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Summer is officially upon us, and I've been doing just about everything but playing Warmachine. In fact, I haven't gotten a game in since we had the Mark II tournament back in April. No real reason -I've just been busy with summer stuff and fishing trips, but I wasn't about to miss this week's tournament at my FLGS. This one is a qualifier to the PAX Invitational. It is a 750 pt. Steamroller 4 event, and the winner gets a pass to PAX and earns a spot at the invitation-only tournament. I have no illusions of winning, but I'm going to play anyway, if for no other reason than to get a few games in.

That being said, with over a month off, I am in desperate need of a tune-up. Thankfully, Jen (bobaferret) was gracious enough to throw me a Thursday night game to help me knock the rust of things. I decided to jump back in with a version of the same Siege list I had success with in the MKII tourney, only this one would be a little bigger as we move 750. Here is what our two lists looked like:

My Cygnar Army (750 pts.) Siege Brisbane Squire Lancer Defender Thunderhead Journeyman Reinholdt Herne & Jonne 10 Sword Knights + UA Black 13th

Jen's Mercs (750 pts) Capt. Bartolo Mariner Mariner Dirty Meg Dougal MacNaile Rupert Carvolo Stannis Brocker Aiyana & Holt 10 Precursor Knights + UA 10 Steelhead Halberdiers 3 Steelhead Heavy Cavalry

Turn 1 (both): Deployment was uneventful with Jen winning the initiative. Nothing fancy on turn 1, with both sides basically running forward to mix things up as fast as possible - I had a unit of halberdiers over there as well as a unit of cav and a cav solo. I started worrying about my noticeable lack of infantry, and my complete lack of a good tarpit unit. I had dropped a bunch of points on the Thunderhead this game, wanting to test the idea that his pulse could eat through infantry fast enough that I wouldn't need the tarpit unit (just so you don't have to wait in suspense let me tell your right now, it can't.)

The end of Turn 1

Turn 2, Jen: We start to get it on, with Jen charging halberdiers into my lines. One gets into melee, but fails to kill anything. The Precursor block continues to creep forward while the twin mariners take advantage of the PK's kneel tactic and blast away at me from safely in their little Morrowan cocoon. One tees up the Thunderhead, who is looking like an obnoxiously big target in the front of my army. The other manages to deviate a shot onto the Black 13th and kills Ryan (oh, sweet Ryan). Meg and McNaile scramble around the whole time, making the 'jacks even better. Calvary sweeps around the right side, crashing by flank and forcing my Defender to deal with them instead of doing what he really needs to be doing.

The top of Turn 2

Turn 2, Me: I think about pulsing with the T-head, but it is just easier to drop a Ground Pounder on the halberdiers. Herne and Jonne try to AOE them to death, and manage to take out a few more. Sword Knights go in for cleanup. All but two die, which makes me mo' happy. Defender kills the cav that is in his grill, but realizes he has two more right behind it. I'm betting on a double-charge on Jen's next turn. I can't actually remember what the T-head ended up doing this turn, but looking at the photo, it must have been completely ineffective.

Bottom of Turn 2

Turn 3, Jen: The halberdiers charge the defender, doing some damage, and more importantly setting up flank for the cav charge, which comes next. Amazingly, the cav charge is an Epic Fail, with neither able to hit. The PK block advances over the fountain, and the Mariner's continue to pound on my T-Head. He's not looking so hot anymore, but he's still standing. Holt shoots a Sword Knight, and sends him to Urcaen. Bart moves up and pops feat, but doesn't catch nearly enough in it to make me nervous. [I forgot to snap a picture at the end of Jen's turn, so you will just have to picture it in your vivid (if slightly twisted) imaginations.]

Turn 3, Me: With Siege, my philosophy is pretty much win or lose, the game is ending in turn 3. Luck favors the bold. I shuffle the Sword Knights to get them out of the way (and out of Bart's feat). The Black 13th sneak up to the edge of Bart's control area, Lynch and Watts both scoring hits, softening him up. Herne and Jonne move up on the hill and take their shot at the boss, but miss wildly. Siege will need to finish it himself (as usual). I swing out around the left side of the sword knights and use Foxhole to sink the front line of Precursors and assure I have a clear line of sight to Bart. Siege feats, and fires off a Ground Pounder, and ends up laying out more damage than Bart's half-armored, already damaged ass can take. That's game.

End game. Rocket to the Face Hole.

While it was a win, it was a rough game. I felt rusty as hell, and I hated this army list. The Thunderhead was a 154 points of big-ass target, and I spent the whole game wishing their were trenchers up there instead (which is probably exactly what I'm going to do for the tourney version of this list). I also wonder about Herne and Jonne, who always seem to fall short of their potential for me. Back to the list-builder for a tune up on this one. Still, it was good to be playing again... Looking forward to some tournament play this weekend.

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine