Darius vs Feora2 - 15 Points and Escalating

This past Tuesday night, Barrett and I sat down for our first game in our Escalation campaign. Both of us are using new casters and during the course of the game, it was abundantly clear. But that's the whole point of it, to familiarize ourselves with the caster and enjoy the battle at hand.

Here's the two lists.

Feora2
*Guardian
*Vanquisher
Choir - min
Vassal - min

Darius
*Hammersmith
*Ironclad
Sword Knights
Reinholdt

This was the first time that I've ever had more range than his army and the first time he's had more troops than mine. It was a nice change of pace. The table was terrain heavy to try and compensate for the low model count.

Here's a quick recap ot the match.

Starting Positions.

Round 1 - Everyone runs except for the choir who should've anyway. I think I put passage on my jacks thinking Barrett was going to shoot them up like he normally does.

Round 2 - Vanquisher takes some shots at the Hammersmith and comes up short, it was so close we used the new spray template to see if the shot was in range. It literally came up 1 mm short. The deviation drifts off into the distance. All his jacks are out of charge range and Darius takes a shot at the Vassal and comes up short.

Round 3 - The Guardian charges the Ironclad while Ignited and Battle Hymned. I manage to scrap it thanks to the Vassal's ancillary attack. Vanquisher charges and does minimal damage. Hammersmith is loaded up with focus and wrecks the Vanquisher in 3 hits, taking out the Vassal with the chain attack slam. Unfortunately for Barrett, he wasn't able to use the extra focus as he was out of melee range after the slam attack.

Round 4 - Feora pops her feat and manages to take a fire token off the Guardian and Hammersmith and put it on Darius and Reinholdt. The Guardian wrecks the Hammersmith. Darius casts a spell that causes the Guardian to be stationary.

Round 5 - I use a focus to shake off stationary. The Guardian charges Darius and is barely in reach range. The attack hits and does considerable damage. By another attack and I get the critical pitch, throwing Darius towards a house. He survives with 3 boxes left. He gets up and shakes off knockdown. Charges the Guardian and almost wrecks him. It was getting pretty late and we wanted to end the game.



Round 6 - Feora charges Darius and ends the game

Post match thoughts.

It was evident that both of us hadn't played our casters before. We missed out on some opportunities early on to go for the caster kill. I really think Barrett could've got to Feora with the Hammersmith with some better positioning. If that was the case, the game could have ended a lot earlier.

I really like Feora2, she has a good variety of spells and likes to get her battlegroup into the thick of things. Halfway through round 2, I realized that she had a warjack bond. This is the first time I've ever played a game with one so that should tell you something.

Its back to the drawing board for both of us. We're going to be expanding to 25 points next game and the nice part about it is, we can change up our list anyway we want, save for the caster.

Experience and the Element of Surprise

As Barrett and I are preparing to play in our first official MK II Escalation campaign, the subject of play experience comes to mind. During the next couple of months, we're both going to be using casters that we've never played with nor played against. The idea behind it is, to familiarize yourself with your army and your opponents by table top experience. By the end of the campaign, you should have a good idea of what your caster, units, and solos can do as well as your opponents.

The campaign is mere days away, and as far as I know, Barrett is taking Darius. The only thing I know about Darius is, he likes jacks and can create these little half jacks that look like they're sad. With the release of the MK II PDFs, I have the ability to find out exactly what Darius does and speculate what type of jacks he’ll bring. But do I really want to? If I were to look up what Darius' stats are, I think I'd be selling myself short the element of surprise and fun when playing against him. Plus, I think its better to learn by your mistakes rather than memorizing stats, it’s a more dramatic effect.

That's part of the fun of playing Warmachine and Hordes, facing off against the mass variety of warcasters and warlocks and not knowing what to expect. For instance, my first tourney I ever played in, my first match was against Cryx, with Goreshade being the caster. I asked the guy "what's his specialty?", and he answered "his feat brings a whole unit of Bane Thralls on the table". That was a pretty cool moment for me in gaming, the whole element of "uhhh ok what am I going to do now".

In the end, I think it comes down to play style, and for all intents and purposes I’m a casual gamer. I like to build my lists ahead of time, with the intent of playing the figs I want to play and see how they match up against my opponent. The best part of this is, not knowing what you’re going to face and having to make your army work the way you designed it. You’ll get plenty of surprise moments too, like Kaya2’s “Against All Odds” ability in MKI. I’ll never forget the first time I played against her, the beginning of the round two, I had Reznik surrounded by five choir guys, two jacks, and a vassal. Moments later, Kaya teleported in with the help of Laris, from what seemed to be 20” away, then Reznik disappeared.

If you decide to go this route, it might be a tough go in the beginning but it’ll definitely be fun, for you and/or your opponent.

