Fists of Death Part 1

So I've been playing Warmachine Since 2012, when I moved to Seattle and decided against 40k. During that time I played Circle, then Ret, and then, after dropping Ret out of frustration, Skorne.  With the transition to Mk3 I dropped Circle for good and have been dreaming about Helynnas smooth head and Rahns control abilities.... I miss TK... I really do. Also there are few images as funny as a bunch of battle mages playing with a dire troll like its a beach-ball, just pushing him back and forth, you know you're not doing much damage and its pissed but who cares you have force powers! Anyway! I keep myself distracted so that I don't hear the siren song of pulling me in d3" at a time. As part of this, I decided to see how viable one of our old theme forces is without any theme bonuses. Since I can also practice Xerxis1 (who I am embarrassingly bad with) it seems like a win-win.

The First Finger : Xerxis

The man himself, since this is made with a mk2 theme list in mind its fair to say it wouldn't be possible without him. Although it might now that we have, Inviolable Resolve on Zaadesh2 and Zaal1.... This list also covers up some of what has been my biggest weaknesses with X1, LoS. The wall of medium bases mean Xerxis gets a nice hiding place that just isn't possible with our Karax, and can sometimes become the job of a war beast that you may need to be doing something else. While the Krea is an option, and a good one, it clashes with some of the other things Xerxis offers.

Which brings us to the second reason this list can still work, his Tactician rule. In a 20" bubble around Xerxis Friendly Faction Warrior (FFW) models can ignore other FFW models when determining LoS and move through each other if they have enough movement to move completely through. This is huge for this list. Xerxis makes his troops work like a well oiled machine with Cetratii holding the front line and everyone else charging through them or shooting them and dragging them in or setting them on fire. All the while staying safe from reprisal. This also brings me back to the war beast option, specifically the Krea, you cant move through it which can mess up your order of activation by having to clear a hole for it. It's not always a problem but in a list like this a sliver of LoS where you don't want it can be very bad.

Finally we have his defensive capabilities, Defenders Ward and his feat. I call his feat defensive because the list has plenty damage in it with the number of weapon masters you can bring, so you will want to pop your feat to make your brick harder to kill. I mean if you get the chance then yea destroy the world and live the dream of rolling 5d6 on damage but more often then not your better served using it to keep people alive.

The Second Finger: The Cetratii

The second most important part of this list is the Cetratii. With Tyrant Vorkesh you're looking at a 7 man unit of tough, steady medium bases that cant be targeted by spells to screen your entire army. With shield wall, an Agonizer and Defenders Ward they are all sitting at def 13 Arm 24. This makes it difficult for most things in the game to kill them in one go, with a pow 12 weapon master doing 2 damage on average on the charge and needing 8+ to hit because of Set Defense. They can take a surprising amount of punishment and still hit back. The downside to this is the fact that they are expensive, coming it at 24 points for a full unit with Vorkesh. Vorkesh also will usually be in the back until its time to break ranks. The Cetratii are also pretty slow, and can be kited very easily, though whether they will be taking a lot of damage is based on your opponents quality of shooting.

Finger the Third: Secondary Cataphract

Which brings us to the next part of this list. The none Cetratii Cataphracts of which we have 2 options. The Weaponmaster Arcuarii, or the Incindiarii, who set the world on fire in front of you. With the defensive stats being the same on both, it comes down to if you need the extra range, CRA, and carpet bombing ability that the Incindiarii offer. If you do make sure you get some good use out of it because the Arcuarii offer the option to drag models, and are weapon master on both the shot and their spear. They also hit harder than the Cetratii, making them a good second wave and helpful at clearing anything that tries to jam the Cetratii. Either way with each clocking in at 11 points for 4 models 2-3 is the max you'll want to take in your brick.

4: More Guns, Support and Other Models

After you fill your army with some medium bases, you're going to have points left over or your brick for these were going to look at some extra options for the list. PBH are an obvious choice. Thanks to Xerxis' tactician we have the option to use guns in our back line, where they can unload without fear of reprisal. A unit of Reivers with UA standing 3 medium bases back from the front line can still shoot anything almost 8" from your Cetratii, almost 12'' when you minifeat. Just enough to catch enemy models who dance outside the 10 inch threat of your Cetratii. Other options include the Ferox, because who doesn't like a 17" walking threat, or Swordsmen+UA, if you feel like you don't have enough dudes on the board and you really enjoy rolling 4 or 5 dice on the charge. Special mention must be made of the Tycom and Standard bearer and Saxon Orrik, who hand out pathfinder like its candy, which is nice because it allows Xerxis more options.

