KublaCon2017 Recap

No pictures. No detailed write up. Just stream of consciousness. I played 2 small Malifaux tournaments this last weekend. One at KublaCon and one at Game Kastle Fremont.

Kubla tournament:

Round 1: Got the bye unfortunately, but Chrissy offered to play me a pickup game. She played Arcanists (Ramos). Howard Langston is a beast but I managed to get 2 Gambles from the Stitched on it and nearly take him out but not before he whacked both my Waldgeist and Mr Graves. Rest of the battle was a jam in the middle but Ramos' spiders were nailing scheme points on the flanks. After 3 rounds I lost 6-4. My key takeaway in this game is that Chrisy DuBois is super badass. She is an incredible community builder.

Round 2: Played against Rezzers (Seamus). My opponent's execution fell apart after the first round. I went strong on one side with Dreamer and he basically tried to hold that Stash with a Doxie. Once I cleared that I was just shoving things at him to pin him back and keep pressure on the Strategy. Again my Framed Changeling pulled out points and I won 6-3. My key takeaway here is that losing models and getting lured isn't the end of the world if your opponent is busy not keeping the strategy in mind. He admitted to coming off of a previous weird game that left him with a bad mindset which very likely threw off his whole game.

Round 3: Top table! Gremlins (Somer). This may have been the most amusing game I played all weekend. Somer pushed right up into the center and was doing "bigger hat" on Dreamer which only worked once fortunately. In this game my key takeaway was that I had completely mis-read a feature of summoning Daydreams which results in the Primordial Magic being sacrificed once a Daydream is summoned. This was a really low scoring game and right near the end I got too preoccupied with trying to kill Somer that I spaced on my second scheme (Undercover Entourage) otherwise I would have won by just rocketing Dreamer to the far corner. The final score was 3-1.

Recap: I went 2-1 in this tournament, coming in second place, and earning myself a sweet mystery box that contained Miss Anne Thrope!

Game Kastle Fremont tournament:

Round 1: Played against Neverborn (Lucius) and who would become the tournament winner. This match was weird because we both had a bunch of the same models (Thorn, Waldgeists, Changelings, Mr Graves). My opponent just straight up out-played me though and his list had some really nice synergies in it (Terracota Warriors to give protection to key front-line models was a key takeaway. The final score was 6-3.

Round 2: Played against Gremlins (Zoraida) in what was a completely bizzare list to me. Zoraida with Animal Shape and Tarot Reading, Fingers, Burt Jebsen, Iggy, Rooster Rider, Nurse, Bayou Gremlin. Shockingly though the list worked great. I got schooled pretty hard. Key takeaway is NEVER play a Stitched Together against Zoraida. He also Obeyed one of my models to take a final hit on Burt to finish him off (who was also his Frame for Murder). Final score was 6-2.

Round 3: Played against Gremlins (Ophelia) and another highly amusing list. I don't remember it exactly, but it was roughly Ophelia, Old Major, Francios and a whole swatch of piglets (like at least 8). I owned this guy pretty hard. I ended up nailing Ophelia and Old Major, and the final score was 6-4.

Recap: I came in 6th place out of 8.

Final takeaway: Two hour time limits (including deployment) and playing all new stuff meant every game I played was only 3 rounds, which honestly was just a little disappointing to me. From what I overheard, out of both tournaments I think only maybe 2 games went to a 4th round.

Total games played this year: 8

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #137

Two days late, and lazy fast...

Life has been super busy for me lately. Holidays, family visits, promotion at work, family health issues, traveling, etc. Just a rough time in general for the hobby. Here's what I've been working on...

Made more blanks for Malifaux bases. Lots of them. I'm planning to paint lots more Neverborn. Widow Weaver is mostly done as well (probably post tomorrow). Angel Eyes is started, and Carver is primed. I'm actually planning to paint Carver in Sketch Style as described by Matt DiPietro. More about that in the future though.

Played 2 games of Malifaux last week as a part of our campaign (week 3).
Total games played this year: 53

Quick review of progress against my 2016 goals: Basically everything is done except for painting the Batman model. I'm not sure I'm going to manage to pull that off actually.

Malifaux Campaign Week 2 (game 2)

Super fast notes.

