[Wargaming] Tournament summary and thoughts

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I travelled over to Leicester today for my first Warmachine tournament of the year. I'd been told that it started at 10:30, and after a tangle with Leicester's current heavy roadworks and diversions, made it to the venue about 10:15 to find that the tournament was literally just starting. I'd made it just in time!

It was a small affair - only 8 players - and very Warmachine heavy. We had two Cryx players (including myself), three Protectorate players, a Mercenaries player, and a Khador player. The sole Hordes representative was playing Legion.

I said in my other post that I was hoping for 'not last'. Sadly that wasn't to be, and I did indeed finish at the bottom of the heap. Sadly it wasn't even particularly close, and I put in what was a pretty poor showing at times. Not the worst I've ever played, but not the best either. I do miss playing more regularly.

I'm going to do a quick run down of my games, then put down some thoughts on my lists, and finish up with some general thoughts. I'm afraid there are no pictures (I forgot to take my camera with me), so you'll be subjected to random images that fit the theme.

My first game was against Rob, the Khador player. He was playing the Old Witch, and his list was something like:

I took my Deneghra list, lost the roll-off, and was made to go first. The scenario was Fire Support.

The game was decided by some poor tactical play on my part. Rob pushed forward very aggressively on my left with the Old Witch, getting her in position to dominate the flag there and then feating. In response I tried to shift out of her feat towards my right, but I'd left too little on my left flank to prevent him from racking up CPs. He scored 3 on his third turn by destroying the objective and dominating, and I couldn't run enough in to contest against the Behemoth, Yuri, and two Manhunters to stop him scoring again on his next turn. I tried an assassination run with one of my arcnodes, and dealt a fair bit of damage to the Old Witch, but after being forced to use my feat defensively it wasn't enough.

0-1, 0 CPs, 4 VPs

My second game was against one of the Menoth players, Chris, who was a thoroughly nice chap. He had the Testament and Kreoss2. I knew that the Testament was unlikely given my lack of souls for collection, and thought my Venethrax list stood a better chance on the scenario against Kreoss2. Chris' list was

Again, I lost the dice-off and was made to go first. The scenario was Outflank.

This was a great game, and very close. I pushed hard on both flanks; on the left the Bloodgorgers toed the edge of the zone, facing off against a minimum unit of Bastions, a Vigilant, and Kreoss2 himself. On the right flank, the Satyxis package run right up into the middle of the zone to stare down a couple of units of Knights Exemplar and their attendant Seneschals. I managed to get the first charge on both flanks, pinning the Exemplar at the edge of the zone and getting the soul train rolling. A couple of turns later, with 11 focus after souls, I saw an opportunity to go for the assassination. My Pistol Wraith took a potshot, then one of the Helldivers charged in and did a few points to Kreoss. A boosted Blood Rain into the back of the Vigilant caught him in the blast damage. He was low enough that a second would have a chance at killing him, so I went for it, but sadly left him on a few points. That left Venethrax in the middle of the table with one focus. Fire of Salvation took a vengeance move, Kreoss feated, then the warjack trampled to get to me and that was game. Very little was actually killed in the end, and no CPs for either of us as I couldn't quite get rid of the last Exemplar to clear the zone.

0-2, 0 CPs, 14 VPs

My final game was against a fellow whose name I didn't catch. He was the other Cryx player, and had Mortenebra and Deneghra1. I didn't fancy my Deneghra list against either of them, particularly the Mortenebra list which I thought he would take, so I went with Venethrax again. Sure enough, it was Mortenebra facing me.

Third game, third dice roll lost. This time though I was made to go second. The scenario was Incursion.

I threw away the Satyxis early by charging into the heavy warjack wall on turn one, forgetting to Power Swell, and only CMAing some of the time. I plinked a couple of points on the Slayer, doing some feedback damage, but then the Leviathan, Slayer, and Seether killed 8 out of 11 and the unit broke before being wiped out the next turn by Scrap Thralls. On the tight flank the Bloodgorgers eventually made it to the flag and would score a couple of CPs over the last few turns of the game. I should perhaps have thrown them into the mixer, but without pathfinder they would have struggled to become relevant. Venethrax was under real pressure by this point, with his Bane Thrall escort evaporating after scrapping the Leviathan, and he was eventually surrounded by three heavy warjacks. Miraculously he survived two turns of this, the second time on only a single wound. In retaliation I got a Helldiver to Mortenebra and did some damage over a the turns I had, but my last ditch effort to get Gerlak to her failed when he missed Deryliss. I shouldn't be surprised, that's what normally happens with him! Sadly Venethrax didn't survive a third turn...

0-3, 2 CPs, 33 VPs

Some thoughts on my lists

I'm reasonably happy with my lists. The Venethrax list performed as I hoped it would in game 2, and to be honest I think I got greedy going for the assassination and overextended. I had the upper hand on attrition at that points, and should have continued to put the pressure on and look for an assassination opportunity later on. The inclusion of the Satyxis as a fast attack element for early soul collection worked very well, and at 35 points I think Venethrax works better out of tier than in. At 50 points I can see it being different if you go all the way to tier 4. I can't think of much that I'd want to change in the list as it stands, except perhaps fit in the Withershadow Combine. That would mean dropping the Bane Thralls though, and having them there as an armour debuff and hard hitting unit is helpful. Or I could drop the Pistol Wraith and Saxon Orrik, but the shooting gives me another threat angle and I definitely need the pathfinder.

The Deneghra list I'm also fairly happy with. No helljacks to get the extra units in there was the right more, and it felt more of a complete list than my previous iterations did. Unfortunately I played it poorly, and I still think it's got good potential as the number of arcnodes combined with Deneghra's spell list worried people a lot!

General impressions

I want to finish with a quick word about TableTop Tyrant, the venue for the tournament. I'd never been before, but I'm very impressed. The staff were very helpful and friendly, and they have a massive amount of stock, covering a wide variety of ranges. There's the usual large amount of Games Workshop and Privateer Press, with a fair amount of Flames of War too, but they've also got Spartan Games stuff, X-Wing, Soda Pop, and I even saw some of the Batman miniatures game in there. There's not a huge amount of gaming space (I think we could have had maybe one or two more games going), but sufficient I think. My one comment would be that it was pretty messy and disorganised, but it's by no means the first games shop I've been into that's been that way. It's also nowhere close to being the worst offender, or even the most cramped. If you're in Leicester, have a bit of time to kill, and are into miniature games, go check the place out.