Monday, January 24, 2011

Solo Warmachine Part 1: Mid Game Report

Just to get a feel for the combat rules, and my army I'm playing a game against myself. I'm using two modified Deathrippers (They have the bomb attack of a Scrap Thrall, and cost 8) versus 3 2 Lancers (Well Pseudo-lancers. They don't have the Shock Shield, but they only cost 4, and can pass over any obstruction less than 4" in height) and one Snag (Snags look like Leapers, except the last bit of their tail divides into two hooks. They can lock two weapons, but only in their back arc. They can only get over obstructions 2" or less in height. They cost 6) I'll post more once I've finished the game, but I realized halfway through I should post something on here about it.

Anyway, here's the mid-game battle report:

Play is on an open field. My Bursters (See above) are placed so that one is facing the two Leapers and Snag that are on the field (S1 and L1. (Lektra and Lektrik respectively. It seems appropriate given the heavy electrical theme of the Cygnar) At this point it doesn't really matter so much though) head-on (B1. Normally I'd name them, but, y'know, they explode, so...), and the other is going to come at them from the side (B2). Cryx went first. I held B2 in reserve (Said like that it sounds well... Tactical. What actually happened was I forgot I had the thing until after I'd already engaged them.), and sent B1 towards the Cygnar to engage them. I was able to hit Lektra and deal damage. The problem was that she (Yep. It's anthropomorphic. This game these weirdos have pilots instead of being controlled by Warcasters, as I want to learn these things slowly, and it's the gender of the pilot in question) was able to hit me on her turn, though Lektrik wasn't. At this point two things happened. One, I showed my ignorance of the damage system - each of us only took 1 box of damage on our grids because I didn't realize that damage taken was determined by how much over the armor it was. Two, I realized that I couldn't keep trading blows - Leapers have more boxes than I do, and even if Lektrik kept missing I'd be down. As such I used Burst (Effects are the same as the Scrap Thrall ability mentioned above). I was able to deal am additional 9 points of damage to Lektra. She now had all of 6 smashed, as well as all of 1, and the first two of 2. In addition she had the wound from the previous turn in the first space of 3. Lektric is apparently extremely lucky about not getting hit, as he took no damage from the secondary blast. I replaced B1 with the first Wreck Marker I made, and moved in B2 from the side. That's where I'm at right now.

Oh, by the way: I'm using models I made for these, which is another reason why I don't have a warcaster - I like the way they look, and want to wait until I get the minis to use them.

5 comments:

  1. Very honest write-up - re the 'tactic' for example - and a very good approach to learning such a complex game. Encouraging for anyone picking up Warmachine or something similar. When you say you made the models, do you mean sculpted?

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  2. I found this:

    http://dicegods.blogspot.com/2011/01/from-goldfish-to-shark-helping-new.html

    Might be useful, even if only for marking as inapplicable. I'll try to get some traffic to your questions on my blog.

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  3. Thanks! As for the question, I didn't sculpt them exactly. I built them out of aluminum foil, which is why they're non-standard - I couldn't get the ones that were bipedal to balance right. By the way: Would you happen to know what exactly greenstuff is called in stores?

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  4. I was just going to recommend Von's post at Capture and Control, but I see you've already commented. You get about!

    I've never thought of aluminium foil, but for test games it beats paper. The greenstuff produced by Games Workshop is branded as 'CITADEL GREEN STUFF'. Other kinds might be called 'modelling putty', possibly even 'epoxy putty', but the key is that it comes in two parts, a blue and a yellow, which are combined to produce a slow-drying mixture.

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  5. Thanks! I'll keep an eye out for it next time then.

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