Norwegian Masters Finals (#410): Nemo3 vs Ossrum

:: Prologue ::

The Swedish invasion of the Norwegian Masters had brought with it a ton of Mercenaries players who had been wreaking havoc left, right and center with their gunbunnies, Cephalyx etc. One of these players had, like myself, gone 5-0 thus far. It was time for a battle of the gunlines: Ossrum's dreaded nimble chickens against Cygnar's very own Thundergod: Nemo3.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Ossrum 1) General Ossrum [+28]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Basher [9]
 - Grundback Blaster [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios [7]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [4]
Gobber Tinker [2]
Gobber Tinker [2]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Extraction and my opponent won the roll-off due to Anastasia. Luckily for me I had a side with amazing terrain, tons of defensive bonuses and a forest to hide Nemo behind. The idea here was to force Ossrum to commit and counter him from there. Let's get it on! 

:: Game ::

Ossrum runs up, Eiryss receives Snipe. Energize, of course.

Eiryss is a huge problem in this matchup because of how she keeps Dynamo in check. However in his first turn my opponent has placed her within 4" of the left flag. I run a Lance up and arc a chain lightning onto it, hoping to boost damage. It bounces but a single time and stops in the flag. One of the spectators calls out "it doesn't matter, objective is closer anyway". Please, Storm Division solves. As if I didn't think of that. Anyway, I have multiple sources for D3 bounces so eventually she goes down. I run my army into tempting positions, hoping Ossrum will commit and make a mistake. I take care to seal off my left flank from vital Anastasia shenanigans. At best she can get a Lance. I can live with that risk seeing as her staying off the table is a bigger problem.

Ossrum moves up and feats. Tough guy stands in the middle of no-where. His jacks then fan out and try and shoot my stuff dead. Bunnies figure out that Shielded Lances are hard as nails and the Artillery corps units both miss.

I have so many options now I don't even know what to do...

...however, Ossrum is well within 15" of Dynamo. ARM20 6 boxes = safe caster? I can run a Firefly up and Slam him onto Ossrum to KD him. I just need to hit the Force Hammer. If I do so I can shoot him with Nemo, Dynamo and some follow-up stuff.

I run the numbers in Odds Machine. It's not 100% accurate but the assassination run is well above 80% for me. Too good to not take. In runs the Firefly, Force Hammer connects, Nemo shoots his gun and it's time for Dynamo. Eager to prove to me why I need to have more faith in him he makes a mockery of Ossrum's defensive stats, taking him down in 2 shots!

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

What an amazing series of games and day! Through a combination of clever plays, sheer luck, fatigued opponents and Stryker3 finding possibly the best matchup I could've hoped for, I'm somehow left with winning the Norwegian Masters with a pairing I never thought I'd get anywhere close to this with.

This last game vs Ossrum showcases fatigue more than anything, I think. 6 games in a day takes its toll on anyone. I've been through this before and practice really helps. I was able to keep my mind sharp and I think my play here was close to perfect to be honest. I taunted him as I needed to, not feeting for him would've been disastrous as I'd have even more angles and he had to commit unfavourably. Had he somehow kept Ossrum safe I'd still have an amazing alpha with tons of charges and shooting going on with Ionization and feat applying to virtually every damage roll in my list.

In any case the assassination worked out. I remember when I first tried Storm Division I thought I'd miss Reinholdt and GMCA. Let me just say I've fallen in love with the Squire with Nemo. The extra focus, the added control range, the re-roll... All amazing. I find that due to Nemo's fragility he's often in a position where he cannot shoot. Slinging spells though? I love it! Setting up with Force Hammer is often legit and Chain Lightning having boostable tendrils is just amazing. Really helps threaten infantry as well.

Yet again, an amazing series. I'm still struggling to realize just how this all came together, yet very happy obviously. When game 4 was over we had 4 undefeated players. All but me were Swedish. More than anything I wanted the Norwegian Masters title to go back to a Norwegian again (Denis Korzun from Sweden won it last year), so no pressure. Just beat players from possibly the best Warmachine meta in the world.