It's always unfortunate for a neutral model when they flip a black joker against Nekima's attack. Ouch.

Played my second game for week 2. My Neverborn crew against Henry's Gremlins. He outnumbered me and honestly that allowed him to really dominate on the strategy as well as with schemes that required placing scheme markers. In hindsight I probably should have focused my scheme choices better. In the end I had 7 VPs and Henry had 10 VPs. We both accomplished our bounties which meant I completed mine.

I'm pretty beat and afraid I might be fighting off a flu, otherwise I'd do a longer write up. Most of these campaign game reports are likely to get shorter going forward though.

Games this year: 51

Malifaux Mini-Campaign: Weeks 2 and 3

So I forgot to post results from week 2 of the mini-campaign, so here's highlights from weeks 2 and 3:
* I completed my bounty and saved enough scrip to get Pandora for week 3.
* The final VP score overall was 21 (me) to 17 (Lance). The last game is what swung the whole thing.
* The Widow Weaver with a Jetpack is so much awesomeness.
* There were a lot injuries, which is not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.
* Have a game with a master in one crew but no master in the other can make for a pretty serious power slide, but not necessarily insurmountable.
* This game continues to be super fun.

We've decided to conclude this mini-campaign now that our 3rd member of our 3-man-meta has returned from vacation. However this side diversion has been really educational in terms of getting more solid on the core rules, our own models, the campaign dynamics.

Games this year: 50

Malifaux Mini-Campaign: Week 1

Because sometime you gotta just play an alternate mini-campaign when of your buddies goes on vacation! Super brief notes. Not interesting to anyone!

My starting Arsenal: Widow Weaver, Doppleganger, Black Blood Shaman, 3 Terror Tots. Bounty: Escort Mission.
Lance's starting Arsenal: Datsue Ba, uh some other stuff, and, uh, some bounty.

Weekly event: Forbidden Text
Strategy: Turf War
Deployment: Standard
Available Schemes: A Line In The Sand, Breakthrough, Assassinate, Vendetta, Plant Evidence
Schemes chosen (both of us): Breakthrough, Plant Evidence.
My outcome: Loss, 7 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Texts. 7 total scrip. Injury to 1 Terror Tot (need to re-flip). Completed bounty challenge 1 time.
Lance's outcome: Win, 8 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Texts. 8 total scrip. Injury to something.
My aftermath: Hand - 3 Masks. Barter - 13 Tomes.
Lance's aftermath: Hand - 12 Crows/13 Crows. Barter - 9 Masks. Injury - 9 Tomes.

My aftermath and purchases:
Purchase: Jet Pack (5 scrip)
Remaining scrip: 2

Games this year: 48

Malifaux Campaign Week 2 (game 1)

Again, not really sure how to do a proper battle report yet, but here's notes from the first game of week 2.

Additional week 1 cleanup: Gaki Injury flip: 8 Tomes

Weekly event: Swamp Creatures (7 masks)

Game 1:
Strategy: Turf War
Deployment: Flank
Available Schemes: A Line In The Sand, Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Vendetta, Make Them Suffer
Lance Crew: Anna Lovelace, Hannah (Unnerving Aura upgrade), Datsue Ba, Jaakuna Ubume. Schemes: Vendetta, Make Them Suffer.
My Crew: Nekima (Quick Reflexes skill), Lilitu, Lelu (Clockwork Seeker equipment), Iggy. Schemes: Make Them Suffer, Breakthrough.
My outcome: Win, 10 VPs, +2 scrip for 1 Silurid. 8 total scrip. No injuries. Completed bounty challenge 1 time.
Lance's outcome: Loss, 4 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Silurids, +2 scrip for crew rating difference. 8 total scrip. No injuries.
My aftermath: Hand - 9 Crows/8 Tomes. Barter - 2 Rams.
Lance's aftermath: Hand - 9 Tomes. Barter - Red Joker (+6 Rams).

My aftermath and purchases:
Total scrip prior: 11
Purchase: Metal Plate (3 scrip)
Remaining scrip: 8

Games this year: 47

Malifaux Campaign: Week 1

We started a Malifaux campaign! I'm documenting the progress of it on my blog. The week recap posts will mostly just be notes rather than narritive. I'm also just trying to get a handle on how to track and report this stuff since it's our first games of Malifaux in years, and it's our very first time using the campaign format.

