A
couple weeks ago, I stopped by the LGS for what I thought would be the second
round of our crossroads of courage campaign.
It turned out that the employee/friend who had been running the league
had left the store’s employ so I, being the most experienced MK III player
*cringe*, took over in his absence.
I am not
going to go into my normal level of obsessive detail for these battles. I am pretty sure we got the point values
wrong and there were several oversights during play. There is value in the experience but not at
the micro level. Also, senility is
beginning to take its due.
The
battlefield was a standard military wasteland of craters and ruins. The only really important detail was a
circular piece of terrain that looked kind of like a roofless one-room building
towards the back of my opponent’s deployment zone. Everything else funneled us into a central
area—especially since caster kill was the win condition for all three
games. Yeh, I know I should have brought
out the second league scenario but I did not think I would be running things
when I got up that morning.
My List:
Pete’s First list or the big bang
theory:
- Durgen Madhammer
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Gunner
Gun bunnies? Sweet!
I have loved these little guys ever since MK I. This was not a “fair fight.” Zerkova’s cloud wall blocked almost all lines
of sight on turn 1. I think 1 demolition
corps took a hit. Turn 2 was more of the
same plus a little sniping with the decimator.
Turn 3, I slammed a gunner over Madhammer with the decimator and
dogpiled him with a fully loaded juggernaut and a couple demolition corps. Round I—Khador!
Pete contended
that gun bunny spam is a bad list. I
contend that my caster is a hard counter to anything that cannot ignore
clouds. Pete also pointed out that his
only route to damaging Zerkova on feat turn was to go melee since she is
untargetable by spells or any ranged elements within her control range. In nonobjective scenarios it gives her near
invulnerability if you play your cards right.
Mike’s list or Convergence, now with more processing power!
I do not know what I expected Mike
to do but it was not to run away for five turns. He said that since he felt like he could not
take me on directly (the C.O.C. starter box has some definite challenges
against Khador) he was going to make a game out of drawing it out as long as possible. Zerkova is not good at chasing—strategically advancing
toward objectives under cover of cloud and feat is more her style. After a couple turns of cautious advance, I
split my forces and ran him to ground in his deployment zone. Zerkova stood in the middle of the previously
mentioned ruined building with jacks on either side and the MOW charging the
flank. Watcher meant that every time a
vector moved within her zone one of her jacks got a free attack. Mike conceded after losing all but one of his
heavies and his caster.
Pete’s second list or What do we do with all these
explosives?
(This might have been a Rockram
but I do not remember.)
The first three turns went really
well for me. Demolition corps just need to
live long enough to get stuck in and man did they get stuck in. I killed off his basher, H&J, and all but
one of his assault corps. I am fairly
sure I should have killed Madhammer. He
cast a bunch of spells the previous turn and I distinctly remember him spending
focus to reduce damage as I carpet-bombed him with sprays and a full-on charge
from the decimator. Since that didn’t
kill him, I was left with one focus standing in the middle of nowhere in front
of the avalanche. Pro tip, knocked down,
on fire, is a bad place to be. Zerkova
burned to death on her next maintenance faze—how embarrassing.
Lessons:
1.
Zerkova has two modes. She covers everything with clouds or she goes
all in on the attack. She will get a
small force to battle relatively intact but after that your army is on its own.
2.
Demolition corps are decent with a reliable
delivery system. They are not great by
any means (MAT 7 and no CMA is still crap-tastic) but They do good damage on
the charge against low defense models.
After all the grief they gave me with Kozlov, I was pleasantly satisfied
with their performance. You have to keep
the leader in the back or risk losing an action if he dies but he usually is
not doing anything in the back anyway.
Just be aware of the risk you are taking if he starts losing boxes.
3.
I screwed up watcher. You only get to make an attack against the
moving model, not an alternate model—so sad, no free attack jank for lady Z.)
4.
I have got to get my conquest up and running. Range 15 on the main gun(s) and creeping barrage
templates would be useful tools…also, less focus to worry about.
5.
I like Zerkova in this less competitive environment. She is not super strong but she forces me to
play my A game. I think she is better
suited to 25 points and up where infantry of any kind would be more prevalent
making her spell list more relevant.
6.
I am beginning to wonder if I would be better off
taking a couple lesser warlocks and warcasters just to provide targeted long
range punch. Specifically, I am
concerned about how much volume I can put behind that cloud wall. Three or four 3in templates looks pretty big
until you have to block line of sight to two heavies and five medium
bases. Rorsh and Brine as well as
Malakov I are starting to look good at higher points levels.
7.
Pete suggested I use craft metal rings of the appropriate
diameter for my cloud templates. I picked
up several 3, 4, and 5 inch examples for use at the next game. If this works it will make my turns go a lot
faster.
This Sunday is the next
scenario. With 15 points, I need to
choose between the demolition corps and R&B. R&B is easier to keep track of. Demolition corps have decent staying power. I probably will not make my decision till the
morning of. Until then, think red
thoughts my brethren.
No comments:
Post a Comment