Battle Report #392: Nemo3 vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

One of my main reasons for giving Nemo3 a try is that I have this hypothesis that he can be a decent Circle drop, handling both Wurmwood and Una2. If this is viable, I have some interesting tweaks to Haley3 in mind (seeing as she no longer has to care about these matchups) which I believe will make her even more lethal in other matchups.

Yesterday I got the chance to play two games into Wurmwood. My opponent's still finding his way in Mk. 3 but Wurmwood's Wurmwood after all. We played The Pit and I reverted back to my Stormwall-list following the version with Thorn and Dynamo which I unfortunately didn't care that much for.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25]
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Stormwall [39]
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
- Firefly [8]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Gun Mage Captain Adept [5]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]

Opponent:

Wurmwood
- Pureblood
- Feral
- Megalith
Blackclad
Swamp Gobbers
Max Farrows
Max Reeves
- UA
2x Sentry Stones
Shifting Stones

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Wurmwood's going first. The Pit is a terrible scenario in general and Wurmwood's one of the worse guys to face here. My idea going into this game was to apply pressure asap, allow Nemo to perhaps go aggressive personally and have the Stormwall contest the central zone.

:: Game ::

Wurmwood runs up. Reeves stay far away from any zzzzaps!

By trampling the Stormwall and podding I am able to get the Blackclad with lightning bounces from the Firefly, Laddermore and Nemo.

Wurmwood realizes that from a scenario point of view he's made a bit of a bad move turn 1: He's way too far left, as is Cassius. He basically has two options here the way I see it: Play it aggro and basically sit himself in the middle of the table under feat, or chill out near the flag and feat defensively to get in position. He chooses the latter. Man, I would be excited to see how the former had played out.

In any case the Reeves receive Wraithbane and start unloading on a Stormwall which has been Cursed and Strangleheld. Double shots with Curse and Blessed mean they do quite a bit of damage. Reeves can be scary.

Well, that feat sucks big time, but at least I have some options. I can either hold back defensively or try and counter-feat and see how much zzzap! I can bring to bear.

I go for the latter. Why? If I don't, the Stormwall either dies or I concede the middle zone. If I don't feat there's no way I'm getting Sentry Stones so scenario looks absolutely terrible. Furthermore I can get the Firefly within 4" of Megalith which is pretty good.

I'm hoping to get a Sentry and Megalith. The stone dies but unfortunately Megalith survives.

Another round from the Reeves with Wraithbane plus Megalith finish off my Stormwall. My opponent forgets the pod and doesn't have anything to contest with so it's 2-1 in my favour. A few Lances are lost as well.

With all the Reeves alive on the opposite side of the table I basically have to pressure scenario here. This means killing the rest of his heavies and the Sentry Stone. Megalith survives on about a handful of boxes or so but he is knocked down from Force Hammer. The Wolves die. The Sentry dies. I move to 3 CP.

Wurmwood again fails to contest so the game is over.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This unfortunately felt way worse than I had hoped it would. In a nutshell the problem is that I cannot reliably deal enough damage with leaps without vision I think. This means that Wurmwood can likely play hyper-aggressively on his feat turn. That being said, The Pit is an atrocious scenario which I rarely play, and this being my first time with the matchup I made a good few mistakes. The Stormwall was too exposed to Reeves, I've simply forgotten how much they hurt it with Wraithbane and Curse. Over 2 turns they will likely cripple a side on their own, at which point it goes down to a single heavy (which is exactly what happened), and half the point behind taking the Stormwall in the first place is that it cannot be alpha'd by one Circle heavy!

Magnetic Field surprised me. Not having your caster vulnerable to Hellmouth shenanigans -and- Finch being another immovable piece on top of that provided me with a sudden opportunity to play rather far up the table (for facing Wurmwood at least). This is interesting because Wurmwood can suddenly find himself losing on scenario, which is exactly what happened here. For all of the strengths of LoS-denial, he does struggle to get close against a list like this, no doubt. Sentries are also highly exposed.

In conclusion it felt worse than I had hoped it would, but I also learned a lot. I think I simply need to play this more before I feel comfortable evaluating the matchup. We also had time for a rematch, report is coming right up!

