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The Necrotechs Workshop LXI – Tournament Time

Every week on Thursdays – or as often as I can – I muse on the state of Cryx, the lists I’m building, casters I’m taking problems I encounters and generally everything to do with the Nightmare Empire of Warmachine.  

This week, I went to a tournament over the weekend, and thought I didn’t do good, there were tons of lessons to be learned from the showing. Lets take a look. 

The Gameplan

Following up on the article about the Kraken, Primal Terrors, and the Scaverous list, I decided to take a shot at it this tournament. Come what may, I was going to slam this list into anything and everything that reared its ugly head, no matter how bad the matchup looked. No reason to not test the list – I’d already qualified for the finals and I am going to the OTC – I had better get in reps with all sorts of versions against all sorts of opponents to get a feel for what I have going. Skarre 3 also made an appearance, because just in case a Sloan player showed their face, I had to keep them honest, even if it wasn’t going to be a great day for me. These were the two lists that I grabbed. 

At the last minute, I decided to take out the minimum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding party instead of the Support that Saxon and the Misery cage represented. On the upside, I was able to trade out the deathripper for a nightwretch, which mattered exactly once during the whole tournament, and then failed me when he did. stupid thing.

Round 1 – Protectorate

The first round of the tournament I get paired up with a friend of mine, and we both have talked about our lists to each other endlessly.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a good game – He’s using lists he’s barely run, and I’m using a pair of lists I have little familiarity with. He’s packing a Reznik 2 list with the most surprising jack, the Judicator, and a Kreoss 2 list with just a metric ton of infantry. The Scenario is standoff, and he picks Reznik 2. 

He wins the rolloff to go first, and I take the side with a wall and an obstruction behind the forest. The giant forest in the center was a huge pain the whole game, blocking my LOS to number of important models, but that was fine, because the two most critical models were both huge bases. Stopping Fires and Scourge, from getting the drop on the Kraken was going to be a right pain. 

Turn 1 was the typical run and set into position to get a drop on whatever comes close enough in turn 2. The Kraken, the arc nodes, and all the warriors were in positions to threaten, with the Smogs using the Obstruction on the right to assist delivery of the Boarding party. The Bloodgorgers, with the Magic of Saxon Orrik, took the center, and the Kraken took left. 

Turn 2 ended up being the critical turning point of the game, which is really where the system as a whole is now. Turn 1 is so critical to setting the pace of the game and turn 2 is where everything comes to a head. Turns 3-7 are trying to either eke a way back into the win, or cementing your lead and making sure you don’t do anything foolish. 

This day, I was foolish. Reznik 2 was within 14″ of the Kraken, which is easy TK and Charge range for the big beast, so I planned my turn around doing as much damage to the big guy as possible. I might not kill him, but I can threaten a spell assassination at that point. The first thing in the turn I did was run the arc node to a perfect position within 8″ of both Fires and Reznik 2. The Reznik player had realized that he was within threat range, and had boxed himself in nicely with models, so that I would need to do 2 or more TK’s to unlock him. Looking at the position of the Kraken and the Nightwretch, I decided I needed to move my arc node wider to allow a landing zone for the Kraken. This was a drastic mistake. Not only did it pull the arc node out of control, it also put me within Lamentation range of Reznik. There was simply no way I could recover at that point. The Kraken had to try and take Fires out, which failed, and though I was butchering the exemplars and consumed their souls for fuel for Scaverous, I wasn’t able to really make any headway, as both Fires and Scourge descended on the Kraken and removed it from the game. Behind by a whole colossal for no gain, I was quickly bullied out on scenario and lost 7-1. It wasn’t my best showing, but it was a showing. Not being aware of how much space I needed with the Kraken to land, and not checking the Control area at the end of movement for the Nightwretch were huge. I move into round 2 0-1

Round 2 – Circle

The second round I get paired up against a very strong local player who got knocked out of the running for the tournament as well, he too having used the list only once before in round 1 of this tournament. He brought Baldur 1 and Kreuger 2, I believe. The Scenario is Mirage, he dropped Baldur and took first turn. 

