40 games

              A couple weeks ago the brunette scheduled a weekend of gaming in honor of my fourth decade (achievement unlocked.)  It was a good time and had the additional benefit of letting me throw some actual dice in actual contests.

 

              Friday, Squish and Cherylkat came over for a game of hero realms.  This is White wizard’s fantasy version of star realms--still pissed I missed the kickstarter.  We played the collaborative version against the guild boss.  Squish and I got eliminated early and went off to man-cave land to look at custome light sabers on line.  Hero realms is a better balanced game than star realms in my experience; not because it functions any differently but because the card selection, distribution of abilities, and price-to-value is better distributed.  There are no screaming deals.  Also, the mechanics and naming conventions just work well for me on an intuitive level.

              After the game ended Cherylkat went back to her place and grabbed Corc’s old ultra sabers dark initiate.  We charged it up and spent an hour or so talking about games while taking practice swings at imaginary sparring partners.  It was all very low-key—a really nice evening.

              Saturday started early with KC bringing over some humans for some blood bowl.  We have this tradition where she brings over some beers to try with the brunette followed by fantasy football.  I won the starting roll and chose to receive. We fought it out over a brutal quarter.  My dwarves, the Strong blow Maulers, caught the humans off guard and were able to move in and block down most of the opposition and pick up the ball turn 1.  There was a lot of blocking and counter-moving which lead to the loss of one of my blitzers and 3 of her players all due to bad injuries.  The quarter ended with my runners breaking out of her closing net and scoring despite several close moments and fumbled balls.

              I am definitely getting better at BB.  Playing dwarves really helps.  I am always going to be out-threated, so my job isn’t to out maneuver my opponent but rather to figure out what I need to do, make that play, and use whatever players I have left to tie up/tackle the rest of the opposition.  I am getting faster.  I am reading WMTG’s 3d printed block dice consistently.  I am nowhere near a 4 minute turn but that was always going to be a long-shot.  I wish I could play more/longer games but the apatite just isn’t there for most of the larger group.  The video game has ruined them for table-top play—not that I blame them.

              That afternoon/evening, Cherylkat returned with light saber in hand—got to get me one of those—and we set up for a demo game of frost grave.  We got through 3 turns before we had to make room for pathfinder but by then Cherylkat was hooked.  It is fun watching people discover the value in a treasured property like frost grave.  Since she lives within walking distance, I can actually get some games in with her.  We’re thinking about making campaign bands and playing through as many of the scenarios as we can manage.  WMTG, Shoggoth, and I were heading in this direction anyway so it looks like frost grave is going to be a thing for the foreseeable future.  I will have to build up a couple warbands—oh, the horror—but this looks totally doable.

              We finished the evening with a quick game of skull and shackles in the pathfinder adventure card game line.  We are into adventure deck II which is…interesting.  The game is seriously challenging compared to rise of the rune lords.  The Characters are better balanced but the scenarios expect you to use that balance to collaboratively overcome odds and resource limitations.  I have never felt entirely safe—even in the introductory adventures.  We are really loving this game.

Sunday, DQ came over for some good old fashioned warmachine box set battle.  Death quaker has not played in a long time.  Her base models came from the MK I battle box—Metal Cryx.

Her List:

·       Warwitch Deneghra

• Deathripper
• Deathripper
• Defiler
• Slayer

 

This came in at 2 points over the 0 point standard but we figured whatever.  After all, how much use was she going to get out of that defiler anyway?

 

My List:

·       Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad

• Decimator
• Juggernaut

 

I want to start out by saying this was in every way a non-standard game.  I used a 3x3 frostggrave mat for our board since it was the only thing that would fit on my kitchen table. I was playing a bog standard box set caster; she was playing one of the queens of tournament play.  This was more about her learning the game and me testing Kozlov’s limits than any kind of formal competition—and yes, I knew I was in for a rough time.

