WARPCON!
G’day folks! I had a fantastic time in sunny Cork last weekend. The occasion was Warpcon 22, and I had been planning to go ever since I’d first heard about it in November; months before I’d even met any Dublin Gamers! It nearly all fell through though, when it transpired that the bus UCD Gamesoc had laid one was due to leave at 12 noon on the Friday… which was no good to me whatsoever (lectures are important, apparently…). After a panicked flurry of emails on the DGG mailing-list however, I secured transport and a place to stay. Thanks again to Ian for helping me out there, and in fact everyone who offered a lift/asked around on my behalf. If it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t have made it!
Warmachine/Hordes Tournament
The format was five games over Saturday and Sunday, with two 35pt lists and (most of) the Steamroller 2012 rules. More than anything else, I was looking forward to playing five completely new opponents, as all of my Dublin adversaries were playing one or t’other flavour of Warhammer at the Con.
This was the first tournament I’d been to where I brought two lists I was very comfortable with; normally I playtest one to death until I’m happy with it… then make up a random second list that *should* be fun to play. I’d had some success with Adeptis Rahn and Arcanist Ossyan in recent games, and had my order-of-activations pretty well down, so was fairly confident I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of the Cork Lads! The lists were:
“Pew pew!”
- Arcanist Ossyan (+6 Warjack points)
- Discordia (10 points)
- 10 Mage Hunter Strike Force (8 points)
- Commander (2 points)
- 10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7 points)
- Officer & Standard (2 points)
- 4 Stormfall Archers (5 points)
- Epic Eiryss (3 points)
- Aiyana & Holt (4 points)
“Chuckle Brothers” (tier 3)
- Adeptis Rahn (+6 Warjack points)
- Phoenix (10 points)
- Phoenix (10 points)
- Arcanist (free – tier bonus)
- Arcanist (1 point)
- 6 Battle Mages (5 points)
- 10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7 points)
- Officer & Standard (2 points)
- Battle Magister (solo) (2 points)
- Battle Magister (solo) (2 points)
- Battle Magister (solo) (2 points)
Game One – Protectorate of Menoth
- Epic Kreoss (+6 Warjack Points)
- Crusader (6 points)
- Avatar of Menoth (11 points)
- 5 Exemplar Bastions (8 points)
- 5 Exemplar Cinerators (8 points)
- Dartan Vilmon (3 points)
- Paladin of the Wall (2 points)
- Eiryss (3 points)
My first game was against Jason, who introduced me to the Cork accent in spectacular fashion! The scenario was #16, “Command and Control”, and the battlefield was dominated by two large areas of Rough Terrain. My Adeptis Rahn list had no Pathfinder whatsoever, so Ossyan bravely stepped forward. Unfortunately for Jason, his medium infantry and heavy ‘jacks had real trouble negotiating the woods in the centre and the field in his deployment zone, and I was able to dictate the flow of the game pretty well form the start. I was also very fortunate that there was none of the usual Menoth support guff hanging around (i.e. Choir), so was able to shoot his stuff to bits over consecutive turns for very little retaliation, and take two Control Points for the win in about 45 minutes.
To my eternal shame, however, I failed to kill his Eiryss, but lost mine to a back-striking Paladin! Apparently mine was the traitor…
Game Two – Protectorate of Menoth
- Severius (+6 Warjack Points)
- Blessing of Vengeance (7 points)
- Avatar of Menoth (11 points)
- Vanquisher (8 points)
- Vanquisher (8 points)
- Repenter (4 points)
- 6 Choir of Menoth (3 points)
I came back from the break to find myself on Table 1, and up against Christopher and another Menoth army. The table was fairly open this round, and the scenario was #2 “gauntlet”; but the very presence of the Choir (never mind Mr “you can’t cast spells at me”) meant that Adeptis Rahn simply wasn’t an option.
I opened fairly conservatively, and saved my Feat for a later turn; but I hadn’t realised just how much I had underestimated Chris and his list until he set nearly half of my army on fire in his second turn! Luckily, he had forgotten to pop his Feat, so I was able to spend the Focus to set up an all-or-nothing assassination with eEiryss, Ossyan and my remaining Mage Hunter Strike Force. In the end though, because Severius had spent all his own Focus the turn before, Ossyan pulled off a spectacular one-shot for the win. WOW that was close!
Game Three – Legion of Everblight
- Thagrosh (+5 Warbeast Points)
- Harrier (2 points)
- Harrier (2 points)
- Shredder (2 points)
- Shredder (2 points)
- Angelius (9 points)
- Carnivean (11 points)
- 6 Nyss Striders (6 points)
- Officer & Standard (3 points)
- Nyss Shepherd (1 point)
- Strider Deathstalker (2 points)
Game three was #13 “demolition”, and I was up against Dave’s Legion. Dave had only brought one list, and while I’ve plenty of experience playing against eThagrosh (shudder), I’d never fought against his Primal incarnation, so was a little nervous. I took a long time deciding which list to use, but eventually opted for Adeptis Rahn, figuring I *might* be able to pull off a dirty assassination on my Feat turn with some careful positioning.
