More Flu Dojo

I have more flu affected dojo. It's a Haley1 list:

Cygnar
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
19 models

[00] Captain Victoria Haley (0 / 5 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Squire
[04]  >> Sentinel
[04]  >> Sentinel
[03] Lieutenant Allison Jakes
[09]  >> Gallant
[06] Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
[02]  >> Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[03] Gastone Crosse
[09]  >> Rocinante
[04]  >> Vanguard
[04]  >> Vanguard
[02] Harlan Versh, Illuminated One

The basic idea was to put Gaston in a Haley list because gun and run is pretty good when your opponent can't run or charge as is -2 DEF on all his stuff so you don't have to boost to hit. I put in the two Vanguards because 4 point Vanguards and I think Rocinante (aka Tipsy McStagger) has the best gun of the Merc jacks. Two sentinals allow Haley to not have to feed her jacks and gives me more infantry removal. From there I wanted something that could take some heavy hitters so I decided to bring in Jakes with another heavy. I originally had Stormclad but I decided that Gallant with Sidekick holding a zone with Temporal Barrier up just seems like a huge kick in the nuts. This one I'm not as confident about as my stupid Zerkova list. I'm actually going to have to put this one on the table before I decide whether or not it is garbage.

Good things - Haley can camp focus to cancel spells and the list has 5 shield guards. I'm not sure my opponent can kill anything in this list. Ever. Especially when you add in that Rocinante has Arcane Shield and Gallant has Side Kick. 

Bad Things - I'm not sure how much I can kill.

I also have a list where I went ever more extreme, figured I'd take advantage of the fact that half my list is immortal and add some utility solos in place of the gun mages. Haley largely loses her feat but that's almost a good thing. I can hold it until I really need it. For example if I see an assassination opportunity or Gallant is charging in on a heavy and I'm not sure he can get it done. 

Cygnar

Standard Army

PCs: 52 / 50

17 models

[00] Captain Victoria Haley (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Squire

[04]  >> Sentinel

[04]  >> Sentinel

[03] Lieutenant Allison Jakes

[09]  >> Gallant

[04] Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team

[02] Taryn Di La Rovissi, Llaelese Gun Mage

[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

[03] Gastone Crosse

[09]  >> Rocinante

[05]  >> Vanguard

[05]  >> Vanguard

[02] Harlan Versh, Illuminated One

Flu + Thinking About Warmachine = Zerkova?

A lot of people say that Zerkova is the worst caster in the game (me, I say that) but today whilst lying in bed and praying for the sweet release of death and I decided to prove those jerks wrong. (Still not particularly interested in playing Khador but I do like to make stupid lists).

Idea - Zerkova has to have a scenario game. Force blast is repulsion on crack and she has bulldozing jacks.

So I wanted a list with - 2 bulldozing jacks, infantry clearing, jamming and the ability to force command checks. Here is what I ended up with:

Khador
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
28 models

[00] Koldun Kommander Alekandra Zerkova (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
[10]  >> Black Ivan
[10]  >> Spriggan
[05] Fenris
[02] Widowmaker Marksman
[06] Doom Reavers
[06] Doom Reavers
[04] Widowmakers
[04] Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire
[02] Saxon Orrik
[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
[04] Tactical Arcanist Corps

I can force 4 command checks just from terror/abomination and a 5th if I hit with Hellfire and a 6th if I get the unit to half strength. There is 6-12" of pushing I can do for anything I want moved out of the zone and if you are trying to sure up a models position with single wound models I can pick them off fairly easily with widowmakers. Sylys and Reinholdt make her very accurate in throwing out Icy Grips and if she gets to a position where she can icy grip a caster you have a bunch of boostable guns in the list and the marksmen. The TAC keep her alive. Doom Reavers are also advance deploy so they get up the table pretty quickly which you can use to buy yourself more board position. She is pretty happy dominating the friendly zone behind a cloud wall. 

I don't think this is terrible. I'm not sure it's good but I think you can play this list.

Night Troll and now Zerkova... maybe I shouldn't warmachine when I'm sick...

Night Troll Dojo

This guy looks so sweet that there has to be a way to get some actual use out of him.