The Thumb: Beasts

Finally we come to the beasts. there are a lot of options but if you're really trying to make a fist type list you'll be using most of your points on units anyway. Lucky for us, Xerxis have a pretty decent WB point pool at 28 points. Enough for Tibbers and an Agonizer, which is what I'm going to suggest, Though the Archidon can be a decent choice because it gives Xerxis sprint and long leash mitigates his small control problems. The Despoiler is also nice for the free upkeep and does a surprising amount of damage with dark shroud, and everyone likes a arm debuff.

Making a Fist

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xerxis 1) Tyrant Xerxis [+28]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Tiberion [22]
Saxon Orrik [4]
Cataphract Arcuarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Arcuarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Cetrati (max) [18]
 - Tyrant Vorkesh [6]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]
Venator Reivers (max) [15]
 - Venator Reiver Officer & Standard [4]

This is my starting list, I have 2 games with it that Ill be posting later, I like the high armor it offers, and the amount of pathfinder, which I feel is one of the lists biggest problems. It hits hard, has great Scenario pressure and it amazingly difficult to remove. Walk forward 7 inches and have everything else pile in behind. You can also throw the Reivers out on a flank to threaten their caster, or their support, as the case may be. So far I'm 1-1 with this list but we will get to that in Part 2 

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xerxis 1) Tyrant Xerxis [+28]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Tiberion [22]
Tyrant Rhadeim [9]
Cataphract Arcuarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Arcuarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Cetrati (max) [18]
 - Tyrant Vorkesh [6]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [20]

This list is still more of a WIP, mainly because I fee like Rhadiem isn't needed, but that def 15 cats with dodge just can really tie up your opponent something fierce. Which means we need to drop a unit of Arcuarii, to fit in our support and switch Defenders Ward to the Cetratii later in the game when we might need that 3 Fury. Its a lot of points that you're counting on to tie up the opponent while your brick runs across the field, but I feel like it might be doable. Alternatively have them hang back and then on the second turn walk and jump 15 inches somewhere your opponent wasn't expecting.

Skorne Army - 74 / 75 points

(Xerxis 1) Tyrant Xerxis [+28]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Tiberion [22]
Cataphract Arcuarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Arcuarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Cetrati (max) [18]
 - Tyrant Vorkesh [6]
Cataphract Incindiarii (min) [11]
Cataphract Incindiarii (min) [11]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

The last list is closest to what the fist was like in Mk2 taking into account that we don't have FA: U on Cataphracts. Just a whole lot of beef. Walk forward, deviate some shots, set everything on fire and then charge , or take the charge. We still only have one unit of Cetratii, because with Vorkesh they make a decent wall anyway. Just park yourself in the scenario or on a flag and wait. (It's not actually that simple, but it kind of is.)

Ok that's it for this post, Please let me know your thoughts on this list and Ill be back in part 2 with actual game play.

Tournament Report 4/30/17

Hey! We're back with another Tournament battle report. Seems to be the only way I can get these things done! Also by the way since this happened in April were counting this for 2 a month for April. Meaning I'll be trying to put 2 battle reports out this month. Work and school and life get in the way. I may have to stop those and commit to WarmaHordes full time. We'll see what my wife says.

Anyway, on to the battle reports! Went to another tournament at Mox Boarding House. 8 man tournament 3 rounds The lists I took were

List 1
Zaal2
-Cyclops Shaman
-Cyclops Raiders x2
-Basalisk Krea

Hakaar
Ancestral Guardian x3
Immortals with UA x2
Karax
Objective: Fuel Cache

Its an old standby, Its hard for a lot of lists to deal wit, has an insane amount of bodies and armor and I love it. Though I still need to work on recognizing when  Aura of Power is a better move than keeping all the fury and slinging spells.

