Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Goreshade3

Nothing quite like getting ambushed and still surviving.

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), 2 Stormblade Captains, Bunker Objective.

My opponent: Goreshade3, Skarlock, Sepulcher, Darragh Wrathe, Necrotech, Scrap Thrall, Bane Riders (5), Mechanithralls (10), Soulhunters (5), Withershadow, Bunker Objective.

Scenario: Recon, 60 minute death clock.

I won initiative! So naturally I opted to go first, just for the practice of it. I have to also say, I didn't read Goreshade3's card, or the Sepulcher's card prior to starting the game. So around bottom of turn 2 when my opponent says "I think I can kill you" and I ask how, he shows me Goreshade's feat and I suddenly got very nervous. So here's what happened. Stryker was at the back end of the zone, B2B with Rowdy and my Objective. The Soulhunters charged, with one in particular running through behind Stryker. Mechanithralls ran forward and engaged some key Silverlines. Then Goreshade advanced, feated to make Stryker and Rowdy stationary, and Siphoned Stryker 3 times. After that the Bane Riders advanced to try and clear out enough of the Silverlines but came up 1 short. At this point the Sepulcher was pretty jammed for making a charge due to it's close proximity to the objective and the Bane Riders and remaining Silverline being in the way. So instead it advances and tries to take out the Stormclad but comes up just short due to its last melee attack missing. At this point I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I proceeded to execute precision model elimination to clear out 5 Mechanithralls from the path to free up Stryker. At this point I roll for Overpower and get a wonderful 15 bonus STR, for a mere 9 damage. A single landed charge attack then finished off the focusless Goreshade in a single hit.

Shaking for anything is done during Control phase. Including jacks and beasts. I need to make sure I remember that. Also, models with a magic melee weapon can make free strikes against Incorporeal models. Not super common, but something to remember as in this game where Stryker's reach magic weapon could have made a free strike against the Incorporeal Soulhunter that ran through him to position for Goreshade's feat. Also also, when there's terrain pieces on the table (like unnecessarily tall hills), swap them out for flat terrain. The 2D Terrain from Broken Egg Games is both lovely looking and extremely functional. It may not add that ambiance to the game that 3D terrain does, but it is dramatically more functional in-game, and let's face it, Warmachine is a game where positioning and functional terrain becomes key to a tight gameplay experience.

Games this year: 14