Battle Report #391: Nemo3 vs Vlad2

:: Prologue ::

Rematch time! What did we learn? Conquest has to respect Dynamo. Gotcha. Re-rack!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Nemo3
- Thorn
- Dynamo
- Firefly
GMCA
Laddermore
Junior
- Firefly
Max Lances
Min Lances

Opponent:

Vlad2
- Conquest
Jozef
2x Drakhun
2x Min Uhlans
Max Winter Guard Rifles
- 3x Rockets

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment :: 

I went first again and made the same kind of skew. Khador went for the Conquest further counter-skewed this time around with Rifles more centrally. Interesting! I believe in Rifles being protected in general but I'm not sure it's doable this way because the Conquest could end up being zoned out and marginalized.

:: Game ::

My movements are largely the same as in the first game. Spells identical.

Conquest is respecting Dynamo this time around. Cavalry chill, Rifles as well. One Drakhun is placed to soak up leaps on the Conquest.

One of the reasons to take Thorn is that assassination angles are better. It turns out that Vlad is very exposed here.I can run Thorn, arc a spell through him, reaction drive within 4" of Vlad and then pew pew on Thorn. The best part? I can arc a lightning immunity spell on Thorn so he won't die.

It's all good until I reaction drive Thorn. Guess what? Drakhuns have counter-charge. The GMCA-flared DEF9 Thorn is now DEF13. Fuck me. Well, if I had crap dice last game then Nemo's magnificent chain lightning made up for it now. I targeted Thorn in the back, intending to boost on the Drakhun and Vlad. The damage rolls were both really big, the one on the Drakhun instantly dismounting him! Vlad took a handful of boxes -after- negating with his lats focus.

The dream was alive and I managed to kill the Drakhun with a couple of more electro bolts to Thorn's back. This put Thorn's DEF down to 9 again and the rest of my forces followed up with leaping Vlad to death!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Drakhuns having counter-charge is a big gotcha. I looked for other openings but seeing as Nemo had activated and moved when Thorn reaction drove in I was 100% committed and had no other angles.

Anyway, disregarding that for a moment: I went for the assassination because I wanted to stress-test the list and see how it was in practice. The move was indeed impossible because there was no place for Thorn without being counter-charged -or- the Conquest being closer. The alternative play is to sacrifice Thorn, run him up on the hill and double-zap rockets and rifles with Chain Lightning and Lucky Charm from Reinholdt. Depending on how that works out feat might not be used as the Conquest will be isolated. On the other hand feating here is interesting as the Drakhun on the right will likely die and the Conquest will likely take a -lot- of damage.

An interesting matchup and Nemo surprises me to be honest. I thought this would be a lot harder for him. True, I win on dumb luck in the end and should've lost, but that's a rather big mistake on my part's fault, not the nature of the matchup.

While Khador is a strong opponent and a solid faction, at the end of the day I want Nemo to perform vs Circle. I don't see this list being the best setup against that. Dynamo is predictable and short in terms of threat projection and unreliable when he needs to get work done. True, he truly shines against colossals but I feel that's not what I need. I'll continue dojoing lists on my own but chances are I'll end up back with the Stormwall.

Battle Report #390: Nemo3 vs Vlad2

:: Prologue ::

More Nemo3 action! This time I was facing Vlad2. A very tricky opponent for lots of Cygnar lists, a very potent combination of durability and hitting power. I love it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Nemo3
- Thorn
- Dynamo
- Firefly
GMCA
Laddermore
Junior
- Firefly
Max Lances
Min Lances

Opponent:

Vlad2
- Conquest
Jozef
2x Drakhun
2x Min Uhlans
Max Winter Guard Rifles
- 3x Rockets

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

For this game I tried the list without a Stormwall. I have to get some practice with the alternatives with this guy. If I could choose I'd probably take the Stormwall in this matchup because he's a solid counter to the Rifles, tanking their shots fairly well and limiting them with Covering Fire. In any case, let's get to the game.

We were playing Outlast and I went first. The idea was to try and have something happen top of 2 to start taking his models out before his feat-threat and shooting would force me out of the zones. I skew to the right to try and force him to skew left, but he replies with a bit of a counter-skew. Interesting!

:: Game ::

I put up Magnetic Field. Big Lances get +3 ARM, Dynamo gets +2. I keep outside of shooting threat ranges.

Conquest decides it's balls to the wall time and runs up. The rest chill out, with the exception of a Drakhun which places itself to be the closest target to said Conquest.