List 2
Makeda1
-Desert Hydra
-Molik Karn
-Titan Gladiator
-Basalisk Krea

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Willbreaker x2

Legends on Halaak
Min Paingivers

This list is the newer and is more about me practicing the Hydra and getting used to the different Makedas and Molik Karn, as you will see in game 2. I like the list a lot. The ranged hate is great, quicken allows me a spd 7 Hydra, meaning a 17 inch threat on my spray first turn. The willbreakers are there to help Makeda keep up with Karn, on top of the very useful puppet strings and less useful (in this list) tough. Of course this is all hindsight and reflection after playing the list.


 Alright, on to the Reports.

Game 1: Skorne Vs Ret.

List selection

My first opponent brought a Rahn list and an Elara list. Ive had experience playing this guy in the past and painful memories of him shooting Halbs across the table turn 2 to just melt Karn thanks to Elara. Molik refuses to leave the tray, so Zaal2 steps up. My opponent takes a look at my lists and ends up choosing Rahn.

Rahn
-Sylys
-Helios
-Chimera x2

Party Mittens x2
Magister x2
Artificer
-Hydra

3 arcanists
Objective: Fuel Cache

Deployment:

My opponent wins the roll and picks the side of the table with the wall, Helios is deployed centrally, with Rahn on the right, behind the objective, one unit of mittens on each side with the Arcanist and the Hydra on Helios' left with one Magister on each side. Arcanists huddle up behind Helios. I put Zaal just off center because of a forest,  one unit of immortals on each side of Zaal with karax clumped up in front of zaal, with the ancestral guardians and hakar in front of the warbeats.

Turn 1 Skorne

Immortals run up the sides, Karax run up the middle. Zaal puts vision on Hakaar, casts Aura of power and walks up behind his objective. Ancestral Guardians run to stay near Hakaar and to get around the forest sitting in front of the deployment zone. The Cyclopes and Krea run to get into position to shoot things.

Turn 1 Ret

Rahn keeps all the focus, The jacks power up and off they go. Chimeras
 apparition and run.  Rahn walks up, puts Polarity shield on Helios and attempts to Chain Blast a Karax before I warn him that they have Girded. He switches to Force Hammer killing 2 Karax and starting the soul train. A soul gets put on each Advocate. Everything else runs.


Round 2

Skorne Turn 2
 Zaal upkeeps Vision and lets AoP drop. Immortals go Incorporeal and run and charge to engage party mittens on both sides. The ancestral Advocate engages the chimera, but not base to base ( First mistake, throwing away my UA very early) The karax walk up in shield wall. The ancestral guardians run up. The cyclops shaman and Raiders take a couple of potshots at Helios and to very little effect. Zaal walks up, forgets to feat and doesn't drop any fury. between that, the force aura and casting snipe twice I'm 1 over on fury. This is gonna hurt.

Ret Turn 2

Sylys upkeeps Polarity shield and gives Rahn arcane secrets. Chimeras apparition then the turn starts. Rahn feats. Luckily one unit of the party mittens is engaged because between Rahn and one unit of spells my opponent manages to take out about half of both units of immortals and a few karax. Souls go on the ancestral guardians and zaal starts collecting for himself. Helios kills another 3 immortals, puts up 2 fields then the right side chimera kills a couple of karax, the left side chimera is unable to get anywhere to do much. The Hydra aims and puts a pow 17 shot into Hakaar, for 3 damage, thank you ghost shield. With over half my army gone he passes the turn.

Skorne Turn 3

Leech the fury, Krea fails her fury check and takes a bite out of an ancestral guardian. Zaal is sitting on 14 fury, and hes angry! Hakaar takes his righteous vengeance, to smack Helios, and is then pushed back. Zaal takes his righteous vengeance to walk up. The vengeance of the immortals kills the Artificer and a 4 party mittens. With polarity shield Helios is going to be a pain to do anything to but were going to try and figure something out. I move Hakaar so hes B2B with a karax to keep him from getting pushed and we go to town. After 5 attacks, with aura of power, I've taken out his shield and like 7 boxes of the actual warjack.... In for a penny, in for a pound. The immortals walk up and take some more attack on Helios doing a few more boxes. The karax CMA and take out half of the chimera. An ancestral guardian finishes him off. Zaal walks into my cloud, pops feat with me forgetting to heal anything, camping 6 and I pass the turn.