Decision Time

Barrett and I are starting up a MK II Escalation Campaign to coincide with the launch of Prime MK II. We initially did one last year when the MK II field test rules were released to the public. It was nice to see how our favorite casters, jacks, solos, and units changed and this time it shouldn’t be any different, save the stats and rules are permanent.

The rules are pretty simple, choose a caster and play with him or her at 15, 25, 35, and 50 point levels. You’re not allowed to upgrade your caster if there’s an epic version nor are you allowed to downgrade if you’re using an epic. I know this differs from typical Escalation campaigns but we decided to keep the same caster throughout. They’re no proxies allowed and we’re thinking about using the killbox scenario from Templecon.

My big dilemma this time is choosing a caster I want to play. At the moment it’s a toss up between two epics I’ve haven’t ever played, Kreoss2 and Feora2 (I think this is how the big boards are naming the epics nowadays). Both forces offer a nice thematic choice in troop selection and should look nice on the table, barring they’re actually painted. This is something I’m also going for, a force that plays well on the table and has a theme to it.

Kreoss2 brings a more troop heavy build with big hitters, specifically Exemplar models, something I don’t have a lot of. To help this out, I’m all set to order some Bastions and Cinerators. The only other Exemplars I have are Guis and Cassius, the two guards for Rhoven. My other big hitters are the Avatar, which is yet to be assembled and Vilmon, who would benefit greatly from Kreoss feat. The main issue with this army is getting the pieces together and assembling them.

Feora2 brings a little more speed and a lot more fire to the table, something I sort of have (fire wise). I have a full unit of TFG w/ UA and my Cleansers only need one blister to bring to a full unit. Throw in a Vanquisher with a Vassal and an obligatory Repenter and I should have the fire part covered. The one key ingredient I’m missing for a nice thematic list is Daughters of Flame. I doubt I'll get the Daughters anytime unless someone wants to unload them for dirt cheap.

The campaign is set to start in a week or two and I’ll have to make a decision before then. The nice part about it is, either caster I choose should bring a different play style and both of them look fun to use. If any of you have some suggestions, I’m all for it.

Kreoss vs Nemo, A 35 PC Game

This morning, CptCalvinus and I played our first match of a series of 35 PC games with our remaining casters. We decided on 35 PC because it's just enough models for a good game and both of us play pretty slowly. Unfortunately, this match still took a while to play. I'm not sure if its set up time or what but we probably need to start enforcing a time limit on turns.

CptCalvinus' Army
Nemo
*Thunderhead
*Centurion
Squire - proxied by a Mangler Shoulder
Journeyman
*Charger
Arlan Strangeways - proxied by Siege
Field Mechanics - proxied by Long Gunners
Stormsmiths x 2
GMCA x 2

bluecardinal's army
Kreoss
*Revenger - proxied by a Devout
*Vanquisher - proxied by a Mariner
*Crusader
Choir full unit
Bastions full unit - proxied by 3 jacks, Reznik, Bosun
Ruphert
Orin Midwinter - proxied by a Reclaimer
Herne and Jonne - proxied by a Gunbunny and Dougal McNaile

I'll post the highlights of each round and try to keep the battle report rather short. Here's the layout of the battleground at the start of the match. CptCalvinus won the opening roll and elected to go second.


First Round



The Crusader, Revenger, and Vanquisher all run. Kreoss puts Protection of Menoth on the Bastions and casts Lamentation. The Bastions run, Ruphert sings Dirge of Mists, and Choir sings hym of Passage.









Journeyman puts Arcane Shield on Nemo, Nemo puts Disruption Field on the Centurion and Electrify on the Thunderhead. Everyone else advances.






Second Round

Vanquisher gets 2 focus and shoots at the Centurion, boosts to hit and damage. It does 5 damage if I recall, the AOE clips 2 mechanics and a Stormsmith, taking all three out. The Bastions advance in the middle and get Heroic Call. Orin runs to the middle to avoid the GMCAs on the left flank. Choir sings hymn of passage and Vassal puts enliven on the Revenger.

Herne and Jonne wiff at the two GMCAs on the left.


Fire stays on the Centurion and actually damages him for 2. The Squire gives 1 focus to Nemo. The Thunderhead gets 3 Focus, moves up and does his special pulse. He boost the hit and gets all my jacks and Bastions in it. This does minimal damage to the Bastions. It also hits my Jacks and we both wonder if they can be hit by it with Hymn of Passage up and we play that you can. This does minimal damage to them. I forgot totally about enliven. Arlan moves up and repairs the Centurion, removing 2 damage. Centurion gets 5 focus and charges the Bastions. Kills only one of them and another passes a tough roll.

The Charger gets 2 focus and takes some pop shots at the Bastions and does minimal damage. The two GMCAs take a shot Herne and Jonne and kill Jonne.