No Haley will likely make the internets go mad. John, if you're reading this I hope you're happy with the outcome of this challenge. It will be a while until the next one. Stryker3 will see the shelf in short time. As the 5 games with Nemo and 1 game with Stryker allude to, he surely wasn't the backbone of my pairing, but I still needed to drop him and win a game (see game #5 vs Tanith to see how hard this can be).

NM overall was a big success, the event was amazing and I think everyone had a good time. I am left with tons of things to consider for the time to come. SmogCon is in under a month and I have Battle at Lund in April, where I'm hoping to defend my Swedish Masters title. Suffice is to say it's a very interesting time to play the Swans now, the meta is wide open and we have a lot of interesting options. 

Norwegian Masters Semi-Finals (#409): Nemo3 vs Tanith

:: Prologue ::

For my 5th game I got a Circle opponent who didn't think Una2 was strong enough vanilla, so he took her in ADR. The downside of this? You have to take another caster as well! He went with Tanith. What happens eventually? You have to play Tanith. He happened to be list-locked to Tanith for our game and truth be told I felt sorry for him: This is a hugely one-sided matchup.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Tanith 1) Tanith the Feral Song [+31]
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8]
 - Woldwyrd [9]
 - Woldwyrd [9]
 - Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
 - Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
 - Druid Wilder [4]
 - Argus Moonhound [6]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Shifting Stones [3]
Una the Falconer [4]
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Blackclad Wayfarer [4]
Blackclad Wayfarer [4]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Entrenched and I win the roll-off, opting to go first. As if this game wasn't enough in my favour as it were. The idea here is quite simply to not take any mistakes, always be patient, get the favourable trades, play it safe and just grind it out. 

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up. Arcane Shield on big Lances.

Una is super-cautious. LoS-denial dudes are put up.

2 goals for this turn: Take a pot-shot at the Sentry Stone in the middle to see if I get something to play off of and remove the gobbers on the left flank. The left flank is dealt with easily enough by Lances and a Firefly. In the middle I clear out 2 Mannikins, leaving the 3rd one (which is within 4" of the Sentry Stone) alive. Nemo casts a Chain Lightning on him and boosts the damage roll on the Sentry Stone. It's a solid roll and it has but a few boxes left so I run up a Firefly and spark it with Lances, killing off said Sentry. Awesome! Nemo's outside of theoretical threat ranges, perhaps with the exception of Tanith feating. In that case I'm in a trench, los is blocked etc.

Tanith's forces really hug the central forest. Una's griffon on the left was left mis-managed in terms of fury so it charges its own fuel cache, dealing a few boxes worth of damage and setting itself on fire. Legit.

Dynamo can go for the Moonhound and I can start pressuring Circle really hard now. With feat the remaining Sentry should die and with that my opponent's ability to manipulate my angles largely disappear. I take out the Sentry Stone, a Shifting Stone, a Pureblood and the Moonhound. Nemo's still fairly safe, hiding away. I kill Tanith's objective but fail to kill the Griffon there.

I have ditched my upkeeps to rob the Wyrds of Purgation (and to give Nemo more camp as the only way I feel I can lose now is a Hail Mary run). Regardless Circle has to try and do something now so a bit of an attack is made on the left flank. I lose a couple of models, no biggie. He exposes too much to do so.

From here on out it's basically a mop-up: Keep Nemo safe and trade favouably.

My opponent eventually concedes as the game is beyond hopeless.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

In this matchup, which is so hopelessly down for Circle, I feel as though you have to play hyper-aggressively to just try and get something done. Maybe a scenario angle, maybe an assassination run. Anything, you know. When my opponent responded passively I could simply pick off his models favourably in all of my turns, using the feat to provide the momentum I needed to keep Nemo as safe as possible.

I don't know if there's much to take away from this game: When massively up, stay patient and don't risk anything. Also, beware of being list-locked!