Ret Turn 3
Sylys upkeeps Polarity shield and they power up, Rahn keeps the focus and off we go. he runs his other chimera over toward Zaal, Hits Zaal with the TK, then Tk's the Chimera out of way of Helios. The arcanist then Empowers Helios who walks up, shoots Zaal with his gun to get him in range and then punches him 5 times at straight dice. Unfortunately my opponent rolls low and I take one attack for 8 damage and transfer the other 4 to my full health beasts, all of whom are almost dead after those 1 transfer apiece. As the final attack is transferred my opponent clocks himself and I win.

GAME 2 Skorne VS Khador

Makeda1 VS Vlad2

Vlad2
-Conquest
Full Winter Guard Boat
Kovnik Joe
Kayazy Eliminators x2
Man O War Shock Troopers
Saxon Orik

There was other stuff in the list but I cant remember what it was.
UGH Khador... I hate Khador. Well I guess not hate, Just I don't play enough of it and I have no idea what most of it does. So lets get right into it. He wins the roll to go first and chooses first. I take my side with a wall.

Round 1

Khador Turn1

He runs everything up, Conquest in the center Vlad2 on his left behind him, The shock troopers and the kayazy set up to go after my flag, and the winter guard swarming the side with his flag. Vlad puts up hand of fate, and his version of aura of power and walks.

Skorne turn 1

So my PGMT appiritions forward, and I notice if i hit her with quicken shell be in range of Saxon Orrik and a few winter guard. I have the hydra run, trying to stay just out side of the Conquests threat range and forget about the PGMT and move makeda up and put up sandstorm and force aura. The gladiator and molik karn run, molik karn making it to the wall and the gladiator making it within the force aura. The krea runs to block LoS to Makeda. Realizing I forgot the PGMT I opt to run her to engage the winter guard and hopefully tie up some of them. The Legends run up.

The one picture I remembered to take all day.

Khador Turn 2

My opponent measures a few things, mumbles to himself and then starts his turn. He upkeeps HoF via great power, upkeep keeps the aura and then has Orrik walk aroud the PGMT and kill her to disengage the Winterguard. The winter guard then move up and CRA into the hydra doing about 6 points of damage between them. Then the rockets shoot the poor guy for more damage. The conquest joins in the fun and puts some shots into the Hydra as well, also dropping a creeping barage in front of the Legends. Vlad activates and feats, hitting the Eliminators and 1 of the shock troopers. The Elminators go in combo striking up to pow 16, at dice -3 on the charge they manage to murder the hydra.

DAMN.

Skorne Turn 2

That was unexpected... A lot of hot dice for my opponent but still, wow. I immediately consider whether an agonizer would have made an difference, then try and figure out how to salvage this. After surveying the board for a bit I notice a Karn sized hole next to his caster. It takes about 29 minutes of measuring and thinking to get a plan together. I move both my will breakers up and put puppet strings on Cidaar and Valgesh. The legends get a run charge order. Cidaar charges the Eliminator hanging out in front of the wall across from karn. In the back arc I need 8s and thanks to puppet strings I get it. Valgesh and J'deth charge through the creeping barrage, Valgesh takes 4 damage and J'deth takes 1. Valgesh proceeds to kill 2 winter guard and sidestep out oof the way and J'deth kills 1 and dies to a free strike. With the lane clear I take a second to wonder if I should activate Makeda first for Carnage. I decide that 6 attacks needing 8s is better than 4 attacks need 6's... I move up the Paingivers and enrage Karn. Charge the winter guard and make it, hit and kill, sidestep to the conquest and hit for a second sidestep...into melee with Vlad and out of Makedas Control range. No bought attacks for me. I could have fixed this by having the will breaker walk forward a few inches but Hindsight is a bitch. Makeda walks up to get karn in range and casts jack hammer. 6 attacks later, 4 of which miss, Vlad2 has 9 boxes left and his Kayazy are sharpening their blades.

Khador turn 3

Vlad takes a righteous vengeance move to move to the edge of karns mele range. The winterguard rockets drop on makeda with me shield guarding 2 of them and then a CRA and the kayzay eliminators activate and put makeda in the ground with combo strikes.


Game 3

Skorne Vs Khador.

