So what happened? Was I playing a bad caster? Absolutely not. I'm playing Epic Haley, known to be one of the best casters in the game. Am I playing a bad list? Potentially. I'll get into that later. Am I a bad player? The jury is out on this one.
So let's get into the list, the analysis, and where I fell apart...
The Lists
We are/were playing in a 5-week league (spread out over 10 weeks). Our tiers are 15, 25, 35, 42, and finally 50 points. The 42-point tier is an interesting one and it was done to allow some of the newer players to purchase and assemble the models they needed. It also lessen the jump from 35 to 50 and allows a more gradual change in lists.The other thing we added was the ability to swap out at certain points. Each week, a player was allowed to drop a unit (including UAs), solo, or warjack/warbeast. He could then add those points to his normal point allotment to shift his list to a certain extent. At the start of the 35-point week, you were also allowed to change your warcaster/warlock, although no one took this opportunity.
When you look through these lists, it's pretty obvious what the plan was: combine one of the best casters with one of the best colossals and win. Everyone knows that the Stormwall is absolutely amazing. It has fantastic ranged abilities, can mix it up in melee, and can offer some semblance of board control using the templates.
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| This is how good 0-and-7 can look |
15-points
Major Victoria Haley (+5 jack points)Thorn (8 points)
Defender (9 points)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3 points)
At 15 points, it's straightforward. The Defender has a spectacular gun (POW 15 and RNG 16) and Haley can give him a second shot using Temporal Acceleration. If the Defender gets her bond, he can have 4 Focus on him and boost both shots.
Thorn is no slouch either. He's fast (using a trick of arc'ing Telekinesis through himself to get 5" of out of turn movement), not terrible in melee, and has average resilience.
Then there's epic Eiryss to pick off enemy solos or knock off spells, hand out disruption, etc. She's a great toolkit all by herself.
So what was the problem at 15 points? I don't remember. I played three opponents:
Retribution (Kaelyssa)
The feat. The stupid feat. You'll be seeing Kaelyssa and her damned feat thwart me throughout this analysis. Her and all Retribution models within her control area gain Stealth and cannot be charged. When my list is set up around shooting and casting, popping her feat at the right time (usually turn two) means that I get crippled and his stuff gets up in my face. I can't remember the exact list I went up against, but I don't think it was a close game.Oh, I do remember it might have been closer if I had known my own feat better. I allowed Retribution to run some of its weapon master Sentinels up into melee with Haley when they were affected by my feat. You aren't allowed to charge or run when you have to forfeit your movement or activation.
Trolls (Madrak Ironhide, World Ender)
Again this was so long ago I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do know at the end of the game I screwed myself by essentially giving Madrak some cover by getting one of my 'jacks killed at the very end of the game. I was able to get rid of Madrak's ablative chumps with an AOE (Time Bomb) but didn't have enough focus to land follow up Arcane Bolts.Legion (Thagrosh, the Messiah)
I remember having a few chances here, but I don't know what happened. I remember cruise missile Shredders taking out Eiryss and almost getting enough damage on Thagrosh before getting killed. |
| Say hello to 66% of my army. |
25-points
Major Victoria Haley (+5 jack points)Thorn (8 points)
Stormwall (19 points)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3 points)
At 25 points, we see the Stormwall replace the Defender. Unfortunately, this is scenario play time, and it's hard to control objectives with only 4 models.
Circle (Kromac the Ravenous)
I lost this game badly because of scenario. We were playing with 3 objectives spread evenly across the middle of the board and one disappeared at the end of the second player's first turn. The one that disappeared on me was the middle one and I certainly didn't have enough models to spread out. Stormwall didn't even get touched, my opponent's Skinwalkers ate Eiryss, and I couldn't kill Kromac because he had enough Fury saved for two or three transfers.Retribution (Kaelyssa)
Weapon Master Sentinels kill colossals. It's a fact. The feat prevented Stormwall from doing any damage, he was able to just run around the covering fire templates, and that was it. Also, vengeance gets around my feat nicely. Who cares if you have to give up your movement if I allow you free movement during your control phase because I kill one little Sentinel?