Starting crews:
Lance: Anna (leader), Hannah, Datsu Ba, Gaki. Decaying Aura upgrade.
Me: Nekima, Lilitu, Lelu, Young Nephilim. The True Mother upgrade.
Henry: McTavish, Lenny, Rooster Rider, 3 Bayou Gremlins. I'll Love It And Pet It upgrade.

Week 1:
Event: Fate Favors The Bold

Game 1: Reckoning (standard deployment)
Henry, Assassinate + Murder Protege, win, 7vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=11. Card hand: 11 Crows, 2 Rams. Barter card: 3 Tomes. Injury on Lenny to resolve.
Scott, Make Them Suffer + Murder Protege, loss, 5vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9. Card hard: 2 Tomes. Barter card: 6 Crows. No injuries.

Game 2: Squatter's Rights (standard deployment)
Henry, Breakthrough + Make Them Suffer, win, 10vp, 2(?) bonus scrip, total earned scrip=12 (but capped by weekly max to 5). Card hand: 13 Rams, 9 Masks. Barter card: 2 Masks. Injury on one Gremlin to resolve.
Lance, Make Them Suffer + Frame For Murder, loss, 6vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9. Card hand: 3 Masks. Barter card: 12 Masks. No injuries to resolve.

Game 3: Reckoning (standard deployment)
Scott, win, 8vps, 4 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9 (but capped by weekly max to 7). Schemes: Cursed Object and Breakthrough. Card hand: 2 Rams, 7 Tomes. Barter card: 9 Masks. No injuries to resolve.
Lance, loss, 6vps, 4 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=7 (exactly hitting weekly max). Schemes: Assassinate and Cursed Object. Card hand: 5 Tomes. Barter card: 3 Masks.


My aftermath and purchases:
From game 1 barter - Clockwork Seeker (for 5 scrip)
From game 2 barter - Quick Reflexes (for 4 scrip) for Nekima
Bounty - Map It Out (for 4 scrip)
New Hires - Iggy (for 0 scrip)
Remaining scrip = 3

Battle Report: Caine2 vs Sorcha1

Caine 2... still a thing.

My list: Caine2, Ace, 2 Hunters, Junior, Hunter, Strangeways, 2 Gun Mage Captains, Mechaniks (6), Stormblades (6+UA), Bunker Objective (not relevant).

My opponent: Sorcha1, Behemoth, Decimator, Reinholdt, Koldun Lord, Drakhun, Iron Fang Kovnik, Widowmaker Marksman, Widowmakers, IFP (10+UA), Kell, Eiryss1.

Scenario: Hold The Line (mk3 book), 60 minute death clock.

Super fast synopsis cause I'm exhausted. I won the roll, chose sides to avoid Sorcha being parked behind a wall. Managed to position carefully to avoid too much alpha striking. I actually lured the dismounted Drakhun and Kell to hit the Storm Strider too, which gave it two power tokens. Then after clearing the jam of infantry, I took a run on Sorcha who was sitting on a hill. The Storm Strider with 2 power tokens and Fire For Effect, combined with 2 fully boosted Hunter shots put her in the dirt. The win is a bit of a glitch though because my opponent totally forgot that he had Fog Of War up which would have changed everything, including my whole plan for the round. Nevertheless, I'm putting this one in the win column.

Lessons learned: Caine2 is totally a thing. Maneuvering and applying pressure is also pretty important. I did a much better job this game of using premeasuring to help me out.

Games this year: 44

Battle Report: Name2 vs Issyria

Another pointlessly brief double battle report. No pictures. Just tracking for my own purposes.

My list: Nemo2, Squire, Dynamo, Centurion, 2 Ironclads, Reliant, Storm Strider, Mechaniks (6), Stockpile objective.

My opponent: Issyra, Chimera, Imperatus, Mechanik, Lanyssa, Magister, Artificer, Aspis, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, Sentinels (10+UA), Electromancers, Destors (3), Heavy Rifle Team, Bunker objective.

