They say the third time's a charm... liars! Not for me anyway. The first game Saturday night was a 500 point match-up of my Cygnar against Marc's Cryx. For some inexplicable reason I chose Stryker as my caster. I've never really felt that he was the anti-Cryx caster, and this game certainly did nothing to counter that conviction. But before I get ahead of myself, I give you the lists.
Cygnar - 492 pts (played by me)
Coleman Stryker w/ Lancers x 2, Journeyman w/Charger, Stormguard x 6, Long Gunners x 6, Gun Mage Captain Adept x 1, Stormsmith x 1
Cryx - 495 pts (played by Marc)
Deneghra, Nightwretches x 2, Deathrippers x 2, Defiler x 1, Deathjack x 1, Mechanithralls x 6, Skarlock x 1
Here we see the bulk of the Cygnar force deployed on the road.
The Gun Mage Captain Adept on the other side of the woods...
...and a lancer and a stormsmith holding the left flank.
On the Cryx side of the table we had the scarlock with rippers and defilers on one side of the hedge...
...and Deneghra with her mechanithrall entourage on the other. Notice the nightwretches on the other side of the river.
The first turn for Cygnar consisted og a lot of advancing and running. The journeyman cast Arcane Shield on the Stormguard.
The man of the hour crests the hill with a lancer.
Stryker's other lancer stands near the long gunners...
...allowing Strkyer to cast a 6-inch Snipe on the unit.
The long gunners promptly ran into the forest.
Deneghra started moving her army aggressively towards the Cygnar battle line.
The Deathjack moves up and necrovents...
...and successfully casts Crippling Grasp on the Stormguard. I hate that damn spell.
The rest of the Cryxian force moves up and brings the turn crashing to a halt.
I started the second turn by moving a lancer towards the enemy. Stryker activated next and moved closer as well. Stryker started by feating, so all Cygnar models (save the long gunners) benefited from Invincibility.
Stryker also cast Earthquake and succeeded in knocking down a boneturkey and some mechanithralls.
My shooting was rather unspectacular. The charger took down a deathripper, and other than that, there wasn't a lot of action to speak of.
I did manage to get the stormsmith into position and disrupted the Deathjack.
Here was how things stood at the top of the Cryxian second turn.
Marc started the party by advancing the skarlock and casting Ghost Walk on the Deathjack.
The mechanithralls moved up and engaged a lancer.
The Deathjack moved into the stormguard and necrovented. Thanks to Stryker's feat none were taken out with this attack, however, the Deathjack cast venom and caused corrosion on a couple.
The Deathjack, as if to add insult to injury, starting hula-hooping in the middle of the proceedings. Cocky Cryx bastards!
Bonejacks cross the river.
This deathripper moved in range of the long gunners, the GMCA, and the stormsmith. The stormsmith gets eaten by Venom.
Stryker began turn three by casting Earthquake at the Deathjack.
There is some knockdown action from the Earthquake.
However, even with the Deathjack on his arse, I had great difficulty in causing damage.
Here we see the long gunners hitting nothing. Yes, you heard me, nothing. (But I'm not bitter)
Other mishaps took place during my turn, but I won't list them at present. Suffice it to say, I was accomplishing very little, and was also playing right into Marc's hand. I was spread thin, and had no solid core left.
Marc capitalized on this. Here we see Stryker in combat from my turn with a nightwretch. I'll come back to this in just one minute.
A deathripper runs to engage the long gunners.
And the mechanithralls piled in. More importantly, Deneghra advanced and popped the Withering. She was going for the kill.
She cast Ghostwalk on the Deathripper that was engaged by the lancer. Damn, I wish I had that spell in my arsenal ;)
The nightwretch who was engaged by Stryker and the other lancer left combat and circled around behind him. Neither Stryker nor the lancer could get a free strike off on the turkey. He blasted and hit for six points of damage. Although there's no picture, the Deathjack advanced towards Stryker and cast Scourge. The spell caused 4 damage and knocked Stryker down.
The ghostwalk-ed deathripper advanced in and took Stryker out with no effort.
And there you have it. I lost, deservedly so. I spread thin and allowed Marc to take me out one piece at a time. I'm still not convinced that Stryker is as effective at going up against Cryx as some other casters might be (Haley, Caine, and Nemo come to mind). Frankly, I don't plan on taking Stryker against the Cryx army again anytime soon, so we won't find out definatively one way or another for some time.
Other Events and Announcements from Saturday Geek Night
After a couple of games of Warmachine (both won by Marc), it was time to change gears. We generally wind down on Saturday nights with a boardgame or two. We started with a game of Mission to Mars, a VSF colonization game of sorts. It's a real blast, and we laugh a lot ("LOST... IN ...SPPAAAAAACEE....")
Next up is our old stand-by for 2008, Race for the Galaxy. This was the surprise Xmas gift from my wife that just keeps on giving. We are starting to wear the cards out. When you make a game this good, you should be obligated to make the cards out of plastic, wood, or solid steel.
And, finally, it has been announced... DRUM ROLL.... waiting.... waiting....
Ken and I have set the date for our first 1000 point game of Warmachine! Here it is, written in blood (read: pencil).
We both have a few models left to finish to play at this level. I have posted the announcement for your scrutiny, in the hopes that fear of public shame may motivate us to meet the date. Oh, and before I forget, the date is Saturday, October 4th. Keep watching kids - you know there'll be a report. We'll have Marc on site for witty repartee and photography.
Thanks for reading,
4 comments:
Cool report. One comment I hope might be of some use is a suggestion that you take a prebattle photograph of the entire gaming surface, whether the forces are deployed or not. This gives the viewer a sense of the overall tactical picture, particularly veteran Warmachine and Hordes players who are so well used to the 4' x 4' matrix and know, for example that the Deathjack can be 34" into the enemy after its first turn.
Nice report J. I'm doing one up right now for the second game of the evening.
Awesome Battle Report! Didn't the Deathjack go MENTAL after being Disrupted or did she sacrifice someone to it to keep it in check?
I assume something was sacrificed, but truthfully, the report is almost a year old and I can't remember. Thanks for stirring it up thought - I really enjoyed reading it again.
JET
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