Norwegian Masters #4 (#408): Nemo3 vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

The field is really shrinking and around me there are tons of mercs and Circle players. I draw a Circle one with Wurmwood being dropped against me in Incursion. He also grabs first turn. Bleh. Luckily for me though, no Sentry Stones. That might mean I can annihilate a flank and get a scenario angle. Interesting!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Wurmwood 1) Wurmwood, Tree of Fate [+27]
 - Cassius the Oathkeeper
 - Megalith [20]
 - Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
 - Feral Warpwolf [18]
Reeves of Orboros (max) [16]
Reeves of Orboros (max) [16]
Shifting Stones [3]
Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers [11]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I decide I want to try and go for the right flank. Based on Circle's deployment I think my opponent will struggle to deny me this. I deploy accordingly, but keep a strong center with elements on the left flank as well.

:: Game ::

Opponent opens up with a fairly even advance across the board. However, he forgets to activate both Wurmwood, Cassius -and- shifting stones. He clocks over to me, then realizes in a couple of seconds he hasn't and clocks back. I reject this take back and he insists he is allowed to do so. We call a judge over and he rules in my favour. This is a guy I play against quite a bit and at the club we often do a ton of take backs. However this is a tournament, NM none the less, and this is a mistake in the same way any other mistake is (e.g. I didn't ask Christoffer in game 1 if I could cast Chain Lightning at something else when I found out his Swarm had Stealth, that is a wasted spell).

Refused flank again. Kind of reminiscent of Game 2. I fry a couple of Reeves if memory serves.

My opponent is still off his game due to his turn 1 mistake and makes a series of mistakes: Both Megalith and the Pureblood are within Dynamo's threat projection and the Reeves on my strong flank has clumped up as they tried to take out Lances with Wraithbane. 2 Lances die. Wurmwood and Cassius cloud up on the left.

Easy feat turn! I kill Pureblood, Megalith and all Reeves on the right flank. 1-0 on scenario as well and a Firefly contests him on the left flank. Awesome!

Dynamo is made stationary. The Feral charges in with warped Strength... and does 8 (!!!) boxes to it in total. Wow, just... wow. I did have Electrify, but still. Wurmwood feats.

The plan is quite easily to kill the Feral by walking Dynamo up to strike Wurmwood. I load him up with 3 focus and it's all good to go. Except I forget to shake stationary. Lolz. Another mess of a turn. I am so far ahead however that I get Nemo to be fairly safe regardless. I don't think he has enough power left to deal with the situation anyhow.

Luckily for me I was correct. He tries to get a Hellmouth angle but he even misses the 4+ to pull out his own Feral and it's game over. Even if he had made it I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been close enough: Cassius had to kill the Lance blocking the Feral in so he would be pulled at half speed through the forest. On top of that he had free strikes to tank and there was no vision to Nemo because of Finch and Squire making a LoS-wall.

Anyway...

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The unfortunate start turn 1 sets the stage for Nemo. However it's the mental factor of this and not just shaking it off which truly breaks the game: Turn 2 is an unmitigated disaster for Circle and this is where I break the game.

That being said, Nemo3 feels really legit into Circle. He finds the angles, he spreads out so well and he's just so lethal here. It could be that this changes as people get used to playing him but for now I think he's the most comfortable Wurmwood drop I've ever had. Going second against Wurmwood in Incursion is a nightmare for even our drops which are usually solid into him, but with Nemo it nearly feels ok. As I've mentioned previously Magnetic Field is such an awesome spell here.

A great game and I was ready for the Semi-Finals! Guess what? Everyone else who was undefeated was list-locked! Suddenly my game 3 Stryker3 drop was huge!