This round went long, and though I received the table edge, and the first option to score, I wasn’t able to make good on the advantages. Pushing up the board, he was able to position aggressively to kill my front lines rather easily while also having only a few of his models threatened at a time. Solid Ground is also a pain for this list, as Scaverous, Kraken, and the Smogs all have AOE’s that do significant blast damage. While I was able to peel out the Lord of the Feast with an arcnode bottom of 1, and was able to use eyeless sight Kraken shots to take out more than one solo, it wasn’t enough. 

We were both whittling each other down, taking of important models and trying to score zones and flags without giving up too much, the game turned heavily when he was able to, with the final 5 Bloodtrackers, do 42 damage to the Death Ward Kraken. With only 6 damage left, he was easy pickings for the Storm Raptors gunshots, and he wasn’t forced to commit the Gargantuan and possibly get it killed. With the rest of the tournament waiting on us, it being the top of turn 6, I was down Army points, Down control points, and down on clock. I decided to help everyone out, concede as the game looked to be toilet-bowling, and move on to round 3! 

Round 3 – Cygnar

This third round, I’m paired into a Cyngar player that I’ve not had the pleasure of playing against before. He’s got Kraye and Siege, and while they are both solid casters, I think that Scaverous can tank them both and do fun things. The Scenario is Recon II. He Drops Siege, I go first. 

I’m really happy with this matchup, and on the bottom of two, I’m able to take out more than a few of his infantry, reducing the chance of random gunshots taking down important models. I draw up my battle line with the house as an anchor and start to reach out and do awful things, gathering souls and slinging spells, I even take out his Ironclad with just 4 Black Ogrun Boarding Party. However, in order to do that, I decide that the best place for Scaverous is right next to the house, in front of the Gibbet. This is unfortunate because due to a bunch of small fiddly bits I failed at, he is able to get a ground pounder, under fire for affect and Feat, onto poor Scaverous’ noggin, leaving him at just 4 HP. while he took the rest of the turn, I saw the writing on the wall, and even after two rerolls, one for hit and one for damage, Triumph was able to put Scaverous in the dirt on the bottom of 3. It wasn’t my finest moment, and I honestly don’t know what possessed me to be within aiming range of Triumph with no camp. It just was a lapse in judgement.  I go 0-3 into round 4. 

Round 4 – Khador

This round, the fourth and final, I am paired against another good friend. We’re not having the best day. He’s got Armored Corps and Wolves of Winter, I believe. We’re playing invasion, He drops Irusk 2, and I go first. we’re off to a good start. 

This game goes fairly swiftly, as we both push into the scenario zones, denying each other the possibility of scoring early. The middle zone is a shit show, and neither of us is scoring it ever. His feat, a bit early in the game, slows down my momentum and minimizes the damage I can do on the left with the Ogrun. On the right, while I am able to quickly pick off a Strike tanker with the help of TK, a feast of worms, and a single Bloodgorger, he quickly responds in kind with the Demo Corps and the Bombardiers, eliminating almost all of them from the board. He does not, however, destroy Gerlak, and that is a huge problem as Gerlak goes on a tear and eats 6 MOW on his own. The Kraken, too, rounds the house from right to left, and though he is battered and bruised from Shock Trooper and Demo Corps charges, there is a lane, the smallest of lanes, that allows a Nightwretch that had lurked behind the lines until now, to run within 8″ of Irusk. I popped my feat, quickly TK’d him around, and a quick few spells to the back of his noggin later, he was dead. 

It wasn’t a clean or pleasant victory, but it was my one victory for the day, so I’ll take it. 

I think I just played the Kraken wrong the whole day. I don’t have enough expendable troops to both prevent anyone from getting to the Kraken, and to trigger up Gang Fighter. It’s really, really hard when all my models want to do work. I still think that this iteration has legs, I just have to get in a time or two with it to see if I am crazy, or if I have something here. 

Until next time! 

As always – if you’re looking for more Seething Ginger, I’m on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, though they all aren’t equally active The Seething Ginger Facebook Page is easily the busiest. 

If you want to hear more of my stupid opinions, listen to the Battle Driven Podcast! 

I make my lists at Conflictchamber.com