Ogrun Assault Corps

I bought the OAC (Ogrun Assault Corps) a long, long time ago. And I haven't really played with them in any list so far. I've never had a reason to include them, since there's always something "better" to add in Cygnars huge list of mercenaries. But I stumbled upon a thread were they where discussed as a solid choice against Legion, a faction I've always had trouble with.
But what do they really offer that, say, Boomhowlers doesn't? They have 1 less SPD and ARM, the 1 extra point of STR doesn't really matter since both units are P+S 12 in melee. They have more wounds, but lack super-tough. Well, I guess the only thing that they add are a powerful Battlecannon with 12" range, POW 12 and a 3" AoE. Combine that with Jonas Murdoch to give the unit Assault and a Warcaster with Snipe and we got something going.

Another thing to add is the "new" ruling about ranking officers, which means if you include Murdoch they can get the benefit of being trenchers for the purpose of Maxwell Finns Desperate Pace. Now we suddenly have a unit that have a 26" threat range (5 spd, +2 desperate pace, +3 charge, 12" range on battlecannons, +4" Snipe). My guess is most players won't see that coming. They still need to hit with stuff with their cannons, but that's why we play Cygnar. Rangers and Deadeye for the win.

Now, you still want them to survive in case they overextend. Arcane Shield will put them at ARM 18, and with pStrykers feat we're looking at Ogruns with impressive ARM 23 and 8 boxes a piece. That should hopefully protect your second wave of Stormknights to enter the fray unharmed. Well, that's the theory at least. I still haven't given them a try yet, but I will.

The list I'm gonna start with is of course pStryker since he has quite a few tools to help OAC with.

50/50
Commander Coleman Stryker (*6pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Ol' Rowdy (9pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Ogrun Assault Corps (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
* Captain Jonas Murdoch (2pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* * Stormclad (10pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)

Against Legion this should be a solid list. The plan is quite simple. Start off with casting Snipe on the OAC and give the Lancer a focus to run. Pendrake uses Beast Lore on the OAC. OAC uses assault on a suitable target (if there is one). The rest of the army follow up behind the Ogruns. Second turn you give Arcane Shield to the OAC and assault a second time. The Lancer might have found a target to Earthquake or you simply use Beast Lore again. Pop the feat with Stryker and hopefully you opponent now has to deal with 5 models with ARM 23 and 8 boxes each before the rest of your army is in melee. Sounds easy enough.

I might want to skip the Rangers and add the Black 13th to remove some support units. Perhaps I could even drop a Storm Gunner and get another solo in the list, like Gorman, Lanyssa or Rhupert for pathfinder if I find it necessary.

Two battle reports from "NorrCup"

Trolls, trolls everywhere

So I recently played 2 of the 3 games in the league "NorrCup". My first opponent was a Trollkin player and the second one was against Menoth. I couldn't take that many pictures since we were using my cell phone as a chess clock. So this will just be a short recap of what I remember.

In the game against Trolls I played my Siege list, he played a eMadrak list that looked like this:

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender (*5pts)
* Slag Troll (6pts)
* Storm Troll (5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)

We rolled for a random Steamroller 2014 scenario and got "Incursion". My opponent won the roll and wanted to go second and get a chance to choose table edge instead. I guess he didn't want a forest and a building blocking his huge force from advancing. The game was however very one sided.

We both pretty much ran everything the first turn. The second turn his Burrowers came up and with the help of Madraks feat they did some good damage to the Stormwall and locked him in combat. On my following turn I tried my best to kill as many Trolls as possible, but he made well over 60% of his tough rolls, which prevented me from moving forward with pretty much everything. The following turns he just wrecked my entire army. I failed with every tough roll on the Boomhowlers, and he wrecked my Stormwall with some insanely high dice rolls.

There wasn't much I could do after that. I tried to see if I could perhaps find a slim chance to assassinate Madrak since Siege was unharmed and unengaged, but with only two shots and Madrak sitting on 2 transfers I just conceded after thinking about it for at least 15 minutes.

My second game was against Menoth and this list with eFeora.

Feora, Protector of the Flame  (*6pts)
*Redeemer (6pts)
*Reckoner (8pts)
*Reckoner (8pts)
*Vanquisher (8pts)
*Hierophant (2pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Temple Flameguard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
*Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan (2pts)
The Wrack (3 wracks) (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

This time I went for my eHaley list since I knew my opponent have had a hard time playing against her. The scenario this time was "Process of Elimination". Once again I lost the staring roll and my opponent choose to go first which in turn gave me the table edge with a hill to hide on.

First turn started with things running forward. Stormwall did however get within range of a Reckoner and did some good damage to it. During the second turn things started to catch fire and both Blazers and Black 13th lost a few members, but nothing critical. On my second turn a used my feat with Haley and prevented him from getting any charges done. Haley dominated the Vanquisher and blocked a Reckoner from doing much that turn. Stormwall tried to get some damage on Feora but only managed to cause 2 boxes of damage. Third turn Menoth couldn't do much, but he destroyed one of the objectives to score a point.

