Tourney Tales - Valentines' Massacre

Hi again everyone, the dust has settled on the Valentines' Masscre tournament at my LGS so I'm here to tell you all about it. This is the tournament that I've been preparing for for the past few weeks so I was looking forward to it. Right up until the actual morning of the event, that is, which is when the cold I'd had brewing exploded into a full on head cold and I felt awful. Despite that though, I dragged myself down to play some Warmachine. (See how I slipped my excuses in early). Because of this illness I didn't get any photos like I said I would, and my memory of the games is foggy at best. Because of this I'll just write up a quick summary of the games I played for each round rather than a turn by turn. 

The lists I took were the two I'd been practicing with:

List One:

Intercessor Kreoss +5

-Vanquisher -8

-Reckoner -8

Min Choir -2

Vassal of Menoth -2

Nicia, Tear of Vengence -3

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord -2

Covenant of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Daughters of Menoth -5

Max Exemplar Vengers -11

Max Exemplar Errants with UA -10

List Two:

eFeora +6

-Bonded Judicator -18

-Reckoner -8

Vassal of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3

Dartan Vilmon -3

Saxon Orrik -2

Gorman Di Wulfe -2

Min Choir -2 

Max TFG with UA -8

Min Zealots with UA -6

Round 1

My first game was against Will whose Mercs I'd had a practice game against last week. This time around, though we both decided to use our other lists, with me taking Intercessor Kreoss and him electing to take Magnus the Traitor. His list consisted of two Renegades, a Max unit of Nyss Hunters, eEiryss, Carvolo, Dougal MacNaile, Ayanna and Holt and probably most importantly Gastonne Crosse with a Galleon. From my part this game was a complete flop. I managed to allow Will to 'live the dream' with the list, getting a turn 2 assassination to win the game. A re-rolled deviation (thanks to Dougal) on a Renegade shot knocked Kreoss down, allowing the Galleon to pump him full of shots before hitting the drag (Double powder rations) and using the free melee to stomp on Kreoss' head. Not an especially auspicious start to the day, with me only managing to score 3 army points of damage for the whole game by killing Eiryss. 

Round 2

My second round game was against a Cryx player who was using Sturgis the Corrupted. I elected to drop eFeora to handle the infantry that was in both of his lists. His list comprised of Sturgis himself with a Harrower, a max unit of Boomhowlers, Gerlak Slaughterborn, a full unit of Bloodgorgers, a full unit of Bloodwitches with the UA, Orrik to give them pathfinder, Ragman, a Warwitch, two pistol Wraiths, and a min unit of Bile Thralls. It was a meaty list with lots of tough and other shenanigans to make it hard to get through. The game was pretty back and forth, and was fairly balanced throughout. Mainly because we were both really unlucky, failing to get off multiple things. The Bloodwitches and the zealots traded mini-feats to ensure that neither did anything for two turns. There was a turn when he passed no tough rolls, including the 4+ Boomhowlers, and then the following round not a single troll failed. We both took critical chain attacks but missed the second hit despite needing 3s to hit. Throughout the game Sturgis got work done, moving up the field with Relentless Charge to kill a bunch of stuff before yo-yo-ing back with teleport. This left his caster pretty bare for most of the game, and so he took a pounding from blasts from the Judicator. The Judicator was his main priority, putting all of his efforts into killing it, but missing the mark by around five damage boxes. In the end the blast damaged and the fact that fire never went out was what won me the game. despite being outside of Feora's Caustic Presence, the fire stayed on and the pow 12 was enough to finish off the former Cygnar caster and win me the game, making me one for two. 

Round 3

My third game of the day was against one of the youngest players in our meta. Despite his age, however, he's a canny opponent who generally practices against some of the best players we have. He was using Cygnar and had made a commitment to destroying a colossal for the day. Because of this he dropped a Siege list, and I obliged by dropping eFeora. His list included a Defender and a Squire with Siege along with a unit of Gun Mages marshalling a Hunter, a max unit of Tempest Blazers, Jakes with a Stormclad, accompanied by Arlan Strangewayes. The list also included Rienholt, Gorman and Pendrake. 

I spent the majority of the game sniping out the key support solos in the army, and using blasts to overcome the Cygnaran high DEF and take out a bunch of models. A lucky deviation from the Stormclad landed right on Jakes, killing her and making it inert. To overcome this he moved his Gun Mages into the zone and thunderstruck his own Jack backwards towards Arlan so he could reactivate it. This pushed the Jack out of the zone, following which the zealots and the Judicator managed to clear the zone and score a point. We both attritioned well but he found Passage'd jacks frustrating for his list and couldn't clear them from the zone, while I couldn't reach his caster for a reliable assassination run on him. In the end we got to dice down on a very unclear point in the game where there was no certainty which way it might have gone (his feat turn could have crippled me, or left him exposed to a solid assassination run) and since I'd scored one point I won on tie breaker. Putting me at 2 for 3 for the day. 

Round 4

The final round saw me paired up with Mark, the Khador player who I faced a couple of weeks previously during my iKreoss test games. Much like with Will we both ended up using our alternative lists. I played eFeora and he was locked into Vlad 2. The list included Sylys Wyshnalyrr, a Spriggan two units of Doom Reavers, Fenris, a max unit of Uhlans, along with the solo, and a max unit of IFP with Black Dragon UA. 

This game was good, and much like last time I massively out attritioned him, killing all but one of the IFP and Uhlans respectively, and leaving only two or three Doom Reavers by the end of the game. Despite this he put a bunch of pressure on me, moving across the board quickly and locking me out of contesting his flag. He made several attempts at an assassination run on Feora but she proved too hard to kill. He scored defensively on his own flag for 2 rounds, forcing me into a long shot assassination run. I hit with a double boosted rocket pod, wiping out half his boxes, and doing a couple more with the secondary blast. I then boosted the second rocket pod and would have hit if not for the Might of Kings bumping up his DEF, doing a bit more damage with the blasts. The Reckoner then managed to get a line on him and took another shot, but didn't have any focus for boosts, and even though he managed to hit, didn't roll enough to kill. He was left with a handful of boxes and on fire, but managed to score the final point for the win, leaving me on 2 for 4 overall for the day. 

The games I played were really fun, and apart from the first game I felt like I was always able to take control. I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if I wasn't feeling so sick, but nonetheless it was a good day, and I'm already looking towards the new casters I want to try out...

Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates and more!

-M