Dynamo's within range of the Conquest. I cannot -not- take this opportunity so it's feat-and-go time. My rolls are fairly crap, despite getting a Firefly on both the Conquest, Drakhun and an Uhlan the Conquest + Drakhun barely go down with the Uhlan not even scratched. Oh well. Position's still good.

Given how my forces are placed and Khador activation order issues my opponent decides to hold his feat, hoping he'll have enough left bottom of 3 to make a big feat comeback then. I lose a handful of Lances but all jacks are left fully intact.

I clear out a ton of models.

The game is effectively over as I've taken care to make it impossible for him to kill Nemo and there's no other angle back into the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I must admit that this game was easier than I had feared. The threat ranges Nemo project are greater than one might think and Khador had to play very cautiously to avoid being ripped apart. Furthermore I'm not sure his feat is that big of a deal for jamming, compared to Sloan where it's game breaking I think Nemo3 can simply weather it and go for something else or just feat and deal with it.

Obviously what broke the game was the Conquest not respecting Dynamo. Because of this we decided to go for another game as well, a rematch!

Battle Report #389: Issyria vs Nemo3

:: Prologue ::

Following two quick games against Issyria we decided to switch sides. Always an interesting approach to a matchup!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25]
 - Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
 - Stormwall [39]
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Firefly [8]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Gun Mage Captain Adept [5]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]

Opponent:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Phoenix [18]
House Vyre Electromancers [8]
House Vyre Electromancers [8]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4]
 - Discordia [18]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

My aim here is to dominate a flank and force the scenario pressure on Nemo. If I can force him to commit the Stormwall and/or feat without taking out the heavies I think I'm good. I skew hard right.

:: Game ::

Nemo spreads his forces out. I run up Phoenix to put Blinding Light on the big lances. Discordia and Hyperion follow up as well and I take care to make it about impossible to get any lightning to Issyria, MHAs, Elara and Arcanists.

Nemo consolidates his position.

The Stormwall is outside of 4" from the middle flag. He is also outside of 10" of Hyperion. I made a mistake when the Phoenix admonitioned away from a Lance charging Hyperion so I didn't have him in charge range of the Stormwall any longer. Very annoying.

I make another mistake as I move Hyperion up. I can abuse the flag's position: Going within 10" of the Stormwall isn't a big deal because the flag blocks its charge path. However I -also- fail to be within 4" of the flag. Christ. At least I take the central and right flags and put up Blinding Light on the big Lances ahead, which the Phoenix and Discordia keep hammering.

Nemo consolidates yet again and moves to 2-2.

I feat and move Hyperion into the Stormwall, killing it. My left flank is gone unfortunately so I can't contest and this is a real problem.

I do what I can to wipe out the right flank as well. I know this will be a close one!

As I'm not contesting Nemo scores in my turn so it's 3-4 when he begins his turn. His goal is to feat and kill Hyperion. Discordia wasn't within 3" because of activation order issues so it's not impossible, but the huge amount of boxes on the Retribution colossal keeps it alive. 7 boxes left when the dust settles and a contesting Lance makes it 4-4.

What I have to do in return is kill a handful of cavalry models with Discordia, Ancillary attack and Hyperion. Unfortunately this fails. Nemo runs in the last surviving Lance to contest and wins the game 6-5!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A loss for me but a win for Nemo. I can live with that! 

This game was a lot closer than the last two and I think the reason was my ability to take control of a flank and force the scenario pressure from there. If I had played a little smarter turn 2 I might've been able to feat earlier and kill the Stormwall with Phoenix + Hyperion. Openings like this are big and Hyperion means Issyria often has solid scenario angles. 

The Nemo3 list is terrifying to face. So many angles. You have to castle up I believe and be careful with where models are within 4" of each other. I did manage to use distance and a 4.1" "safe zone" here but I don't imagine that to always be possible. 

A great series of games and I have to think a bit on whether I should go for Sloan or Nemo3 to pair with Stryker3 for NM! 

Battle Report #387 & #388: Nemo3 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

As some of my recent reports have shown, Sloan is often so dependent on getting the right dice rolls on her feat turn. It can be frustrating when that doesn't work and it often feels too tight.

