Rush of battle

I just realised I forgot to post anything about Thyron's theme force in the Reckoning summary, so here it is!
His theme force is called Rush of battle and allows the following models:
Warjacks: Any non-character Myrmidon
Units: Houseguard units, Mage hunter infiltrators, Stormfall archers
Solos: Arcanists, Ghost snipers, Houseguard solos, Soulless solos, Narn, Sylys

As you can see it's a pretty wild mix of models without any real "theme" to it (oh you). Kaelyssa's theme is clearly mage hunters, Ravyn's is guns guns guns, Rahn's is magic and so on, but this guy brings something from almost every branch of the Retribution, with the notable absence of anything Dawnguard (which is probably because house Ellowuyr seems to despise house Nyarr) or Shyeel (I guess Ellowuyr hates them too?). There's also a good mix of both melee and ranged models allowed.

Only a mother could love these guys.

So what requirements do you have to fulfill to climb the tiers, and what benefits do you reap from it?
Let's check it out!

Tier 1
Requirements: Same as ever, only take the above mentioned models.
Benefits: Solos gain Advance deployment.
Right out of the gate you're getting a real benefit from the theme, instead of something like "FA U to unit X". Advance deployment on all solos is a nice benefit, and even though the most important one, Narn, already has AD it will be really nice for Voidtracers or Ghost snipers (who really should've had AD from the start). Arcanists and Sylys will probably not want to use it too often, but the Thane might like being a couple inches further up the board, since the Halberdiers tend to rush ahead on turn one.

Tier 2
Requirements: Take two or more Halberdier units.
Benefits: Get a free Halberdier UA that doesn't follow FA restrictions.
This right here is the money tier. A second unit of fully functional Halberdiers is an amazing benefit, especially for this guy. His Onslaught spell solves the issue with Pathfinder that Halberdiers and Sentinels have struggled with for a while, but Sentinels remain slow since Thyron does nothing to speed up infantry. Halberdiers on the other hand are already ridiculously fast thanks to the Thane, so they will get the maximum benefit out of Onslaught (and the feat!). Getting a second UA means the second Halberdier unit will be accurate, punch really hard and be very mobile.

These two, on the other hand, are the life of any party!
(well, mainly the officer, John the standard bearer is just tolerated)

Tier 3
Requirements: Take one or more unit of Mage hunter Infiltrators.
Benefits: You gain +1 to your starting roll.
I've never been too psyched about the Infiltrators. They're great at killing lighter infantry and were released just as the meta took a turn towards heavy armour, so they never really got a chance to shine before the game outran them. Thyron does offer them a little something with his feat though! Side step is a great benefit for these guys, since that makes it so much easier to trigger Gang across a wider area. The additional dice to hit is also nice, although they were always pretty accurate. Eiryss3 makes for a pretty good Storm rager target as well, making sure she hits with her melee attacks and deals some damage with them, and then she can Side step away and fire off that deadly crossbow of hers.
+1 to start is one of the best theme bonuses you can get, and since Thyron is such an offensively focused warcaster you really want that bonus, so taking a unit of Infiltrators is worth it in my opinion.

Tier 4
Requirements: Take three or more light jacks.
Benefits: Thyron can begin with his upkeeps in play and doesn't pay to upkeep them during the first round.
Another pretty good benefit, but that requirement. :(
PP hinted in their official podcast that Thyron's theme force "would hint at future releases" and I think this must be it. Our current light jacks do very little for Thyron (except for the Aspis on feat turn) and while he has some nice jack bonuses they're really more for the heavies. So I hope this is a nod towards the ever-elusive Vyre light jacks that we've heard talks about since before Vengeance.
I definitely don't think the benefit is worth taking three light jacks, you're better off with a Banshee or two in your battlegroup if you're playing Rush of battle.

This guy gets to stay at home, yet again.