Welp when it rains it pours... More Khador. At this point I look at it as me getting the practice I desperately need against them.Time to see how zaal does against them

Khador
Vlad2
-Behemoth
Shock troopers with CA
Greylord spray cav dudes (max)
on foot greylord spray man
Cavalry with pikes (Min)
Saxon Orik
Kayazy Eliminators x2

I think that's it, I cant remember the rest of the list. This one was a slog. I went first, with my opponent giving me the side with the forest right in front of my deployment zone. I put Zaal just to the right of the forest with Hakaar right next to him and an AG near each unit of immortals with one int he middle, war beasts go in back and we get ready to start. My opponent puts all his cav on my right and behemoth on the left, Vlad goes right behind the shock troopers next to the Elminators.

Skorne Turn 1

Everything runs up trying to get around the forest. Karax run forward and make it to the edge of the zone with the Immortals trailing behind. Zaal walks up and puts vision on Hakaar and AoP. Hakaar runs and so do the AGs.

Khador turn 1

Cav runs into position to charge into the right zone next turn, and Behemoth walks up and shoot 2 immortals off the board. (one soul to each unit of immortals.) The shock troopers head toward the left zone and the eliminators run up behind. Vlad walks up and puts up his version of AoP and ends his turn.

Skorne Turn 2

Left unit of immortals takes vengeance, walking forward but not really getting anything into range. They then run forward to try and edge the shock troopers out of the zone. The right unit of immortals gets a run/charge order and runs through the forest to engage the Cav.  The karax walk up the middle to be a lot of bodies that mess with people. Hakaar walks with an AG to kind of split the zone. the other 2 AGS standing in thier own zones about mid zone. Zaal walks up, drops 2 fury and Feats catching everything but one immortal. The cyclops walk up and begin shooting shock troopers to little effect. The krea catches Zaal in her bubble at which point I realize I'm over on fury.

Khador turn 2 

Vlad isn't playing around. He upkeeps aura of power, and feats getting 6 models, The 4 eliminators and 2 shock troopers. The Greylords charge Immortals and manage to kill the 3 engaging them with battle wizard allowing them to kill 2 more as well as 6 karax. The min Cav kill a couple more immortals but cant get unjammed.  One unit of eliminators charges an AG and together manage to kill it. The other 2 kill the AG in the other zone with some help from 2 shots from Behemoth. Combo striking pow 16s are scary.  The defensive strike form one AG takes an eliminator with him and the shock troopers move up in shield wall.

Skorne turn 3

Well I'm glad I remembered to feat on the right turn. Zaal takes his righteous vengeance to walk forward, and hakaar misses a swing on an eliminator. After last turn Hakaar is full up on souls and my remaining AG has 1. The immortal UAs got one each and 7 went to Zaal. To start the turn i take vengeance against the shock troopers just hanging out in the zone in shield wall killing 1. The immortals in the other zone manage to kill 3 of the Spray cav and all of the pike cav between vengeance and their activation. Zaal activates walks into the zone and kills both eliminators and a cav model with  a sunder spirit. Hakaar goes after 2 shock troopers in shield wall but fails to kill either. The AG charges the last cav in the zone. A Raider runs into the other zone and I go up to 2.

Khador turn 3

Behemoth shoots some more Immortals. Not to be outdone Vlad runs to the other zone. Shock troopers try to clear the zone of the raider and immortals but can't do it. They do kill Hakaar. An Eliminator kills the Immortal UA and the other runs into the right zone with me. He then charges his on foot greylord at the AG who kills it with a defensive strike and he passes the turn.

Skorne Turn 4

The krea and the shaman insert themselves  to form a wall of meat between my zone and anymore of his models. Zaal activates and spends 3 boosted attacks killing the eliminators in my zone and then I quickly pass the turn. 4-0

Khador turn 4

With just the shock troopers left he cant get any models into my zone, he kills my 3 beasts between shots from Behemoth and the Shocktroopers and at the end of his turn he goes up to 2 and I go up to 6, with just Zaal and an AG left on the board.


I end the day 2-1 and head home to the wife with a headache from lack of food. Got to start eating more at tournaments. My Zaal list performed as it should and I really like this makeda1 list. I probably need more practice with it, but it feels promising. I also feel like I could hot swap X2 in and it would still be really good. Anyway next time Ill be writing some battle reports for M3, or Mogirls as I like to call him. (Shut up, I'm clever.) Hopefully culminating in me taking him to a tournament later this month. As always comments are appreciated.