Considering Trolls

Trolls are my favorite models in the game. I love the look of them: big, misshapen dudes in heavy armor wielding giant axes and stone hammers. When I first got into Warmachine, I saw the Trolls and was instantly attracted, especially to the Dire Troll Mauler. I picked up a few models but did nothing with them and eventually got rid of them. Recently I purchased a few of my favorite Troll models and painted a few of them up. At first, I had no intention of playing Trolls, just collecting the models I liked. But I have been giving it some thought and I am considering playing Hoarluk Doomshaper and his Runes of War tier.  The runeshapers are the COOLEST models ever and with this list, I get to have 4 units of them.

Runeshapers!!!!

System: Hordes
Faction: Hoarluk - Runes of War
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 4
Hoarluk Doomshaper (*7pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)

If I actually purchase the miniatures, this will be my FUN list, something I play to take a break from Skorne.

Path of Devastation League - Season 2: Broken Roads

I am participating in Season 2 of the league. This time, the character is an extoller soulward. Shouldn't be a problem fitting her into lists, I use at least one all the time.

Game 1: eHexeris vs. Jagga Jagga, 50pts
I lost the game on scenario, but I earned 6 xp, enough to purchase the Shroud of Sand upgrade giving the extoller +2 DEF.

Game 2: Mordikaar vs. Butcher3, 50pts
I used my standard Mordikaar list vs. Butcher3, so yeah, I lost.
Earned 5 xp.

Game 3: pMakeda vs. Moshar, 50pts
This was one of my more interesting games. I wanted to have some fun so I brought along the mammoth for shits and gigs. I ground his army down pretty good, in the end he conceded after a failed assassination attempt.
Earned 6 xp and purchased an upgrade which gives the extoller eyeless sight and far strike. Can't wait to use that!

Game 4: Naaresh vs. Moshar, 50pts
First time playing Naaresh. He's a bit jankey with his ability to take damage to boost his STR and ARM and then heal himself. He was fun to play, I took a beast heavy list, some Nihilators and alot of beasthandlers. I whittled Moshar's army down pretty good, he conceded.
Earned 4 xp for the league.

Game 5: Zaal vs. Harbinger, 50pts.
I played my standard Tier 4 Zaal list because I thought I was going to play against Cryx. I got to the store and played Menoth instead. I had lots of infantry, my movement was hindered on turn 2 due to Harbinger's feat. I really thought I was going to lose this one, he was up in points by 3. Last turn of the game, I feated, cast last stand on the Kovaas, had the Kovaas charge the Harbinger, killed her.
Earned 6 xp.

Warmachine League: Riven Bonds

I'm participating in the new Warmachine league: Path of Devastation - Season 1; Riven Bonds league. I played 2 games tonight with my hero Ancestral Guardian character and earned 10 XP. More details later.

UPDATE:
I came in 3rd in the league. WOoT!!!

Gaming at Collectors, Epic Hexeris

I'm trying to settle on a new caster, I have been trying out pMakeda and pXerxis. I like them both, but they play very similar to each other, at least the lists I build for them.

Lately though, I have been looking into eHexeris. I dabbled with him a while back and had some success with him. Now I want to try a more serious approach. I looked into his tier and liked what I saw so I went with this list. It's more of a jumping off point, I will no doubt break tier eventually.

Points: 50/50

Tiers: 4

Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)

* Basilisk Krea (4pts) BONDED

* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)

* Titan Gladiator (8pts)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

Praetorian Karax (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)

Venators Slingers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

Ancestral Guardian (0pts)

Ancestral Guardian (3pts)

Ancestral Guardian (3pts)

Extoler Soulward (2pts)

Hakaar the Destroyer (4pts)

I played against Dan and his Trolls at collectors last Tuesday. We played the Close Quarters scenario from the SR 2015 rules. 

His list. (He admitted to being 1 point shy)

Points: 49/50

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (*6pts)

* Slag Troll (6pts)

* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)

* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)

Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)

* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)

Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)

* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)

Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)

* Trollkin Scattergunner Officer & Drummer (2pts)

Janissa Stonetide (3pts)

Troll Whelps (2pts)

Dan won the roll and went second. I deployed my slingers directly behind the karax on the left flank, the swordsmen and the ancestral guardians on the right flank and Hexeris and the beasts in the center. 

Turn 1 was just straight up movement, getting everything into position. It was Killbox so I was wary to move Hexeris as far as I thought was safe.

The beginning of turn 2 went very well for me. The Drake went first, spraying the Fennblades, causing a wound but the Troll made his tough roll. Hexeris channeled Black Spot through the Drake onto the Fennblades targeting the knocked down troll. He also cast Ashes to Ashes on the troll behind him. The idea was to try to catch as many of the scatter gunners as possible. I did manage to kill a couple. The karax advanced and shieldwalled. The slingers advanced the shot at the Fennblades, nearly wiping out the entire unit. I was impressed. The swordsmen ran at the mauler just to jam him. The ancestral guardians advanced behind the swordsmen, ready to collect the eventual souls.
My flag was well protected and I had a good bead on Dan's. I was actually going to try to win on scenario. Thinks looked great.

Until.....

