Reckoning Review

A review of Reckoning. The follow metric will be used:




5 – Great




One of the strongest models in the game: it’s powerful and always useful. It’s surprising to see a list that doesn’t play this in-faction.




4 – Good




A good model that sees plenty of play. It’s not necessarily the best choice for every list, but you can put it in your list and know that it will do something for you.




3 – Playable




You can’t just throw this model in any list and expect it to do something for you, but it can be good in the right context.




2 – Weak




This model isn’t good enough to be worth playing. The list it fits tightly into are not well suited for competitive play. The stars might align such that it fits into a competitive list, but even then it’s generally worse than a more straightforwardly good card.




1 – Bad




This model sucks.


Cygnar


Hailey 3




DG - 4

Not as strong as the Cygnar top tier but a well designed caster with some real depths. Is a well designed caster in that the best way to spend her focus isn't completely obvious. This is a rarity from the modern PP.





BW - 5


She isn't as overpowered as a Ghotvanah or Bradigus but the sheer variety and versatility of what she can do will make her a powerhouse due to the high skill cap in the right hands. Similar to Haley 2 but with a better long game giving Cygnar players another strong option for attrition





JP - 3


Major Haley is very interesting warcaster unit consisting of her primary present self, and echoes of her past and future selves. This Haley is the first warcaster of that name that looks neither boring as fuck to play, nor a completely and infuriatingly negative play experience for your opponent. She boasts an interesting range of spells that seem to encourage the use of underplayed options from within the faction. Her drawback is her complexity, it looks like it will be easy to get lost in the sauce for novice and journeyman Cygnar players alike and the layered rules interactions for replicate, incorporeal, control area, and arc nodes will require some very solid rules understanding. I expect to see quite a bit of the newest Haley, but at the end of the day she is less powerful in scenario than her epic version.




Dynamo




DG - 4


A strong all around jack. Gun has real potential with either a constant accuracy buff and/or a damage buff. Incredible with Nemo.






BW - 4


Just plane amazing - been out for a while now so not a whole lot to report. The fact that he shows up in non Nemo lists just tells you about his power level. Only thing holding him back is the power level of the casters that want him. Hopefully Nemo 3 will become more of a thing and this guy will be one of the primary reasons for that.






JP - 4


Dynamo is a genuinely good warjack that transforms into a monster when run by Nemo. Performs primarily as a shooting platform, but under Nemo he becomes a switch hitting melee powerhouse. Dynamo is only rated a 4 due to his full potential being locked to 3 warcasters.


Ace






DG - 2


Triumph II: The Triumphing, Hunter Edition.






BW - 3


Interesting - Good with Caine so he will see some play but otherwise an overpriced hunter. Expensive delivery system for anyone other than Caine - might see some casual interest in Stryker 2 or another bully caster but not at highest competitive levels.






JP - 2


A more expensive character warjack that is worse than its regular version… I feel like I’ve seen this before.


It feels like this warjack’s entire purpose in life is to shoot at shifting stones. For 7 points, I think I can find a better answer.


The only reason this doesn’t get a rating of a 1 is the stealth granting ability can allow for some early zone domination by a highly mobile warcaster. It might be worth experimenting for that reason alone.






Trench Buster






DG - 1


3 points is incredibly hard to balance as a solo. Combos with a bad unit type to boot.






BW - 2

His rules work so hes not a 1, but hes overpriced and suffers from a back of the card that is frankly too full similar to all trenchers. Also not a 1 because he provides an out of activation unjammer. But since trenchers are already not popular i dont see him getting much interest or play other than theme forces (Bad seeds Anyone?)






JP - 1


Straight…


Garbage…






In addition to the Skornergy being strong with this one, the Trench Buster does nothing that can’t be replicated elsewhere demonstrably better and/or cheaper.


Hurricane






DG - 3


Not as strong as the Stormwall but will see play in the right list. Getting constantly pushed back by a control caster is going to be aggravating.






BW -- 3.5






Well designed Stormwall alternative - Stormwall is bonkers and the fact you consider taking this guy over him with some casters tells you just how good he is. Excited for the synergies and some of the power AOE 4's might offer that haven't really been explored. Only thing holding him back from a 4 is Turbulence. That rule is dumb.






JP - 2


It’s a point cheaper than the Stormwall, yay! There is a bit of give and take on the Hurricane, but I think the ‘Take’ was just a hair too high. The main guns are reduced in POW by 2 (Ouch!), and electro-leap is stripped from the shock fists. The loss of the storm pod is a major blow to the newest colossal for big blue, that and the lack of covering fire templates change his game considerably. For these, you get an Arc Node, Cortex damage on the fists, and the super interesting Storm Emitters. I think the Arc Node is a great idea that just doesn’t work; it’s just too easy to engage Hurricane. The Cortex damaging fists only exist for Colossal on Colossal combat. Those storm Emitters are the saving grace of Hurricane. I think Hurricane will take a backseat to Stormwall with a few exceptions, but I do expect to see him now and again.






Menoth






Anson Durst






DG -3


Very meat and potatoes. Feat has real order of activation issue and is hard to get value with infantry.






BW - 4.5


Menoth Jacks are the best in the game and he delivers them.






Purifier






DG - 2- While it looks fun, this doesn't solve any of the typical problem that light jacks encounter.






BW - - 2


Some Skornergy - but turns out choir polishes anything






Hand of Judgment






DG - 4


A really incredible jack. Getting the ancillary attack off so that it can charge for free is hot. Only not a 5 because not all PoM lists want to play with fire.






BW - 4


He is a 6 with Feora 2, Rat 7 sprays are still legit. Fire immunity and Ravagors shooting at stuff around him keep him from being a 5 overall.