To summarise; I think Rush of battle is an interesting theme force, apart from Tier 4. The theme lacks some of the models that Thyron would love to take (Imperatus, Skeryth Issyen, Mage hunter assassins) but it offers some strong benefits instead. It probably won't be the best way to play him but I also don't think you will gimp yourself by playing Rush of battle. It does compete with Dawnbringers when it comes to fast infantry-spam, and I think Dawnbringers does that better.
Still, I'm considering getting a second unit of Halberdiers + UA to try this out, because it looks like a lot of fun!
Here's my sample list, and with that I sign out for this time!

Tiers: 3 - Rush of battle
Points: 50/50
Thyron, Sword of Truth (*5pts)
* Griffon (4pts)
* Banshee (10pts)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (7pts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard (2pts)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (7pts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard (0pts)
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander (3pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Houseguard Thane (2pts)
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios (3pts)

Reckoning and the Retribution!

So I figured I would talk a bit about the Retribution releases in the latest expansion book for Warmachine; Reckoning.

I think Reckoning was a really great book for every faction, they all got several nice and useful models and the amount of chaff was pretty low. But since this blog doesn't deal with non-Elves, we'll keep to the important part; the Retribution models.

Thyron, sword of truth

The biggest elf on the block!

New warcasters are always very exciting as a Retribution player, since we have a lot fewer than everyone else there's still a lot of room for new playstyles and options for our new casters.
Thyron really embodies this; he brings a bunch of new abilities to the faction, many who have been desired for a long time.

Thyron has a very solid statline, with SPD 6, MAT 7, DEF 15, ARM 16 and 18 boxes he is decently fast, hits well and can take some hits before going down. He has a single weapon, Remembrance, which is a P+S 13 magical weapon with Reach and Weaponmaster, meaning that when Thyron hits he hits hard.

His special rules further strengthens his martial theme, with Blade shield (+2 DEF vs shooting attacks), Riposte (if you miss him in melee he gets to swing back at you) and finally Field marshal [Cleave] (each model in his battlegroup can, once per turn after killing a model, make an additional attack). It's a good set of abilities, they're all fairly situational but they further increase his survivability and the damage output of both himself and his warjacks. Cleave synergises very well with his feat, since a warjack (or Thyron himself) can charge a model blocking a charge lane, kill it, Side step and then use the Cleave attack on the intended target, thereby not losing you any attacks.

His feat, Blades of vengeance, grants Thyron and all friendly Faction members who activate in his CTRL area an additional dice on melee attacks and Side steps.
This is a typical Retribution feat in that it grants more dice and a little side effect, but contrary to other feats' side effects (Swift hunter, +2 RNG on spells) this side effect is really good. Side step is great on any of our melee jacks and works well with most of our infantry, especially the Infiltrators and the Battle mages. The mages can do some real scenario work with Side step and Beat back.
The extra dice is of course good for all our melee infantry, but I think it synergises best with his jack(s).

His spell list reads kind of like the wishlist of a Retribution player:
Assail is the single target jack buff I've been wanting for ages. It combines focus efficiency and a movement bonus in a great package. The only drawback is that it's expensive to cast, meaning you're unlikely to cycle it, and it prohibits you from getting all your three upkeeps out on turn 1.
Ground zero is probably not the most exciting damage spell in the game, but it offers some scenario potential with the push effect. Since this is Thyron's only damage spell it means that he is unable to deal any damage at range, it's all about the melee!
Onslaught How long have Retribution players asked for Pathfinder for their infantry? Forever is the answer! Vyros2 did provide a Pathfinder spell but it was a clunky one that doesn't mesh with his preferred playstyle so it has been largely ignored, but here finally is a Pathfinder spell that all our melee infantry can make great use out of!
Spellpiercer We already have a lot of models that ignore bonuses from spells, but those models generally boast weak attacks. Now your Dawnguard and Houseguard can also enjoy ignoring DEF and ARM buffs, and as an added bonus your entire army can now kill ghosts without a problem.
Storm rager There's the age-old mumbling about how Ret can never get any damage buffs because Arcane assassin and the Strike force, but here it is, a bona fide damage buff that you can put on any of our crazy solos!