Lets start with his abilities:

Stealth - Pretty good on a warbeast, even a light as you aren't going to kill him with blast damage at ARM 15 (17 in most lists). Makes him survivable if he doesn't get thrown into combat however he does not have a ranged attack so if you are keeping him back he's not doing anything. You could sprint him but if you are paying 18 points for Rorsh, Brine and a Road Hog you probably have higher priority targets for the animus.

Man Eater - Free charge against living models. However without reach he is going to struggle to tear up units. MAT 5 hurts a bit too.

Beguile - his animus is a great late game piece (living non-caster models within 5" must advance towards the nearest model with this animus, costs 1). Once you have attritioned your opponent down and they don't have a lot left you can control the movement of some key infantry models or beasts. The short range on it and the lack of survivability of the beast when it gets stuck in means that you probably don't want to be using him early game. It may be cute to put a Janissa wall between him and some non-reach infantry but you really don't want to be wasting the wall on a 4 point light.

Paralysis - both his claws have paralysis, and it's straight paralysis, not crit paralysis either. Takes living models hit down to DEF 7 and stops them from running or charging.

Adds up to - If he's going to have a place it's going to be against in the hordes match up, Circle and Legion in particular (hordes is varied enough that you can't just take an anti-hordes caster). Paralysing an Angelius or a warpwolf will mean that troll beasts have no problem taking them down. And late game you have the ability to exercise some control over that one beast/unit that you are worried about. The stealth will let him survive to the late game but doing that means you are playing 4 points down for most of the game.

Lets go through lists:

Borka (Family Reunion) - His claws are not open fists so he's out.

Calandra - I think I found a home for him here. I love Burrowers with Calandra and she plays them very differently than other casters, she likes to keep them closer to the rest of her army rather than using them as an early rush. What that does is it opens up the possibility of troll gang (charge of the trolls) and having a cheap beast with paralysis to charge whatever the burrowers are after, kept alive with stealth... I think it works.

Captain Gunnbjorn - No idea. Never played this guy, don't intend to.

Grim Angus - No. Grim if I take him is my Cryx match up. Grim is pretty good against circle too (I did have that one epic game where I completely tabled a circle army in one turn) but he's usually bombing beasts to death and you don't want a crappy light engaging them when you do that.

Grissel1 - Another Cryx match up. Grissel wants troops so her warbeast points are very tight. However the extra melee troops does mean that a cheap charge of the trolls target would be nice, however unlike Calandra she needs infantry clearing which means that the thresher on the Axer or the aoe on the Pyre are also needed to contribute. Probably not in this list.

Grissel2 - Grissel2 is an underrated monster in the protectorate match up and provides a real problem for a lot of builds (inhospitable ground, lots of high ARM multi wound troops and great shooting). The night troll does absolutely nothing for her.

Doomshaper1 - Loves the hordes match up and you can fit a night troll in his theme force if you drop a Mauler down to a Pyre troll. I would not do this. He has plenty of AOEs and the Mauler fits better with the ARM skew and helps out against colossals.

Doomshaper2 - Again he can technically fit but you want to take a unit and all the dire trolls you can. The stuff he does is not needed in this list.

Hunters Grim - Maybe. Probably not. I have no where near enough experience with the caster to tell. He does seem like a good hordes match up because of Mortality but I'm not really seeing him wanting beguile or paralysis.

Jarl - I tend to run a lot of minions with Jarl which means he's battle group needs to be able to kill heavies and I want an Impaler for Jarl himself. Again it's a maybe, I need more games with Jarl too.

Madrak1 - He has no place in a stereotypical troll brick.

Madrak2 - Madrak2 lacks a hit buff and he has a lot of infantry. A bit of control would not go astray here. I'm sot quite sure how to fit him into the list but he is an option here. Beguile on Madrak himself seems like a strong move too given how damn near invincible that guy is.

High Command

Rule book is up
http://files.privateerpress.com/highcommand/Warmachine-HighCommand-Rulebook.pdf

35 Point Circle Armies

Pfffffffffffffffft.