Norwegian Masters #3 (#407): Stryker3 vs Karchev

:: Prologue ::

For my third game I got Khador. I saw Karchev in the pairing and immediately saw an opening to drop Stryker3! The second caster was Sorscha1 with a colossal. Does he dare drop that into me, potentially facing Nemo3? I doubt it, besides Karchev screams comfort pick in this pairing. Stryker, show me what you've got!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Stryker 3) Lord General Coleman Stryker [+28]
- Thorn [13]
- Gallant [17]
- Squire [5]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin [4]

Opponent:

Theme: Winter Guard Kommand
(Karchev 1) Karchev the Terrible [+30]
 - Juggernaut [12]
 - Juggernaut [12]
 - Juggernaut [12]
 - Marauder [10]
 - Marauder [10]
 - Devastator [14]
 - Kodiak [13]
 - Kodiak [13]
Battle Mechaniks (min) [3]
Winter Guard Infantry (min) [6]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Take and Hold. I just need to win the starting roll here and I think we could have ourselves a good game. I manage to do this and it's all about thundering up the field now. 

:: Game ::

Fury on right Trenchers. I anticipate possibly feating top of 2 and I want to have scenario angles if my opponent doesn't push up in return. I ensure every single model has solid attack angles if Karchev pushes full speed ahead...

...which he does! Counter-charge goes up.

This might seem like a no-brainer, and indeed it is, but counter-charge angles are problematic. I also have to ensure maximum damage output. This turn takes me a full half hour to play. However I do play it fairly well and the carnage wrought is absolutely glorious with heavies going down left, right and center!

I have, unfortunately, been a little careless. In my eagerness to get Stryker's feat covering everything I am 10.5" away from the central juggernauts instead of 11.1". I'm sure I could've managed this better, just a poor mistake really. Lady luck smiles on me though, my opponents needs a couple of things going his way to clear e.g. Thorn in his way. Some Trenchers have learned to tough though and this messes up all his angles. Stryker's safe and my opponent hasn't really managed to make a proper punch in return! Phew!

On top of all the misery Khador's already in, Karchev killboxed himself. Trenchers with Fury activate and charge stuff, I cycle Fury to Lances and place Stryker on my flag. Few Khador models are left alive.

My opponent spends about a minute contemplating the situation and concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A perfect pairing from a strategical point of view. Letting me drop Stryker3 makes it so much easier in the final couple of games. The execution in this game was also pretty good as well, the sole mistake I made of any significance was placing Stryker too close to the Juggernauts. Luckily it didn't matter in the end but it could very well have cost me the game. So unnecessary.

Karchev might very well still be a thing. Theme force allows spammable, quality jacks. That is problematic, or at least it could be. It's no Mad Dogs though so it'll be interesting to see just how strong it is!

Norwegian Masters #2 (#406): Nemo3 vs Makeda1

:: Prologue ::

Second game and time for Skorne! I was eager to see the new and improved Skorne in action. I looked at his lists, saw Makeda. No need to think further, Stryker has no business being in this matcup. Drop Nemo, receive Makeda1. Cool! No idea what she does. Just go first I guess and pressure the table space. Lose dice-off. Oh, ok.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Makeda 1) Archdomina Makeda [+29]
 - Molik Karn [19]
 - Titan Gladiator [15]
Legends of Halaak [8]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [20]
Tyrant Rhadeim [9]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Wrong Eye [17]
 - Snapjaw
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Outlast, going second. Iffy. Molik Karn is crazy, on feat turn Ferox might be unkillable. Not sure what to do. Let's see what Skorne does first. 

:: Game ::

Molik takes the right flank. Ferox go left. Gladiator behind Molik. Wrongeye centrally.

Cautious advance with refused flank. Nothing in threat.

Sooo... Makeda wants to feat. Proxy base time! Lots of stuff is measured up, but Makeda's landing spot is not. When she eventually does move she needs Quicken to get far enough up because she has to charge to cover the distance and the only path she can take is through the woods (partially). All of this stresses out my opponent, not only does he forget to feat but he also forgets to activate the Ferox in time, so he blocks them in himself to a great degree, freeing up my center!