Third Round

All my jacks are disrupted so no focus for them. Orin runs back to within Melee range of a GMCA. Kreoss doesn't upkeep anything and moves up, pops his feat, knocking down the Thunderhead, Centurion, GMCA, Arlan, and Stormsmith. He gives Ignite to the Bastions. I totally forgot about this spell until mid game (more on this later). Bastions move up and take out the Thunderhead's cortex and right arm.

The Choir sings Battle Hymn and the Vanquisher shoots and kills Arlan. The Revenger moves up and hits the Centurion, doing little damage. The Crusader moves up and hits Centurion and does little damage with both weapons. The Vassal gives one more shot for the Crusader but the Crusader only does 3 damage to the Centurion.

Nemo upkeeps Disruption Field on the Centurion, Centurion gets 5 focus and wrecks the Crusader rather quickly and then takes out two more Bastions as they failed their tough roll. Thunderhead wiffs on the Bastions, Charger gets 3 focus and manages to put some damage on a focus camped Kreoss (he had 5 left over).

GMCA breaks free from Orin and Orin misses the free strike. He then shoots at the Vassal gets him to one life. The second GMCA hits Kreoss and does 4 damage with the extra die. The Stormsmith fails his skill check. Nemo moves forward and pops his feat. All my jacks are disrupted again and take a good bit of damage. He then casts Chain Lightning on the Vanquisher and kills the Vassal in the process.

Round Four

Lets see, all my jacks are disrupted again and I upkeep Ignite on the Bastions. The remaining two Bastions try to disable the Centurion but fail. The Choir sings Battle Hymn again and the Revenger moves into melee range with Nemo. I need a 7 to hit and I roll a six, I think. The Vanquisher moves into melee range with the Thunderhead and does almost enough to wreck him. At this point, the Thunderhead has about 3 boxes left.

Orin moves up and casts Arc Lightining onto the Journeyman and almost takes him out. I forgot Nemo was immune to Lightning so this does nothing. Kreoss moves up and casts immolation on the Journeyman, and wipes him out. Kreoss then casts Protection of Menoth on himself.


The final hooray, Nemo has a whopping ten focus from the three spells that were cast in his control area the turn before. It was a no guts, no glory moment, and CptCalvinus charged Nemo right into melee with Kreoss. He took a free strike from the Revenger that netted him 10 damage.

He boosted all the attack and damage rolls save for the first charge attack that was already boosted. The first attack hits and lands 10 damage to Kreoss. He needs 3 more damage to kill him with 9 focus remaining. With Protection of Menoth up, he then wiffs on his next two attacks bringing his focus count to 5. And then he wiffs on his remaining 3 attacks. It was terrible luck and looking back, I should've lost, big time.

Round Five

Kreoss boosts to hit and boosts damage on Nemo. Nemo falls...

Post Game Analysis

Menoth
To get the post posted, I'll provide the colour commentary for both of us. First off, I should've had Ignite on the Crusader the whole time. I can't believe I forgot about that spell and should've looked over Kreoss card before starting the match. With Battle Hymn going he would've been hitting at PS 22 and the Centurion would've definitely crumbled. Second, I shouldn't have ever casted Lamentation. Nemo sits back and is likely not going to get in the mix and duke it out with someone. Plus, his one offensive spell is usually casted through an arc node and CptCalvinus wasn't running one.

Bastions are still great at soaking up damage and with Protection of Menoth, it only gets better. The next match they're going to take a break so I can try a new unit out. I'm giving up on Herne and Jonne, with a Vanquisher and Orin present, I already had enough crowd control. I'm thinking a Paladin would do just fine next match.

Cygnar
CptCalvinus had a good mix of solos and jacks in his list. He used his GMCAs to great effect in the game and they're a good flanking tandem of two. The Charger didn't really do too much because the Bastions just dispersed any damage done to them. Matter of fact, I'm suprised why he hasn't gone after my choir in the past two matches. I think a Lancer would do him well in a match like this.

Disruption was a real life saver for his jacks this game. After round two, my jacks were relying on the Vassal and Choir to give them any support at all. This ended up saving his Centurion from being wrecked. Clumping up his mechanics next to his Centurion was a bad thing with a 4" auto fire AOE in the game. This took out one of his stormsmiths that could've done damage to my choir.

edited for spelling...

Heavy Dosage of Fire

Moving forward in our MK II campaign, CptCalvinus and I are going to be playing a series of 35 PC games with each of our remaining casters. This is going to give us a chance to try out some oldies but goodies and some new ones as well. Don't tell the Cpt. but I plan on picking up one epic Feora in the next week or two. And with her comes a heavy dosage of hunka hunka burning love. It will also roast me some swans. I love it already...

I've constructed a nice list that incorporates models I have and for the most part painted, save for eFeora.

