Sunday, March 8, 2015

Lylyth1 ADR

First things - there is officially a Thrullg in my Lylyth2 list. Body & Soul is becoming common enough that dodge, dip, duck, dive & dodge is becoming less of a real option but also I realised that I play Vayl1. I'm only ever going to drop Lylyth2 once, maybe twice if I come up against multiple EARTHBREAKERs (it has happened), I can afford to have 3 dead points in the list.

on to Lylyth

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight (*6pts)
* Naga Nightlurker (5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
* Typhon (12pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bayal, Hound of Everblight (3pts)
Strider Blightblades (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Incubus (5pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

Specialists
* Scythean (9pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

I have been playing a fair amount of this list in less competitive settings for the last couple of weeks. The list is legit, you could take it to a tournament. The question is always going to be though - does the specialists give you something that you couldn't get just playing Vayl1. I don't think it does.

Let's go through what it does do:

Hex hunters are bonkers with Lylyth1. The unit is already incredible for 8 points, boosting both attack rolls and adding parasite into the mix means that they will obliterate whatever they hit and with Ad and Spd 7 they are often in position to get an alpha strike. The Blight blades help a lot with this plan. When you are out-threatened you can bring the blight blades in from the side and in addition to killing things they are able to pin things in place and force your opponent to dedicated resources to them which then aren't going forwards.

The blight blades are absolute stars in this list. I heard some talk about them on muse on minis, about getting them in Lylyth's feat or Kallus' feat and dark guidance - it's not going to happen, especially with Lylyth. If the stars align you may be able to get a couple of them in your feat, take advantage of the critical grievous wounds on their weapons but more often you are better off putting the Hex hunters at the edge of your control area which will give you a few extra inches of distance for your caster. Def 15 is a problem, stealth can be a problem and even when you kill the blight blades you just create incubii. Not only that but it is difficult to avoid giving them targets. Much like in my Vayl1 list you are punished by clumping your models with Typhon and Bayal sprays, Seraph strafe etc. I believe the right choice is to spread your models but just to avoid giving them anything juicy. That said every game I have used them I have picked something up. UAs, solos, Holt... They are incredibly easy to forget. It's also easy to misjudge the 15ish inches they com in from the side. Then you have to take into account scenarios like incursion. Combining these guy with the Ad Hex hunters and the follow up of Typhon gives you a really strong scenario game.

Incubus - In theory they replace the blight blades but the Def 15/stealth/back field combination actually makes it so that the blight blades don't die that quickly. Often I end up replacing a mix of Hex hunters and blight blades. For some reason the hex hunters tend to die in droves although that might be because they do so much damage that your opponent just can't afford to keep them alive.

The Seraph and Naga are in theory support beasts but they actually do a whole lot of work in this list. With parasite they can kill a heavy at range, when you add in Typhon the ranged ability of this battlegroup is incredible if restricted in its range. Typhon should be self exlanatory. Free charges, parasite, additional dice sprays. You can boost on top of Lylyth's feat and he is just otherwise incredible.

Assassination - Typhon is the main assassination threat but there are a lot of other angles. Incubi pop out in odd positions, the Seraph is a legitimate threat, the Naga will reliably critical giving you 4 dice damage on living casters under Lylyth's feat. You can also get a lot of Hex Hunter shots if they are still alive. one thing people tend to not take into account well are the threat ranges you get from being able to battle wizard and/or cast spells at deeper targets while engaged. While the Spawning Vessel is on the table it is always a threat. One of the other things to remember is that you can hold her feat. If your opponent puts some Nyss Hunters or Blood Trackers in threat of your Hex hunters go for it but if you aren't facing high Def infantry you can hold the feat until you are ready to assassinate.

Scenario - It's a combination of the pressure from AD Hex hunters, the presence of the blight blades and incubi in the back field and the exceptional short rage damage output of the list. You don't really want to be coming into the threat ranges of this list and it's threat ranges are really good with slipstream and Spd 7 troops.

