MKII: Stryker vs. Bartolo
My Cygnar Army (50+6 pts)
| Jen's Mercs (52+5 pts)
|
Deployment. Every model but one (Strangewayes) in my army painted!
Turn 1: Jen won initiative, and went first. For the most part turn 1 was uneventful, both armies running out toward the inevitable collision. I kept the Stormblades back a little bit to make sure I’d get a chance to lob some lighting before we closed into melee range. I really didn’t like the idea of Dirty Meg’s Nomad and Mangler charging me at the top of turn two, so I used Bedivere (the Lancer I have embedded in my Sword Knight unit) to drop an earthquake right on their heads. Junior cast Arcane Shield on the Sword Knights, because that’s what he does.
End of Turn 1. Everybody runs.
Top of Turn 2. Eminent Bloodshed.
Turn 2, Me: My Lancer advances to engage Meg’s Nomad and Mangler, and pokes the Nomad. While the damage was inconsequential, the real value is in setting up the Flank for the Sword Knight charge that is about to happen. The Sword Knights charge the two heavies, laying out a respectable amount of damage. Here is the first place MKII was different – with Dismember and Sword Master under MKI, I would have thrown two POW 10s and 9d10 of damage. This time I only got one attack at POW10+4d10. While part of me misses all that extra damage, the other side of me realizes how absurd it really was. Even under the new rules I was able to take out more than half of each jack, disabling their main weapon systems.
On the right side, the Stormblades receive the assault order and smash into the Precursors with lightning and blade, utterly decimating them. One of the Stormblade’s AOEs manages to take out Aiyanna on a lucky roll. The charger steps up and takes a shot on the standard-bearer, but misses. The Black 13th shoots up the Nomad on the far right, ending with Ryan getting off her Chain Attack Mage Storm and catching Eiryss in the AOE, killing her. Finally, Stryker hides behind a tree like a bitch so Holt wouldn’t shoot him in the face.
Bottom of Turn 2. Ten dead Precursor Knights.
Turn3, Me: I’ve never played vs. Bart before, and it occurrs to me that I have a couple of choices – I can either pull back to avoid the next-turn knockdown or push in and just deal with it. It would have been a harder choice if I wasn’t playing Stryker, but his feat counters Bart’s nicely… Sure, I was going to be knocked down, but I would still be damn hard to kill. So, Stryker abandons his hiding spot and moves up to mid-field make sure he has everyone in his control area, and then pops his feat. He also takes the opportunity to lob another earthquake onto Herne & Jonne, and manages to catch McNaile and Holt in it as well. Finally, he puts Arcane Shield on the Sword Knights (and Jr. re-casts it on the Stormblades) just to make sure we were maxed out on the armor for the knock-down turn.
I take advantage of a very exposed Bart and use my Stormclad to give him a full measure of lightning, boosting the damage and putting 8 points on him - and as an added bonus, the lighting bounces and kills Reinholdt. Next, I try to slam the Nomad back into Bart with my Centurion, hopefully causing some nice collateral damage and knocking more stuff down. Unfortunately, I only roll a 3 on the attack roll. The Stormblades attack the jacks and shoot lightning at the Precursors, but thanks to a string a bad rolls they are mostly impotent. The second wave of Sword Knights charge Meg's jacks, managing to scrap the Nomad, and damn near take out the Mangler.
Bottom of Turn 3: Preparing to get knocked down.
Turn 4, Jen: Most of my right flank is knocked down this turn from Bart's feat, making them easy to hit, but Stryker's feat has their armor up to astronomical levels. The Precursor Knights pop their mini-feat and attack the Stormblades, killing two. The Vanguard goes after the officer and but can't get through the 23 armor, while one Nomad mixes it up with the Centurion. Herne and Jonne take a shot at Stryker, but miss. We didn't even roll for deviations because the blast damage couldn't touch anything with the armor, although the Mangler does manage to kill another Sword Knight. Bart takes a play out of Stryker's playbook and hides behind a tree like a bitch, pulling his other Nomad as a bodyguard.