On my third turn Storwall charged two of his jacks but some poor dice rolls left the Vanquisher standing. Tempest Blazers tried to move down the left flank and put some pressure on his army but I forgot to contest the zone. So instead I had to place my Stormstrider in the zone in a perfect charge lane for his remaining Reckoner. I did however score 2 points since I dominated to right zone with Haley this turn.

Fourth turn came and with the left zone hardly contested he went for some "free" control points. Reckoner charged the Stormstrider, but he forgot about the knock back and left the Stormstrider standing. Redeemer got Haley on fire and he moved as many models as he could into the right zone to contest for points. With the Stormstrider still standing he charged with Feora and killed it to remove my last model from that zone and to score 2 more points.

I saw to possible scenarios. Either I could kill Feora with the Stormwall or I could try and dominate the right zone and destroy the objective. Killing Feora seemed to be the safe bet, so I went for that play. With 4 focus and Temporal Acceleration it was only with the last attack that I did the necessary damage to win the game.

One loss and one win. My remaining opponent is playing Cryx with eLich and eDenny. Since only two players will continue to the playoff I really must win that game.

Preparing for "NorrCup"

The Pressgangers in the north of Sweden are planning a league. The league will be played in 3-4 areas, with 3-5 players in each league. Each player will submit 2 lists (with the usual rules of character restriction etc.) and face each player once. Then the 2 best players from each league will continue in the playoff.

I still haven't had time to build either my Connie or Kraye list, so I'll just pick the two lists I've played with the most. I don't know if they cover the weaknesses of each other, but I don't mind. I'd rather play something I'm used to than to play something completely new for this league. The two lists I ended up submitting are:

50/50
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Storm Strider (9pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Tempest Blazers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)

50/50
Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (*5pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Captain Jonas Murdoch (2pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)

I have no idea what I might end up playing against. I know we have two Cryx players, a Khador and a Legion/Retribution. My guess is I'll see eLich/pDenny/eSkarre from the Cryx players. My Khador playing friend will play eSorscha/Butcher3/Vlad3. I have no clue what the Legion/Retri player would play, my guess is eVayl with her nasty tier list.

I will do my best to take pictures and report each and every game that I play, so stay tuned. The league will start the 24th this month and will end in March.

Constance Blaize list building

 

So my next project for Cygnar will be the unloved Swan - Constance Blaize. I'm getting a bit sick and tired of always "having" to play with Stormwall in every list I make. Blaize seems to be one of the few casters who can run a pretty high model count of troops and just her Gallant in the battlegroup. There's been a thread on PP's forum where people have been playing her with quite a high succses rate, and I want to jump on that bandwagon.

The list I've got so far looks something like this;

Constance Blaize, Knights of the Prophet (*6pts)
* Gallant (9pts)
Precursor Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard (2pts)
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Firefly (5pts)
* Sword Knight Officer & Standard (2pts)
Archduke Alain Runewood (3pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Harlan Versh (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
My options from this point is either to try the Nyss Hunter with Jonas Murdoch for some shananigans. Assault, Dig In, Crusaders Call and the effect of Connies feat. According to the thread on the forums this a pretty solid tactic that can suprise a lot of players. The Nyss Hunters can get insane threat range with the help of Crusaders Call and Assault.

The other option I've got is to try the Silverline Stormguards and Stormblades. With the help from the Captain, Runewood and Rhupert they can become a solid line and perhaps let me make full use of the Stormblades.

The only "problem" is that I don't own either the Nyss Hunter or the Stormguards and I don't really want to spend money on both units before I played with them. I will try and get some games this weekend and proxy them.

Cygnar vs Retribution of Scyrah (eStrykver vs Issyria) 35pts - Battle Report

I actually got to play 2 games of Warmachine today, which hasn't happened in a long time. I'm back with Cygnar after the short Journeyman League with the Gators. I got my hand on some new models and planning on painting and playing a few tournaments this year, but I'll talk about that in another post. Let's focus on the battle at hand. My friend Emanuel made a list with Retributions latest caster Issyria and wanted to try her out. We played two games, he didn't change his list, but I ran eCaine in my first game and eStryker in the second. This is the report with Stryker. On to the lists.

Points: 35/35
Lord Commander Stryker (*6pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Ol' Rowdy (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 1 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (1pts)
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Archduke Alain Runewood (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)

Points: 35/35
Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn (*6pts)
* Hyperion (18pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard (2pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
* Soulless Escort (1pts)
Arcanist (1pts)

Setup

I won the roll and wanted to go second. The scenario was from Steamroller 2013 and the one called "Into the Breach" (I think...). The one with a flag and a control zone. He deployed Hyperion in the middle of his side with Invictors and Sentinels on each side. I deployed with Stryker and the Jacks in the middle, Sword Knights across from Invictors and Stormblade across from Sentinels.

Turn 1

Retri - Stuff ran, Issyria cast "Inviolable Resolve" on the Sentinels.
Cygnar - Stuff ran, Stryker cast "Deflection". Journeyman cast "Arcane Shield" on Stryker. 