Plan is easy: Feat, kill Ferox, kill Radheim, kill Molik. Force Hammer a Lance into Molik for KD. Spin up Dynamo, shoot Molik. First short Shield Guarded by Gladiator, 3" behind Molik. Turns out I lose the rest of my shots. What? That caught me completely off guard. Terrible, just terrible. One Ferox decides that toughing and dodging is all kinds of fun and it takes an absurd amount of effort to kill him. This makes my enture turn a complete clusterfuck of activations and trying to cover myself. In the end I'm left in a horrible spot and Radheim/Molik could easily clear a path to Nemo, with a little help.

I'll make this short: The mistakes are not done. As Molik charges in to try and clear out a path for Radheim he is careless. One of my lights, in fact the one with Lightning Shroud, gets a free strike. Although Dynamo didn't get to have fun with Molik last turn the rest of my list did a number on him so this free strike is enough to take him out! This leaves a single Ferox struggling for his life to kill an Arcane Shielded Storm Lance. He leaves it on 1 box and Radheim cannot reach Nemo3 now. Makeda is sitting on 0 fury in the open...

...so I kill her and bring this mess of a game to an end.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Game of skill part 2? Sure felt like it! New Skorne feels legit, definitely uphill for Nemo here when I don't get to go first.

I make a strategical mistake to place my Lances around the forest. This lets the Ferox los-abuse me so there won't be a lot of charging Lances. Big mistake. Not sure I even chose the best side to be honest. In any case I need to have all of my power ready when Makeda feats. If I have that I think I might have the power to deal with her feat. Not sure, but charging Lances sure are key here. Nemo spending basically his entire stack to try and get Molik and then having Dynamo screwed over by a shield guard sure didn't help either. To top it all off Makeda didn't feat! With a feat there it probably was assassination or bust. Ugh.

Somehow I am 2-0 and good to go!

Norwegian Masters #1 (#405): Nemo3 vs Horgle2

:: Prologue ::

NM was finally here! This event is one I had looked forward to for many reasons: My Stryker3 experiment would come to an end in a meta filled with strong players. I was curious to see how well I could do. The event itself was also structured like a Convention (despite only being 2 days) so we had multiple tournaments running at all times (6 in total), everyone could get a bit of what they wanted. Lastly I was organizing an event on Sunday so all in all an exciting weekend.

Last summer I made a bet with a friend to play a caster of his choosing. You can read about that here, as well as my thoughts on the matter: link. What's funny is that as I agreed to play Stryker3 I figured I might as well go for a wacky pairing altogether. I didn't have the motivation to play Haley3 intensively to hopefully drop Stryker3 in but a single game and ride the power of the Haley throughout the rest, so initially I set out to try Sloan. I wasn't happy with that and I had my eyes set on Nemo3, another interesting caster. I couldn't quite get Nemo to work as well as I'd have liked, but then Storm Division dropped. Oh my, that is such a game-changer for him! I quickly fell in love with him and decided a few weeks ago to bring him to NM. No Haleys, no excuses, balls to the wall and hope I can outplay/luck my way as far as possible!

For the very first game I was hoping to draw something I could drop Stryker3 into to rid myself of the list-lock I'd eventually run into. As soon as I saw the pairings I knew straight away that Stryker3 would not be getting the first match: I was up against Christoffer Wedding, the number 1 ranked player in Sweden. I have faced him only once before in a game, a truly epic match which ironically was on the same scenario at Norwegian Masters last year (report link). Little did I know this game would end up being so similar...

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Horgle 2) Horgle, the Anvil [+29]
 - Dire Troll Bomber [19]
 - Dire Troll Bomber [19]
 - Troll Bouncer [9]
 - Trollkin Runebearer [4]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
 - Stone Scribe Elder [3]
Northkin Fire Eaters [7]
Pyg Bushwhackers (max) [15]
Trollkin Sluggers (max) [10]
Trollkin Sluggers (min) [6]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Gremlin Swarm [3]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Recon and I get first turn. I don't know Trollbloods well at all, I just know they're generally bad and I feel favoured here. The idea is to basically try and claim the table space and force him into a ton of juicy, electro death.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up. Small Lances right with Electrify, big Lances left with Arcane Shield.