Scenario: Extraction, fake 60 minute deathclock.

Despite having brand new casino dice, I got peed on again, but I did do a decent job of holding my own for a while. In the end though, I was getting attritioned out faster than I could deliver attacks simply due to a lack of the number of attacks I could produce. I felt like I was prioritizing targets correctly, but I just could do enough. Probably should have had a unit of infantry in there.

Lessons learned: Nemo2 is amusing, and there's some great synergy like him giving elite cadre bonuses to Storm Striders (since they are "Stormsmith" models). However in Mk3 his feat is just a bit more underwhelming now since Power Up is already granting 1 focus to everything.

Games this year: 44

Remaining Cygnar casters to play in Mk3: Caine2, Darius, Haley2, Haley3, Nemo1, Siege, Stryker2, Stryker3

Battle Report: Sloan vs Ravyn, Kryssa vs Helynna

Pointlessly brief double battle report.

Game 1:
My list: Sloan, Squire, Avenger, Dynamo 2 Fireflies, Reliant, Strangeways, 2 Gun Mage Captains, Acosta, Ragman, Bokur, Anastasia.
My opponent: Ravyn, Corbeau, Banchee, Manticore, Mechanik, Artificer, Voidtracer, Destors (5), Sentinels (6+UA), Electromancers, Dahlia, Skarath.
Scenario: , no clock.
My opponent's dice peed all over me again. The coup de grace was when a Soulless Voidtracer charged in an killed Acosta (needing a 10 to hit and 10 to kill), which ended up completely breaking my board control on the left zone. After that I got flustered and made scenario errors, despite the fact that I was winning the attrition war. We played it out after my failure to stop him from winning on scenario and I would have won eventually, but it was still a stupid loss on my part.
Lessons learned: Sloan's new feat is good, but she'll be focused starved during it. Still, it works lovely with Dynamo. Plus, I still love Fireflies. Lots.

Game 2:
My List: Kryssa, Neraph, Bolt Thrower, 2 Shredders
My opponent: Helynna, Manticore, Griffon, Chimera
This was mostly just a quick test to see how competitive the two battle boxes are. Honestly, I got super lucky on an assassination run. The Bolt Thrower managed to crit knockdown the Griffon out of the way, and then Kryssa was able to Quickness to the side and charge Helynna, promptly getting a crit and cranking dice rolls well enough to kill Helynna just exactly.
Lessons learned: The Legion battlebox is a pretty tough kit to use. It requires a lot of hit and run tactics, but if the opponent has decent armor, it's not going to go well. It really revolves around Kryssa getting a good assassination run using her feat. I like the idea of her using the Neraph animus to further pull models forward into range of other stuff, but even then it's pretty tricky.

Games this year: 42

Battle Report: Sturgis vs Garreth

Lazy battle report.

My list: Sturgis, Stormwall, Dynamo, Sylas, Journeyman, Firefly, 2 Arcane Tempest Riflemen, Strangeways, Stormblades (6+UA).

My opponent: Garreth, Imperatus, Manticore, Chimera, Elara, Griffon, Mechanik, Arificer, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, Nayl, Destors (3), Sentinels (6+UA), Lanyssa.

Scenario: The Pit, no clock.

Sometimes your opponent's dice just pee all over your plans. This was somewhat one of those cases. Despite having Arcane Shield and fancy plans, I got pounded pretty bad. After the second round, everything was going downhill too fast in the attrition game and I simply didn't have enough moving parts in my army to pull off an assassination. However this was one of my last games of fielding "new" stuff. Breaking out Stormwall was a good exercise.

Lessons learned: Stormblade melee ranges increased! Stormwall machine gun damages went down.

Games this year: 40

Battle Report: Nemo3 vs Strakhov1

ZAP ZAP ZAP!!!

My list: Nemo3 & Finch, Squire, Dynamo, 3 Fireflies, 2 Storm Striders, Silverlines (10).

My opponent: Strakhov, Behemoth, Ruin, Juggernaut, Black Dragons (10+UA), Drakhuun, Widowmakers, 2 Manhunters.

Scenario: Mosh Pit (book), no clock.