Revelator






DG - 4


Making it easier for PoM to one round heavies at range is what the game really needed. Sometimes PP forgets the choir exists.






BW - - 4


I hate shadow pact (read legion)






Pyrrhus






DG - 3


This is more what a 3 point solo should look like. He is held back slightly by being forced to work with a specific unit.






BW - 3


Harbinger Synergy's - valid mix of solos






Khador






Zerkova






DG - 3.5


Has a solid game plan, if incredibly one dimensional. Better hope your opponent doesn't deny spell casting.






BW - 3


She's a 1 trick caster but its a good trick






Mad Dog






DG - 1


What Khador really needed was a all jack release with two new Berzerkers.


BW 1


Jury Rigged and Unstable Cortex? Pow 14? 5 Points makes this palatable - but i dont see anyone ever taking it except for funsies






Rager






DG - 2


It's a shield guard I guess? If only Ogre Bokurs didn't exist...






BW - 3


Arm 20 Shield guard - thank you






Ruin






DG - 5


Incredible jack. Easily playable outside the Butcher as well. The ability to fuel itself may even let a Khador player play two jacks.






BW - 5


Butchers are good, Ruin with Butcher is incredible. Hes a better beast and a great eEryiss alternative






Viktor






DG - 3


When you need a heavy with reach and pathfinder its at least cheaper than the Konquest? Playing the light the enemy caster on fire game is a thing I guess too.






BW - 2


I don't like the 20 point rat 0 randomness. It will win you games. It wont win you tournaments.






Cryx






Deneghra






DG - 4


I really like the soul collection mini game she can play. Still has issues due to the huge base.






BW - 3.5


She really needs a nuke. The inflictor will make her work, but she still up against a bunch of 4's and 5's.






Barathrum






DG - 3


A weird collection of rules attached to Cryx jack chassis. Continues the Cryx tradition of working best with a different caster.






BW - 2






Sepulcher





DG - 4


A better range platform then the Kraken and it can regen McThralls.







BW - 4




Kraken's are collecting dust






Shrike





DG - 2- Another light jack? Yawn.







BW - 1










Soul Trapper





DG - 4


Has a turn delay and you need to be able to collect souls. Still an incredible release that will see play with plenty of Cryx casters. 2-3 extra focus make a huge deal for spell assasinations. .5 points each too.







BW - 3

He is one point and he'll get played






Ret






Tyrone





DG - 2


Doesn't provide any dependable support except for two expensive single target buffs. Another ret caster who is defined by winning or losing on the feat.







BW - 4






Moros





DG - 3 -

Likely the best of the lights this book and may find a place with eVyros. Doesn't do anything for Gary.




BW - 3






Helios





DG - 4

A weird release but one that has grown on me. Immunity to fire can be really potent. Works great with Griffondor.







BW - 4


Electromancers





DG - 3 - Another solid techy Ret shooting option.







BW - 2






Voidtracer





DG - 3 - A great one point solo. Needs the right matchup to be effective but at a point I can't complain too much.







BW - 3.5






Mercs






The Devil's Shadow Mutineers





DG - 3. Cryx needed a second character unit. Will see play with Pirates too.







BW - 3. Good Cryx Guns.






Siege Crawler





DG - 2. Battle engines are bad, and PP should feel bad.







BW - 2 (2.5 with earth breaker)






Cephalyx





DG - ??? No one cares about Cephalyx






BW - I'm not reviewing Cephalyx






River Raiders

DG - 2 - Cool abilities but they are going to have a hell of a time triggering them. Maybe worthwhile as bodies to contest with?






BW - 0






JM - None of these models will work for Skorne.

Modern eHexy

I've always liked eHexy, but as PP decided to see how easy they could make killing infantry he kinda lost his purpose.  Still there are some interesting upcoming releases that make me want to break him out again.

Mostly this is the spitter and the new croak hunter unit.  The spitter makes an excellent arcnode for eH.  It also works rather well with Black Spot.  It should be able to get more work done while staying far safer than the Sentry taken as the more traditional choice.

The croak hunter unit buffs fire damage and is AD in Skorne.  They should combo well with Ashen Veil and the tough/no knockdown PGTM buff.  Randomly Ashes to Ashes is also fire damage and is buffed by their abilities(as are the Incindiarii.)

What I'm currently thinking(broken into handy modules):

eHexeris
->Krea
->BronzeBack
->Gladiator
->Spitter

Fire Frogs
Paingiver Task Master
Incindiarii

Paingiver Beast Handlers
Extoller
Willbreaker
Agonizer

The real secret to this list is being a point over.  It feels very paint by numbers, all very obvious choices above.  The beast section also feels clunky and far too traditionally Skorne, but is the only thing that can handle armor really well.

It also scores a 0 on the Drake scale, insuring it is a bad list. :(

Xerxis 2 ADR

Don and I are going to do some list development for Xerxis 2 and we figured we might as well do it here.  Maybe we'll come up with something new, or at least playable.

Overview
I've played this guy for most of the last year so I'm pretty familiar with him.  Mobility is quite good in Skorne, giving you real board presence and threat range.  It also frees you from the tyranny of the Gladiator, as good as that guys is. Ignite gives you additional board power . The feat is obviously good.  All reasons to play him.

On the other hand Xerxis has some real problems.  Most of the stem from his huge base.  He is always visible, making him an easy target for stray spells/shots/charges.  More importantly the Rhino is quite difficult to position.  Terrain is a real issue.  Even simple things like walls dictate where you can put must put your warlock and hence your army.  X2 can't easily dominate and I generally win by attrition leading to assassination.