Bushwackers do some kind of order which lets them shoot first and then move. Sneaky buggers. They do a number on one of my Fireflies. Inviolable Resolve gets put up on the left Bomber. Solid Ground is cast.

Wedding forgot to put down the Fuel Cache cloud so his 5" aoe was the only LoS-blocker. Unfortunately for him he was careless in the positioning of the right-side Bomber: Dynamo could move up and have him in range. I figured I could also get a fairly solid amount of shots onto the other Bomber. Feat time!

The Bomber on the right goes down to Dynamo with help from a couple of Lances. The one on the left however is fine, unfortunately. "Fine" is relative I guess but it had ~10 boxes left.

I still have my Lances well out of his threat ranges. Annoyingly I didn't manage to kill both Swamp dudes so he still has a cloud from them. Remembering the Fuel Cache as well this time he's able to make a bit of a cloudwall. The rest of the army backs up though. I lose 2 Fireflies and 2 Lances, but the scenario is wide open.

I go for the 3-0 play here and take care to stay outside his most dangerous threat ranges. He could go for a long-shot assassination but I figure it's close to 0 because virtually hardly anything's in range. I camp and put Electrify on Dynamo.

Trollbloods have to contest now. The annoying little incorporeal swarm runs into the zone and the Bouncer + remaining Bomber also run in. A model or two more also contest.

The incorporeal swarm is a problem. In a case of rare brainfart I forget that I can cast chain lightning on one of my own models and bounce into the swarm and boost damage for great justice. This means it takes me forever trying to set up for the 5-0 play. When I finally land my plan, it all starts with a chain lightning directly on the swam, by the Lancer. Guess what? It has stealth. I even checked the card earlier in the match. Well, fuck me. There are no other magical attacks in the list so I have to change plans now. I somehow have to make this a fight of attrition I can win.

Lightning Shroud goes up on the Lancer. I had fueled it fully because I anticipated my jacks having to go in to get work done regardless. Said Lancer and Dynamo charge in, hoping to get work done. Dice however don't even remotely agree. I barely kill the Bomber with help from the Lances. How on Earth will this go? Adding insult to injury I am short on time as well.

Time became a big issue following this turn so no more pictures. The very same thing happened in my game against Christoffer last year and I could already visualize a deja vu. Perhaps in a bit of an ironic twist of events, Christoffer forgets what Electrify does. The Bouncer moves to the Trench from where it wishes to strike Dynamo and just touch the zone. However its Animus isn't up so it pushes itself out of the zone and thus out of contesting me. I can hardly believe this!

There are no other durable models left: The Bombers are both dead and the Stones + Sluggers have activated to rain down death on me. Dynamo does indeed to go down in the end, as does the Lancer, but there are only squishy models contesting me. True, a ton of them, but that's what Nemo loves. Right? Right?!?

I have 4 minutes or so to clear the zone of ~10 models with Tough and Solid Ground. A couple of Lances, a Firefly, Junior, Finch, Nemo, the Squire and Laddermore are the heroes of the day. I try to start clearing out a path to allow Laddermore to charge. Getting off both her shot and the melee attack will greatly help out. She is jammed up by Bushwackers so a Firefly tries to help out. It fails, because tough + no KD is a thing. No charge for Laddermore then. She tries to clear the Lances, but fails. Oh my. So much 5+. Makes my head hurt. Lances do ok-ish, not spectacularly. Junior misses and it's down to Nemo and Finch.

In an intense finish with less than 2 minutes left on the clock I manage to land all the attacks I need, roll the necessary amounts of leaps and watch as the Bushwackers fail their tough rolls, one after the other. This time I also remember to cast Chain Lightning to bounce into the swarm so it dies. 5-0 on scenario!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

What a start! That was a crazy close game. For sure a great start for the weekend, but also very taxing. Fatigue is a thing, especially for long days. 