35-points
Major Victoria Haley (+5 jack points)Thorn (8 points)
Stormwall (19 points)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6 points)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2 points)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2 points)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)Retribution (Kaelyssa)
More of the same here. I still hadn't found a way to handle weapon master sentinels and now I had a cover-ignoring Mage Hunter Strike Force after me too. The Hydra is the only 'jack that Kaelyssa is running but it really doesn't even take part in the battle for the most part. The two big infantry blocks (max Sentinels and max MHSF) do all the heavy lifting and I am not well suited to take out infantry. I waste my Stormcallers trying to contest objectives so I can never even get off a cool triangulate. I'm pretty sure I lost on scenario.
I also found out that Kaelyssa has Witch Hound. I tried to use Domination to move the Hydra out of the way so I could get shots off on Kaelyssa, but with Witch Hound the 'jack was able to move right back to where he was and block my LOS.
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| Are your thighs really that important that they need that much armor? |
Trolls (Chief Madrak Ironhide)
This game was against Andy who had just lost to a Cygnar list with some of the same pieces as me. The Gun Mages were set up on the right flank and couldn't hold off the advance of troll champions + Skaldi Bonehammer. On the other side, Trollkin Long Riders ran up the edge and held the objective. Overall, I believe I lost on scenario yet again.
42-points
Major Victoria Haley (+5 jack points)Squire (2 points)
Thorn (8 points)
Stormwall (19 points)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6 points)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2 points)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2 points)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4 points)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)
Gun Mage Captain Adept (2 points)Retribution (Kaelyssa)
This is actually the game where I play my best but still lose. I have first turn and move up. On his first turn, his MHSF needs 9+s to hit my Gun Mages. He kills something like 4 out of 6 of them by rolling lights out.
I get affected by his feat, but the B13 have an ability to put out a 5" AOE that allows my guys to ignore stealth effects. I put that to great use and end up killing a "stealthed" Gorgon that was being 'jack marshaled. I use my feat to give me an extra round of shooting and use my Covering Fire templates to keep him away from my Stormclad for a while.
Unfortunately, when I really need to roll well, my dice fail me. I think my "rapid fire" Metal Storm cannons only got a single shot each. I mis-managed my Focus terribly. I'm pretty sure that 5 Sentinels one-rounded the Stormclad when they did get their chance because of a series of dice that only came up 5s and 6s (4d6 minus 9 and still managed to do 40+ damage somehow).
Thorn was great, allowing me to arc telekinesis. The Stormcallers were little more than chaff again, trying to contest objectives instead of doing any damage. The B13 didn't do enough damage to take out his 3 Destors and he had absolutely no problems hitting them despite DEF 15. In this end, he ran his caster over to the objective and snagged three points in one turn, already getting two earlier.
50-points
Major Victoria Haley (+5 jack points)Squire (2 points)
Thorn (8 points)
Stormwall (19 points)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6 points)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2 points)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2 points)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4 points)
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6 points)
Sword Knight Officer and Standard (2 points)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1 point)
Gun Mage Captain Adept (2 points)So what's the plan that's going to help me win at 50? These guys:
That's right. Sword Knights. A full unit of 10 plus the UA. They're bodies that can screen my Stormwall. They can get DEF 13 and ARM 16 in defensive line formation. If they have to, they can flank with Thorn or the Stormwall and get +2 to attack (MAT 8) and an additional damage die (P+S 10 + 4d6 on the charge). The UA doesn't add much, because I have a feeling they're going up against infantry and not warbeasts/warjacks where Tactics: Precision Strike will help.
8 points though for 12 bodies on the field. I've got a tarpit unit finally that can hang back and avoid ranged shots until they need to move up and roadblock.
I'll post again in two weeks when we see how it goes...
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