Top of Turn 4: Trying to get through Stryker's feat.
Turn 4, Me: There is always that point in a game when you can smell the blood in the water and you just look at the table and think, “Okay, how can I get this done right now.” This was that turn. I took advantage of the new Shake Effect rule to put my Charger, Stormclad and Centurion back on their feet during the control phase, and then I start working through my kill options.
First I would try the Black 13th – Watts was knocked down, so he just stands up and shoots a jack, but Ryan was out of Bart's control range, so she could run in and take a shot. She manages to land all both shots and the chain attack, but only puts four more wounds on Bart. Next the charger wades into the fountain at the center of the map, boosts, and drills the dirty pirate for another 4 points (BTW, spending one focus to boost both attack and damage is sweet!) At this point Bart is hanging on by a thread, but I don’t have anything else that can get to him turn… Or do I? The Stormclad advances just into range and targets the Nomad that Bart pulled back to be his personal bodyguard, and lets the lightning fly! He hits, and the lightning bounces to Bart on the bank shot - It’s only a POW 12 vs. Armor 19 (with Batten down the Hatches), but boosted, I manage to land 2 points – which is just what I needed. The dirty old pirate goes down, and that’s the game.
End of the game. Death by Bank Shot.So, that was my first MKII experience, and all in all, it was a good one. The changes to the units were noticeable, but everything still felt useful and appropriately costed. More importantly, contrary to all the grumbling, I didn’t feel like my army lost any of their fine Cygnaran flavor. It was still all about making your opponent slog through arcane shield while you shoot them in the face with lightning. Jacks felt far more solid– we had only lost one at the bottom of round 4, and they could actually hit things without boosting. Shake Effect is a great new rule – it still gives you a chance to wail on a knocked down opponent, but it doesn’t take away their entire next turn. I am definitely in the camp that is completely excited about MKII. My biggest complaint at this point: No pictures on the stat cards made it a bitch to find the right one during the game. For this weekend’s field test tournament at my FLGS I think I’ll draw stick figure versions of all the units on their cards…
Labels: miniatures, MKII, wargaming, Warmachine
Oh sure, I started writing my report Sunday, but had managed to hit a road block. Nice of you to write yours so I can have "motivation."
As for my list... it was correct in iBodger. :P
Posted by
ghettokorestudios |
11:43 PM
Ask, and yea shall receive: color Cygnar cards!
http://firstarcana.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2:cygnarcards&catid=1:warmachine&Itemid=10
Posted by
Elliott |
8:41 AM
As always, an excellent batrep! I know what you're saying about that "blood in the water" feeling - but in my case, there's usually a measure of desperation mixed in with it. "Alright, how do I win this right now, because if I don't it'll be my blood in the water next turn."
Posted by
Elliott |
9:08 AM
Elliott - WOW! Thanks for the color stat card link... those are awesome. I'm going to use those for the army I use in the MKII tourney this weekend for sure. The fact that you saw my comment on the stat cards means you actually read the whole damn thing too - a fact I am eternally greatful for.
As far as the blood in the water thing - yeah, I totally agree with you. One of the things I really enjoy about warmachine is that it often comes right down to the wire, with some kind kill-or-be-killed moment where you get to play like you have a pair.
Posted by
Dangerfish |
9:45 AM
hahah, your response is a little ironic, actually. I read your introduction and conclusion, then posted about the color cards, and only THEN did I go back and read the whole battle report. -_-;
Beyond the "play like a pair" mentality, there's another adage I keep in mind, taken from Go: "Lose your first hundred games quickly." Taken together, it means I do really foolhardy things, all in the name of some ill-conceived sense of masculinity.
It seldom works, but when it does - crowning moment of awesome.
Posted by
Elliott |
12:13 PM