I obviously went wrong when I went for the 5-0 play. Up until that it was all good I think. I got favourable trades, had a really strong position and got a solid alpha. Having crap dice here sure didn't help either, but the overall plan wasn't that solid unfortunately. I cannot believe I forgot I could leap off of one of my own models with Chain Lightning. Oh well, likely won't forget that again. 

Mistakes were made on both sides of the table for sure, we jokingly dubbed this "a game of skill". The Bomber being within Dynamo's threat range, the Chain Lightning on a stealth target, a Bouncer hitting Dynamo with Electrify etc. In the end I think Nemo's inherent advantage in the matchup was what tipped it for me, it was simply lethal for the Trollbloods to try and get up the table.

NM Warm Up Game 3 (#404): Nemo3 vs Magnus2

:: Prologue ::

For the last game of the day I faced Magnus2 Kingmaker's. Usually a strong list, but this caster got a serious implicit nerf in the power attack changes in the recent errata. To be honest I figured this would be a walk-over, he projects next to 0 threats vs Nemo3 and I just shoot anything he has dead really quickly. His pairing was Thexus, I think Mercenaries need Ossrum to deal with my list. Anyway, let's get to the game!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25]
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Magnus 2) Magnus the Warlord [+28]
 - Buccaneer [6]
 - Renegade [10]
 - Nomad [11]
 - Nomad [11]
 - Nomad [11]
 - Freebooter [9]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
 - Trencher Infantry Officer & Sniper [5]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
 - Trencher Infantry Officer & Sniper [5]
Dirty Meg [3]
Kell Bailoch [0]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Extraction and our beloved Swans have seized the initiative. Magnus2's feat is scary so I need to overwhelm a flank, keep him from it and ensure I contest the other half of the map. To this end I go for a strong center, small (!) lances on my intended strong flank and a Lancer + Firefly with them. Rest go opposite. Magnus deploys more or less like I thought he would, the majority concentrated on my weak flank. Hard for him to leave the big Lances free to roam here, he could end up being severely pinned down.

:: Game ::

The small Lances are key, I hold them  back. Big Lances rush into the center and receive Arcane Shield. 2 Fireflies go right, 1 middle, 1 left with Lancer. Dynamo with Electrify.

Some Trenchers move up to try and start the job on a Firefly. A solid CRA is dealt, but no systems down.

I want to clear Trenchers! 1 Lance on the left runs up to rob the outermost guy of Dig In. 2 on the right charge in and kill a couple + reposition to sparknode. The Fireflies start boosting on the lances and the lightning generators do glorious work. Nemo finishes off with arcing Chain Lightning on the left. In total I've killed like 12 Trenchers. I have 2 Fireflies contesting the right flag and tons of strategical depth and positional flexibility. Bring it, Magnus.

The cloudwall advances again and Magnus feats (models caught marked with red tokens).

Dynamo blasts the objective to bits, I clear Trenchers and keep the right flag contested. 2-0 and my feat is still online.

Magnus' goal is to get a Nomad into Dynamo. However a lot of clearing has to be done in order to do so and not just die as a result. Dice don't cooperate, some subpar rolls on top of the terrible matchup for him and really nothing is accomplished this game. The long story short of this turn is that Magnus needs to get a lot of work done but without Calamity up from before he doesn't have enough focus to allow his only models capable of work left (read: Warjacks) perform said work.

With my feat I break the back of his army now. 3 heavies and a ton of support go down and I take a massive scenario lead. The clean-up lasts for another round or two but the game essentially ends here:

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Another amazing matchup for Nemo! True, Mercs without Ossrum is a sight I don't really expect these days... But seriously, how strong is this list? It keeps making a complete joke of a number of the other fairly decent casters in this game and honestly I'm just loving it more and more. Interestingly, some of the choices I get the most questions about are the Fireflies and the Lancer. Look at this game, they are totally MVPs! I didn't note it in the report but to rid me of the annoying Unyielding Field Marshal I used my lights to headbutt jacks here. The flexibility and durability is insane.