Epic Feora 35 PC
*Guardian - bonded
*Vanquisher
*Repenter
Choir - maxed
TFG - maxed with UA
Cleansers - min
Vassal
Reclaimer

I might swap out the Cleansers for a couple more support pieces but I'm trying to stick to the whole fire theme. The basic strategy for this list to set things on fire. In all seriousness, I think I would have to play a rather aggressive style and try to get Feora in the mix. The Guardian would most likely get either Ignite or Escort. Both are great spells and I would have to decide when I see my opponents layout.

I'm torn on who I would give Escort to, all three are viable candidates for it but I'm leaning towards the Vanquisher. This way it would have a 14' threat range and possibly longer with the Vassal. Just a FYI, I don't have a Reedemer and don't plan on picking one up soon.

I'm looking forward to trying out eFeora as one of my new warcasters because she brings a different playstyle than the other ones I've been using. Plus, her model is pretty awesome as well. I just have to buy her now.

The 50 PC Throwdown

Last night CptCalvinus and I sat down for the last leg of our MK II escalation campaign. We both had new models that we were anxious to use and the game turned out to be pretty fun, for me at least.

With the upcoming release of Bastions and the fact that I already have bases for them, it was time to give them a try. To give you a idea of how they were, I found myself laughing maniacally in bed after the game at the thought of CptCalvinus trying to take them down. Yes, they were that sick, espcially with the High Reclaimer bringing them back.

CptCalvinus decided to give the Thunderhead a shot and had constructed a really cool pose with him. No longer is he the master DJ of Club Caspia, he now aims to punch some poor warjack's furnace out. It should look really nice after he paints him up. Speaking of paint, the good ole Cpt. is already looking forward to painting him... I kid, I kid.

Here are the two lists that were played.

High Reclaimer - bluecardinal's army
*Guardian
*Devout
Avatar of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Ruphert, Piper of Menoth
Hierophant
Choir of Menoth (4)
TFG (10) with UA - 2 proxied by Deliverers
Bastions (5) - proxied by a Buccaneer, Talon, Renegade, Reznik, and Bosun Grogspar
Rhoven & Honor Guard
Herne & Jonne - proxied by a Gun Bunny and Dougal McNaile

Stryker - CptCalvinus' army
*Ol' Rowdy - proxied by a Mangler
*Thunderhead
*Centurion
Jr
*Defender - proxied by a Mule
Squire - proxied by a Mangler shoulder pad
Arlan Strangewayes - proxied by Nemo
Stormsmiths (3)
GMCA (2) - one proxied by Caine
Reinholdt - proxied by Gorten

You'll see below, several pictures highlighting the battle. To save time, we didn't write down all of the turns and I'll just pinpoint several key moments. I won the opening roll and decided to go second.

This is the end of turn one, CptCalvinus had his guys ready to land the first strike while the High Reclaimer smoked it up a little.

Ruphert sang a little song that gave the Bastions this smokey haze which some how gave off a terrifying feeling to the enemy.

Both teams rushed for the orange cactus like thing, hoping to find something nice...



At the end of round 2, the Bastions are primed to get a good amount of punishment. Already, Ol' Rowdy's counter charge layed down a good amount of dosage but the hefty Exemplars just dispersed it amongst each other. They ended up taking out a GMCA and prepared for the onslaught.

This was the beginning of my love for them, I know it's only one game but they have some really good staying power. Ruphert sang another song called, "Tough Enough".

The Thunderhead decided to wipe out the two honor guards and Herne & Jonne decided to do a little bit of nothing. My ashes to ashes roll only netted me one more enemy model but coincedentally, it damaged the T-Head.

This is the lay of the land right before turn 3 started. The Thunderhead is in a prime spot to trample the snot of out my TFG. I was thinking this was coming but the Cpt decided to give his new pulse a try.

He only needed a 7 to hit all my guys and (insert drum roll here)....... he rolls a six with 3 dice. Boo for the T-Head. After that, he decides to shoot two TFG grunts and misses his second shot.

The highlight of the round was CptCalvinus trying to take out a full unit of Bastions with Ol' Rowdy, a Defender, Journeyman, and two Stormsmiths. Lets just say it came down to having one left and me needing a tough roll to stay alive. Guess what? I made it and he didn't have anymore models to attack them with. Can you guess what happens next? Oh yeah, he forgot to use Stryker's feat and this is where things turned south.

My Guardian finally got a charge off on the Thunderhead and nearly wrecked it. I got the critical pitch but decided not to do it. Now that it deviates, I didn't want to throw him out of melee range. The Avatar got 4 focus and made short work of the Centurion. Some four Bastions magically came back with full health via the High Reclaimer's feat and decided to beat up on a few things. I decided to put one (Bastion) right in front of Stryker for a slim chance to put some good damage on him, but I missed with the attack.