Circle kind of sucks at 35 points. Here is what I have:

Circle Orboros

Standard Army

PCs: 35 / 35

19 models

[00] Kaya the Wildborne (0 / 6 WB)

[02]  >> Druid Wilder

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[04]  >> Gorax

[02] Shifting Stones

[02] Shifting Stones

[01]  >> Stone Keeper

[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

[09] Gatorman Posse (4 grunts)

I think she is one of the few casters in circle who is happy to see the 35 point limit. I figure I give her a go and then use one of the 50 point casters I intend to take to CoO to get some practice with them. So:

Circle Orboros
Standard Army
PCs: 35 / 35
21 models

[00] Kromac the Ravenous (0 / 4 WB)
[02]  >> Druid Wilder
[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker
[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker
[04]  >> Gorax
[02] Blackclad Wayfarer
[05] Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
[02] Shifting Stones
[01]  >> Stone Keeper
[02] Shifting Stones
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

That's a terrible list. Although when it comes to CoO I am feeling the Cassius love atm. He was pretty sweet at the last tournament. I'm also looking at Morvahna1, I think she does well against Cryx and can grind against heavies fairly well. 

Stupid Conversion Post

Plan: Put a skateboard under the right foot. Greenstuff up a sideways hat on his head and airbrush some graffiti on the side and back. Psyched about this conversion, I cleaned the model last night (that's a record for me). Got to find a little skateboard that is the right size.

Plan: Move the sword so it is pointing up. I want her to look more like she's ordering a charge. Possibly change the blade, I'm not sure I like the sword. 

I have a list that uses both of them too:

Circle Orboros

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

27 models

[00] Morvahna the Autumnblade (0 / 6 WB)

[20]  >> Wold Wrath

[05]  >> Woldwatcher

[02] Blackclad Wayfarer

[02] Shifting Stones

[01]  >> Stone Keeper

[08] Tharn Bloodtrackers (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Nuala the Huntress

[08] Warpborn Skinwalkers (4 grunts)

[03]  >> Warpborn Alpha

[02] Viktor Pendrake

[03] Gatorman Witch Doctor

Circle is a Super Difficult Finesse Faction That Requires Years To Master

I took Circle Oboros to a tournament today. My lists:

Circle Orboros
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
40 models

[00] Cassius the Oathkeeper (0 / 6 WB)
[00]  >> Wurmwood, Tree of Fate (Companion)
[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker
[04]  >> Gorax
[05]  >> Woldwatcher
[04] Lord of the Feast
[01] Gallows Grove
[02] Shifting Stones
[01]  >> Stone Keeper
[02] Shifting Stones
[09] Tharn Ravagers (5 grunts)
[02]  >> Tharn Ravager Chieftain
[02] Viktor Pendrake
[03] Farrow Bone Grinders (5 grunts)
[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Circle Orboros

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

32 models

[00] Morvahna the Dawnshadow (0 / 5 WB)

[02]  >> Druid Wilder

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[04]  >> Gorax

[01] Gallows Grove

[01] Gallows Grove

[02] Shifting Stones

[01]  >> Stone Keeper

[02] Shifting Stones

[10] Tharn Blood Pack (5 grunts)

[09] Tharn Ravagers (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Tharn Ravager Chieftain

[08] Warpborn Skinwalkers (4 grunts)

[03]  >> Warpborn Alpha

First Game Cassius vs Goreshade1

I go first (I lost every roll for scenario in this tournament). I have never played Cassius before and I wrote this list the night before the tournament. I have played 5 games in total with circle as a faction before this tournament. 

Turn 1:

Run forwards

Turn 2: Feat, hellmouth an objective, kill some banes and a brute thrall. I spend so much time reading the rules of rules on my cards that I need to take an extension even though I only make around 8 attacks. 

Lose most of my ravagers to bane stuffs. 

Turn 3: Decide I'm going to time out if I try to play so I'm going to just win. Arc a hellmouth through my gallows grove to kill the banes in front of Goreshade. Primal a stalker, double port it into melee with Goreshade and kill him. 

Game 2 Morvahna2 vs Gorten

Turn 1: Run forwards. Gorten runs into double port range but carefully places the wall so I can't port into melee.

Turn 2: Purify the wall away. Carnivore and Primal the Stalker. Double Port and kill Gorten.

Game 3: Cassius vs Terminus

Turn 1: Run Forwards.

Turn 2: move up the tree, Arc Curse of Shadows onto Terminus. Primal the Stalker and double port him into melee range and kill Terminus. 

So despite the lack of experience I had with circle my skill, and tactical nous and ability to learn on my feet saw me through the day. I came second on SOS because we only have time for 3 rounds when we do these things. I picked up the Woldwrath with my prize monies. I am going to greenstuff on a sideways hat and put him on a skateboard, then airbrush some graffiti on the side.