Keeping Lylyth alive - the most obvious piece for that are the swamp Gobbers and while they are alive they should be dropping a cloud in front of Lylyth. There are other pieces though most turns you will not "need" slipstream for your threat ranges, go forwards, feat and/or shoot and spell something and then once the Hex hunters have activated slipstream her back. The Seraph and Naga are also excellent pieces for blocking LOS and charge lanes since they are going to be making ranged attacks anyway. She should always have tenacity on her and you need to look for defensive terrain. Walls are ideal but it's incredibly rare to find them where you need them. A forest in the middle of the table is ideal but a hill will help, trenches are making comeback with the new terrain placement rules and are really good.

Modules:
Naga + Blightblades (11)
Hex Hunters (11)
Hex hunters + incubus + pot _ shepherd (20)
Blight Blades + Incubus (11)
Bayal + blight blades (9)

Monday, March 2, 2015

Discussing Warmachine Online

I'm really tired right now so I can't tell if this stroke of brilliance that I've just had is actually brilliant or just an actual stroke but here it goes anyway:

The reason why discussions of warmachine online are so toxic is because most of the participants aren't trying to have a discussion they are trying to "win" an argument.

It's something that we often get instinctively in person because it's kind of hard to ignore the fact at that point that you are talking to another person. That that person has an opinion and that ignoring that is a dick move. In person we try and understand where the person who disagrees with us is coming from. And then try to come to some kind of middle ground, something we at least vaguely agree on, or to come to the point where we go, yeah I understand your point but I disagree. It hit me when I was reading some posts on the MOM forums. I could see one poster in particular trying to characterise the opposing argument in the worst possible way and I was reading it and thinking - you're a moron, that's not going to accomplish anything but pissing people off. If you actually want to have a productive or useful discussion you need to try and see things from your opponents point of view, the issue is complex, they aren't 100% wrong and you 100% right. But that guy knows that, he isn't trying to have a real discussion he is just trying to "win" which means everyone loses.

If you have a discussion where everyone is looking for all the ways you are wrong, all the problems in each others positions you just get a bunch of hostility and entrenched bullshit.

If instead you have a discussion where you look for the things the people who disagree with you have right you can actually move forwards and you can actually have a real discussion. You move together and come to an agreement or at least you get to - this is where we disagree and I respect that.

I think the general format of forum discussions and online interaction promote the first kind of discussion and I think that in a lot of places the atmosphere has become so toxic as to cause people who want to have a real discussion to leave or cease joining in.

That's enough serious Tort for now. Here is Hans Moleman getting hit in the crotch with a football:


Current Legion Lists

Since I'm putting stuff up here again for the club league I thought I'd throw up my Legion lists.
I am currently all in on Vayl1 and I've been finding that she has a strong game against basically anything. Drop her against Cryx, against Khador, Mercs, whatever she can handle a lot of things. The main this she doesn't want to see is a lot of boostable guns. The earthbreaker is an issue but I have found that you can often scare off an earthbreaker player with your other list. I have yet to see an Ossrum player willing to drop that list against Lylyth2.

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight - WB: +6
-    Typhon - PC: 12
-    Scythean - PC: 9
-    Scythean - PC: 9
-    Shredder - PC: 2
-    Seraph - PC: 8
-    Naga Nightlurker - PC: 5
The Forsaken - PC: 2
The Forsaken - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Strider Blightblades - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6

I love this list. It's tuned to kill everything within 9" of Vayl. The Blight blades are in my opinion a fantastic addition to the list. The Def 15 and stealth is such a huge deal and their ability to pick up important models your opponent thinks are safe is fantastic. I have been getting good use out of these even against better players mainly because you can't really afford to bunch up your army against Vayl.

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight - WB: +5
-    Succubus
-    Ravagore - PC: 10
-    Ravagore - PC: 10
-    Zuriel - PC: 10
-    Naga Nightlurker - PC: 5
-    Shredder - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Totem Hunter - PC: 3
Blighted Ogrun Warspears - Leader & 4 Grunts: 8
-    Warspear Chieftan - PC: 2
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew - Leader & 1 Grunt: 1

This is a new thing I am trying out. I had been playing a list very similar to this but with the warspears out and striders in about 2 years ago (Zuriel was a third Ravagore). When I decided to cracking Lylyth2 out again I had a quick chat to Ben Leeper at CANCON and he said to try warspears. So far they have been pretty good. The aim problem I have is that I have become a Vayl1 player with an off list so this list isn't getting the work out it should have which I really need to do if I want to fine tune it for me. I've already had two significant feat failures and the fact is that Lylyth2 is still a caster who struggles if her feat does not go well.