X2 generally doesn't see combat.  He doesn't really have the hitting power to kill most heavies and delivering him is somewhat tricky.  I occasionally use him to un-jam my army.  I cast stranglehold once and it was quite good, but in general fury 5 makes it unfeasible.

Builds
I've seen a few builds for X2.

1. Drakes spam.  This build uses 6-8 Drakes, 2 Kreas and gator posse/nihilators.  This build has theoretically good infantry clearing (I haven't played it) and is generally considered a cryx drop.  I feel like this sort of thing is generally one-note and I'm not interested in buying the entire drake farm.

2.  Gunline with Sentinels.  More of a theoretical build as these guys haven't come out yet.  X2 makes sentinels fast and Ignite gives them hitting power, solving two of their weaknesses. He can bond to a raider, giving him a manageable fury plan.  One big appeals of the Sentinel plan is that X2 doesn't have to go forward to extend his control area.

3.  Pachyderm spam.  Really fast titans.  I don't know too much about this so I'll let Don speak to it.

4. Karn + Archidon.  This is what I've been playing for the last few months.  Probably the most satisfying Karn yo-yo in the faction.  Karn easily kills heavies and sprints 8 inches away.  My problems have been two-fold.  The first is keeping Karn in my control area.  The second is figuring out to do with the rest of the list.

Goals
I'd like to build an X2 ADR list that has some game against cryx.  Not a lot mind you, but something that is playable.  I'm probably going to keep playing the Karn yo-yo.

List
This is what I've settled down on lately.

X2
Molik Karn
Archidon (bond)
Drake
Drake
Drake
Krea
Brute
Brute

Incindiarii (min)
Beast Handlers
Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers

ADR:
Gladiator
Shaman
Extoller
Mortitheurge
Orin Midwinter
Feralgeist

The plan is pretty basic.  Karn, the Archidon, the swamp gobbers and the beast-handlers control one side of the board with Karn shaving the opponents army piece by piece.  Everyone else is dedicated to clearing infantry and providing a distraction.

Next time I post I'll talk about what matchups I'd play this into along with my ADR plans.

Faction and Caster Rankings

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?231691-Astra-Presents-LIST-CASTER-POWER-RANKINGS

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?231690-Astra-Presents-FACTION-POWER-RANKINGS

Thoughts?

Croak Raiders! Moar SKRON Ranged Game

Croak Raiders (spoiler posted here) are going to be a solid release for Skorne.  I'll talk about how they fit into the Skorne faction and discuss a couple of lists where they might be useful.  Pretty stock-standard introduction.

Why They Don't Suck
Croak Raiders fill a couple gaps in Skorne and provide a few opportunities.  A 10-man advanced deploy unit is unique in the faction; providing us the mobility and board presence necessary to get work done (and not lose on Incursion).  That alone makes them worth considering.  Ranged attacks, with some possibility for aiming are invaluable in Skorne and will hopefully force the engagement with typically slow Skorne armies.  Croak Raiders deliver the hard hitting shots are at a premium in the medium-based meta-game.

Anti-Skornergy
There are some really cute interactions in the faction that are worth pointing out.


1) Taskmaster. This is an obvious one, but giving Croak Raiders tough means that vitriol might actually come into play.  I'm not sure that this is worth the two points, but I think it's worth mentioning.  In lists where you can double dip on the task-master this will be a really nice synergy.

2) Krea.  I think this is the biggest one.  A Krea with Mortitheurge has a strong chance of paralyzing  a warbeast (or Warcaster/Warlock) and then the Croak Hunters can deal huge damage to it.  I think this is a real threat to Legion and is a play that will be available as soon as the bottom of 1.

3) Incindiarii.  Alchemical Accelarant really turns on Incindiarii blast damage and allows them to threaten medium based infantry.  It also allows them to threaten heavies.  Croak Raiders and Incindiarii complement each other well; together they threaten most types of infantry and some heavies.

4) Gatorman Bokur. This guy needs bodies, and the Raiders are perfectly positioned to provide corpses.  Both units want the Taskmaster and Krea, so you get to double dip on the support pieces that make these units really shine.

ADR
Is huge for these guys.  There will definitely be times when you don't want them and times when they are amazing.  Being able to swap them out with Posse or a Heavy is going to be a really strong play. They don't love fighting warmachine, particularly high-defense infantry, and being to bring in better tools will be quite nice.  Here are two lists:

pMorghoul
I've been thinking about pMorghoul ADR for a while now.  I think he is one of the better Sentinel casters, as he can protect them and make them threats in melee.  This list is tuned to fight Trolls/Menoth/Circle/Legion and has some tools to fight other lists.


pMorghoul
Aradus Sentinel
Aradus Sentinel
Aradus Soldier
Basilisk Krea
Cyclops Raider

Beast Handlers
Croak Raiders
Incindiarii (min)

Mortitheurge
Mortitheurge
Extoller
Swamp Gobbers

ADR:
Gatorman Posse
Paingiver Taskmaster
Agonizer
Extoller Soulward
Cyclops Brute

This list shoots really hard and is quite capable of closing in melee.  The Krea threats 31 inches on the bottom of 1, setting you up to steal an early Angel.  pMorg has some really nice control elements and mostly focuses on hiding behind the Aradus and not dying.

The solos can be optimized as needed.  Croak Raiders + Gobbers + Mortithuerge can be swapped for Posse against Warmachine, and Incindiarii + Gobbers can swap for Brute + Agonizer against legion.  This list has a mean assassination against any living Caster/Lock (via Morghouls feat).

I'm really looking forward to playing this and I think it will be very viable.  There's a lot of stuff that's not obvious and should be surprising to opponents.  It might even be able to play three flags! 

Rasheth ADR
I've thought less about this but I think it is worth including.  Here's a rough template.