 

Game 1:

       The board was a ruined ice field covered in battlefield wreckage, industrial ruins, and huge chunks of glacial ice.  I took first turn, charged forward and tried to snipe out some chicken jacks with the decimator—defense 14 is really annoying BTW.  She came up, got parasite on the juggernaut, and sprayed a couple things.  I dropped chosen ground, obliterated the slayer, and passed the turn.  She cast scourge on my grouped up caster and jacks, knocked all of them down, and dog piled him into a bloody mess.  Game 1—Cryx—ouch—that hurt.

 

Game 2—same lists:

       Deathquaker chose first turn.  I opted not to advance much trying to extend the window for the decimator to remove channelers.  The defiler and a deathripper moved up my right flank while the slayer and the other deathripper moved up the left flank.  I was just far enough up for Deneghra to arc parasite on to the decimator.

       There was some back and forth as I tried to limit her ability to maledict me into oblivion.  My efforts failed as the juggernaut caught a face full of crippling grasp.  The defiler poked its head around an outcropping to spray and channel sludge all-over the decimator.  Then a deathripper ran up to engage my mildly inconvenienced gun platform.

       Turn three, I remembered to upkeep chosen ground.  I had a plan.  It might not have been a good one but it was a series of actions that would let me deal out the most damage.  Both jacks got max focus.  Kozlov popped feat and charged forward to clear the deathripper off the decimator.  The juggernaut—poor juggernaut—charged the slayer and managed to hit it once with its open fist.  The decimator charged the defiler and left it in bad shape.  Deneghra allocated focus to the slayer, moved up, popped feat, and cast ghost walk on the slayer.  The slayer charged out of combat and splattered Kozlov.  Game 2, Cryx—ouch again.

 

Thoughts:

1.       Setting aside the shortened board size and slight points imbalance, this is why tournaments run a 2 list format.  With a 14 inch control range and chicken jacks running 14 inches at no focus cost thanks to powerup, Deneghra is almost guaranteed a free hand to cast whatever she wants wherever she wants.  She might lose the vector next turn but at that point, who cares.  Even on feat turn Kozlov cannot make up the difference in threat range.

2.       Deathquaker played two solid games.  I do not want to make it sound as if I lost because my list wasn’t up to the task.  She made best use of the tools at her disposal.  The odds were in her favor but only because she played well.

3.       These games exemplify my “concerns” with Kozlov’s viability.  Against a somewhat equivalent force (defense, armor, and threat range) he plays a solid to excellent game.  This is particularly true if you can give him faster models like eliminators, gun carriage, Uhlans, and Drakhuns.  However, against a force with better threat ranges or lockdown capacity, he has no game.  Defense 12 or better (basically all of Cryx) requires boosting to hit reliably which severely limits his battlegroup’s damage potential.

4.       I do not think this would have gone any better against the current Cryx battle box.  It still significantly out threats Khador while maintaining stupidly high defense.  Against this kind of threat, big red has to one-round its targets but defense 13+ limits the likelihood.

5.       We are probably going to play some larger games in future.  I am likely to take the ice queen or lady Z into those fights—casters with more resources to deal with Deneghra’s nonsense.

 

Overall, good games, good times, and good friends.  I appreciate the chance to face down a larger cast of opponents.  I feel like I am a much better player than I was in 2014.  I can sit back and objectively enjoy the experience even if winning is a challenge.

 

       So…40 and stuff.  I’ll do something a little more introspective on the topic soon.  For now though…great celebration with good friends.  On to light saber shopping.

Crossroads of courage, Round I

This past Sunday was the first session in my FLGS’s crossroads of courage campaign.  Since most of the players are new, the T.O. kept the minimum points down to 15.  If you and your opponent wanted to raise the bar that was up to you.  “Weeks” are actually months for us—so week 2 will be played in January.  I am talking to the T.O. about moving to a rumble format since I feel that better fits the community’s skill level and resource count.  He seems open to the idea.