So this battle exemplified everything that I love in a game of Warmachine. Both of our armies got to do their special things. We learned rules and our models. We got to punch each other in the face. Our dice both succeeded and failed us. There was much laughter. Overall, it was a blast. Rather than try to recount the battle, here's some highlights...
I managed to get a full stack of boosting on a Juggernaut! The Silverlines put their template on it for +2 electrical damage. There was a Firefly within 5" of it for +2 more damage. There was a Storm Strider within 10" of it for +2 to hit. And then Nemo feated for an extra die of damage. At this point a Storm Strider got to plug the thing with 2 effective POW 19+3d6 damage hits which left my opponent both laughing and crying.
Strakhov got to super missile both Ruin and Behemoth into my army, on 2 separate turns. They did crazy damage, although poor Ruin failed to take out Dynamo in a single alpha strike.
Overall the battle was great fun. As it wore on though, I was losing on attrition so I orchestrated an assassination attempt on Strakhov. After clearing a lane and engagement, 1 Storm Strider was able to aim at Strakov while gaining the +2 bonus from the other Storm Strider, thus needing 5's to hit. Unfortunately I missed with one of those attacks. That combined with a fully-boosted lightning strike from Nemo, on average dice, would have put Strakhov into "extra crispy" mode. Oh well, such is the nature of a game that uses dice. Still, despite the loss, I feel like I played pretty well and used my entire army to great effect.

Lessons learned: Ruin and Behemoth are dangerous. I love the Storm Strider still, especially with Nemo3. Dynamo is just crazy good all around. Most of all, I need to read my opponent's cards more carefully at the start of each game.

Games this year: 39

Battle Report: Caine1 vs Issyria

Running low on energy, so this write up will be sketchy.

My list: Caine1, Reinholdt, Ace, 2 Hunters, Gun Mages (6+UA), Hunter, Tempest Blazers (3), Strangeways.

My opponent: Issyria, Corbeau, Imperatus, Chimera, Destors (5), Heavy Rifle Team, Arcanist Mechanic, Artificer, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, Narn, .

Scenario: Mosh Pit (book), no clock.

Won initiative, chose to go first. Advanced, then enemy advanced, then I did some shooting. One thing I enjoyed was using a combination of Jack Marshal with a Hunter, and then Strangeways to give it a focus, and Caine to give it Deadeye. The net result is that with the Take Aim option, the Hunter becomes RAT 9 +3d6 to hit, and POW 8 boosted armor piecing with crit brutal damage. I managed to get the crit when shooting at Imperitus too, but unfortunately rolled really badly. Still, at 4d6-1 for damage, it put a serious dent in him. From there things got pretty grindy for me though. Fortunately my opponent didn't feat early with Issyria and I managed to keep things at bay. Then later when Imperitus got a run on Caine, dice bent in my favor and he survived by 4 points, after having spent 2 focus for damage drops. At that point I had to take a run on Issyria. There was a bit of luck and a Gun Mage managed to Thunderbolt shot Imperitus sideways 3", allowing Caine to then Thunderstrike Imperitus back into a Destor, which then freed a Hunter from melee engagement. Caine continued his run by advancing, shooting the Artificer down (to get rid of the +2 def against ranged), and then feating and popping shots into Issyria. If Caine hand't gotten lucky and finished her off, Ace and the freed Hunter were all set to finish the job. Still though, I was sweating that one and simply got lucky with my opponent's dice not rolling average.

Lessons learned: Caine1 is still awesome. Jack Marshalling is totally a thing. Issyria is scary. And most of all, between this list and the Stryker1 list, I've learned that balanced lists really are pretty important in order to have answers to lots of different questions. I'm honestly starting to believe that skew lists are actually more punished in Mk3 than they were in Mk2.

Games this year: 38

Battle Report: Stryker1 vs Irusk1

My list: Stryker1, Sylys, Rowdy, Lancer, Charger, Journeyman, Stormclad, Stormblade Captain, Stormclad (second), Stormblades (6+UA+2WA).

My opponent: Irusk1, Behemoth, Kodiak, Bokur, Koldun Lord, Drakhun (with dismount), Kayazy Assassins (10+UA), Greylord Ternion, Black Dragons (10+UA).