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight (*6pts)
* Naga Nightlurker (5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
* Typhon (12pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts) 
* Bayal, Hound of Everblight (3pts)
Strider Blightblades (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Incubus (5pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

Specialists
* Scythean (9pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

I always liked Lylyth1 and with ADR becoming a thing I have been mucking around with her trying to find a list I like. I think this is it. You need to be able to keep Lylyth alive which is harder than it looks but her feat turns are incredibly brutal. The specialists are transformative, I can bring in one Scythean or double, the Hex hunters + Thrullg making a great one Scythean sub or Thrullg + blight blades or go for the double swap and take out the infantry to throw in a beast brick. The Naga can also go with a bit of infantry. I really like it I just need to make a Thagrosh1 list that I like to pair it with which is harder said than done. The latest change I am comptemplating is Bayal out for a thrullg. It makes Lylyth my drop against body and soul but I am fine with that. This list is amazing, Lylyth1 is a blast to play and ADR does so much for her.

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)
* Naga Nightlurker (5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
Sacral Vault (9pts)
Sacral Vault (9pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)

Specialists
Blighted Ogrun Warspears (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
* Warspear Chieftan (2pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Strider Deathstalker (2pts)
Strider Deathstalker (2pts)
Forsaken (2pts)
Thrullg (3pts)

I fucking hate this list. I can make decent 50 point lists for Thagrosh1 but they have glaring weaknesses. I don't want to play against a lot of RFP, multi wound, Haley2, Body & Soul... Whatever. You'd think that you could use ADR to fix the weaknesses but you just can't. I want a Naga I want a Thrullg, I want to be able to go beast heavy to be able to power my way through Haley2, I want to be able to sub out the carnivean for infantry. I feel like I've tried to make a list to handle everything and I've ended up with a list that is shit against everything. Expect this list to change. 

Thagrosh, the Messiah - WB: +3
-    Raek - PC: 4
-    Raek - PC: 4
-    Scythean - PC: 9
-    Scythean - PC: 9
-    Scythean - PC: 9
-    Shredder - PC: 2

The Forsaken - PC: 2
The Forsaken - PC: 2

Blighted Nyss Legionnaires - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
-    Captain Farilor & Standard - Farilor & Standard 3
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 6 Grunts: 3

Manifest destiny is amazing on Scytheans. The basics of the list are that I put the legionnaires in front of the beasts with Dragons Blood and minifeat to give me board position then the beasts go in and kill everything, I use the feat to pull back and generally jam a raek or two into anything important (with tenacity). I'm enjoying it. It might need a Seraph but I am very hesitant to make that change because without Incite or Parasite and Lylyth's feat the Seraph really struggles to do stuff. 

Anyway that's what I am currently playing. There is a strong temptation to go back to Vayl2 as a pair for Vayl1 but I don't feel like she is particularly strong in the current meta and I don't have the confidence I used to have in her.

Some lists I intend to try out:

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight (*5pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)* Ravagore (10pts)Blighted Ogrun Warmongers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)Blighted Ogrun Warspears (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)* Warspear Chieftan (2pts)Blighted Ogrun Warspears (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)* Warspear Chieftan (2pts)Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)Succubus (2pts)

Last time I tried playing Kallus seriously the warspear UA did not exist. Also Farilor did not exist I feel like the warspears being bigger threats might actually let the warmongers get some work done. That said there is a good chance that the unit becomes Farilor and Legionnaires. I do want to at least try the Warmongers again though. 