Rasheth (Chain Gang Tier 4)
Bronzeback Titan
Titan Sentry
Titan Gladiator
Basilisk Krea
Basilisk Drake

Croak Raiders
Bokur and Shamblers
Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers

Paingiver Taskmaster
Agonizer
Agonizer

ADR:
Gatorman Posse
Titan Sentry (Or Bronzeback...)
Beast Handlers?

I'm still not entirely sure how to construct this one.  The idea is you get one list that has an infantry bend while having the option of removing the infantry and skewing hard armour for center scenarios/favorable matchups.  You've also got a credible range game against warbeasts with Blood Mark/Krea/Croak Raiders.  I used to bring Venator Reivers specifically for their ranged abilities and Croak Raiders fill most of that role with some additional functionality.

 The +2 SPD is a really nice benefit here.  It helps the shamblers get into position early to soak corpses.  You've also got the option of going deep turn 1, running all the way to 31" mark on top of 1 for the deep flank.  Thanks totally new to Skorne and something worth trying out.

I'm not as excitied for this but at least its a new spin on an old list.

I'm Gonna Buy These Fuckers
And I hope they are fun to paint.  I've also got some ideas for including them with eHexeris, but I've already written too much.

Reckoning First Impressions

So Reckoning was a book I was rather looking forward to.  The artistic design of everything spoiled was incredible as were the pre-released models.  It looked to be an excellent book.

Sadly, this didn't hold up.  As far as WM releases this is likely the most disappointing in living memory.  Far too many Jacks, in an era where Jacks are back down to minimum numbers.  Really disappointing casters(for the factions I care about at least), especially after the last batch of casters.  This doesn't seem like it has really sunk in yet on the various faction forums, but I'm honestly surprised that a faction receiving two MAT 5 warjacks is taking it as well as it is.

If you somehow haven't seen any Reckoning spoilers they can be found here.

Cygnar
I'm not sure what to think yet of Hailey3.  Temporal Flux is a solid spell, as is repudiate.  She is incredibly focus starved, even with 12 focus.  Revive is likely only going to happen once a turn due to this.  I'm also unsure where Tactical Supremacy will gain some good effect(people say Trenchers but then you've spent points on Trenchers).

Beyond that I don't think you will see much of Ace and even less of the Trencher Buster.  The loss of the storm pod on the Hurricane is huge.  It seems alright for focusing a target down or controlling a single target.  I expect to see the Stormwall more still.

Khador
eZorkova has an incredibly simple battleplan -> run greylords at enemy pop feat, win.  She is another case of a caster where they gave her a spell to create an arcnode but then forgot to give her some options in what she really wanted to arc.  I was expecting significantly more here.

As a faction that hates taking multiple Warjacks, the only other releases Khador received this book were Warjacks.  Two of them being on the berserker chassis and stuck at MAT 5 was just the icing on the cake.  Viktor is better than Konquest, partially due to being cheaper but also having a more reliable impact on the game with its guns.  Lighting enemy casters on fire should at least be fun.

Mercs
It was good to see a second Cephalyx caster.  He looks solid, with a workmanlike feat and a good selection of spells.  From a first pass he is also the only caster with a tier list that looks worth a damn.
Eh, on the battle engine.  I'm sure it will be adopted as  much as any other battle engine without a focus effect.  The Swamp gobbers suffer from incredibly bad stats, but are at least AD solos for Skorne.

Cryx
Denny3 is my favorite caster from this book so far.  She will be heavily taxed by that huge base but her abilities with souls is incredibly potent.  Gravewind will be obnoxious on the DeathJack and herself and Mostality is an incredible spell.

The soul collection solo is an excellent addition.  Too many Cryx casters had soul cages that were never relevant, even if it will still take a round for the souls to turn into focus.  It works with more than just the casters too.  I'm not sure why Barathrum is supposed to be Terminus's jack but I'm sure he will be used as often as the other random collection of rules Cryx character jacks.  Same goes with the trampling light.  The Sepulcher looks to be a solid upgrade over the Kraken, especially with RoF 2 Spiker guns.

Menoth
I'm not sure Durst is bad, mostly boring.  I'm also unsure of a battle plan that will want him marching close to his jacks on the front line as he goes up the field.

This is more than made up for with the Menoth releases this book.  A jack with a fully boosted to hit spray, that increases fire damage, has spd 5 and reach?  Sure, why not.  The Impenetrable Shield TFG seems solid too.  I'm not super sold on the light(its a light) or the Colossal(lack of range) but they aren't bad either.

Retribution
Retribution was really looks for an answer to Grayle I guess.  Thyron has a solid feat, solid stats, I like cleave on his battlegroup but his spell list is lackluster.  I just don't see much of a battleplan here outside of trying to feat to win the game.  Both Onslaught and SpellPiercer are more situationally good than consistently bringing value sadly.

The new soulless and electromancers are both solid releases.  Helios has been growing on me:  cheaper, virtuosos and a fun little selection of buffs

Bonus
Saeryn and Rhyas seem to take it in the pants with a worse spell list, worse feat and having to be tied to each other as a character unit.  I expect Rhyas to act as a super arcnode for a good chunk of the game.

Kromac, to use a term already used in this article, is workman like.  Stat buff feat, stat buff spell to use early game(with maybe a primal shock or two thrown in) and then a finish based on his own pure stats plus primal howl.  Letting him sprint to collect hearts for primal shocks seems fun to attempt to do some snipping.

Croak Raiders are really solid for Skorne.  They've tried really hard to not give Skorne any AD worth a damn, but they have solid stats and combo well with the pain giver task master.  They also combo well with Incinderaii.

eMorghoul Tier list:  Still doesn't overcome the base issues with playing eMorghoul but does make him significantly better.  Probably worth a play or two but it wasn't enough to overcome the base mistakes they made with eMorghoul.