Dan, seeing no way to win on scenario did a total ball-out move. When he said, "I'm going for the assassination!" I thought, yeah right.

First, he cleared a path to Hexeris with the scattergunners, killing the Drake and a few karax, slingers and swordsmen. Then he ramped up the Earthborne and shot Hexeris in the face. I had 1 transfer but it did little good as the Earthborne had plenty of attacks and fury to pound Hexeris in the dirt.

So that was game, solid victory for Dan. He later lamented that he felt bad. I asked why? He took a risk and it paid off in a game that favors aggression and bold maneuvers. I need to watch that Earthborne in future games. 

Xerxis_50pts

Got to play with my friend Adam at Dark Forest last weekend. We spent the whole day and played 3 games, all using scenarios from the 2015 Steamroller. 

I used the following pXerxis list all 3 games.

Points: 50/50

Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)

* Basilisk Krea (4pts)

* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)

* Tiberion (11pts)

Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)

Cataphract Incindiarii (Leader and 3 Grunts) (6pts)

Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)

I like it, fun to play. 

Game 1: eSorcha

Surprisingly, he didn't cast freezing grip on anything, he kept Sorcha bricked up all game. Things didn't go well for me, I killboxed myself, I conceded. 

Game 2: Harkevich 

He charged Behemoth straight at my Bronzeback but surprisingly failed to kill it. I finished off Behemoth with a combined effort of Xerxis and Bronzeback. Don't remember how exactly the game went, but I conceded. 

Game 3: Midas, Tier 4

uhh......

Fuck!!!!!

I really need to take notes or take pictures during games. This was our 3rd game of the day and it was getting late. It was a 35 point game, cool things happened, I killed stuff, Adam conceded. 

2 Mammoths

I have acquired a second mammoth recently and am attempting to build workable lists for them. So far the best is this:

Points: 50/50
Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Mammoth (20pts)
* Mammoth (20pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

Turn 1, Makeda casts Savagery on the Cetrati allowing them to move 10" up the board in shieldwall. Mammoths have a potential 17" threat range with their guns with Assault. Once battle is joined, Makeda casts Carnage giving the Mammoths MAT 8 and the Cetrati MAT 9 and everyone wrecks house.

*Edit*
I may want to swap the extoller for another unit of beast handlers for better fury management.

Week 5 - Tyrant Xerxis

I got in a game last night with Dan and his Trolls. I think that it's fitting that my new regular opponent plays Trolls since there is so much animosity between our two factions in the Warmachine world.

I decided to give pXerxis a try. I had considered him for a while but was stuck on what to use with him. His low fury stat of 5 threw me off a bit, I'm used to playing with casters with plenty of fury to do what they need to do.

My list:
Points: 35/35
Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)


Dan's list:
Points: 35/35
Borka Kegslayer (*5pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes (3pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)

We played Scenario #1 from the 2014 Steamroller rules. I won the roll and went second. I deployed my army as a brick; Cetrati in a line up front and center, one beast per flank, Nihilators and Xerxis right behind the Cetrati and everything else behind them.
Right away I realized that I had made a mistake in my army composition. I should not have taken the agonizer, I was only able to give him 1 whole fury point all game. He just stood there and wet himself. The willbreaker was underused as well. He did put Puppet Master on the gladiator before it slammed a fennblade and got to reroll a miss. Also I messed up on deployment and activation. I was too cautious with the Cetrati and kept them in shieldwall all game. They never even got into the control zone BUT I upkept Defenders Ward on them all game, giving them an ARM 22 and an ARM 24 on feat turn. None of them took a single wound!!

The Trolls owned the control zone and Borka dominated after a combined effort killed my gladiator on turn 3. Mauler got the alpha strike on the bronzeback removing all but 1 damage point. On turn 4 I popped feat and charged the nihilators out at his axer and impaler, 3 on each. They butchered the axer, and wounded the impaler. The bronzeback made short work of the mauler. We called the game because the store was closing. Dan was ahead in points and won square.

Overall I liked how the game played out. I was concerned about beasts wandering out of Xerxis' control area but that didn't happen. I plan on playing a similar list in the future, something like this:
Points: 35/35
Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
* Cyclops Brute (5pts)
* Tiberion (11pts)
* Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)

I need something to get the Cetrati where they need to be in safety. Marketh can upkeep spells after he collects souls and can hot swap spells when needed. I don't think I needed 2 heavy warbeasts last game, we'll see what 1 heavy and 1 light can do.

I need to figure out an activation sequence where Xerxis can activate, does what he needs to do but not get left behind when the rest of his army advances. I was considering the following steeps:

1. Deploy Xerxis in the forward center of the brick flanked by the Cetrati, the TyComm to one side of the Cetrati.
2. Activate Xerxis, cast Defenders Ward on the Cetrati, use Press Forward on the Cetrati, advance his full SPD (5") and cast Inhospitable Ground.
4. Activate the Cetrati, give them the Shield Wall order, advance them 7" into base to base with each other and forming a protective wall in front of Xerxis.
5. Activate the Nihilators, Run them up directly behind the Cetrati. This will protect the Nihilators and increase their threat range.

Since the Cetrati can only be affected by one Press forward at a time, I may have to use 2 turns to get them into the control zone.