Aftermath

Now, I am finally back and into the swing of things again, writing about warmachine on Tuesdays and Miscellaneous topics on Thursdays. This weeks Thursday post is going to be particularly packed, with the bevy of information coming out of E3 this week about a pile of my favorite video games.

Lock and Load

I had such an amazing time at Lock and Load! Every day of the convention was a blast, and I was able to meet up with old friends and get games in with people across the country and around the world. I was also lucky enough to hang out with a number of people that I only get to see at LnL, and it was a blast to catch up with all of them.

Thursday

The PG invitational was Thursday, and true to form, I broke out Rasheth with his Titans. However, I was pretty foolhardy and put him through the ringer: I jumped into a pod of Spelldrafters. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to play the game at 35 points, and I just wan’t prepared for the task.

My 35 point list that I played throughout the Con is as Follows.

Rasheth
-Cannoneer
-Bronzeback
-Bronzeback
-Gladiator
-Paingivers (x6)
-Agonizer
-Farrow Bone Grinders (x4)

This list ended up needing a ton of help in spelldraft, and I just didn’t get it. With animus and spells all going away, I had slow, pathfinderless Titans that were just as quick as Rasheth himself. Unable to lead from the rear, he was instead on the front lines. From there, he was quickly ejected by Abby 2, Severious 1 and Haley 2.

Abby 2 was a simple game of Shrednado, where he launched extremely long threat range Shredder at the Dominar to devour him on the top of turn 2.

Severious 1 was a rough game of back and forth with me trying to get a bead on Blessing of Vengeance, and him raining Arcane bolts into Rasheths plentiful head until he dropped of exhaustion

Haley 2 is a game I really, really enjoyed. While the other two were extremely fun as well, this one gave me a taste of what it is going to be to have to face Haley 3, as I was constantly having to try and get rid of Storm Lances that were being revived. Though Both Bronzebacks survived rounds against the Stormwall, it just wasn’t enough and I ate three charged to the face from Stormlances, and called it a day.

I ended up playing one 50 pointer that day, against Judge Prime, Boots himself. He’d warned me the night before that he had a ton of fun killing Hordes ‘Casters with Thrown Grievous Wounds attacks from Madrak 2. As it turns out, there is no difference with the weapon that Madrak 1 has, and I should have seen it coming. A single Grievous Wounds  toss followed by Crusher, and Mulg was able to drop the Rasheth in a single swing.

For those keeping score, that is 0 wins over the course of the day. Its been a long, long time since that happened.

Friday

I pulled an idiot stunt and somehow managed to sign up to Judge both Masters events Friday, running from 10:00am to 12:00am. It was a brutal slog, though fun, that was extremely exhausting. Me being me, however, I compounded stupid on stupid and decided that yes, I wanted to do the Team Tournament right after the second masters ended. Another 35 point series of games that I really wasn’t prepared to play in, that I teamed up with some random people and decided to give it a go.

I did better in this one than I did in spelldraft, which is good, leading me to believe it was less that 35 points sucks, and more that Rasheth needs his whole toolkit to be good.

I played four games, and the tournament took just over 7 hours. I stuck it out to the bitter end and played Rasheth in all but the one game required of me, Taking games from Goreshade 3, Makeda 2 and Vyros 2, while loosing a giant uphill slog against Asphyxious 3.

I started out against Gorshade 3, who I initially thought was a terrible draw for me. However, my opponent hadn’t ever played him before, so I had the upper hand in what I assumed he would do. The game ended with a Bronzeback surviving a fully loaded Desecrator and 5 attacks from a charging Goreshade. Shaking off the Stationary and healing two points later, I was able to put the Eldritch in the dirt, again, with boxcars.

 

My next match was against Cryx, again, and I should have known better. When Asphyxious 3 is in the lineup, don’t go beast heavy. Sadly, I didn’t even think about it, being late as it was, and dropped into one of the worst matchups possible. With almost no feat and little to protect Rasheth from a post-feat Asphyxious, I was unable to stem the tide against an incursion win.

 

Next, I took on Alex Smith, an opponent and all around good man I had played against two years earlier in the Masters. Last time we both had Cryx on the board, this time we both had Skorne. And, much like last time, it was a damned slog. Makeda 2 with Karn isn’t the most comforting thing to see across the table. I tossed down Fist because I thought I could out-grind it, and I was mostly correct. Karn whittled the army down while staying safe and all I could do was push forward. In the end, it wasn’t enough, and with one box left after rolling damage, Karn forced for an extra damage die and took me out…. But! I’d forgotten about the feat! I had 7 hp, not 1! Neither of us had moved models, so we just continued playing, with Alex leading off. He rolled another attack with Karn, instead of boosting, and missed, leaving me with just enough. Somehow, I was able to claw my way back to victory, and beat Makeda to death after dealing with Karn and surviving another assassination run by Makeda herself.