Scenario: Mosh Pit (book), no clock.

I won initiative and chose to go first. I could go into details, but honestly the Rube Goldberg contraption that was Henry's army was immaculate. He had Ternions putting clouds on Kayazy, which were stealthed, and those guys created a cloud wall for the rest of his army to advance behind. Irusk's Inhospitable Ground kept me from assault/charging them. This whole combination was frustratingly effective. I ended up feating too soon, and from there things continued to go downhill. There was a lot about this matchup that was just unfortunate too, like Kayazy having Anatomical Precision which handily overcomes my Stormblades despite having great armor stack options. In the end I took a last ditch assassination run on Irusk but an early failed boosted attack roll by my Stormclad against a key Kayazy failed (needing 8 on 3d6 I might add), and that sealed any chance I had for lucky dice to save me. If I'd succeeded, then it would have opened a lane for the Lancer to advance, then Stryker to Earthquake and perhaps the Charger to get a pair of shots on Irusk, in what would have been perhaps a 20% chance of success.

Lessons learned: I really need to develop my skills around using premeasuring effectively. Using proxy bases and marking spots and all that stuff is super key to taking proper advantage of premeasuring.
Also, Jack Marshalls are a thing. The Stormblade Captain granting Reposition to the Stormclad is a pretty serious advantage for it. I will definitely be thinking about that option in the future.

Games this year: 37

Battle Report: Nemo1 vs Garreth

My list: Nemo1, Squire, Thunderhead, Lancer, Firefly, 6 Stormcallers, Strangeways, Arcanist Core.

My opponent: Garreth, Imperatus, Griffon, Chimera, Corbeau, Arcanist Mechanik, Destors (3), Mage Hunter Assassin.

Scenario: Mosh Pit (book), no clock.

I won initiative and chose a side of the table. After a brutal exchange where the Destors nearly wrecked Thunderhead, I retaliated and wiped out the Destors. From there things continued down a brutal attrition battle. Again though the game turned into attempts at trading assassination runs, with Nemo making a valiant attempt to chain lightning onto Garreth a bunch and nearly killing him. However as the battle wore on, Imperatus was able to stay in the battle long enough to be a problem, and in the end I got checkmated on scenario, losing 2 to 3 on vps.

Lessons learned: Keep looking up rules! It's good to review the new rules. This game we ended up re-reading most of the power attacks, spellcasting details, and a number of misc things. The more we play, the more we find that the rules are better but we're trying not to make any assumptions that they are the same. Also, camping a couple focus on a caster for damage drops is a serious survivability advantage. And when Nemo has a turn with 11 focus on himself, in addition to Power Up, it's an amusing round for spell slinging.

Games this year: 36

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #126

Happy Fathers' Day to all the hobby enthusiasts out there!

I'm super tired, so this update is going to be pretty condensed. It was a good week overall. Maddox and the battle group from the Cygnar starter box are started (as pictured here), and I'm hoping to get most of Maddox done tonight. In addition, the 2 Gun Mage Riflemen are primed, and most of the Legion starter box is assembled at this point, with just the Neraph left to go. I also got the 2 Hellmouths prepped and ready for priming as well. I'll likely leave all the Legion stuff alone for the time being until I star the Riflemen.

In addition to this hobby work, I also got a couple games in this week, playing 0pt and 35pt games with Haley1 vs Helynna. I won both games. I'll forgo a proper battle report on those probably, since I suspect there will be a lot of Mk3 games coming up.

Games played this year: 35

Battle Report: Sturgis vs Syntherion

So very close, yet so far.

My list: Sturgis, Squire, Stormwall, Jakes, Dynamo, Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), Stormblade Captain, Stormsmith, Tarin, Aiyana & Holt, Harlan, Effigy of Valor Objective.

My opponent: Syntherion (tier 4), Corollary, Axiom, Mitigator, 2 Diffusers, Galvanizer, 2 Emergence Projectors, 2 Dispersion Optifexes, 3 Attunement Servitors, Optifex Directive, Bunker Objective.

Scenario: Recon, 60 minute death clock.

