Warmachine: Quick Battle Reports

Luke, one of my regular opponents and the sole reason I've gotten back onto Warmahordes after a seven year leave of absence, let me borrow some of his models so we could get in a few quick games a week or two ago.

Luke obviously has a bit more experience in Warmachine than I've had lately, but he's still pretty much a beginner himself. There isn't much of a Warmahordes scene locally, but he and I plan to try and change that.

Here are a pair of (very brief) reports regarding those games. It was nearly two weeks ago now. I didn't note down the full lists (idiot), but we played two 25 pt games.

My list stayed the same throughout. I played Khador and I think I had:

Sorcha

War Dog

Juggernaut

Beast 09

Widowmakers

Widowmaker Officer

Great Bears of Gallowswood

Game One:

Luke fielded Kara, his favorite Cygnar Warcaster, with a pair of Hunters and a Squire. He also had a journeyman with a Defender and the Black 13th and possibly something else. I went first and advanced. Luke went next and popped his feat on turn one, tearing both arms off Beast 09 with his shooting and killing one of my Widowmakers. However, he got slightly too close to my Warcaster. On turn two, I Wind Rushed to within Tempest range of Kara, popped the spell with a boost to attack rolls and knocked both her and a shielding model over. After that I walked the Widowmakers forward and pumped shots into Kara and claimed a win! In turn 2 of my first Warmachine game in seven years!

Sorsha knocks down Kara with Tempest

Honestly, I think Luke just got a little over-confident and forgot that he wasn't playing a total beginner. Sorcha clearly hasn't changed much from her mkI days and, while I've always been a Merc player, I've played against Sorsha often enough that I remembered what she could not.

Not well enough though.....

Game Two:

Luke changed his list and brought epic Stryker (all the cool gamers call him eStyker these days apparently), a Squire, the Thunderhead, Ol' Rowdy, a Journyman Warcaster (the cool gamers call him "Junior") and Arlan Strangeways. Luke told me Styker could pretty much guarantee a Warcaster kill from 20" or so away so I ended up playing this game overly cautiously.

I SHOULD have popped my feat in turn 2, but forgot and charged the Thunderhead with Beast 09 (after it had already killed most of my Widowmakers). I forgot my basic maths for a moment and wasted a few points of focus boosting damage rather than purchasing more attacks. As a result, I hurt the Thunderhead but not badly enough. Ol' Rowdy had grudge up and was able to counter-charge Beast 09 as well, so it wasn't in great shape as my turn two ended with the Beast badly beat up.

In Luke's turn 3, the Thunderhead killed Beast 09 and my last two Widowmakers while Stryker ran over and killed their officer solo. That left me with just Sorsha, the Wardog and the Juggernaut against Luke's entire army minus the Gun Captain Adept I'd gunned down in turn 1. I stepped out from behind shelter, knocked a few models over with Tempest, but pretty much accomplished nothing because I AGAIN, for the second turn in a row, forgot to pop my feat.

Luke spent his next turn maneuvering for the kill and on my turn 4 I did the inconceivable: I actually conceded! Now not only is this considered very poor form in the Warmachine community, it's the first time I've conceded a game -any game- in over a decade. My hand was extended before I knew what I was doing. I even surprised myself. My wife was actually speechless (she was in the room doing some paperwork). I've only known Luke for about six months, but even he was pretty shocked considering I've always been pretty vocal about playing to the bitter end. A game of Warmachine in particular is famous for never being over till it's over and Luke had stranded his Warcaster all alone on the far side of the board. With Sorsha's mobility I could have been there in two turns. Granted, eStryker would have murdered Sorsha as soon as she got closed, but I might have gotten jammy. So I'm pretty disappointed in myself to say the least.

Still, I had a cracking good evening and my enthusiasm for Warmachine is stoked. Now if only my Arcane Tempest Gun Mages weren't stuck on back-order I'd be able to get a proper Merc game in!