the bullet and runs in front of Carver.

The next turn is humorous.  Dougle fires off his Quad Iron and misses with snake eyes.  The Mariner then deciding to kill off Targ to open the charge lane fires killing Targ, who decides to be too tough for a cannon ball and lies down instead (passed tough). The Buccaneer having enough moves up and skewers Targ's body on the ground.  With the charge lane free Bart charges Carver.

Bart lands two solid attacks on Carver who shrugs one off to a beast. (His 1 and only transfer)  Carver sitting at 13 def 20 armor with 5 hit points left thinks he'll survive the round to get his revenge on Bart!  Bart spend his last focus hits.  Picking up two dice we do a quick calculation of the odds.  Bart is pow 14, Carver is armor 20, with 5 hit points left.  Bart needs to roll a 11 or 12 to finish off the pig.  Nicole picks up the dice rolls them on the table and lands double 6's.  I am sweating now.  All I need is a tough check, I pick up my die and roll it, 3.  Game over Bart, you win this time but I'll get my revenge!

Recap of the Journeyman League Totals

Cryx                                      11pts

Cryx

Legion                                   5pts

Merc - Pirates                      19pts

Minions - Thornfall                20pts

Minions - Blindwater             4pts

Khador                                 10pts

Cygnar                                  2pts

Cygnar

Menoth                                  3pts

Circle                                    6pts

Circle

Skorne                                  3pts

Retribution

As it's nearing 3 I'm going to wrap this one as I'm tired.  Though I have got Carver nearly done, so look for an update this weekend with my warlock finally done!  Maybe that's the edge Bart has had all a long!