Honestly, I can't remember a lot of details of this game. I ended up going second and choosing the side with the bunker. My Stormwall got Magnetic Held. Aiyana failed to drop harm on one of the battle engines, and from there some more failed dice rolls meant I only took out 1 of the two of them on my second turn which resulted in some badness. There was other badness, but generally what it came down to was getting slightly outplayed and being behind on scenario so I went for an assassination run on Synth who was camping 5 focus. Long story short, I failed, but more analysis on the actual attempt below.

Lessons learned: I'm going to lose gloriously in Masters. I'm just hoping for a set of fun opponents.
Also thinking I should swap out the Stormsmith and Harlan for Eiryss2. I'll try that next time.

Games this year: 24



Overpower vs Drop-5-Damage
Ok, so on this assassination run, I was curious about the about the math on this, so I'm going to try it out here, comparing old Overpower vs new drop-5-damage mechanisms.

Sturgis made a last ditch assassination attempt on Synth, who was camping 5 focus. He was def 13, arm 18 base. I won't replay the attack rolls for hit/miss based on average dice, and just assume it stays as the same hit rates. I'll also assume Synth still had his 3 damage from Feedback that Sturgis had put on him previously, so he was down to 17 damage remaining. I will however assume average damage rolls rather than trying to recall exactly what I rolled last night.

Stormwall, 1 boosted Big Gun hit at POW 15, 1 boosted Metal Storm hit at POW 12.
Sturgis' feat, boosted POW 12.
Harlan's quad iron, with 4 boosted POW 10s
Stormblade Captain charge attack, boosted weapon master POW 13


Overpower scenario (what played out last night), with Synth at ARM 23:
Stormwall does 2.5 and 0.
Sturgis does 0.
Harlan does 0, 0, 0 and 0.
Stormblade Captain does 4.
So a total of 6.5 damage on average. In recollection, I had spike rolls in both directions which pushed the damage up, but still not even close to a win.

New drop-5-damage scenario, with Synth at ARM 18.
Stormwall does 7.5 and 4.5.
Sturgis does 4.5.
Harlan does 2.5, 2.5, 2.5 and 2.5.
Stormblade Captain does 9.
Let's assume Synth optimizes and pays to drop from the largest ones, that eliminates the 2 4.5s, and 1 2.5 entirely. It also drop 5 from the 9, and 5 from the 7.5. This comes out to a total of: 2.5, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5 and 4, for a grand total of 14.

So Synth lives, assuming average dice and perfect drops, Synth lives, but I can only imagine the brain twisting process as dice spike one way or another and having to guess when to try and drop or not.

All things considered, I dig this change.

Battle Report: Sturgis vs Skarre2

No picture this time.

My list: Sturgis, Squire, Stormwall, Jakes, Dynamo, Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), Stormblade Captain, Stormsmith, Tarin, Aiyana & Holt, Harlan, Effigy of Valor Objective.

My opponent: Skarre2, Skarlock, Deathjack, Nightwretch, Aiakos, Sepulcher, Bane Riders (5), Mobeus, 2 Bloat Thralls, Necrotech, 1 Scrap Thrall, Effigy of Valor Objective.

Scenario: Destruction, 60 minute death clock.

I lost initiative which let me pick sides. Cryx jammed in, and I advanced a cautious amount. The Bloat Thralls, thanks to Black Spot, managed to do a real number on my Stormblades which was really devastating. From there the Bane Riders formed a line at the front edge of the zone and Skarre feated to make 3 of them immune, along with the DJ and herself. In order to try to dig my way out of this roadblock, Aiyana put harm on one of the Bane Riders (thus affecting the whole unit), and then Holt and Jakes shot one off the end. Sturgis then charged the other non-immune one, putting himself within 3 of the other 3 in the unit. After killing the 2nd one, he feated and was able to boost damages on the others. Unfortunately at effective POW 14 vs ARM 20 and 5 wounds, Sturgis needed 11's to kill and managed to roll 3 10's in a row, leaving all 3 with 1 HP left. He then teleported back and from there it was mostly an attempt to jam. The Stormwall advanced and used a Stormpod drop to clear one of the wounded Bane Riders and leave metal storm templates on top of those Bane Riders and force movement. At this point my remaining Stormblades just tried to get in the way. It was at this point that things went south. Skarre loaded up the DJ, used Perdition to kill a Stormblade and grant a full advance to the DJ, who then could walk over to Sturgis and proceeded to punch him down to pulp.

