Happy new year! What better way to start 2016 than a couple of games of Warmachine, eh? For a long time I've missed out on facing a couple of matchups: Khador, Cygnar mirror and Trollbloods have all been few and far between. Today I got the opportunity to play Runes of War twice. I have a feeling that Haley is the caster I want into Trolls but I am very unsure of how much I'll miss an arc node: Few things hit as hard as a fully boosted Troll heavy!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4
Opponent:
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls - WB: +7
- Mulg the Ancient - PC: 12
- Earthborn Dire Troll - PC: 10
- Dire Troll Mauler - PC: 9
- Troll Axer - PC: 6
Janissa Stonetide - PC: 3
Trollkin Runeshapers - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Trollkin Runeshapers - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Trollkin Runeshapers - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Trollkin Runeshapers - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 4
- Stone Scribe Elder - Elder 1
THEME: Runes of War - Tier 4
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Same lists, same map. We re-roll for start etc, I win and decide to go first. Walls go up defensively for Runes and I pre-deploy more balanced this time. The idea is to run up to my own flag, physically block things out with the bonded Stormwall and have the other threaten his flag and kill the objective. Easier said than done but having seen the Trolls lack of speed in game 1 I believe it is as sound a plan as any! Provided I can keep him out of contesting in his T2 I can have 3 points (possibly 4!) at the start of his T3.
:: Game ::
So I say to myself, "ATGM need to move up before Haley so that Haley can charge something and thus not need to charge T2 to reach the objective (I assumed TK would be needed regardless)". So I move Haley before ATGM and with the Stormwall blocking her LoS she moves 6". TK helps a tiny bit but I don't know. I must've been sleeping. Non-bonded wall receives Temporal. ATGM wide-ish again.
Trolls run. It's great! As in game 1, although I forgot to point it out, Doomie keeps up no-spells-on-me on Mulg.
Bonded 'wall charges in and my master plan starts. I lose my concentration however as ATGM try brutals and stuff instead of Thunderbolting away the Runeshapers behind the wall (they had deadeye so I hit on nearly everythhing anyway). Haley manages to find a charge-flag-feat-angle at the very least. Junior runs left to un-jam the Stormwall from a Runeshaper force locking him while contesting. Right Stormwall shoots up a couple of Runes.
Trolls contest. Huge blow to my game plan.
Junior unjams, right Stormwall shoots the objective (11 boxes, arm20 is a thing I tell you!), left Stormwall kills Janissa which opted for a wall to hold me out instead of moving to safety under my feat. Haley again messes up on a brain fart as I try and Time Bomb a pod near Mulg and the other heavy. The thing is I intend to TK her back to the flag and I don't take into account that her base in fact has an area (i.e. the point to the pod can be 13" and she can still walk, time bomb and TK back b2b with the flag). So I miss Mulg by a tiny distance with the Time Bomb aoe. Oh-oh. TAC cloud up.
Big, bad Mulg comes in. For some reason he doesn't have the +3STR animus so he's dice damage. I survive on 1 box, movement system is the only one left. At least this turn around my flag's not contested, 2-0.
Doomie feated, "of course". My plan is to move to 4 this time around. The right Stormwall finally blows up the objective and pods next to Mulg. Haley moves out of Doomies range because she's not fond of tanking 4d6 damage just because I want to Time Bomb a lightning pod who happens to be next to Mulg). So Mulg is Time Bombed. The Stormwall on 1 box kills itself by ways of free strike. Deadeyed ATGM blast away and knock stuff down, pushing them out etc. It's great! Poor Mulg seems to be almost halfway across the table. TAC cloud up.
4-0.
The Stormwall crater is in a bit of an awkward spot: What the Trolls could've done here was to switch the Banishing Ward or whatever it's called over to another Beatstick, cast extra movement on him and run him into the crater to contest. I'd have a hard time removing that and there's too much "stuff" left for me to attrition with when I'm down a Stormwall. I guess it's a longshot either way but what the Trolls decide to go for is a hail mary assassination on Haley: The beatstick wants to kill off 2 ATGM and TAC with goad and fortune before delivering a coup de grace to Haley. It's an interesting angle but it relies on too many 9s and 10s unboosted to succeed. I take my 5th point.
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
3 big fuckups here: T1 not moving ATGM before Haley, T2 not thunderbolting stuff away and T3 not measuring 13" instead of 12" from the flag to the pod's placement (which would've caught 2 beatsticks and kept Mulg out of combat).
Yet I win. Trolls are somewhat passive and clustered here which I believe is their main problem. I manage to establish a very strong position on the table and the Trolls simply need time - which they don't have - to get it back. I think my strategy is sound and after these 2 encounters I have a bit of an idea of how I have to approach this matchup.
The lack of an arcnode is, of course, painful. However with TAC and the Stormwalls blocking LoS it's not as crucial as in certain other matchups where Haley simply can't advance to where I'd like her to be (Butcher3 comes to mind!): It's a very tight game in the sense that we are very close to each other. This means that with TK and pod shenanigans she can frequently get the ranges and angles she needs. It demands precise aiming and planning, which I've failed multiple times today and obviously need more practice doing, but I think it can be done.
With that said, I believe a Hurricane would've been better here. I make a mental note that thus far it would've been the better choice in all matchups I've played with this list. Can't wait for the model to be announced. Here's to hoping we'll see it in 2016 at least!
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