Absylona 2
 - Succubus
 - Carnivean
 - Ravagore x 2
 - Zuriel
 - Shredder x 2
Forsaken
Shepherd x 2

Deathstalker x 2

Another list that I hate. Here is the problem - so much of the list is predicated on Abby getting to charge and kill something and when your opponent just leaves their infantry 13" away from her the list is garbage. I really hate the Seraph when casters do nothing for it. It's amazing with Lylyth1 and Vayl1 but put it in this list and it's going to what - charge and be garbage pow? Put out some rat 5 pow 12s? I may give this list some more game time, I did win the one game I played with it but that's because my opponent failed to kill Zuriel and it turns out when Zuriel is SPD 8, has reach, is MAT 9 and POW 18 he will kill casters.

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight (*6pts)
* Raek (4pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Typhon (12pts)
Blighted Nyss Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Blighted Nyss Swordsmen Abbot & Champion (0pts)
Blighted Ogrun Warmongers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Blighted Ogrun Warspears (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
* Warspear Chieftan (2pts)
Blighted Ogrun Warspears (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
* Warspear Chieftan (2pts)
Succubus (2pts)

This one is tier 4 - you get free upkeeps (don't really care), free Swordsmen UA, stealth turn 1 (semi relevant because of the next one) advance deploy Ogrun.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

League Points

Ed 2* - levitation
Theo 6
Anthony 9 - assassins cloak
Uli 6
Graham 5 - stone cold
Harry 7*

Waiting on the result from Harry and Ed as Ed was playing at Ed speed. That was 2 and a half hours ago though so the game may have finished by now.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Thoughts on the Game

A brief one this time. 

Clean Play document - John had this idea that if you set community standards so that everyone always played by the letter of the rules with the strictest interpretation and no forgiveness of errors then people would not assume other people were jerks for playing like that (as happened at the WTC in some games). This is among the dumbest sentiments I have ever heard expressed out loud (particularly if you include that he doesn't want it at most tournaments but still wants it to become a community standard that everyone is used to). Thankfully there were more than a few people who argued that maybe you should just talk to your opponent so you are both on the same page with that stuff. I hope this doesn't get made. 

Legion and the evolving meta - I feel like the meta is evolving away from Saeryn at the moment. Actually I feel like it's been happening for years but she was so strong it has taken until now for me to start thinking that its time to take her out of my tournament roster. Years ago I felt like I could drop her in almost any match up and now she seems to be standing on rapidly shrinking grounds. The new Skorne bugs are going to put that match up out of her reach and warders have made trolls a difficult proposition for her. I have been already moving in the direction of Vayl1 and Thagrosh1 as a replacement but the WTC guys have been talking about Thagrosh2 and he is another contender for that spot. I also think it might be time to have another look at Kallus.

8 wound infantry - are currently big in the meta and the sacral vault I think is going to improve them again when it comes out. I think as a player you need to be ahead of the curve, find ways of killing multi wound infantry in a way that puts you ahead. Press Gang are great for this because they are so cheap. MOM-Miami were talking about this and I think they missed the main points. You get 20 for 12 points which is 6-8 multiwound guys, they have tough and fearless, Hawk is hard to snipe out because she has sucker. It's almost impossible to trade favourably with multi wound infantry against them. Other things I made a change to my Harbinger list and now I have a unit of Hammer dwarves with attendant priest precisely for these kinds of lists, they replaced the battle engine and mechanic as with the reduction of single wound infantry the battle engine is losing stock. However I don't predict this to be a sustained trend. One of the reasons Fist of Halaak is so popular is because Skorne had problem match ups it helped with, the bugs change that equation. Warders are really good but they compete with runes of war for list space and are solved by a lot of the same lists. Morv2 lists are moving away from my favoured style of multi wound spam, I know I was thinking about trading out a multi wound unit for blood trackers and it is a change a lot of people have made. 

Exigence - I think there are only two dead releases in the book, the legion beast pack and the circle character heavy. The skorne beast pack still aren't great but there are interesting things you can do with them thanks to snacking and their animus and Skorne beast support. Skorne and Circle picked up game changing models in the circle lessers and the Skorne bug heavies. Trolls and Legion I think got more of the same but it was really good. I'm currently the most excited for Jaga Jaga. 