I played this game without making major mistakes I think. A few techical issues here and there. I did what I tried to do and followed the plan. I also struggle to see what Magnus could've done differently. Perhaps he could've tried overloading a flank, but I don't see how he does that with this many shots. He could conceivably try and make a wall with his jacks and have the Trenchers behind so as to be fairly safe from electro leaps, but truth be told I just think the entire battlegroup evaporates on my feat turn. I recently destroyed a Hyperion with Inviolable Resolve and Discordia with imprint with a unit left to activate, these Nomads aren't tougher than that for sure.

A great set of games to prepare for NM! After 3 rounds we were 2 players with 3-0 records, myself and a Protectorate player with Amon and High Reclaimer. Neither of us felt like playing a 4th game to determine a winner so we let it be up to tie break scores. He had 1 SoS more than me and ended up taking the event while I took second place. Nemo's impressing me so much that I'm considering him for a spot in a 2-list pairing. NM should be interesting, but I can't wait until it's over so I can start playing Haleys again!

NM Warm Up Game 2 (#403): Nemo3 vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

The second game of the day saw me draw Circle: Wurmwood and Una2. I had little doubts my opponent would choose Wurmwood here and indeed I was correct. I naturally dropped Nemo3 and off we went!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25]
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Wurmwood 1) Wurmwood, Tree of Fate [+27]
 - Cassius the Oathkeeper
 - Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
 - Megalith [20]
 - Feral Warpwolf [18]
Reeves of Orboros (max) [16]
 - Reeve of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [4]
Wolves of Orboros (max) [11]
Shifting Stones [3]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Outlast and Wurmwood got first turn. I would love to go first here, but the terrain was interesting: I figured I could likely sweep wide on both flanks, really force the issue on scenario and have a solid center. Magnetic Field is such an important spell in this matchup, letting me play fairly aggressively in the middle here. Wurmwood goes centrally, I skew right because I figure he can't counter that play and off we go!

:: Game ::

Fairly standard turn 1: Beasts go about as far as they can, Strange Growth is put up.

I don't need to contest yet, what I need to do however is to establish the flanking positions Wurmwood will hate. Oh, and get control of the center of course. Lancer + 2 Fireflies take the Center, Lances sweep wide on either side. On the right I run Lances up with Electrify and Dynamo covers Nemo. With Arcane Shield he should be solid.

Consider the position above, especially how bad it really is for Wurmwood. Incredibly hard to find openings, my forces are so spread out and no matter what he does he cannot cover everything. Very interesting position.

In the end Wurmwood decides to go far left, more or less give up the right zone and LoS-block his Reeves. However the LoS-block doesn't extend to the central forest. Lots of juicy options for me...

The first thing I start looking at is the assassination angle. Wurmwood has 2 Fury and 0 souls. I do the math in Odds Machine and end up with way above 70% (too many attacks, couldn't calculate all). I do look at other openings but there are none as good as ~80%+ to win the game. Attrition options like feating for Megalith + Feral sure exist, I can also run stuff up in the middle to get a ton of Reeves while moving to 1-0, however this assassination is just crazy.

Unfortunately I brainfarted. Electro Leaps are voluntary. Lighting Generators are not. This of course means that throughout my run, Wurmwood's armour will increase. Luckily for me, a couple of crazy rolls made up for this and the tree was cut down!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Nemo keeps impressing me. The angles he can create and the wide nature of his playstyle really appeal to me. I had so many options this game, tons of interesting plays. Of course my opponent's inexperience with the matchup matters a great deal, but what could he have done? Turn 1 I find hard to improve. Turn 2 might've seen an aggressive feat in the center, but to what end? He won't get an alpha and it won't set him for scenario just like that either. I can probably wait him out.

A very interesting game and the picture after my turn 1 really shows Wurmwood's dilemma here: He cannot commit with the feat and get meaningful work out of it. That is very, very problematic. Given the souls he got assassination might not have been the best option, but I had plenty of other openings as well. I'm confident that I can drop Nemo3 into Wurmwood and at least have game now. That's huge, in my book.