4/14/2007 Warmachine/Hordes Mixed Tournament Report

ByDankelzahn

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:

Read More “4/14/2007 Warmachine/Hordes Mixed Tournament Report”

Warmachine Call to Arms Wrap-Up

ByDankelzahn

Cryx vs. MenothThe local Warmachine league finally wound to a close a few weeks ago and from all appearances it was a rousing success. Here in St. Louis we had the largest league in the country, checking in with around 35 players grouped into 14 teams. There were plenty of new faces that showed up and the game store was packed on most league nights, and it was a great time week in and week out.

Cygnar boasted highest representation with 11 players (4 teams). Cryx and the Protectorate both had 8 players (3 teams each) and Khador trailed with 7 players (also 3 teams). Our final player was the organizing Pressganger who occupied a virtual spot on the ladder for the purpose of bonus points and accepted any challenge, playing whatever faction the other player chose.

One of the Cryxians, D.Vader, took the Champion pin, and his team Dead Men Walking (also including Saultydog/Superduck and AslainKheog) won the best team award. One of my Protectorate teammates, Rassillion007, snagged the Relentless award and Patman, a Cygnaran, scored the Tactician award.

Overall the league was a very enjoyable experience. I was able to play a lot of very enjoyable games against both new and old opponents. I also used use some warcasters that I hadn’t really used before to try out new lists and new strategies. I’ve learned the joy of the POW 14 Fire. However while the members of the local gaming group make the league a very enjoyable experience, I’m not 100% happy with the way that Privateer Press set up the rules for the league.

Read More “Warmachine Call to Arms Wrap-Up”

One More America Hill

ByDankelzahn

One More America Hill
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

With our league starting up next week, this was most likely to be the last America Hill game we’d be playing for awhile. In addition it may be my last battle report for a while. While I’m playing a league game I’m not going to be able take the time to take pictures of everything between turns. So don’t be expecting a new post every week. 🙂

This time around we went with some changes to the hill rules. To emphasize getting to to the hill even more, we required

  • At the end of each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gains 1 VP.
    • A unit counts as 1 model, regardless of the number of members on the hill
    • In the case of a tie, VPs are awarded to all players tied for most models on the hill
  • At the end of a turn where a player has his warcaster/warlock on the hill, the controlling player rolls 1d6 and gains the following bonus:
  1. Immediately activate the Yellow Woldwomper
  2. Immediately activate the Blue Woldwomper
  3. Immediately activate the Red Woldwomper
  4. Place any one model currently on the hill or within 3” of the hill within 6” of its current location. Model may not be placed more than 4” above the table surface. There must be room for the model’s base at the destination.
  5. Place 1d4 3” cloud effects in play anywhere completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. These clouds remain in play for one round.
  6. Place 1 3” fire storm template anywhere within completely within the warlock/warcaster’s control radius. The warcaster/warlock must make a magic attack roll against each model in the AOE ignoring LOS, cover, concealment, elevation, Stealth, Invisibility, or intervening models. Each model hit suffers an unboostable POW 12 damage roll and the Fire continuous effect.

We also decided to fight it out on a large molded plastic terrain board and had to use a smaller hill for the center of the table. Most of the rocks and rubble provided cover, and we let people move out of their deployment areas without movement penalties on the first turn because it would have been too unfair to a couple players.

James, the Cryxian player, opted to go last so I wound up going first. We deployed and set up in the following order:

Read More “One More America Hill”

Yet Another America Hill

ByDankelzahn

Yet Another America Hill
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

This week we discovered that the hills we had been fighting over were really the wrong hill. Luckily we finally found the right one this week.

Before I get started, I have to make a couple notes:

  • It’s been a while since this game was played, so I’m a little iffy on all the details. I’ll try and fill in as best I can, though.
  • This took place before Remix and we played throws the old way when they happened.

Here’s a copy-paste of the rules from the last hill fight:

Read More “Yet Another America Hill”

Mirror Match/Battle of Dead Man Flats

ByDankelzahn

Mirror Match/Battle of Dead Man Flats
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Prorpger and I decided to play a mirror match for this one, so I built a force to match his usual Menoth list and we both fielded the following:

  • Severius
  • Avatar
  • Revenger
  • Revenger
  • Paladin
  • Knights Exemplar
  • Choir (x5)
  • Wrack
  • Piper of Menoth

One of Prorpger’s Revengers is still unassembled so a Repenter filled in for this game.

The table had some hills and woods spread out, but featured some standing stones in the middle of the table with a small plastic corpse in a coffin on it. Since there was no central hill, the table was dubbed Dead Man Flats. We played out on the table in front of the window, resulting in the following view from the mall:

The Fishbowl
In “the Fishbowl”

Read More “Mirror Match/Battle of Dead Man Flats”

America Hill, the Final Solution

ByDankelzahn

America Hill, the Final Solution
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

This week we decided to try another tweak to the America Hill rules. We discovered that the hills we had been fighting over were really the wrong hill. Luckily we finally found the right one this week.