The final round consisted of Ol' Rowdy and Stryker trying to take out the Bastions. Ruphert's ability to sing whatever song whenever, proved invaluable for the Bastions survival. The Thunderhead's cortex was fried and Arlan did his best to fix him up. At the end of the Cpt's turn, he used his feat to try and stave off the mob of Menoth.

At this point it was around 12:00 at night and we had to work the next day. The good Cpt was gracious enough to let me rethink a move by the Avatar, and I decided to run him forward and activated Menoth's Gaze. The Centurion's wreck marker was in the way but I still had enough room to get in melee with Stryker. I activated the Vassal and gave the Avatar an extra attack. We played "you can use focus at anytime" and the Avatar boosted to hit and boosted damage. Even with Invicibility up, with a infused Avatar, I ended up doing 14 damage to Stryker. My only hope to finish him off was with the High Reclaimer using ashes to ashes. I ended up boosting my damage roll and needed 13 to finish him and got a whopping 14. That was game.

bluecardinal's thoughts

There were two units that really stood out, Bastions and the Choir. First off the Bastions, while they have PS 12 weapon masters, their damage output wasn't that great. They more than made up for it in their staying power. Being able to withstand so much damage was great and not being able to be trampled, even better. At one point, I thought my Guardian was going to get disrupted by a Stormsmith but he elected to go for the Bastions instead.

The choir are self explanatory and in the end, I think I had too many threats going that he forgot to take them out. I'm still interested in proxying Herne & Jonne, just because I thought I would have a lot more squishy troops to fight against. Plus, I played them very poorly and they deserve another chance to do something. In the end, it was a great game for me but not so much for the Cpt. I think the game would've been drastically different if he would've trampled my TFG. This one move alone might have made the difference.

CptCalvinus' thoughts

I'm disappointed in my melee jacks, mostly because I didn't use them the way I should. I tried to keep the THead separate from the other three heavies, because I wanted to use his pulse to wipe out troops. 6 inches doesn't go far enough, especially staying out of the way of reach troops. I should have been less afraid of hitting my own jacks with the POW 12 attack. That way, I can use Ol Rowdy and the Centurion as front line jacks, with the THead behind, ready to get into melee if needed. Too much of my strategy this game was about dividing up my forces. I think the key to heavy survivability is in bunching them together.

The 2 GMCAs worked well. I think that'll be a standard in every game from now on. The JW works nicely, and tying him to a Defender doesn't make his death a huge loss. The Defender is beefy enough without focus. Arlan, the Stormsmiths, and the THead are a good war party with their electric immunity, though it does prevent mobility on the THead to bunch them all together. And with 4 heavies, Ashes to Ashes has plenty of targets to kill my troops.

Stryker's thoughts......

"It was a rough place - the seediest dive on the wharf. Populated with every reject and cutthroat from Bombay to Calcutta. It's worse than Detroit."

Airplane anyone???

On a different note, CptCalvinus and I sat down this past Friday for our first MK II battle. We were anxiously awaiting the new rules and eager to get our first game in. Our original plan of playing a campaign in the old set of rules and then the new set, has faded quickly. I don't even think we'll ever go back to MK I.

With that said, here's our first 25 point battle using MK II. I swapped out Ruphert and put in a Paladin for a little more hard hitting power. CptCalvinus maxed his Long Gunners out and added in 3 stormsmiths.

High Reclaimer
*Crusader
Hierophant
TFG maximum w/ UA
Cleansers minimum unit
Rhoven & Honor Guard
Gorman
Wracks
Paladin

Stryker
*Centurion
*Lancer
Long Gunners maximum
Stormsmiths x 3
GMCA

CptCalvinus won the opening roll and decided to go first. Here's the deployment of both our forces.

Round 1

Stryker gives 1 focus to the Lancer and Centurion and they both run. He puts Arcane Shield on himself and casts Snipe on the GMCA. The Long Gunners and Stormsmiths run up, along with the GMCA

HR gives one focus to the Crusader and it runs up. TFG, Cleansers, and Rhoven run. Paladin advances and goes into Stone & Mortar. I should have run with the Paladin but I was a little worried he would get shot down pretty quick. Gorman moves up, throws some smoke. The HR moves up and throws even more smoke.

Round 2

He upkeeps snipe and Arcane Shield, two Stormsmiths take out two TFG, while the third puts damage on Guis. Stryker advances and casts Arcane Blast on the TFG Officer (I still want to call this guy the Preceptor) but misses. It deviates and does nothing, then shoots the TFG Officer. I put the Officer up front thinking he didn't have any wounds because it looked like the Standard bearer had a grid on the statcard, plus, I thought the unit kept ranked attacked and fire but I was wrong. Whoops! GMCA Shoots at Gorman and does 4 damage. LG move up and take out 2 Cleansers. HR gets a good 5 soul tokens.