Because of that I wanted to try out Nemo3 for a few games. It's a caster which has been on my radar for some time. Let's try it out in practice!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25]
 - Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
 - Stormwall [39]
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Firefly [8]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Gun Mage Captain Adept [5]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]

Opponent:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Phoenix [18]
House Vyre Electromancers [8]
House Vyre Electromancers [8]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4]
 - Discordia [18]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Retribution on Incursion. Obviously Discordia is bad news for my list. However it's not necessarily disastrous, I just need to position myself so that it's hard for her to cover everything while remaining relevant in the scenario. Furthermore the imprint doesn't help vs leaps so if I can get an angle to take her out quickly the rest of the shooting becomes a lot more dangerous. I deploy fairly symmetrically and intend to move my models according to Retribution's T1.

Also, a couple of proxies: Stryker3 is Laddermore, Haley2 is Nemo3, Arlan is Finch.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up and cast Electrify on the big Storm Lances. The two MHAs in the middle of the table ensure that I remain somewhat cautious. Shield on the 'wall.

Issyria runs her stuff up, putting Phoenix on a hill to blinding light the Stormwall.

Discordia is closer to the Phoenix than Hyperion is. I hatch a plan: Feat and kill both heavies. I start off with the GMCA firing a flare onto Phoenix. I then follow up with tons of electrical damage. Some of the lightning generator shots leap all the way to Issyria, seriously wounding her. The Phoenix goes down before Discordia does and this allows me to target Discordia with the remaining Lightning Generator attacks, only needing 3+ to hit Issyria. She dies to this before the big lances have even activated.

With a brutal lesson learned we re-racked and went at it again.

Issyria is trying more of a skew now. I respond a lot like I did in the first game.

Issyria is more cautious this time. The left flank holds all electrobros and both MHAs.

I can't really launch an alpha now but I can stall the game quite well: Send in 2 Lances for Hyperion, shuffle the center, set up for scenario unless Retribution tries to get some work done.

The heavy jacks come out to play. The damage dealt is negligible.

I feat again and this time Discordia goes down fast. Being able to target her is a big deal in this matchup. This leaves Issyria as the closest target to Hyperion and she takes a little tumble off the cliff again.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A very interesting list to play! I'm happy with the composition and the way it plays. I do miss an arc node and it does feel like I'm a little short on models but you can't have it all.

Retribution is an interesting opponent. In the long run I'm looking at Nemo3 to complement Haley3 and that leaves Retribution as one of his possible matchups. This definitely felt playable. Issyria was a little too exposed here but to be honest she has a ton of squishy models and it's impossible to protect them all.

A great start for the new list! Also, I do believe this is the first I play Nemo3.

Battle Report #386: Sloan vs Una2

:: Prologue ::

For the very last game of 2016 I played Sloan into Una2. Ideally another game of Haley3 vs Una2 would be more interesting but I didn't have time for a full, 2-hour game so Sloan it was!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Sloan 1) Captain Kara Sloan [+28]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Rangers [9]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Gun Mage Captain Adept [5]
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [10]

Opponent:

Una2
- Pureblood
- 6x Scarsfell Griffon
2x Ogrun Bokur
Bloodtrackers
2x Sentry Stone
1x Shifting Stones

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Same map and scenario. Again I win the roll-off and go first.

:: Game ::

This is a lot easier than Sloan: Move up, threaten stuff, shoot, protect Sloan.

Una creates a fort behind Sentry Stones.

I use Armory to give a Hunter magical shots. Arlan provides another with the same. Sloan's 2 shots are shield guarded. One Hunter kills a stone. The other brings it down to a box or two. Alexia summons a Thrall which does the rest. Note to self: Consider killing a Ranger top of 1 to spawn something far up with Alexia top of 2.

Una goes for the jamming play. Unfortunately my positioning is rather crap and some of the jams are very hard to deal with.

I get greedy and have sub-par dice rolls. I do clear a couple of birds but it's just so bad. Una's probably won attrition at this point because she can shred all the Trenchers more or less.

In the interest of seeing how vulnerable Sloan was (and me being short on time) my opponent goes for an assassination. Crap rolls are the name of the game again unfortunately for him and I survive on 10 boxes!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Undeserved, but I'll take it. Unfortunately my feat turn decisions are poorly shown in a picture format. The long story short is that I got too greedy and decided not to tank free strikes but rather go for as many birds as possible, saving the GMCA etc. This issue was compounded by the fact that my position was very "jammable" and the dice on attack rolls were crap when I feated. Regardless, this is all something I could've dealt with.

In itself this is an interesting matchup but I doubt we'll see much of it. Sloan has little game into Wurmwood.