Spell Draft - I really like this format. I like the drafting process and the way you play your list changes so much with the spells you get. If there is a downside it's that it is really easy to forget a key spell your opponent has and get assassinated. I might even suggest building a list for that purpose. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Conceding Pt 2

I wrote a piece on it last week so it's worth updating it with the Muse response.

http://museonminis.com/forums/index.php?topic=4349.0

To sum up - Team Muse now has a new policy whereby they ask everyone of their members to play each game to the best of their ability.

This is a very good response.

Good points

1. No one is policing games
2. It only affects members of the muse team
3. They are asked only to do their best
4. They are hoping to change values in the community through a community driven effort rather than a top down rules change

Bad Points

It gives "scooping" recognition as an issue when I'm not sure that it is one.

What about me? 
I'm going to keep playing the way I have. In practice the difference between letting people you like correct errors they have made and letting people you like beat you is not that big but I think it is one accepted by the community. I think a lot has to do with the way we players who live by that policy tend to apply it to everyone who doesn't shit us. I think that the difference might be that you are still playing to 100% which might be a fair thing to ask players to do. As a TO it is actually all I want, I would not want to ask people to avoid giving take backs or anything of that nature and I would be happy to see that the few jerks who occasionally come to tournaments get worse treatment than the regular friendly people.

My thinking on this issue still isn't 100% clear so I may come back to it when I have developed a proper philosophy on it.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Douchebags in the Hobby

OK this is something that has been rattling around in my head for a while now and was brought to the fore by the horrible responses in this thread.

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?212651-Request-Gender-neutral-Rules-Please

So first off it should go without saying but there are 3 people in this thread who I think behaved in a matter acceptable for human beings; the OP, Stepfan and PPS_Simon.

I really wanted to give Nick from the Texas Renegades (the only name I recognised on the thread) a pass but he's the first person to claim that the OP is accusing PP of sexism and misogyny. That's not OK.

This is quite possibly the best request type post that I have ever seen on the forums and the responses among the worst. I have seen a thread that was nothing but the original poster complaining about how OP Venethrax was and demanding PP nerf him immediately or he would leave the hobby and the responses to that thread were mostly advice on how to win that match up. No one belittling the OP despite the fact that he was clearly an idiot.

So this is happening all over the place, women are trying to exist without harassment and dismissal. That's not what this thread started as but the thread shows what is happening to women on the internet and if I'm honest offline too.

The question is how is this going to affect PP, can we get rid of the dickheads or will PP become infested with them? I think sadly that as things stand it might be the second one. It seems to me that the signals PP is sending out are less that this is a safe space for women and more that this is a safe space for misogynist arseholes.

I think the biggest thing is sexualised female models. In particular it's the convention exclusive sculpts. The Bombshell Bombardier, the blighted bather, the druid gone wilder, the steelsoul keg protector. Every single convention exclusive is female and sexualised. Even the friggin robot.  It sends a message about who the game is for and about who the game isn't for.

The PP range also has a very large amount of sexualised female sculpts. There is a lot of female clevage on display, there is a lot of boob plate, there are a lot of female sculpts with high heels for some reason.

her heels give additional traction on the ice

Fluff wise there were a lot of sexist tropes in the early story line of the game but  PP has gotten better at that (at least with what I have noticed). 

I think the telling thing will be the community. There are some loud feminist voices in the community, Simon at PP is one and I applaud him for it. There is also Chad at muse on minis and the Irish Warmachine guys in particular Anto and Stu. However there are still a lot of misogynistic slurs that are used in the community as names for models and which are bandied around pretty freely. I already called out one guy on a podcast lets go all in, the Chain Attack guys use a lot of unacceptable gendered language, and Emmanuel Class from RFP thought that this was an acceptable way to advertise shirts for the WTC fun raiser.


These things are not OK, these things are fomenting the boys club, anti women attitude in the community. At the moment I feel like the hate directed at women in the community is overpowering the good things. 

I hope that the community is less shithead than I think it is, I hope that we get past this and the warmachine community becomes a safe space for women. 

Sorry I'm so down at the moment but this is really depressing to me. I don't want to leave warmachine but I don't want to stay in a community filled with this kind of stuff.