4/14/2007 Warmachine/Hordes Mixed Tournament Report

Saturday, April 14th, one of the local Pressgangers ran the 500 Mixed Massacre at Dragon King Games using the Steamroller 3.0 beta rules. We had 11 players show up, including two who drove an hour and a half or so to attend. All of the factions were represented as well – there were two Cygnar, Cygnar, and Legion players while Khador, the Protectorate, Trollbloods, Circle, and Skorne had one player apiece.

Although I debated between the Protectorate and Legion until the last minute, I ultimately decided to go with the Menites to try to round out faction representation. I decided instead of bringing lists built for various scenarios, I’d build separate lists for Warmachine and Hordes opponents. With that in mind I put together the following:

vs. Warmachine

• High Exemplar Kreoss
  • Devout
  • Redeemer
• High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
• Knight Exemplar Seneschal
• Paladin of the Order of the Wall
• Rupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
• Choir of Menoth x5
• Holy Zealots x10
  • Monolith Bearer
• Knights Exemplar x6

Typically I have two lists to try and deal with the differences in styles between armies like Cryx and Khador but since I wanted to take one list against both I had to build a little more conservatively. The Zealots were my hard hitting unit that could go anti-spells to mess with Cryx a little. The Knights (escorted by the Piper) were my hard hitting flank and the solos would run around to fill in where necessary. The Devout would let me set up my defensive island if needed (using the Choir’s Safe Passage song and Kreoss’ Ward spell) and the Redeemer added to the threat of Kreoss’ feat.

vs. Hordes

• Feora, Priestess of the Flame
  • Devout
• High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
• Knight Exemplar Seneschal
• Rupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
• Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter
• Choir of Menoth x6
• Exemplar Vengers x4
• Temple Flameguard x8
  • Preceptor & Standard Bearer
    

My Feora list was all about speed and fire, both of which turned out to be useful in my two Hordes games. Feora’s feat would be deadly to most Hordes infantry and troublesome to some beasts. By taking SPD 6+ units (with obvious exception of the Choir) I was ready to try to counter some of the Hordes factions’ maneuverability with a little of my own. In addition her higher armor would make her a little less susceptible to the Hordes’ assassination techniques that require a lot of smaller power hits instead of a couple big ones.

Round 1: Assassins – Bye

I actually had a bye for the first round so I got to walk around and see how some of the other games were going. I chatted a bit with the Pressganger and a few players as games got done and got ready for my second game.

Round 2: Pendulum vs. Skorne (JoeJones)

Second round was against a relatively new Skorne player in the scenario that is probably the worst for their faction.

• Makeda
• Titan Gladiator
• Basilisk Drake
• Basilisk Krea
• Cyclops Savage
• Cataphtact Cetrati x6
• Paingiver Beast Handlers x4

So Feora it was. I was hoping that her list would let me capitalize on the speed advantage and press the attack early. The Krea looked like it was going to be problems, but at least I didn’t have any real ranged attacks I had to try to punch through its aura with. Joe won the initiative roll and opted to go first. He ran forward first turn to get to the line quickly. On my turn I piped March on the Cav and ran them 20″, deep on to his side of the table. The TFG ran their full 12″ to approach and Feora used Engine of Destruction and to keep up.

Joe diverted all his beasts except the Cyclops (which was coming up the other flank) to deal with my cav, killing two in the first turn. The Centratii charged my TFG’s flank killing a couple but getting them stuck in with me. My Devout and Vengers retaliated by killing the two Basilisks quickly and a Seneschal kept the Titan tied up (and eventually slammed) when Joe maneuvered Makeda so that it was out of her control area so she could try and kill Vilmon. Feora’s feat and Ignited TFG started thinning the Cetrati’s ranks, and at the end of turn four I had killed the last one on my side of the table, ending the game.

Joe’s army just wasn’t quite equipped for Pendulum, but throwing Vilmon up a flank and forcing him to use Makeda all the way to that side to deal with him just compounded the issue. He could have prolonged the game by throwing the Cyclops across the line and keeping it away so I couldn’t kill it, but the VP difference means he would have had to kill Feora to win, and I would have made that as difficult as possible.

Round 3: Invasion vs. Legion of Everblight (Neomorte)

I’ve played Neomorte in almost every event I’ve been in and every game’s enjoyable. Ray brought out the following list for our Invasion game:

• Thagrosh
• Carnivean
• Seraph
• Harrier
• Shredder
• Shredder
• Shredder
• The Forsaken
• Blighted Swordsmen x10

I chose my Feora list to play (as I had planned) but there was still one problem I was going to have to deal with – even with my higher speed units, the Legion could still run circles around me. That meant blocking access to the control point on my side of the board – a task made infinitely more difficult by the Seraph and Harrier’s wings.