Lessons learned: I still love playing Sturgis. He's such a fun toolbox for my play style. Also, Perdition is totally a thing to watch out for. Plus, I really don't enjoy playing against Skarre2, but I feel like I nearly weathered this one well if it wasn't for a couple position errors.

Games this year: 23

Battle Report: Stryker3 vs Skarre2

This battle should be named "Oh how I can't wait for Mk3".

My list: Stryker3 (tier 4), Stormwall, Ol Rowdy, Storm Lances (5), Tempest Blazers (5), Laddermore, Stormblade Captain, Effigy of Valor Objective.

My opponent: Skarre2, Skarlock, Deathjack, Nightwretch, Aiakos, Sepulcher, Warwitch Siren, Bane Riders (5), Blood Witches (6+UA), Effigy of Valor Objective.

Scenario: Incomming, 60 minute death clock.

I won initiative and opted to go first. I immediately jammed forward about as far as I could, especially with the Stormwall. At the end of my turn though, I realized I had left Stryker directly behind my own objective which was going to cause movement problems on the next turn. My opponent then spent a considerable amount of time mulling over how to respond to a serious jam. His response was pretty well done actually. He managed to get Black Spot on my Blazers which allowed him to shoot 4 of them off the table between Skarre and the Sepulcher. From there things got nasty for us both. I ended up jamming in the Stormwall but a Deathjack/Sepulcher counterattack destroyed it. At this point things were pretty desperate with Skarre toe'ing into both a forest and the Stormwall's wreck. My options kept getting more and more narrow, but I did my best to stay in the fight and attrition him down where I could. In the end he managed to dominate his friendly zone and take out my objective to score enough points, with less than a minute on his clock I might add. Well done Henry!

Lessons learned: Stryker3 is still fun. It's not a particularly amazing list, but I'm feeling better and better about it. This might be one of my Masters' lists now.
On a side note, there was a bunch of stuff in this game that makes me look forward to Mk3. First is the wreck stuff. Second, and more importantly, I had 2 failed command checks in this game (once on Blazers near the start, and second on Storm Lances late game).

Games this year: 22

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Morghoul1

Breaking through Master practice fatigue with something different.

My list: Stryker3 (tier 4), Stormwall, Ol Rowdy, Storm Lances (5), Tempest Blazers (5), Laddermore, Stormblade Captain.

My opponent: Morghoul, Marketh, Krea, Karn, Bronzeback, Gladiator, Reptile Hound, Shaman, Agonizer, Willbreaker, Beast Handlers (4), Nihilators (10).

Scenario: Close Quarters, 60 minute death clock.

I won initiative and opted to go first. My list makes for some crazytown jamming. With the tier bonus, I had the Stormwall 1" off the centerline at the end of my first turn, with everything else very close to the centerline as well. From there though things got tricky. Nihilators made tough rolls all over the place and a couple of key ones blocked my ability to really get work done with the Stormwall. There was also a key forest that Karn and Morghoul were able to hide behind that kept my Storm Lances from really delivering the hurt. I very much ended up running out of time and clocking myself due to a number of factors, not the least of which was some environmental distractions in my house. However a lot of it was just unfamiliarity with playing heavy cavalry enough and trying to sequence Stryker3's feat and the rest of his army. We played past the clock and in the end I was able to attrition him down and eventually kill Morghoul, but I'm still marking this one down as a loss on time because I was just horrifically slow.

Lessons learned: Stryker3 is both fun, and kinda one dimensional. I definitely feel like some added practice with this particular list could be much more fun. I made a number of positioning and execution mistakes throughout the game that more practice would help with. I also feel like an important less was playing against Karn again, which is something that I routinely get surprised by.

On a side note, with all of the Mk3 spoilers getting out there, it was interesting to play this game. Specifically there were a bunch of places during the game where we found ourselves saying "man, this will be so much better in Mk3 when..." and citing some change. From things like pre-measuring, to forests, to just crazy stuff like the Agonizer. I really can't wait for Mk3 to roll out!

Games this year: 21