Overall
I've been enjoying Ret and was eyeing Khador again.  While Ret received some good new releases the casters for both those faction aren't currently impressing me.  I will have to see how my impressions change after some play time.  I'm curious if I can buy the parts to magnetize the Colossals I have instead of sinking more money into models that don't ever justify their price.

Menoth and Cryx seem to have come out of this mess the best with Mercs/Cygnar in second tier.  While Menoth has been waning, Cryx and Cygnar didn't deserve the best releases this cycle.

It's still hilarious that CoC received nothing in the warjack book.  Especially after PP teased them that they were getting something.

New Skorne Unit

Can't wait to try them out!

What I've been enjoying about Ret

So I've actually been enjoying my Ret games far more than recent games with either Khador or the CoC.  I've been somewhat surprised about this, especially as I've just been kicking around rando Ret tier lists mostly.  It also likely helps that they are far far more different from Skorne than either Khador or CoC.

1.  The Daemon
Hellmouth on a gun has been a lot of fun.  Its great at killing infantry and the pull in is rather techy.  Its helped me outright win one game by hitting pDenny and killed the stone UA in a second game during turn 2.  Having accurate guns in general has been great, but the Daemon's has been the best.

2. Weapon Masters
The base Immortal Package is 11 points, which is also the cost of a full unit of Dawnguard Sentinels.  Guess which one is way better then the other?  Weapon masters still do disproportionate damage but its nice being on the delivery side of that for a change then watching a untouched Titan disappear to 3 circle chickas with daggers.

3. Battle Mages
Honestly, things should only be able to be pushed or pulled once per turn.  Until that gets fixed the ability to pull things half way across the table will continue to be abused by this Ret player at least. Nothing says great gameplay like killing a heavy without reprisal.
Randomly these guys also have 2 attacks, beatback and anti-shooting tech.  Just a really solid unit all around.

Now not everything has been great.  Honestly its hard to get any work done with their melee jacks against the wrong opponents.  A Stalker with plenty of woods to sprint back to and stones to teleport with is a real problem for a Ret player.

I've played the pVyros tier for 5 games or so now, the Rahn tier once and Force Wall once.  I'm kinda curious if there are any other fun ret lists to play.  I need to try out the newest caster sometime too.

[Randomly on the topic of Ret they are one of the infantry spammiest armies I've seen locally.  I watched a Ret vs. Menoth game that had a total of 3 light jacks in a 50 point game.  Its kinda obnoxious to see, but not impossible to deal with.]

The state of Competitive WM

Anyone else see the top 8 from the Adepticon IG?

Look at those results.  3 Cryx and 3 Circle are sign of an incredibly balanced game, right?  Well tournament results are incredibly noisy and this was only from a single event at a single con.  It's not really indicative of a larger trend.

Huh.  They only represent 50% of the field making the cut here so its a step in the right direction.  Still this is troublesome, if only there were a compiled list of top faction appearances.  To keep things modern lets say from Nov. 2014 to now taken from an online store that keeps track of lists to sell you, say Discount Games Inc.  This information would surely continue to correct these results:

Cryx - 10

Circle - 9

Skorne - 5

Cygnar - 4

Trollbloods 4

PoM - 3

Legion - 3

Ret -2

Minions - 1

CoC - 1

Well fuck.  At this point I would be worried that the data is pointing towards some real unfortunate trends.  Thankfully the competitive WM braintrust was right there to clear it all up:

"Players win games not factions"

"It's the player."

"Do remember both minions and ret have won major cons.  It's all about the player."

The mental gymnastics on display when you've biased yourself to certain outcomes are incredible.

Charge of the Rohirrim

In thinking about organizing a 4 player cooperative Lord of the Rings strategy for Gencon I figured the deck I enjoy playing the most could be an interesting way to focus the conversation and throw out some ideas.

Heroes- Theoden, Eomer, Hama
The idea of this mono red deck is to basically control the monsters with "feint" and "thicket of spears." Theoden allows shitty red heroes to quest effectively and sentinel the occasional attack. Eomer trucks stuff with firebrand and weapons. Hama enables event recursion. And the team can smash into the staging area with "Forth Eorlingas." The deck is pretty good at tangling up a bunch of bad guys but struggles to smash through locations. I can make a deck list later with specific cards, but I want to tweak things and focus on team comps before looking at individual cards.

Deck pairing: mono colored comp

This pairing is designed to exploit Theoden's bonus to questing by overloading on tactics heroes.

Bard the Bowman, Brand son of Bain, Legolas- this deck spams archers and some of the same event cards in the other tactics deck to crush as many baddies as possible each turn. Probably also plays feint, thicket and the recursion book to help the Rohan deck control the board.

Eowyn, Galadriel, Glorfindel- Blue deck control. Spams threat reduction and control events to mitigate what the stupid bad guy deck throws at you. Eowyn is the strongest quester in the game and Galadriel has a bunch of support tools in addition to her base abilities. I think blue has some of the most OP cards in terms of preventing problems before they even happen. Tweaking this deck could also make secrecy an option due to its relatively low starting threat and threat reducing tools.

Aragon, Celeborn, Prince Imrahil- Purple deck plays classics like sneak attack and gandalf while trying to support the board. Celeborn pushes decks to include a disproportionate number of pointy eared cards.

Pros: mono colored decks limit versatility within the decks but also mean people won't be sitting on dead cards mid game. monsters should die relatively quickly. Each deck can play the books that allow them to recast events in discard piles.

Cons: no green (seems like the weakest color). high starting threats so blue needs to mitigate threat levels quickly. No hobbits. No dwarves. Both seem overly complicated.