In my opinion Thyron is a great package that offers a lot of new things to the faction, both solutions to old problems (Pathfinder) and interesting spells that buff many of our jacks and solos. I don't think he'll end up being as strong as Vyros2 or Issyria, but he's definitely in contention for the third place.

Moros

"Fade to black..."

When asked about which warcaster you'd most want a character jack for, I don't think most Retribution players would answer Garryth. But a character jack he got nonetheless!
Despite being in league with our worst caster, Moros is pretty decent. It's a bit ironic that out of all our casters, Garryth is probably the least likely to actually include Moros in a list.

SPD 6, MAT 7, RAT 6, DEF 12, ARM 16
6 pts
Death shadow - RNG 8 POW 12 magical gun with Paralysis (living enemies hit have their DEF reduced to 7 and can't run or charge for one round).
2x Blade - P+S 13 swords with Grievous wounds.
Same grid layout as a Gorgon.

Stealth
Affinity [Garryth] - Moros gains Apparition.
Duelist - +2 DEF vs melee attacks.
Field dependant - While the Generator is crippled, Moros lose Stealth and his gun.
Special issue [Garryth] - Moros can be taken in Garryth's theme forces.

Moros is definitely nothing earth-shattering, and I think he's probably our "worst" release in this book. I still maintain that he's pretty solid though, if this is the worst model you got in a book you did good!
He's got the standard bump in MAT and RAT that most character jacks get, and he brings some decent hitting power plus Grievous wounds, which can make a real difference in some matchups. His gun is great, and if you can protect him I think that's where you'll get the most out of him. Casters with Admonition will make great use out of this guy, especially Ossyan who wants to bring a lot of high-POW shooting with questionable accuracy.
Duelist means he might survive for some time in melee, although with the crappy base defensive stats that all Myrmidons except Imperatus are riddled with, it's far from a given. DEF 14 is not high enough to jam with in my experience.
Finally Stealth is a great rule to have. It might not do anything vs Legion but it will be very useful in the Troll and Skorne matchups, where you might want to drop Ossyan.

Helios

Such an awesome piece of artwork. I really hope the model lives up to it.

The big (heh) thing in this book are the new colossals. Every faction except Mercenaries got one (and Mercenaries already had two so they don't get to complain about missing out) and ours is so far the only colossal without a gun that deals damage, and it's also the cheapest colossal so far points-wise.

SPD 5, STR 16, MAT 6, RAT 5, DEF 10, ARM 19
64 boxes (same grid as Hyperion)
17 pts (!), FA 2.
Tractor beam - RNG 12 ROF 1 gun with no POW but Rapid shot [3] (3 initials) and Force grip: models hit by the Tractor beam can be pushed up to 3" in any direction.
2x Inferno fist - P+S 20 weapons with Open fist, Continuous fire and Flame burst (when you box an enemy model with this weapon, enemy models within 1" of that model suffer Continuous fire).

Immunity: fire
Field dependant - While the Generator is crippled you lose Force barrier, Force gate and the gun (I really hate Field dependant...)
Force barrier - +2 DEF vs Ranged attack rolls and immune to blast damage.
Force gate - You can spend focus during your activation to gain the Force gate abilities. For each focus you spend you gain one ability of your choice. They last for a round.
 - Broadcast power - Each friendly Myrmidon within 3" is allocated 1 focus. Myrmidons can only receive 1 focus per turn from Broadcast power (so no using it twice or stacking it with multiple Helioses).
 - Distortion field - Helios gains +2 DEF and Poltergeist (models that miss Helios with an attack are pushed D3" directly away).
 - Repulsor field - When you hit Helios with a melee attack you are pushed 1" directly away.
Virtuoso - Shoot and fight in the same activation!