Cleansers advance and spray 1 LG, killing him. TFG charge the Lancer and w/out ranked attack do 1 damage to him. Rhoven gives the run order and the two honor guards run to engage the GMCA. I could've charged him but I'm not sure if the unit leader has to have LOS to the target or if he just gives the charge order and then the guys charge. Gorman moves up and throws some more smoke. The HR moves up and casts A2A on the Centurion, takes out 2 Stormsmith, and puts 2 damage on Stryker

Round 3

He upkeeps Arcane Shield while dropping snipe. 2 focus to the Lancer and 3 to the Centurion. The Lancer decides to trample some TFG, we didn't realize that only heavies could trample but now we do. The Lancer takes out 4 TFG, misses the Paladin, and fails his extra attack on the Hierophant. Rhoven passes the command check for the TFG. Stormsmith takes out another TFG. The Centurion hits the Crusader with his shield, crits with his spear, and takes out or should I say, system failures the left arm and movement on the Crusader. GMCA moves out of melee with the Honor guard and dies to free strikes. Long Gunners stand still and take out Guiss and Cassian, and 5 Cleansers. Cleansers make their command check from Rhoven. Stryker retreats and shoots the Crusader, disrupting it.

HR has 11 focus for himself, Gorman advances and throws black oil on Stryker and it deviates on top of him and a Long Gunner. HR Feats and brings back 3 TFG, the Preceptor (Captain), and Guiss and Cassian. The HR moves out of melee with the Lancer and the free strike does nothing to him and misses the Hierophant. I cast 3 immolations on Stryker doing no damage, 3, and then 9. Rhoven gives the charge order and Guiss and Cassian make short work of Stryker.

CptCalvinus' thoughts

Had a lot of fun in this game. Stryker is tougher with his MAT increase, so he can get into melee with less fear. I made use of the Trample rules with the Lancer and managed to take out 4 TFG. New snipe allowed me to cast it and AS and still give each jack 1 focus to run in the first turn, so that was a plus. Spreading out the LGs in the new formation rules allows them to live longer, especially against Cleansers and Deliverers. I'm actually glad the Centurion's Polarity Field is a *action now. It makes me think about using it, especially whether it is worth it to forfeit my initial attacks to use it and buy additional melee attacks afterwards. In retrospect, I should have done this in the top of Round 3, since I was charged by the Paladin and a fully rejuvenated TFG Unit after HR's feat. He was still left standing though. We didn't have any terrain that could qualify as cover, so we didn't need to make any use of the new LOS rules. We got the updates just before the game began, but glancing through them, we felt that they made more sense. I was personally glad the moving in formation rule was vetoed.

Bluecardinal's thoughts

My original plan was to use the HR's new feat to good use. It can really catch the opponent off guard because there's a lot of different angles that one can come in from, plus they activate normally. The new formation rules help this out a lot and I hope to use in great effect. In fact, that's specifically why Rhoven and his Honor guard were in the list. You have to keep one of them alive but you can bring them back, behind enemy lines for a great charge. I'll have to double check the charge rules because I'm not sure if the leader of the unit has to have LOS to the target or if it's just a order and they charge whoever. These guys are getting a lot of tough love on the PP forums but they're going to be a auto include for my HR lists.

Another thing is the HR's spell list. It stayed the same for the most part but he lost soulstorm becoming an inherent ability. I like this but it doesn't help if he plans to go on the offensive. The only way to get it back is to goad my opponent into taking a free strike against some grunt. His sacrificial lamb spell, in my opinion, needs to be reduced to one focus. The crusader is a great choice for him because its a cheap, beatstick heavy. I'll normally cast A2A on him and with the Hierophant's "spiritual conduit" effect, it lets this become a 10" spell. Plus, he can always measure his control area to see if the Crusader is in range.

Wracks are really great but I found they got in the way of all the troops on the battlefield. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure if I'm going to bring them in the next game. Speaking of which, the next game is going to be a 35 points. I'm going to be adding one model and replacing one unit with another. Can you guess what it'll be? :-)

I'm planning on getting a Reckoner to go with Reznik/Amon and then it's going to be a second Crusader. For 6 points, it's really a bargain, then maybe a Dervish.

Upon Further Review

Yes, I'm guilty of being a little bitter about the new MK II model rules and have groaned and griped a little. I've also expressed my discontent for a couple models in particular but lets take a look at the big picture. I got into this game because of the cool warjacks and now they're back and I'm complaining??? Seems kind of wrong doesn't it? Long story short, I'm really starting to get into the new rules and thinking of cool strategies to use with certain models. Heck, I might even pick up another Crusader. I can only imagine 2 or 3 of them in a Amon army now.