Why you suck at Jungle

Or how to stop my attempts to murder Junglers with my mind

We play a lot of games that are decided by the 10 minute mark.  Its not entirely apparent that we have lost, but the cancer has set it, will soon metastasize and we will be on our way to the 20 to 30 minute surrender depending upon how stubborn I am.

This isn't always the jungles fault, but its the jungle who has to attempt to fix this.  All too often the enemy jungle is doing their job while our jungle takes an extended forest stroll.  As these events have demonstrated your collective immunity to experience, I have decided to bless you with a guide on how to jungle.

First the goal of the jungle: to help "win" lanes.  Lanes have direct feedback.  The more gold and experience you earn there, the more advantageous your position in lane becomes, the more this snowballs in the lane and then throughout the entire game.  Unless you are heavily counter jungling you inherently do not have this feedback and it makes the jungle position significantly weaker when played in a non-interactive manner.

This is why its important to gank at level 4 at the latest.  If you can force a lane to go back and heal 2-3 times or  to play more conservatively due to your presence, even if they didn't die, this gives your lane a significant advantage.  They will be in a better position, and as this advantage increases they should  soon be able to kill their opponent without your help. If you sit passively in the jungle until 6 significant damage has already been done and by the time you try to right the ship it is often far far too late.  There is no such thing as a good Jungle who starts ganking at 6.  If you think you need to wait till level 6 to interact with the lanes you are doing something spectacularly wrong.

This feedback is also why Primum non nocere has to be the primary rule of the jungle.  Don't give mid both buffs because you try to force something.  Don't expect a lane incredibly low on life/mana to help you out.  Don't have your only interaction with a lane be to push it back off a tower:  you are forcing a lane with a disadvantage to lose one of the only advantages they have in that position.  Mistakes will naturally happen but if you can try to correct them.

As a Jungle you will have to make Sophie's Choice.  Not all your retard children will survive the laning phase intact, you just need some of them to.  Some lanes are beyond help and it is perfectly alright to abandon them to tower hugging - if you are actively making a difference in other lanes.  When it becomes apparent that you are only helping a single floundering lane it gives an incredible advantage to an enemy team who notices this.  Part of this is looking for the right opportunities to gank and not forcing bad ones.  Bottom lane needs help, but is pushed?  Make your presence felt in a lane that is presenting a better opportunity and try to get back around.

While there are 4 items to choose from as a Jungle there is a single correct choice.  This is the Stalker's Blade.  While forcing an enemy out of lane is helpful you are really there to get your lanemate a kill.  The Stalker's Blade gives you another tool to do so while none of the other jungling items do.  This is also why jungles with multiple stuns/slows are stronger.

Also notice what was said above?  Much like support, the goal of the jungle isn't to rack up a kill count.  If you can, let the lane take the kill.  This isn't glorious and puts you in a weaker position but it puts the lane with direct feedback in the stronger one.

Another common mistake are attempted jungle ganks that come from the direction of your creep wave.  These do not surprise anyone and rarely accomplish anything.  Either flank the lane or attack them from the rear.  While coming in for a gank it is better not to dally as well.  Communicate your intent with pings and enter the lane with initiative.  The longer you wait for the perfect gank the longer you give your opponents a chance to notice you with their wards.

Finally, the dragon.  While the jungle should be attempting to secure the dragon it should be apparent by now that making this your only goal is a flawed strategy.  The dragon is also why mid and bottom are more important lanes then top.  Top is expected to be more independent, there is a reason they take teleport after all.  The best way to take a dragon is through this feedback effect:  kill/force mid back, then the Jungler and Mid can gank bottom.  Once both lanes are disrupted take the dragon.

Playing Ret

56 / 56 (50+6) Warcaster(s) : 1/1 Warjack(s) : 3 Battle Engines : 0 Solos : 2 Units : 2

Dawnlord Vyros - WJ: +6
- Hyperion - PC: 18

Dawnguard Sentinels - Leader & 9 Grunts: 9
- Sentinel Officer & Standard - PC: 0
- Daemon - PC: 9
Dawnguard Sentinels - Leader & 9 Grunts: 9
- Sentinel Officer & Standard - PC: 2
- Daemon - PC: 9

THEME: Legions of the Dawn - Tier 2


I actually knocked out a game with the above list and rather enjoyed it. 22 Vengeance Weaponmasters is not something I get to play around with in Skorne. Imperitus should be taking the place of the Hyperion but he is missing pieces.


What really surprised me was how threatening it can be. Hyperion is 14" up the table the first turn and both Daemons can run and then pronto. I thought I would be using the pronto more to yo-yo but it is an incredible threat extender on the Daemons gun, which turned out to be super effective.


Arcanists really need to fit in the the list somewhere but I'm just not sure where. I can drop one, or both units to min but that is lame with vengeance units. The only saving grace there is I could drop both units to min, add two arcanists and then add 2 Souless to each unit. The Soulless still trigger Vengeance and it gives the army a weird anti-magic trick.

ADD II: The ADDening

So progress on various fronts, first some generalities then some specifics.  The more I play SR2015 the more important it is to make good use out of the objectives.  So far the Artillery, the Free charge and the Upkeep objectives seem to be what people build lists around.  If you aren't going to play one of those you play the objective that is difficult to destroy at range.  I'm curious if anyone is seeing anything else.

With that in mind I've thought of a few things I would like to try in Skorne.  Fist with artillery seems like something to experiment with.  I think Fist will also like the beast pacts for a bunch of reasons:  an AD screen, they are still infantry for all his synergies(moving through, press forward, etc) and Def Ward.

