5 Games In One Weekend

Nothing stacks up the fun like a spontaneous visit from a good friend and a full weekend of Warmachine. My buddy Mike came down and brought his Retribution and we managed to get in 5 games! Clearly I'm not going to do a battle report for each, but I'll summarize and hit some highlights. The majority of the games were experiments for both of us to figure out what works best.

The Battles:
The first 3 games I played all Madhammer, and Mike played Kaylyssa and Ravyn (I'm sure I spelled both of those wrong). We played 35 and 50 point games, and both armies tended to be pretty infantry heavy. These games were really helpful learning experiences for both of us. I was trying out all kinds of combinations of mercs with Madhammer to decide what best fit my play style.

The 4th game we played was actually a 2-on-1 game of Madhammer and Ravyn teaming up against Lance's Khador combination of eButcher and eSorcha list of 70pts. This was a seriously pounding battle. Madhammer got killed first, and then eButcher went down next. Then finally eSorcha went down with Ravyn pulling out the win.

The 5th game we played was Mike and I at the LGS, and I rolled out 35pts of Reznik goodness against Ravyn. In a brutal display of punishment for my tactical mistake, Mike nearly assassinated Reznik on the top of turn 2. Reznik was down to 5 damage remaining, and was set on fire! Due to extraordinary luck, he managed to survive and (as the picture above shows), the Avatar brought home the victory. Sorry Mike, but I couldn't help posting the shot of Ravyn trapped in the Avatar's Gaze.

The Highlights:
* The Mage Hunter Strike Force (with the UA) is just crazy awesome. When Ravyn snipes them, it's terrifying. Ignores LOS? Really?!?! Seriously, these guys were MVP's almost every game. Why would you ever not take them?

* Madhammer is super fun to play. I had a great time playing him. He's a toolbox of options and brings some good synergy with some of the other mercs I love to play. I think Mike would agree that putting Primed on Alexia and her Risen was pretty brutal.

* Pairing a Dawnguard Scyir and a light jack made for a pretty nasty flanking team.

* When the Ghordson Basher manages to pull off a slam, it rocks the house. Mine sent eSorcha's bonded Devastator hurtling 7" out of a control zone.

* Stormfall Archers behind a wall of Houseguard Halberdiers was pretty awesome, especially when sniped. I learned the hard way that Ranked Attack now allows anyone else in the army to see through that unit. Very cool stuff!

* No matter what you are, there's a magic threshold of DEF 15 that really improves survivability. Nyss and Gun Mages both tended to do very well for me for that very reason.

* In my book, Madhammer has 2 warcaster attachments: Dougal and Reinholdt. Both are pretty much auto-includes.