Oddly enough I found the idea solution in Fire Wall. Throwing it between my TFG and his Swordsmen kept them from charging – the POW 12 would have killed them. So instead the first couple turns were spent with us jockeying for position as my TFG and Vengers and his Swordsmen circled each other. Neomorte had a spot of bad luck early when his Seraph frenzied. It didn’t do any damage to the Carnivean it charged but that meant a round it wasn’t moving towards me and a Slipstream he couldn’t use that turn. It was a real hit to his tactics.

Eventually Neomorte pounced on my Vengers first killing two, but the remaining Vengers, IFP, and Vilmon were able to bring his unit down to half. Combined with the Shredder that the Devout killed on a Defensive Strike and the Harrier it charged to keep from reaching the point, I was able to squeeze out a win on VPs.

Round 4: Assassins vs. Khador (DarkPrince6)

The final round was against DP6 and his Khador forces. I had actually discussed the list he chose with him in the week before the tournament, so it was no surprise when it hit the table. Still, that didn’t make it any less intimidating.

• Sorscha
• Man-o-War Drakhun (with Dismount)
• Doom Reavers
• Iron Fang Pikemen x9
  • Officer and Standard Bearer
• Iron Fang Uhlans

There are a few things Sorscha hates more than anything: Fire, being Stationary, and Lamentation. So I hit the trifecta when I pulled out Kreoss. I won the initiative roll and decided to go first, figuring I needed to get set up before Sorscha came in at me. The ploy succeeded, but not in the manner I intended. After running the Zealots and Knights forward (with March on the Knights), I used the Redeemer to kill a couple Doom Reavers and put up Lamentation. But on Tim’s turn he Windrushed and charged my lead Knight before feating, catching my Knights (except one), my Seneschal, and my Paladin. Sorscha killed one knight in melee and her mounted troops ran forward to get into charge position. The Doom Reavers charged my Zealots (who weren’t caught in the feat) and killed one, engaging a few more and Vilmon. The IFP ran up the middle to get into position.

My turn I tried to get a few people between Sorscha’s stuff and Kreoss, having him upkeep Lamentation and camping on the rest of his focus. Vilmon used Impervious Wall and ran to engage almost the entire IFP line then the Zealots disengaged (losing a few to free strikes) and bombed the Doom Reavers off the the table.

On Tim’s turn the Cav tore into my Knights, but failed to kill the leader when the one going after him missed an impact attack. The Drakhun killed my Seneschal and Sorscha fell back, wanting to get out of range. The IFP formed up into Shield Wall, not wanting to let Vilmon take free strikes.

On my turn Kreoss charged the Drakhun for distance and feated, catching Sorscha and the rest of her army. The Redeemer got infused and shot a couple rockets at her but bad damage rolls left her with most of her health boxes. Vilmon ran around to engage the Drakhun and the Zealots advanced and threw bombs at the IFP, killing all but a few. The surviving Knight Exemplar (the Warder) got March (for the extra attack) and charged the Drakhun, killing the horse and bringing him down to a couple boxes left. Then the Devout headed over to hope for the Defensive Strike to protect Kreoss on the following turn.

Tim activated the Drakhun first, and it died to the Devout’s Defensive Strike. Then she Razor Winded Vilmon but left him with 2 health. She then fell back and had her army get in front of her to block access – two IFP then all five Uhlans lined up side-to-side.

Being down on VPs, I had to go for it. The Redeemer with a couple focus rocketed the IFP, killing the one in the middle. Kreoss charged the one between Vilmon and Sorscha and killed it, then Immolated her scoring the Crit Fire and reducing her to three wounds. Vilmon charged her, but only got 1 attack from Flying Steel and rolled a 6 (needed 7 to hit).

Menoth love his fire, and Fire loves Menoth. On Tim’s turn the Fire on Sorscha didn’t go out and did the last three points she had left, killing her and ending the game.

Results

Since this tournament had both a Warmachine coin kit and a Hordes Coin kit there was a fair bit of hardware handed out at the end of the day. As far as game success went, Warmachine wound up doing a bit better than Hordes. I don’t know what all the records were but all 3 of the 3-0 players going into the final round were fielding Warmachine armies.

Faction Awards:

• Cygnar: (One of the out-of-towners; I don’t recall his name)
• Protectorate: Myself (Also Tournament and Warmachine Champion)
• Khador: DarkPrince6
• Cryx: Rgrayua (I believe)
• Trollblood: F-Bomb
• Circle: Omnipotent (Also Hordes champions)
• Skorne: JoeJones
• Legion: Dhow Tocor

The event was a lot of fun – hopefully we’ll have another 500 mixed even soon and I can try it from the Hordes perspective.