Turn 2

Retri - Issyria cast "Crusaders Call" and upkept her other spell and used "Ancillary Attack" on Hyperion. Hyperion activated and killed 7(!) Sword Knights with two shots, both got Critical Consume. Hyperion also shot the Lancer and destroyed both arms. Sentinels charged the Stormblades and killed three of them and did some damage to Ol' Rowdy who counter charged and killed a Sentinel. Invictors moved forward and did a CRA on the Journeyman, but left him alive with three boxes. They also tried to kill Runewood, but he used his Sac Pawn to transfer the hit to the Lancer.

Cygnar - Eiryss shot the Sentinels to remove "Inviolable Resolve". Stormblades and Ol' Rowdy charged into the Sentinels and killed 6 of them. Sword Knights charged into Invictors and killed three of them. Stryker moved up behind Ol' Rowdy and used his feat. Stormblades and Rowdy killed some more Sentinels, leaving only the UA alive. Sword Knights killed two more Invictors during the feat. 

Turn 3

Retri - Invictors killed the remaining Sword Knights. The Sentinel Officer and Escort charged Eiryss but missed with their attacks. Hyperion got 3 focus and charged Ol' Rowdy and wrecked both him and the Lancer without needing to spend all focus. Since the control zone was cleared he also scored a point. 

Cygnar - I had two choices at this point. Use Stryker and the Stormblades to try and kill Hyperion and play the attrition game, or go for the assassination on Issyria. I went for the assassination run. Stormblades charged and killed Sylys who was blocking the charge lane. Runewood boosted Strykers MAT. Stryker then cast "Velocity" to get into position and then charged. Overload with three dices only gave Stryker +5 STR and did 9 damage to him. The charge attack hit and killed Issyria with a single blow. 

25pts Steamroller Tournamnet

Well... that didn't go so quite as planned. For some reason *cough* I was hungover by the time the tournament started. Multiple bad plays and some poor dice rolls really did it for me. I didn't know what to expect but there were a lot of good players at the tournamnet. I'll give you just a quick recap of my four games.

Game 1 - vs Reznik (Menoth)

A Reznik list with a Reckoner and a Vanquisher with some standard Menoth support units. The only unit he played was Flame Guards with the UA. The scenario was Close Quarter and I played with my Rask list. I used my feat early to not get shot down by his jacks, the following turn he sent in some Flame Guards to jam my Gatormen. My Wrastler got the charge on the Reckoner and killed it without using all of its Fury. The following turn the Vanquisher killed my Wrastler and the Flame Guards got some insane dicerolls and killed all of my Gatormen. Couldn't do much rest of the game and Reznik got the charge on Rask and killed him.

Game 2 - vs eVayl (Legion)Stupid tier list with 3 heavy beasts, two Angelius and a Ravagore. I played with Baranabus and I almost won the game. It became a slugfest in the middle of the board and he only had an Angel with 4-5 boxes left and the Spawning-pot-thingy. In the end he made a last atempt to kill Barnabas with a summoned Stinger. He got a realy spike in the damage roll and killed him outright(!).

Game 3 - vs Clanadra (Trolls)

Never played against this caster before. Earthborn, Stormtroll, Pyg Burrowers and some strong solos. I chose to play with Rask this time again. Was a pretty one sided game. The Burrowers made more than 60% of their Tough rolls. I couldn't prevent him from getting the charge and killing my beasts and gators one by one.

Game 4 - vs Gorten (Mercs)

Not a Seaforged list. He played with Gorten, Driller, Forge Guards, Thor, ATGM and a Mule. I played with Barnabus just to be able to hide in the swamp pits. The only reason I won the game was due to a miss play by him. Me moved Gorten to the flank, away from his main force, which let me use Barnabus feat and knock down his entire army and kill most of it in one turn.

Conclusion

Don't play when this hungover kids. Some real advice would be practice, practice and practice. I haven't played in quite a while and almost everything I faced felt like something I've never encounterd before. Hopefully this next Journeyman League will help me get in shape with Cygnar once again.

My first Steamroller with Gatormen

 



Holy Crap! I haven't done an update on this blog for ages. Well, I haven't been playing that much Warmachine either. Finished my first Journeyman League last year with the Gatormen. Didn't have that much time to play games, but I painted most of the models.

Anyway, this weekend will be my first tournament of the yeah. It's just a small local tournamnet at 25 points, so I will bring my minions this time around. There will also be a new Journeyman League (slow grow) starting next week, and so I will probably return to Cygnar as they are my main force. I will try and make some battle reports this weekend, but don't expect a lot of pictures.

As far as lists go, they're pretty straight forward. I will play 2 lists, Rask and Barnabus, and they'll be something like this:

Points: 24/25
Bloody Barnabas (*6pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
* Blackhide Wrastler (9pts)
* Ironback Spitter (8pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Feralgeist (1pts)
25/25
Rask (*6pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
* Blackhide Wrastler (9pts)
* Swamp Horror (8pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)