The Helios is a really interesting piece. The lack of a damaging gun hurts, but you get a lot of utility and staying power instead. The main army support comes from the Tractor beam. Being able to pull models closer to your army to kill them, or away from your guys so they're safe is a really powerful tool. RAT 5 makes this ability unreliable or costly against anything with a DEF higher than 10, but you can expect at least 1 hit against models up to DEF 13. If you absolutely need to hit you can boost, but that will cost you Force gate abilities.
Force gate is the other thing that makes the Helios such an interesting piece. Broadcast power provides a lot of focus efficiency if you field several warjacks in addition to the Helios. Since this is an expensive colossal you're probably not doing that in a lot of lists, but with for example Vyros2 Griffon spam or Kaelyssa's Force wall it is a very powerful option. Distortion field and Repulsor field mesh together to make the Helios into the most survivable model in the game. Being DEF 14 vs shooting is very good for a colossal, this means that Slag trolls will need 9s to hit you, meaning even boosted hits stand a real chance of missing. In melee the enemy need something to stop the pushes or they will get a maximum of three attacks onto the Helios per enemy model. Couple this with Inviolable resolve and the Helios becomes ridiculously hard to remove.
Finally, but definitely not least, is Immunity: fire. This might not seem like such a big deal, but being basically immune to Legion and Protectorate shooting is a fantastic advantage in those matchups, especially since you are probably dropping Griffon spam into them anyway.

House Vyre Electromancers

I imagine this is what an Iosan boyband would look like.

When spoilers started trickling in from Lock and Load these guys definitely caught my attention. I thought they were going to be our 3-man character unit but instead they turned out to be similar to Stormfall archers, a small unit with a big toolbox. They're probably not as great as I think, but I really love the concept and will be trying them out a lot when they're released.

SPD 6, MAT 6, RAT 6, DEF 13, ARM 12, CMD 9
3 guys for 4 pts, FA 2.
Inducer bolt - RNG 10 POW 12 magical gun (damage type electricity) with three different attack types, just like Stormfall archers. The types are:
 - Energy leak - For each hit a warjack suffers, it can be allocated one less focus for one round. Models immune to Disruption are immune to this effect as well.
 - Lightning generator - D3 electro leaps if you hit the target.
 - Pulse fire - Target suffers D3 damage rolls instead of one.
Storm inducer - Reach magical weapon with P+S 11 and Cortex damage (when you hit a warjack, it suffers one damage in the first available Cortex box).
Immunity: electricity

I think this unit has great potential. A lot of people have complained about their short range and how it will get them killed, but I think you can hold them pretty far back early game and still do work. They can bounce Electro leaps off of your warjacks into important enemy infantry and solos, and from a safe distance. Electro leaps in general are a great tool since they offer us a good way to remove support models that are hiding out behind other stuff. Now sure, the MHSF can also do this, but if the support model has Stealth or high DEF the MHSF are unreliable. Electro leaps get around all that. It will be extra fun if you're playing a scenario with objectives, since you will have two targeting beacons to bounce your Electro leaps from. Also fantastic for unjamming your colossal or warjacks. Energy leak would have been great if it worked on colossals, but as it is it might as well not be printed on the card, it will never be used. Pulse fire is a situational tool, but under the right circumstances it will deal a lot of damage to heavier targets. Couple it with Kiss of Lyliss and/or Ossyan's feat and watch them blow up a heavy by themselves.
Also this is finally one of the fabled Vyre units for Ossyan's theme force.

Soulless voidtracer

"You shall not cast!"

These guys really came out of nowhere. There were no rumours at all about them before Lock and Load so they were an extremely pleasant surprise.

SPD 6, MAT 6, DEF 13, ARM 13, CMD 5
1 pt, FA 2.
Two-handed sword - P+S 12 magical sword with Reach.

Fearless
Stealth
Arcane vacuum - When a model in this model’s command range is targeted by an enemy spell, before the spell is resolved the enemy spellcaster takes D3 damage points. 
Soulless
Spell ward

Definitely our best release in this book if you ask me. These guys provide so much for a single point that it's just ridiculous. They're Stealthed and Spell warded which is great when you want to contest zones. Arcane vacuum means you can park one of them behind any of your important models and watch them become immune to Druid and Battle mage pulls, Hex hunter bolts etc. Since Arcane vacuum stacks if you have two of them, you can do that and watch Aiyana become very uncomfortable about casting Kiss of Lyliss. Even casters might think twice about that debuff when it might result in 6 points of damage to them. It's great to have another filler option for the 1 pt slot, it's fantastic that it's also an amazing piece at that. I'm pretty sure these guys will replace Soulless escorts for most players.