My final Game was against a gentleman playing Vyros 2, who, thanks to two local guys, I am very familiar with. I picked up Rasheth again and was able to put Vyros in awkward positions with Bronzebacks counter-charging feat-move Griffons and other nasty shenanigans. I was able to make some cool moves in one zone to try and clear it with a trample, Slam and Throw, but the Titan Cannoneer missed the boosted slam into Imperatus and called it a day.  In the end, however, I was able to maneuver a Bronzeback into Vyros, because he had to commit to a zone, and punching him down to size.

We didn’t come in last place, and played to the bitter end, so I take that a win. Our team name, Friends, was completely unoriginal, but we were too tired to actually get anything useful. However, our first opponent was “Off Constantly” so I had to report to the judges that “Friends Beat Off Constantly.”

Saturday

After a quick nap from 7:00 – 12:00 I was back up and at it! I was determined to play more 50 pointers, and I got off to a good start. I was discussing the desire to play 50 point games with another PG, and the guy behind me stopped and asked if I wanted to get a game in.

Of course I did! So, we picked a table and threw down! He brought out Ossrum, Earthbreaker and Company, playing a Searforge list, and I dropped… 6 titans. This game was something I thought I would be able to do a good job in, but I somehow forgot that an earthbreaker and just a little support can bring down a bronzeback in a single go. After running two bronzebacks pel-mel at the damned thing, he straight up removed one from the board on the top of turn 2. Seeing what folly it would be if I were to maintain the course, I switched over to scenario and ran my Bronzeback fully across the board to join my army again.

I was able to slow-grind him out, feeding the Earthbreaker his choice of Titans each turn, but otherwise keeping him occupied. I managed to get a Bronzeback into his Forgeguard, blowing most of them away, and a nicely placed BoC popped about 6 Highshields. Between the two, I was able to turn the game in my favor and forced a Bronzeback onto Ossrum for the MAT 9 Carnivore Kill. Victory #1 of the day!

after the first game, there was someone camping one of the scenario tables, the one from NQ 60 with the water tower and the Cactus Patches. He had a sign up for a game, and I dropped down to play him.

The Scenario was a defenders-game, and he was on the attackers side. Rasheth and his 6 Titans has to hold the line. If, by the end of the 7th turn he had not assassinated me or made me flee from the Water Tower, I won. I had to survive 7 rounds against whatever he had hidden in his bag. Axis, Tier 4. The waves of Recursion against the wall of Titanflesh! It was an epic battle, with waves of infantry crashing into my lines, killing titans while I retaliated with as much death as possible. I did, however, make judicious attacks whenever possible, fueling only what foundries I was forced to and not making extra attacks just because I could. It was a knifes edge to tread, but I did it well enough and long enough to make the end 7 rounds with only Rasheth and a Bronzeback left when the Skorne Reinforcements showed up and secured my victory!

After those two games and some dinner, I played the final game of the night against a pair of friends from out here in Baltimore that have moved to Seattle. We played a 35 point Team Mosh pit and it was completely insane. His TEP Put a hurting on Her Circle, and I put a hurt on his Convergence. My Titans got beat up by the circle. In the end, being around 3:00am, she finished him off, and I was able to take her out of the zone and win the game. 3-0 for the day wasn’t to shabby!

Sunday

So, Sunday was a lazy day of me getting games in and then heading out to an awesome local PG’s house to crash and head home Monday, the first of which was against a fellow who was trying out Goreshade 3. He plopped down a very dangerous list, with the Kraken, Soulhunters and Blackbanes leading the charge for Goreshade 3. Sadly, at the top of turn 2 in a killbox game, he had to go for it, as he realized that he was never going to be able to push through all of the titans and get to Rasheth safely.

 

Instead he put it all on the line, and with Goreshade simply inches from a pile of frozen titans, piled it all into Rasheth. He survived the volley of Siphon Bolts only to be dropped in short order by the Krakens Main Gun, the last possible weapon in the army that could fire, with the smaller gun on the Colossal about an inch out. First loss of the day.

 

My second Loss of this tragic day was handed to my by the new Ret Caster, Thyron. With Hyperion and Imperatus, I just had to much beef to chew through, but on his terms. He was faster, more aggressive and had the upper hand with reach weapon masters. I wasn’t able to, after a number of tries with a number of Titans, to take down either Hyperion OR Imperatus, and it was just the end of the game once he got Hyperion to Rasheth.

 

The final game of the day, of the weekend, and of the con, for me, was by far my favorite. I had the privilege and honor to have my ass kicked by Michael Plummer using the brand spanking new Haley 3, on the Livestream for all to see. It was Glorious!  However, instead of regaling you with the tales, I can let you go watch yourself. It was a close and fantastic game, and I loved being able to end the convention and the day on such a high note!

I love Lock and Load, and I cannot wait to go back again!