I wish you all a happy new year! 2016 was an amazing year for me as far as Warmachine is concerned. I played a lot of tournaments, had multiple big event wins and met a lot of great people. I look forward to 2017 and hope it will be great! 

Battle Report #385: Haley3 vs Una2

:: Prologue ::

It turns out I did get to play a couple more games in 2016. Yesterday I played 2 games against Circle. First up was a matchup which is turning out to be a classic: Haley3 vs Una2!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley3) Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Haley Past
- Haley Future
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Thorn - PC: 13 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Ragman - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

Opponent:

Una2
- Pureblood
- 6x Scarsfell Griffon
2x Ogrun Bokur
Bloodtrackers
2x Sentry Stone
1x Shifting Stones

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Entrenched and I'm moving first. The idea here is to get up the table, crush the right flank to establish a safe haven for Prime and slowly attrition from there.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up. I take care to be outside of crucial threat ranges.

Una creates a fort with her Fuel Cache and by casting Twister on Mannikins. Bloodtrackers send up a few behind the central wall and leave the rest far behind.

Time to bide our time and set up for the next turn! What I want to accomplish this turn is to ensure Una has no good alpha targets so that if she moves in it is purely to jam. I also take care to have a lot of key models outside of jam range. Lastly I want to pressure his objective so that I can fight back if he wants to play a slow game.

Past throws away a Chain Blast towards the Bloodtrackers. The second scatter gets lucky and kills 2 in the back. The Grenadiers and Storm Lances clear the ones behind the wall.

Fort Una keeps holding up, but Una herself is too afraid to move into the zone. Possibly a mistake, but with double Bokurs and the current distances being what they are it might be ok.

It is time for me to make my move. Sadly, a couple of key issues prevent me from getting the most out of this turn. If I want to land Past's Chain Blast on the objective I need to feat because otherwise Thorn will not be in range of her. Secondly I have the Charger just a little bit too far away to shoot said objective. This leaves a single Grenadier. Oh well, it's enough to force out a piece-trade because when I am this far up the table Circle cannot let me keep pushing.

The Bokurs save the objective but it still takes significant damage. The Lances clear out the Bloodtrakers near my zone and Prime moves into the zone for a 1-0 lead.

Interesting move by Una! Only 3 birds are sent in. A problem with moving up this close is that Griffons are suddenly in range to sprint when they kill stuff. Granted Una plays very aggressively to ensure this so assassination is on the table, but it's interesting to note anyway that when she elects to cloudwall up in return this can definitely happen.

One bird rolls crap on a Grenadier so a second bird is needed to kill it. This ensures that 2 Griffons end up standing a little closer than my opponent had hoped for... The last 3 birds are spread out.

I don't want to feat here because there are only 3 Birds I can realistically kill. Of those 3, only 1 needs my feat. The other 2 can be Tremored by the Ironclad. Anyways I make the play and use the left-over focus to revive 2 Trenchers. The three birds are killed. Thorn and the Storm Lances run to engage 2 more birds to force free strikes if they want to get any work done. The Trenchers are a little too tight so Mannikins will have a field day, but whatever.

Circle's running out of time and both scenario and assassination is off the table. One last effort for attrition is made. Indeed the Ironclad goes down as do 6 Trenchers and 2 Storm Lances, but when my opponent clocks over he has but a minute left and I'm up 3-1 with the objective still alive for me to kill. We call the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This matchup is really interesting with tons of angles, headaches and opportunities for both sides. The Ironclad really shines here as he's such a big deterrent. The key for Cygnar is to have enough Trenchers and/or Storm Lances around when the birds enter the fray to shoot them dead. Between my feat and the Ironclad knocking them down isn't that big of a problem, besides with Ghost Walk, Temporal Distortion and CRAs their high defense isn't problematic anyway.

In this game the Bloodtrackers ended up trying to harass my flank. That failed miserably and I think they are the wrong unit for such a task. They simply can't do anything about the cloudwall. Perhaps with Mirage they can make bit more of an impact but with the Lances sweeping wide I struggle to see them getting meaningful work done. On the other hand, if they had moved on Circle's strong flank I can see them making my life a lot harder.

The deciding factor in this game was Una opting to go for a defensive approach. Without the Pureblood far up the field it's a lot easier for me to spread out and claim table space. He really is -the- key piece in this matchup and controlling him is very important for Cygnar.