Since Warmachine players seem to love rankings I figured I would end the article by ranking our releases in this book from best to least best (can't really call it worst since none of them are bad). So with the best at the top and then going down:

1. Soulless voidtracers
2. Helios
3. Thyron, sword of truth
4. House Vyre Electromancers
5. Moros

Masters of the Universe (and Westridge) 2015

Each year my gaming club organise a big national tournament with good turnout, and this year was no different. We decided early on that we wanted to try out the new Masters rules this year, mostly so we had an excuse to use the awesome name Masters of the Universe (and Westridge) for the tournament. :p
We ended up getting 43 attending players and everybody had a blast!
I ended up winning the whole event which felt really great. This was my first big tournament win, I've gotten some decent results before but never a win of this size, so that was awesome. :)
Since the tournament happened a week ago I don't remember enough of my games to write any detailed battle reports, but I'll write some quick summaries and thoughts.

I played the following two lists:

List 1
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 4 - Winter Storm
Vayl, Disciple of Everblight (*6pts)
* Succubus (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Bayal, Hound of Everblight (0pts*)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Objective: Fuel cache

Theme force benefits:
Tier 1: Blighted Nyss Hex Hunter units become FA U.
Tier 2: Add Bayal, Hound of Everblight to one Blighted Nyss Hex Hunter unit free of cost (included above).
Tier 3: Warbeasts in Vayl’s battlegroup gain +2 SPD during your first turn of the game.
Tier 4: The LOS of models without Eyeless Sight is reduced to 8˝ during the first round of the game.

List 2
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 4 - Machinations of Shadow
Vayl, Consul of Everblight (*6pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts*)
* Angelius (8pts*)
* Ravagore (9pts*)
* Ravagore (9pts*)
* Scythean (8pts*)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Spell Martyr (1pts)
Objective: Fuel cache
 
Theme force benefits:
Tier 1: Non-character solos in this army gain Advance Deployment.
Tier 2: You gain +1 on your starting roll for the game.
Tier 3: Warbeasts with Flight gain +2 SPD during your first turn of the game.
Tier 4: Reduce the cost of heavy warbeasts in this army by 1 (included above).

Game 1 - Oskar Kinding with Trollbloods - Destruction

Oskar was pretty new to Warmachine, this was his first big tournament and we were both excited to get started.
Oskar played ADR and brought Jarl Skuld and Grim2. He dropped Jarl and I dropped Vayl1, since I was facing Trollbloods.



List 1
Points: 50/50
Jarl Skuld, Devil Of Thornwood (*6pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
War Wagon (9pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Scattergunner Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Feralgeist (1pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Objective: Stockpile
 
Specialists:
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)

I won the roll-off for first turn which is huge when you're playing Winter storm, so I went first. I ran all my stuff full steam ahead, except for the Hex hunters who only ran far enough to not be within threat range of the Scattergunners. He killed nothing on his turn and jammed me up a little with the Scattergunners. After that I managed to clear a path for my Scythean to Mulg, and killed him without problems. After then the game kind of lost steam for Oskar, and I ground him down over a couple of turns, finally winning on scenario with 5-0 CP.

Game 2 - Mathias Malte Johansson with Khador - Close quarters

I was really happy after having won my first game (I always get such tournament nerves before the first game of a tournament) but not so happy about having to face off against Butcher3 in my second game.