I nearly managed it! But for the two Lesser Warbeasts blocking Push-lanes and the two GIMPS that missed their boosted Magic Attacks, Thagroh would have been Knocked Down and in melee range of a fully-Focussed Phoenix. Never mind… Dave then had some very unfortunate luck with Ranged Attack rolls (in particular, the Striders missed one almighty CRA against the other Phoenix), and left his Warlock behind a couple of Ash Clouds that were once Battle Mages (I’d like to think the two that missed the previous turn!).
Adeptis Rahn is the master of shenanigans though, and I was able to Force Hammer Thagrosh to the ground (once a Magister Solo had Whip-snapped the Phoenix’s toe into the Ash Clouds for LOS), and have the Phoenix walk over and stab the blighted Ogrun to death. Thanks for the game!
Game Four – Cygnar
- Epic Stryker (+6 Warjack points)
- Ol’ Rowdy (9 points)
- Stormclad (10 points)
- Squire (2 points)
- Storm Tower (2 points)
- Stormcaller (solo) (1 point)
- Stormcaller (solo) (1 point)
- Stormcaller (solo) (1 point)
- Black 13th (4 points)
- 6 Stormblades (5 points)
- Officer & Standard (3 points)
- Journeyman Warcaster (3 points)
After a good meal and a fabulous snooze, I was ready for day two! First up was Brian with eStryker (again, another ‘caster I had never played against before). The scenario was #6 “Destruction”, so I took Ossyan with a mind to completing the victory conditions; but also taking any assassination opportunities as they arose!
I started out well, and was in a great position to hold off the inevitable storm AND to start whittling down my first objective… Instead I went for a very risky assassination, and very nearly failed. First off, Ossyan dropped Admonition to cast Quicken on himself for the extra range (dumb move), and MISSED Stryker with his Chronophage Cannon (rolled a 9 on 3D6 – needed a 10). Uh oh… Had he hit, Stryker would have been half-dead already, and far fewer of the following Mage Hunter Strike Force would have missed him. In the end, the last guy in range tagged him for his last few boxes, and my hands finally stopped shaking!
…Except that when we tried the “what if” thing, and I measured to confirm that he had been the last guy in range, I nudged him out – and I have never felt so much a dirty cheater in my life. It was too close to call, so Brian let me try one last shot with the Stormfall Archers (who hadn’t activated yet), and the one dude who got LOS to the Stormcaller BEHIND Stryker got him with the Blast Damage (I was rolling 3D6 – 8). Brian, if you’re ever up in Dublin, I would love a rematch!
Game Five – Legion of Everblight
- Thagrosh (+5 Warbeast Points)
- Angelius (9 points)
- Carnivean (11 points)
- Blackfrost Shard (5 points)
- 5 Nyss Raptors (10 points)
- Anyssaa Ryvaal (4 points)
- 1 Spell Martyr (1 point)
Last game was against Paul’s beautifully painted Legion, and the Scenario was #7 “Incursion” on the same table I played Jason in Game one. Paul had been playing Absylonia exclusively so far, but he took a similar Thagrosh list to Dave’s for his final match. After a lot of hummin’ and hawin’, I took Ossyan for the fourth time purely to deal with the forest in the centre.
The game was nearly over after ten minutes when Thagrosh Channelled a double-boosted Obliteration through the Spell Martyr at Ossyan! Luckily for me he only took 8 damage, but that would have been a very bad way to end the tournament!
The Mage Hunter Strike Force were absolute stars this game! They held off the Raptors by sheer dint of their Pathfinder and Stealth (eEiryss was not so lucky – stupid Eyeless Sight ignoring everything that keeps her alive…), and were able to “bad touch” Thagrosh from inside the forest over two turns due to Phantom Hunter. I didn’t quite manage to kill the evil Warlock during my Feat turn, but rather like Brian had in Game three, Paul kept Thagrosh front-and-centre, assuming his free Animus and multiple transfer-targets would keep him alive. They didn’t, and next turn I turned him into a blighted pin-cushion for the win. Cheers Paul!
Results
So… I won all five of my games, and was the only player to do so. It’s nearly two weeks later, and I still can’t quite believe that I won a tournament! As far as I can remember, I’ve never won five games in a row of anything before now, so I imagine I will get utterly destroyed in my next few games as the laws of physics re-adjust themselves.
The tournament itself was run very smoothly, and the slide-show at the end was a nice touch! Other Dave, if you’re reading: I know I said that adding timers would improve the event next year, but please ignore that! All they seem to do is stress folks out, and we all finished our games in good time anyway (unlike those poor Warhammer players…). I will suggest though that you include some other spot-prizes; such as “Destroyer” for most enemy army points taken, and/or “Mage Hunter” for the quickest Assassination throughout the whole tournament. A vote for best painted army wouldn’t go amiss either.
Come and get some!
I shall be playing in the 50pt tournament on Sunday 12th at Gamers World, and of course will try my hand at the Irish Masters in March, so please come along and smash my face in! I’ve had a blast in Ireland so far, and long may that continue. See you around folks!
Neil
Thanks for the great write up!! Been Getting back into warmachine and these write ups are very helpfull. Both on list building and selection and overall game plan!
Looking forward to future instalments!!
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