To help encourage people to take the hill, we added Woldwompers. Woldwompers were independent models that could be activated by various warcasters or warlocks if they were in control of the hill. Woldwompers had the same stat line as a Woldwarden but with -1 SPD and -1 ARM. They also had a fury of two and could be forced by any controlling warcaster/warlock, and the fury would dissipate at the end of each player’s turn. Woldwompers had no animus, no chain attack, but maintained All Terrain, Elemental Construct, and Spell Strike.

  • At the end if each turn, the player with the most models on the hill gained 1 VP. This is turn, not round – we went this way to place more value on the hill.
  • At the end of a turn, if a player had their warcaster/warlock on the hill, they could activate one of the three Woldwompers immediately.
  • At the end of a turn, if a player had their wracaster/warlock on the hill and had or tied for the most models on the hill (units counted as 1 model), they could activate two of the three Woldwompers immediately.

America Hill

Despite the steps we played the hill as “smooth” so it could be climbed freely. We didn’t want to overemphasize the steps too much.

After rolling to determine order, we arranged ourselves around the table as follows:

Read More “America Hill, the Final Solution”

Team Game – Fanatic Alliance vs. Cygnar

ByDankelzahn

Team Game – Fanatic Alliance vs. Cygnar
Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Although we took a week off from the free-for-all game, Renwolf, Patman, Jgoewert and myself wound up playing a multiplayer team game, 350 points per person. Turns out a couple of arch enemies but aside their religious differences to do something important – try to beat up on some Cygnar.

Read More “Team Game – Fanatic Alliance vs. Cygnar”

Fear the Boot and the Fight For America Hill, Round 2

ByDankelzahn

Fear the Boot and the Fight For America Hill, Round 2 (350 pts.)
Wednesday, January 3, 2007

After the fun we had with the first attempt at the Fight for America Hill we decided to try to tweak the rules to encourage people to take and hold the hill instead of hiding on the edges and sniping adjacent opponents. Our first try was to add VP rewards for claiming the hill.

Scoring:

  • Having the most models on the hill at the end of your turn scores 1 VP
  • Having the most models on the hill at the end of the turn of the player across from you scores you 1 VP

With those changes we rolled for initiatve and picked starting locations for the second try at taking America Hill.

Read More “Fear the Boot and the Fight For America Hill, Round 2”

Fear the Boot and the Fight for America Hill

ByDankelzahn

Fear the Boot and the Fight For America Hill
Wednesday, December 28, 2006

It was a cold and dreary night, but none of us cared because we were all crammed in the back room of the local gaming store, crowded around a table moving our little pewter figures around foam we called “hills” and felt we called “forests.” Somewhere in the midst of our madness we had a wild and crazy Warmachine/Hordes King of the Hill style game between myself, Eye Tyrant, Prorpger, and Patman while Superduck (aka the Breadstick King) watched on).

We decided to have a 350-point four-way King of the Hill style match. Instead of scoring on every turn, each player would earn a victory point if they had more models than anyone else on the hill at the end of their own turn starting with the second turn. The board was dominated by the hill in the center, but there were a few other terrain pieces scattered around the board. Only the hill in the middle and the forest between the Patman and my own deployment areas got any use. The hill itself had some rough edges but to be fair we decided the whole thing was a smooth surface and a model only had to get on part of it to be “on the hill.” Prorpger threw a plastic American Flag that was sitting around on the hill, giving it its name. Which was fine until we realized this must be Early America Hill since there were only four stars and three stripes on the flag. Regardless, the battle was soon joined…

Read More “Fear the Boot and the Fight for America Hill”

12/9/2006 Warmachine Tournament Report

ByDankelzahn

Last Saturday I attended a local Warmachine tournament at the Clicks in Crestwood Plaza – a 500-point Steamroller event. This was only the second event I’ve been able to attend since I started getting involved in the local scene. Most events lately have been 750-point events, and I’m just not as big of a fan of the larger games. The few 500 point events that have taken place have been on days I had prior engagements, so it’s been a while since I was actually able to play in a tournament. Fourteen players showed up for the tournament, so it was a pretty good showing. Faction representation was relatively even, with the exception of the Cryx; there were two Cygnarans, three Menites, three Khadorans, five Cryxians, and a merc player. All are members of our local forums.

In addition to the standard Steamroller rules, the Pressganger added an additional rule to try to finish the tournament quickly so everyone could make their holiday events. If it was your turn when time was called, you had five minutes to finish your turn. If you had gone first, your opponent then had five minutes to take his last turn. Personally I wasn’t a big fan of this rule at all – it meant the last player may have five minutes to try to counter his opponent’s ten-minute previous turn, but the majority wanted it so it was put into place.

I decided to give the Harbinger a shot in this tournament, but mine is still in pieces. There’s a few conversions I’m toying around with, and I didn’t want to do a rush job to get her on the table so I borrowed a fellow Menite’s figure instead. My initial choices for my other caster were Kreoss and Amon, but the lists I had come up with were both similar builds, and I needed something to cover the Assassin scenario better, so I went with Severius. My lists were as follows:

Read More “12/9/2006 Warmachine Tournament Report”