List 2
Points: 50/50
Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed (*4pts)
* Juggernaut (7pts)
* Juggernaut (7pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Koldun Lord (2pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Raluk Moorclaw (2pts)
* Vanguard (5pts)
Objective: Fuel cache

I chose to go with Vayl2 since she has more tools to deal with Khador overall, and she can always pull out an assassination if things start to go south. I was lucky enough that there was a sizeable forest in the middle of the table, so I could park my beasts on the other side of the forest from the Butcher, meaning I could get to him but he couldn't get to me.
He played the entire game very cautiously, slowly advancing with Butcher and the jacks on one side of the forest and the Pikemen on the other side. My Ravagores plus an Angelius controlled the Pikemen through Scathers and Refuge shenanigans, and after Mathias felt he had to get into the thick of it with the Butcher himself the Butcher was left on 4 focus, and I had two Ravagores, an Angelius shot, a Scythean charge and Vayl's feat to deal with him. He died after two Obliterations and a Ravagore shot.

Game 3 - Joakim Langebäck with Trollbloods - Fire support

I've played against Joakim before with my Retribution and only just managed to pull off a lucky assassination in that game, and this would end up in a similar situation. Joakim brought two Grissel meat mountains, and dropped Grissel1 on me. As usual vs Trolls I dropped Vayl1.

List 1
Points: 50/50
Grissel Bloodsong (*5pts)
* Pyre Troll (5pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Northkin Fire Eaters (Leader, Grunt and Pyg buddy) (4pts)
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Objective: Bunker

Once again I had the fortune of going first, so I rushed up as far as I could. Joakim surprised me with being able to get a Fire eater spray onto Vayl which I had to transfer, leaving her on fire and me feeling stressed out already at turn 1. :p
I managed to get his Mulg on my turn 2 though (what is it with Troll players and giving up Mulg so easily? :p ) and I also got a couple of Warders. This is the end of my second turn, after feat moves:

He ended up not being able to kill the Scythean, who could then kill 4 Warders before finally dying. We ground on fairly long but in the end he had to commit Grissel to kill my final Ravagore, and I then had Vayl, the Seraph, a full Spawning vessel and a Shepherd left to do the job. Obviously the Shepherd delivered the final blow!

Game 4 - Niklas Bergmark with Mercenaries - Recon

Niklas was a new opponent for me. I've seen him doing pretty well at tournaments over the last year or so, so I was happy to finally get to play against him and see how I would do. He dropped Bartolo on me and I dropped Vayl2. I was a little afraid that he would drop Thexus since that guy can pull off so much shit, but he was too afraid of the Vayl2 assassination.

List 2
Mercenaries - Four Star
Captain Bartolo Montador (*5pts)
* Galleon (18pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire (4pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Rorsh & Brine (9pts)
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw (9pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
Objective: Fuel cache

I think I won the starting roll once again, but I elected to go second so that he wouldn't get the side with the hill, because Colossals on hills is the dumbest thing ever. As an added bonus that gave me some extra protection against all his shooting.
He ran all his stuff up, and in a move that I'm especially proud of, I calculated the distance to his Gorman and realised that I could get a spawned Harrier into him on my turn one, and that was too good an opportunity to pass up. With Gorman dead all my beasts were very happy.
He then ran his stuff up, the Galleon almost halfway into the zone. He then considered feating, but decided not to, since he forgot that my proxy base was a Scythean. The end result was that the Angels plus the Scythean took out 1½ side of the Galleon and from there on the game was pretty much mine. I ended up killing every single model in his army and getting 5 CP. Niklas was a great opponent and I hope I'll get to play against him again in the future!

Game 5 - Gustav Berggren with Legion of Everblight - Two fronts

So now there were only 3 undefeated players left and the pressure was really on. Gustav is a very good player who I've played against before, that time with my Skorne and he won that game, so I was itching for revenge. Gustav is kinda famous in the Swedish tournament scene for bringing unusual lists, and this time was no different. I chose Vayl1 since she is great vs Hordes in general, and Gustav dropped Thagrosh1 with his New blood theme force. Exciting!