With that said, I'm anxious to start play testing. CptCalvinus and I, are going to be playing our first game tonight and I'm looking forward to it. The one thing that I'm not looking forward to is.... my wallet burning up due to all the new jack purchases.

MkII Initial Reaction - Cygnar

Cpt Calvinus Mk II here. :)

Wow, where to begin! There really are so many changes. It's like it is a whole new game. I'll talk about some of my favorite spells and models under MkI and how they're different.

Snipe

Before, it was 1" of Snipe for 1 Foc spent. This was great, but I only typically cast Snipe once in the game and upkept it. Nothing like a GMCA or the Black 13th with 6" inches (7" with the Squire!). Now, Snipe is strictly 4", but it only costs 2 Foc. At first, I was bummed out. Now, I really love this! Sure, I'll miss the extra 3", but now I won't feel like I'm wasting Foc to recast this midgame. Before, I'd rarely get a chance to have 6 Foc to give someone the full 6". Now, I could technically upkeep Snipe on the GMCA, take his shot. activate Stryker and cast Snipe on the Longgunners and take their shot. All this for only 3 Foc. Then, the next turn, I could reverse it! I like this change.

The GMCA

He lost two of his Effects, but they are the two effects I mentioned in the last game report that I never used. His Long Shot is only 4" (like Snipe), so with the two together, he only has a max range of 20". I don't like that, but it's fair. He is no longer a Commander, but I never used him for that anyways. Two things are disappointing. Under Flash Fire in MkI, it stated that he also ignores obstructions. It doesn't say that anymore. Also, I would have liked his Magelock Pistol to get an upgrade to POW 11. That one point would have made him a lot more effective, IMO. Here's the best part though... He is now FA 2! Sweet! He's my favorite model, both aesthetically and playwise, and now I get two. I really hope they come out with an Alt pose.

nStryker

Finally MAT 7! Also, Blur guards against Magic attacks, Arcane Shield is RNG 6 (not 8) and it looks like Earthquake has to hit everything in its AOE for it to KD. That is unfortunate. Additionally, his Feat is an Aura now, instead of a Pulse. I would've liked him to get more abilities. I don't understand why the central character of the WM story still only has Disruption and a POW 10 Pistol. But the MAT increase outweighs all the negatives.

nHaley

The first thing that stood out to me was Scramble. This spell has been entirely revamped. Under MkI, the warjack activated during the controller's next Cont Phase, ran and then ended its activation. If it came in contact with an obstruction or a Jack (of any size), it was KD. Now, it activates immediately and walks. Since it activates during my turn, it doesn't forfeit its activation. At first I thought the spell was ruined, until I further analyzed the possibilities. Before, the jack would KD any small based warrior model it moved completely through. Now, it knocks down any smaller based model it contacts. Also, instead of being KD by any warjack it runs into, it is KD by any model with an equal or larger base. The problem before (problem? what problem?) was that Darius' halfjacks could "trip" a Heavy. That was great. Now, however, it either trips or is tripped by everything on the board. This will be great against armies of medium based warrior models, such as Trolls and Khador. Sure, a medium can't knock down a heavy, but something is getting knocked down. And - drumroll please - since it occurs in my own activation now, I can KD a whole unit and shoot the crap out of them! I love the new Scramble!

One other thing of significance on Haley is that both TB and her Feat are now Auras. TB got a little nerf (less 1 Foc, doesn't halve movement, and is only -2 Def), but at least I won't feel like I'm spamming a broken spell.

Thunderhead

The biggest thing on the THead is that he lost his Chain Attack - Scramble. This was a lot of fun to do. One game against Khador, I'd Scramble one jack, it'd run, and I'd charge after it and scramble it again. Fun for me, but probably not fair. In return, the THead received a +1 Mat and a +1 P+S on his fists. His energy pulse lost 2" of effectiveness, but I only have to roll 1 attack roll. That could be good and bad. If I roll a two, it works against everything, but so would a 12. But now, I only have to boost 1 roll. Also, as someone on the forums pointed out, the wording on its Sustained attack is such that the hit caused by Energy Pulse causes the 2 subsequent hits that can be made to auto-hit as well. I wish they would've made this an attack that could be done in melee as well, but that would probably be broken. The loss of 2" on this might get me to bring him into Melee faster in MkII. Oh yeah, he's still expensive. He costs 12 points now. With 4 Heavies at 9 pts, and 1 each at 7 and 8, it's really hard to justify now.

This is probably too much for now. I did a deeper study of nHaley and eHaley and came up with a full page of differences and possibilities. General thoughts: 1) I'm not too keen on the icons yet. I thought they were supposed to make the cards easier to read, but now I have to memorize tiny icons. 2) Phill pointed out that you only have a choice of taking a minimum unit or a maximum unit. I don't like this either. I didn't do it often, but I liked the possibility of taking 7 or 8 longgunners. 3) I don't like that Epic casters aren't restricted to larger games anymore. I don't think that is right, either fluff wise or for game play. As someone said on the Forums, if there isn't a point value for casters and I can take eIrusk at a 15 point game, why would I ever play nIrusk. I think the same could be said for me with eStryker. I hope we can get them to change these last two.