It would also be nice to find homes for Zaardesh and the Shamblers.  They both belong somewhere and it has to be somewhere stronger then pHexy for the Shamblers.  I'm curious if you can squeeze them into a Fatty list.  I'm also not sure about Zaardesh.  I've been curious if two brutes with him in Mord may work out as the first wave.  They should be really difficult to deal with under the feat.

I've also played a little Khador, both games with the OW.  One I essentially won at the top of 2, the other I was outshot.  This is the list I played in both games:

Khador - Old Witch modern

53 / 53 (50+3) Warcaster(s) : 1/1 Warjack(s) : 2 Battle Engines : 0 Solos : 4 Units : 3

The Old Witch of Khador - WJ: +3
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
- Conquest - PC: 19

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist - PC: 2
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 2
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich - PC: 2

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1

Ragman - PC: 2

Great Bears of Gallowswood - Volkov, Kolsk, Yarovich: 5

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 10
- Koldun Kapitan Valachev - Valachev 2
Winter Guard Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 4
- Winter Guard Officer & Standard - Winter Guard Officer & Standard 2

I think it needs a little tweaking.  It had too many support choices and not enough bodies.   There is nothing in it to discourage a Jam and that seems to really be a thing.  The Conquest was interesting but if there is a properly positioned forest people can still see through it to be shot, even if it too can see through the forest.  I should probably field Mechanics with it too.  I think this would be an improvement:

Khador - Old Witch Modern 2

53 / 53 (50+3) Warcaster(s) : 1/1 Warjack(s) : 2 Battle Engines : 0 Solos : 4 Units : 4

The Old Witch of Khador - WJ: +3
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
- Behemoth - PC: 13

Koldun Lord - PC: 2
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich - PC: 2
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist - PC: 2

Great Bears of Gallowswood - Volkov, Kolsk, Yarovich: 5
Widowmakers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 4
Winter Guard Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
- Winter Guard Officer & Standard - Winter Guard Officer & Standard 2
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 10
- Koldun Kapitan Valachev - Valachev 2

It mostly drops the Conquest down to a Behemoth to open up options.  The Widowmakers are an incredible unit that should help out with the jamming problem.  I found myself constantly short on focus so the Koldun Lord should help out there.  Eiryss was actually in the top list until I realized I didn't bring her with me.  The fleshed out Widowmakers and Winterguard should be the extra beef I need too.

At least it brings two jacks but its really just a single jack list.  

On the Ret front, I've picked up the models I need to play the various tier lists.  I've just need to get around to assembly, which will certainly happen any day now.

Fatty Jam Tier

Lately I've been seeing a lot of jam lists locally that try to trap their opponents right outside their deployment zone.  I've been curious what in Skorne could replicate that effect or potentially counter it and the result is below.  It's heavily Skorne good stuff, but it all ties together:

55 / 55 (50+5) Warlock(s) : 1/1 Warbeast(s) : 3 Battle Engines : 0 Solos : 4 Units : 4

Dominar Rasheth - WB: +5
- Titan Gladiator - PC: 7
- Bronzeback Titan - PC: 9
- Bronzeback Titan - PC: 9

Paingiver Task Master - PC: 2
Paingiver Task Master - PC: 2
Agonizer - PC: 2
Agonizer - PC: 2

Gatorman Posse - Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
Gatorman Posse - Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 2
Farrow Bone Grinders - Leader & 3 Grunts: 2

THEME: Chain Gang - Tier 4

So my agonizers start with 3 fury, each Gatorman Posse gets +2SPD the first turn and I gain an additional 2" deployment, which I've found to be fairly huge for Skorne.  This means if I go first the Gators can be 23" up the field and if I go second they can charge living enemy models 26" up the field.

Initially I had a Sentry instead of one of the BBs but the Gators should provide a fairly effective screen for the BBs.  The BBs can clear zones and threaten a counter charge to stop a single model contesting.

The farrow bone grinders are completely extra points.  The extra range for spell casting may very well be worthwhile or the animus when my gladiator dies.

Knowing Skorne I wouldn't be surprised if the very same list(+/- 3ish points) has already been played and talked about.

New Colossals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc6DeP47JnI

My current thoughts on these things matches up a lot with a post from the big boards:

"I'm considering this a no win situation for me. I already own two Conquests. I bought them (one very much discounted) and had them commission painted which is not cheap. I'm unhappy with its rules so I don't use it often. 

Now comes the Victor. It practically looks like the same model but has different rules. It creates rough terrain, drops defense, and causes fire. It has longer range but is innacurate.

So outcome 1 is that the rules aren't very good and I don't buy it in which case it is wasted slot in the book. Outcome 2 is that it is better than Conquest and makes it obsolete. Neither of these makes me happy.

I personally would have been much happier with a rules re-write for Conquest rather than a new model on the same chassis."

I love Colossals but they are an expensive purchase for PP to iteratively get right.

ADC Itemization: The Background

Cut to the chase: this is about League of Legends, not Warmachine.  So read at your own risk. 

I think there are pretty much two ways to build an ADC; the standard build that begins with Infinity Edge and the bust-heavy path that starts with Trinity Force.   If you don't follow one of these paths, you are playing a sub-optimal (read: bad) build and aren't going to perform well as an ADC.

But before I can present the builds, I want to talk about the role of the ADC in LoL.  Why should teams include an ADC? What characteristics make a good adc?


1) Characters with high and sustained attack damage are required to push towers, claim dragons, and kill Baron.

Claiming these objectives can takes many seconds and mages/assasins typically have low dps over long time intervals.  Tanks/Bruisers generally have better damage output in these scenarios, but because they generally build items to increase their survivability and rely on abilities for damage they also fall short.  Teams that include an ADC style character can clear objectives more quickly, which is one path to victory.

2) Some teams include characters that are incredibly tanky.