List 1
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 4 - New Blood
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)
* Naga Nightlurker (5pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Harrier (0pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Harrier (0pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Stinger (0pts)
* Stinger (2pts)
Beast Mistress (3pts)
* Shredder (0pts)
* Stinger (2pts)
Shepherd (1pts)
Objective: Armory

Theme force benefits:
Tier 1: Increase the FA of Spawning Vessels and Beast Mistresses by 2
Tier 2: Each Spawning Vessel in the army begins the game with one corpse token.
Tier 3: Add one warbeast to each Beast Mistress’ battlegroup free of cost.
Tier 4: Beast Mistresses and warbeasts in their battlegroups gain Advance Deployment.

That's a lot of free points!

I finally lost the starting roll here, but since I was facing off vs Legion the theme bonus when going first wouldn't have been important anyway.
We both started off cautiously, him walking his lessers forward and Digging in the Stingers. I managed to kill a Harrier and a Stinger on my first turn, and then Slip streaming my Ravagores back out of threat range of the remaining Stingers. The game was a real nailbiter and we both grinded for quite a while, but I managed to take out two of his Vessels fairly early and neither of them could even spawn beasts when they died (one wasn't full and the other died to a Continuous fire roll) which was huge. I could then contest a lot of corpses with my own Spawning vessel, and since I was able to Rampager his Ravagore and take it out with my Scythean he had little in the way of dealing with my Vessel.
I ended up winning the game on scenario, with Bayal being a total boss and clearing my zone twice. That guy might be too expensive for normal lists but damn is he good when he's free. ;)

Game 6 - Stefan Benediktsson with Cryx - Outflank

Stefan is from my gaming club and I've faced off against him many times in the past. Last time was at another tournament a month ago which he ended up winning. I had brought Lylyth2 as my Cryx drop in that game but he recommended I try Vayl2 instead since he feared her a lot more. So I did!
He had played Goreshade3 in all his previous games and so he was list-locked, which was great for me since his Goreshade list is his usual Legion drop. I of course dropped Vayl2.

List 1
Points: 50/50
Lord Exhumator Scaverous (*5pts)
* Helldiver (3pts)
* Nightwretch (4pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (3pts)
Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (5pts)
The Withershadow Combine (5pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Warwitch Siren (2pts)
Warwitch Siren (2pts)
Objective: Armory

I won the roll-off and chose to go first, so I could get the side with a hill touching one of the zones.
I moved up cautiously, except for with my Refuging Angelius who was going to fly up, shoot a Mechthrall and then Refuge back. Except he missed the boosted shot at the Mechthrall...
This gave Stefan an opportunity to take out my Angelius on his turn 1, but thankfully his Mechies rolled bad and the Angelius lived. After that we both fought well, but he only had the Nyss hunters, Gorman and a Warwitch siren in the right zone, which meant it was fairly easy to clear it and start scoring. He could clear out his zone as well though but I had a bunch of beasts to contest with and after a very intense game I ended up taking it on scenario, 5-4 was the final CP score.

This was a really great tournament, it felt amazing to finally win an event and I played against 6 great opponents who all offered fun and challenging games. I'm very happy with this pairing and will definitely be using it for future events. Both Vayls are incredibly strong and they both have fantastic theme forces.
I also ended up winning the Executioner trophy for most army points killed over the tournament, and I got a Best painted trophy for my Hyperion.

Welcome to Elves n' stuff!

Hello there and welcome to Elves n' stuff.
This will be my blog where I talk about the two Elven factions (Retribution of Scyrah and Legion of Everblight) in Privateer Press' Warmachine & Hordes game.
I've been playing miniature games for about 14 years. I started out with Dark elves in Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition and played various factions in that game, but throughout my run in Warhammer the three Elf factions were always my favourites. Four years ago I tried out Warmachine and I never looked back after that. I picked Retribution of Scyrah as my starting faction because I found their models to be the coolest, and because no-one else had picked them up locally.
I've since dabbled in Skorne and Legion as well, and earlier this year I decided to focus on Legion for the time being, since I consider them to be one of the most competitive factions in the current meta.
This blog will contain battle reports, my thoughts on models and lists, and hopefully some of my paintjobs from time to time.


Anyway, welcome to Elves n' stuff and I hope you will enjoy your stay!