So somehow the week I had said the next post would take, turned into a month. I've got a lot of life stuff on the boil right now, so these are certainly exciting times. Things should hopefully even out soon, and we can start seeing some regular postings here.
A few weeks ago, I played a couple of small games of Warmachine, and I feel like I'm starting to get a bit of a handle on how the game works. First though, a bit of a disclaimer. As with every game I take a look at, there are more in depth resources to be found elsewhere. I'll start collecting resource pages as time goes by, but the purview of this blog is a brief look at many different games. Comments are of course always welcome, but just keep in mind that the odds are good I won't go into enough depth on any given topic.
My buddy and I got together at our friendly local gaming store (FLGS) for a couple of quick, 15 point matches (35 and 50 being generally considered the "standard" tournament sizes). This would give us the chance to keep the number of combos in play at a manageable level, and ensure that it played relatively quickly (as there would be many rulebook checks). We played a simple mission, the 'caster kill (I'll get into this after). We each chose simple 15 point lists, with no solos. I played my Retribution of Scyrah list, with prime Vyross as my warcaster, a full unit of Dawnguard Sentinels with command, and a Phoenix Heavy Myrmidon. To the best of my recollection, my opponent brought his Protectorate of Menoth list with prime Kreoss, a 5 man Choir, 2 light warjacks (a Repentor and a Redeemer, I believe), and a heavy warjack (a Vanquisher?). Both games we played, I won the first turn. I was going to need it, as a complete lack of shooting on my part meant I was going to move my models across the board quickly.
The 'caster kill mission is a simple one that also just sits over the top of any other mission. Kill the enemy warcaster, and win the game. In many basic ways, Warmachine plays like Chess. In this, a 'caster kill is simply capturing your opponent's King. Threat lines and ranges are some of the most important aspects of Warmachine, and this is true of Chess also. Force your enemy to move his pieces into your threat bubble so that you get the first shot, and not the other way around. It's important to establish that despite this, the pace of Warmachine is also much faster than many other games I've played. One cannot play the game in a Mexican standoff, and all the more common scenarios enforce this (for example, "Killing Field",where objectives must be captured in the middle of the board, or "Mosh Pit", a king-of-the-hill type scenario).
We set up a simple, symmetrical board. A building in the middle of the board to obstruct fire lanes, a patch of trees on each side, and a wall on each side. This would allow us to play with the cover rules. I deployed as far forward as I could, with my Phoenix in the middle, and three groups of Sentinels bunched around it. Vyross sat in the back, with one of the Sentinel groups. My buddy deployed his Menoth in a firing line, fairly far back. Given that his list was almost all shooting warjacks, there was a good deal of sense in that. He put Kreoss behind the Vanquisher, and the Choir was conga-lined across the whole firing line.
My strategy was to have Vyross cast inviolable resolve on the Sentinels, bringing them up to ARM 19 with their unit buffs. They would run beside and behind the Phoenix, who would have hallowed avenger cast on it. Between that, and the Sentinels' vengeance, I was hoping this would get me up the board much quicker than their stats would indicate. Hopefully there would be enough units left over that I could chew him up with much stronger melee once I hit his line.
He did not make it easy for me. I took a great deal of hits before I got up to his gunline, and even then it was only on a fluke roll that I managed to live through an assassination attempt. That attempt left his 'caster exposed, and after dusting themselves off, my Phoenix and 'caster took him out in a single turn. A few learning points. My buddy learned about the importance of managing unit coherence. His Choir was strung out fairly thinly, and this ended with one of the Choir failing command and falling back off the table. This was the Choir that was using his brutal buffs to make the Vanquisher a serious pain in my side. This ended up costing him his Vanquisher. On the flipside of that coin, I learned not to bunch up against Menoth, even for ARM buffs, as their sprays will punish close groups. Secondly, playing that game made me glad about my choice of gaming partner. We had a problem at one point deciding whether leftover focus (the spell currency of the game) could be used to boost warjack attacks on off-activation attacks. We couldn't find it in the rulebook, so we rolled off. We know now that you cannot do that (which proved beneficial for me), but I was glad that it had been resolved so amicably. Thirdly, I learned to play it a little closer when estimating charge distances. I ended up falling short by a half inch for a charge attack with my Phoenix, and this meant he spent a turn doing nothing other than collecting damage. A little more conservative guessing would have meant I never lost that attack. Finally, I learned not to expose my 'caster as badly as I did in that game. I ended up lucking out, but I cannot count on lousy rolls all the time. To quote Eddings, never leave live enemies behind you.
The second game was more of an anomaly, as another player in the FLGS was looking to play his first game, and we made it a multiplayer game. I was caught in the middle of the two on the middle edge, so I decided to charge the Menoth player and kill him outright before then attacking the Cryx player. With the same strategy as before, I charged his gunline as fast as I could. As I was reaching his line, he stepped Kreoss out in front and popped his knockdown feat, hoping to kill Vyross in turn 2. Unluckily for him, I had kept focus on Vyross as an ARM buff, and he lived. This, in addition to some activation order problems, resulted in his army not having much to shoot at (as Kreoss was in the way). A few cooked Sentinels and a slightly singed Vyross were all that ended up happening. On my turn, Vyross and the Phoenix got up, and one-shot Kreoss. Meanwhile, the Cryx player had been making his way across the board with his Deneghra battlebox list. I was out of position from the Menoth attack, and ended up losing the match to especially sneaky attacks from Denghra and the Slayer. This match wasn't as instructive as the first, given that it was a multiplayer match, and my buddy's early fluke got him eliminated quickly. It was, however, a good opportunity to cement some of the things I knew about activation order priority and become familiar with some of my models' statistics. I did a better job of keeping Vyross buttoned up, but Kreoss' brutal knockdown feat is not something against which one can easily prepare.
I was hoping to give some of the warjack power attacks a go in these games, but the opportunity never came up. Also, a strict reliance on melee meant I wasn't using terrain, and I wasn't using any of the fun aiming or combined attacks. Next time I play, I think I'll be putting a little more shooting in my list, and maybe upping the points to 25 to see if I can't squeeze in a couple of those excellent Retribution solos. With Ravyn and some Mage Hunters on order, I think that might be a great way to really give my buddy a run for his money.
Assuming I don't go dark again, next up in the hopper for review will probably end up being either Catan or Power Grid. If there are any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment.
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