I'm talking that monstrous Cho-Gath, the full build Nautilus, Maokai the never dying tree, etc.  These champions can be more or less invulnerable if you don't have a team member with really high DPS and Armour Pen to kill them.  Other traditional sources of damage, such as mages/assassins, can make a big dent in these guys but generally can't finish the job.  Many tanks have %damage that make them very effective at fighting similarly farmed bruisers. 

The job of the ADC is to crush tanks when they become a problem. Sustained damage over time

3) After winning a team fight, whoever is left gets to try and claim objectives.

The ADC can survive fights because their superior range allows them to fight around the edge.  ADCs shoot into fights; they don't participate in them.  Good ADC play involves positioning so you never get attacked. A victory condition at the end of the game is winning a fight with a living ADC who can push for the W.

For these reasons, I think you should build an ADC solely to maximize damage output.  There is more or less one way to do this, independent of the character chosen.  Superior itemization leads to maximized DPS.  If you build around a particular character's passives/abilities, or include early surivability items, you won't be able to fill the ADC role when you get to the late game. 

In my next post, I'll talk about build paths that maximize DPS and compare them to other builds.

Faction ADD

I've been playing Skorne since moving to CA and I feel the faction ADD coming on hard.  I would like to try to polish a gem in the rough and I'm not sure I see any casters like that in Skorne.

It feels like I have 3 and a half options:

1. Khador
Greylord Cav have never been assembled and I've only played one or two games with 3Butch.  I also purchased 2 units of TAC to use in Khador but never got around to assembling them either.  Old Witch has been calling me lately too with SR2015.

Downsides?  New jack isn't out yet and wont be this year.

2. CoC
I have the BEs coming something this month, a ton of lights to assemble for Syntherion and a second unit of Reciprocators.  This faction still feels Wild West-y in that not many people play it and there has to be some room for discovery here.

Downsides?  The slowest, grindyiest faction in the game.

3. Ret
Tons of things I haven't played here too.  New caster, new junior, new unit of infantry and UA, new awesome jack and a Colossal.  I also like some of the modern tier lists like pVyross with the double Daemon, force wall and the Rahn tier list with the Colossal.

Also Ret is a fast faction which isn't something I'm really used to.  May be worth it for that alone.

Downsides?  Playing Ret.  I know Andy loves them.

4.  Find something to play in Skorne
eZ likely should be played more.  Also I should likely play pHexy more when he arrives.

Thoughts?

3 Flags Thoughts

I have played the new 3 flags scenario some and i've noticed a new dynamic from the last version i thought i would share. In the old version i noticed that i often wanted to go first to get a chance to sort of redeploy on the relevant flags and threaten past them before the scenario went active. Now i think i highly prefer going second. All the flags are equally valuable now and none go away. in almost every situation a player will need to contest 2 of the flags and give up the third to maybe running a model to contest. If you run your stuff so it is threating the flag turn 1 then it becomes very difficult for your opponent to even try to score what i've seen happen a bunch is that the person going first needs to either give stuff away trying to contest or engage the opponent at the absolute maximum range of their threat where they are the least effective. Moreover, by the second players second turn you can generally see the two flags the first player plans to fight
over. so, on the turn scoring starts the second player can send something small to control the off flag  and turn their entire army into the flags their opponents want. A lot of the time you can hurt the stuff put into position to contest maybe even kill it with guns or long range melee (i'm thinking a scythean deployed directly across from a flag or something equivalent like karn). so, i see three things happening:

1) They jam past/commit to control the flags/fight your army top of 2 thereby letting you alpha them without a reasonable opportunity for them to score to score (seems bad).

2) they try to contest the flags with the bare minimum of force which seems terribly difficult on three different flags considering that armies rarely have that many durable AND expendable models that can spread out that far. You probably get to kill some stuff and at least score the off flag. (seems bad, too)

3) they might not even contest the flags for fear of losing stuff to your models threating the flag in which case you can score three points by running stuff. at this point they need to clear or contest all three flags and you are on the cusp of winning. (seems worse)

4) they contest two flags aggressively planning to score 2 points on their third turn and abandon one flag. You can then run to control the flags they've abandoned and set up to threaten the flags they will inevitable try to control. This gives you 1 point before your armies smash into each other. At which point your opponent needs to exert enought pressure to win the two flags he's claimed while also extending sufficiently to at least clear the third flag. this is a game i feel that is playable for both but significantly favors the second player. (seems okay)

So, I think the changes turned this common scenario on its head and now going second is the natural choice. This tactic doesn't work for slow, bricky armies. However, those armies were never particularly good in this scenario anyway. Also, since you're going second you can counter deploy against the flags they plan to capture. Try to put a light warbeast or warjack on the flag they want to concede because those will require the most from your opponent to remove and they won't just die to a gunmage or a blast. The key seems to be to trivially apply pressure on that third flag for the entire game while fighting over the other two flags with the majority of your force. Every list seems like it can play for scenario by going second due to the simple fact that practically no list can play for scenario by going first.

As much as I loved the google group it had some issues.  For one, it isn't very inclusive for discussions and it would be fun to have a more open face for the group.  It also had some problems in directly replying to the group.

A open blog to post and respond to these lists and other thoughts could be fun and get the discussion rolling.  I was also inspired by taking to some tripbrut disciples and how they have been working on perfecting the work Joe abandoned with Mak3 over some Blog.

The only down side is I know some of you don't have a gmail account.  You'll need a Google account to post and likely to reply as well.  You should already have one of these but I know half of you are luddites as it is.

I need to figure out how to have the Blog inform me when there have been updates.  Also the template is likely going to be awful for a while.  I will give people admin writes once they sign up so people who would like to can adjust all that.