MK II Initial Reaction - Menoth

Hmmmm.... Well its here and I must say that I'm a bit suprised at the point level of things but I won't go into that too much. Overall, I love the new rules for warjacks and their systems. It seems like they're going to have a much bigger presence in this ruleset. With that said, I'm going to look at some of my favorite things from Menoth.

First up the High Reclaimer

I first looked at the High Reclaimer and thought he pretty muched stayed the same. His weapon got reach and they revamped his feat and it appears the troopers can activate normally during the turn.

Things I didn't care about for the HR, Sacrifical Lamb costing two points. With the HR being a infantry heavy caster, it seemed right to keep this at 1 focus. His WJ points could've been bumped a little.

Second up, The Guardian

Wel well, this one was a tough one to take. First off, the good. He keeps critical pitch but it now deviates since its a throw and not double handed throw. His full damage grid is still in tact, which is great. Also, his open hand's pow is increased by 3.

Now the bad, he no longer rallies troops with his banners. This isn't all that bad but it was nice when my Cleansers started blowing up. Critical pitch deviates now.... I'm so sad on this one, I know I put it in the plus category but this was a favorite of mine. Being able to throw things and not have them deviate was great. The last thing he lost is Ward of Retribution. Granted, I didn't use this one much but it did come in handy. Hopefully it was just a typo and they forgot to include it. He's also 9 points in the new MK II rules and only time will tell if this is a big deal.

Third Up, The Choir

With jacks getting a boost it only made sense that they would lose some of their abilities. Unfortunately, the range of their chants is now limited to 3" but their speed got a increase. Each member can effect one warjack and it's going to change the way you played them before. Coincedentaly, you don't have to worry about losing your priest and the whole unit becoming fodder.

Fourth Up, Rhoven and his Bodyguards

Uh....I don't know what to say. The two bodyguards lost their health a little, no more huge armor buff for the whole unit being in B2B with each other but everyone gets one more point of armor. Battle Driven seems a bit strange, I think they'll die if they get damage and won't really benifit too much from this but only time will tell.

*UPDATE*

These guys are fearless and Rhoven's command got bumped up 1 and his MAT bumped up two. I'm thinking of using the two Honor Guards with other units. With the ability to be 10" away and still in formation, this allows for some interesting possibilities.

That's my initial thoughts and I'll have to take a look back after all the smoke has cleared.

Remix and MK II Escalation Campaign

It turns out that CptCalvinus and I, are changing up the format to our escalation campaign. We were originally going to play two games at the varying point levels, with one under the Prime:Remix rules and the other under MK II rules.

Now we're going to play our first campaign under Prime:Remix and then our second campaign under the MK II rules. Our lists will remain the same, save for any extra jack or jacks that will be available with the new free points in MK II.

High Reclaimer

It turns out that I never thought once about using the High Reclaimer as a Menoth player. After a year and a half of playing and with Bastions on the way, I thought to myself "man, what a great time to pick up the High Reclaimer". Then I thought, I have a lot of canon fodder troops that would go well with him, Cleansers, Deliverers, and to a lesser extent, TFG.

This is the one of the cool play styles of Menoth, throw sub-par troops to their death and revive later on or just blow them up and then revive them. Either way works for me.

With the upcoming field test of MKII, CptCalvinus and I are going to run a escalation style campaign of Menoth vs Cynar. The format is similar to the Paint and Play campaign in No Quarter and Lost Hemisphere's Warmahordes challenge, but it differs in one way. We're going to play two games at every point level, using the old rules in the first game and the new rules in the second. I'm pretty certain a lot of other people are going to be doing this and I find its a great way to see some of the differences in the game.

With that being said, I finished painting my High Reclaimer and will be using him during the escalation campaign. I'll dive into why I'm using him and not my favorite monk later on...

I'm going to go back and add some badab black wash on his left forearm and touch up a few spots on the robe. In looking back, I should've used green stuff on a couple of places but I'm content with the results.

Here's the 350 list that he's leading in the MK II Escalation Campaign. First game will hopefully start this Tuesday using the current ruleset.

High Reclaimer 347/350 VPs: 15
*Hierophant
Cleansers x 6
Temple Flameguard x8 with UA
Visgoth Rhoven and his Bodyguard
Gorman di Wulfe
Ruphert, Piper of Menoth
Wrack

The basic strategy is to throw as much smoke as possible and hope I can get into melee pretty quick. I'm anxious to see if the new MK II rules will allow enough free points for a Devout or Revenger. Only time will tell.