CaptainCon and My First Attempt at Nemo3

I'm super-excited to go to CaptainCon this weekend. I've had about seven games of Warmachine total since Steamroller 2017 dropped last summer, and I'm hoping to get in a bunch over the weekend. Casual games all - I'm not enrolled for any tournaments - but I am indeed excited.

Battle Report: Legion (Kryssa) vs Cygnar (Stryker1)

This was an impromptu casual match in a game shop, and neither of us knew much about the opposing army. I just used the same Stryker1 list I had during the tournament months ago, as I was familiar with it. My opponent brought Legion.

Here's his list as best I could reconstruct it, and my own afterwards.


Legion (Children of the Dragon)

• Kryssa, Conviction of Everblight
• Succubus
• Azrael
• Nephilim Bloodseer
• Nephilim Bolt Thrower
• Nephilim Bolt Thrower
• Nephilim Protector
• Blighted Nyss Warlord
• Blighted Nyss Warlord
• Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters
• Bayal, Hound of Everblight
• Blighted Nyss Raptors

Cygnar (Heavy Metal)

• Commander Coleman Stryker
• Squire
• Centurion
• Centurion
• Lancer
• Charger
• Storm Strider
• Arlan Strangewayes
• Journeyman Warcaster
• Charger
• Alain Runewood
• *Cyclone
• Sword Knights (min)

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Legion Turn 1

The Hex Hunters run into the forest, gaining stealth due to prowl. The rest of the army moves forward quickly.

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Cygnar Turn 1

The sword knights run forward to the forest edge, acting as a screen for the shooty jacks. The Centurions move up into the zones. The charger and storm strider take out a couple raptors. Stryker gets blur, and both centurions get arcane shield. The Cyclone lays down covering fire.

With the covering fire in place, I should probably have put Blur on the sword knights, bringing their DEF vs shooting up to 16, but for some reason I thought there wasn't much shooting that was threatening them.

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Legion Turn 2

Hex Hunters take out three sword knights, and one charges and shadow binds a charger. Azrael sprays the centurion, taking out its cortex despite the arcane shield.

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Cygnar Turn 2

Looks like I goofed and left a couple jacks out of control range. The centurion has no cortex anyway, but now the charger gets no focus to shake its shadow bind. The lancer takes out the hex hunter engaging the charger. The charger can't move, but takes its unboosted shots. I think I actually made a mistake here, thinking that with shadow bind, the charger had no movement to sacrifice in order to aim. But in retrospect I think it could actually have aimed, given that shadow bind simply says that when you advance you can only change your facing - not that you can't advance at all.

The storm strider shoots Azrael. The left centurion moves forward, and the right one moves into a position where Arlan might soon repair his cortex. Arlan and Runewood take the flag, and Stryker feats.

Both players score their flags, and Cygnar gets a point for the righthand zone.
(Legion 1, Cygnar 2)

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Legion Turn 3

My opponent realizes that the centurions holding the zones are his biggest issue, and walks everything up to the one in the lefthand zone. (it isn't chargable due to polarity shield) With Stryker's feat up, the centurion doesn't take a single box of damage. A bolt thrower pushes Arlan off the flag, but Runewood holds it. The other bolt thrower toes in to contest the righthand zone.
Both players score their respective flags, and no points on zones.
(Legion 2, Cygnar 3)

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Cygnar Turn 3

There are a few options here. Kryssa just moved up to barely behind the forest, and I know I can get line of sight and range on her with both the Strider and a charger. It would be easy to take out the bolt thrower and score, bringing me to a two point lead, but Kryssa is camping zero fury, and I've got a good assassination shot, so I go for it.

The lancer runs up, and the squire moves to be certain he's in range of Stryker. Then Stryker casts Earthquake, boosting the hit roll. This knocks down Kryssa, leaving her at DEF7 due to the cloud she's in. The Strider moves up and hits on anything but snake eyes, boosting damage twice. This is enough to end the game, and I don't even need the charger shots.

(Cygnar win!)

Final Thoughts

• I can't help but think that if Kryssa had gotten the cloud and then activated afterwards, she'd have been able to move back behind the cloud after she'd done her thing, thus blocking line of sight entirely. She's also got tactical supremacy, which would let her reposition and get the same thing done.
• My opponent may have been as unfamiliar with my army as I was with his, and was likely not aware of Stryker's pop-and-drop assassination, which is most definitely a thing. He'll know for next time.
• Stryker's army is a tough nut to crack. I believe my opponent's plan was to push the centurions out of zones, but that wasn't possible with the strider. I think he was looking to remove the strider and push the centurions for a scenario win. It may also have been a mistake not to rush in and jam the shooty jacks. Chargers that get mobbed by infantry are sad and mostly ineffective.
• My army has a problem with stealth. The best option I've got is either melee or e-leaps.

My First Steamroller

This weekend, I participated in my first warmachine tournament. I've been playing the game for maybe two years, but hadn't previously felt ready. That was largely because I was terrified of deathclock.

I did find that during the tournament games, I got very shaky, couldn't do remedial math (ugh, what's 13 minus 7?!?), and made so many horrible decisions. I forgot to activate models, forgot to allocate focus, moved models into my charge lanes, forgot to feat, and lost at least one activation shooting at a stealth model. I didn't prioritize models, and basically had zero real plan much of the time. I played much of the game entirely without thought. This is not how I normally play warmachine. Deathclock stole my mind.

Novice Listbuilding: My First Steamroller

I've been playing Warmachine for just about two years now, since slightly before MK3 was announced. But it hasn't been until very recently that I've felt ready for a tournament. Now don't get me wrong - in many ways, I know that I'm still not ready, and may never be. But I'm not ever going to be any readier than I am now, so what the heck? Let's look at the list pairing thoughts of an utter amateur.

Battle Report: Durgen vs Nemo1

My friend and I will be attending a Steamroller tournament in a few weeks. It's my first, although he's been to a few in the past few years. To prepare, we both decided to practice one of the lists we'd be bringing to the tournament.

I was bringing my favorite caster, and the one with whom I'm most familiar: Nemo 1.