 

I spent the previous night organizing my models and equipment.  Measuring sticks—check.  Focus/fury tokens—check.  Objective markers—check.  Models and cards—check.  I had the T.O. review my gear just to be careful before riding over.  I was hopped up for this game—new caster, new campaign, real scenarios—I wanted this session badly.

 

My list:

·       Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova

·       Decimator

·       Juggernaut

·       Rorsh & Brine

·       Holden Courage

 

I got to the event early.  I was not sure when we would begin; so spent my first hour clearing out one of those green felt 4x4s with a diagonal gravel road.  The table started not just cluttered but brimming with terrain.  By the time I was done, it looked like a proper abandoned manufacturing center.  From my perspective, the left side of the board had a castle rampart, complete with gate and guard tower, running the length of the table.  If you got behind the wall, you could climb it using a pile of rubble on the far side while the gate was closer to my deployment zone.  The center of the board featured a fortified position in each deployment zone and a central crater field.  On the right, 3 large block buildings ran the length of the far side--forming a beautiful ruined city-scape for anyone with the means and motive to grab some elevation.  This would funnel attackers into a central killing field if they chose to go head-to-head while providing strategic advantages to those willing to break to the sides.  Note, I should have paid more attention to my own design theory but at the time I just wanted a pretty war zone.

It turned out only one other person had shown up—near-holiday gaming attendance being what it is.  I had talked to him about other systems and pickup games before but this would be our first time going head-to-head.  He admitted straight up that this was a demo/learning game for him—which was fine what with this being my first time playing Zerkova I.

 

Mike’s list:

·       Forge Master Syntherion

·       Galvanizer

·       Cipher

·       Modulator

·       Attunement Servitors

·       Holden Courage

 

We spent a couple minutes familiarizing ourselves with the scenario and each other’s abilities.  I am ashamed to admit that I am not as familiar with convergence as I should be.  I looked at their original release specs, saw that they required precise positioning/turn order, and ran screaming.  We took our time since we were only going to get one game in and the store closed in 4 hours.  He went Sewer.  I went with Reapers.

       The blizzard scenario is an odd duck.  It is essentially a caster kill game with random LOS distance (3d6 inches rolled at the beginning of every turn) and 3 flare markers placed by each player before deployment.  Anything within 4 inches of a flare loses stealth, concealment, and is fair game for LOS regardless of the blizzard roll.  I think Mike had a better plan.  I set up a lit field where I estimated we would make contact.  My hope was that with Zerkova’s cloud wall, spells, and the decimator’s gun, I could get some decent shooting done turn 2.  I didn’t want a poor range roll to stop me.  Mike set up an interlocking field of illumination with mine—turning the center of the board into a giant spotlight.  There was nowhere to hide around the 24-inch mark.  At the time I explained the scenario conditions and assumed that he had some Rube Goldberg plan in mind.  Note to self, give professional programmers more credit for planning in future.

 

1.       I lost the starting roll.  Mike decided to go second.  I deployed in 2 cohorts.  Zerkova set up as far to the left as I could get her between the castle wall and the far-right ruins.  She had the decimator on her left and the juggernaut on her right.  Rorsh, Brine, and Holden went as far right as I could get them in that central band.  Without any major ranged presence, there was no point in working for an elevated view.  Plus, I was pretty sure my start of turn blizzard roll would fail me even if I stuck Rorsh and CO. on a roof somewhere.  Caster kill was not just the scenario win condition; if I could get-er-done by turn 3 I would earn a bonus point.  I hoped Rorsh could flank the enemy battlegroup and take out the forge master turn 2 or 3.  Mike set up his vectors facing my jacks with his caster almost against his board edge.  The attunement servitors were as far forward as he could get them in front of the vectors.

2.       Turn 1, Zerkova casts watcher. She walks forward and drops a small cloud wall.  Everything else runs forward.  Mike puts Hot-Shot on the modulator and Reconstruct on the cipher.  He moves the servitors up at speed while his battlegroup barely advances.

3.       I do some quick measuring and find that Mike’s cautious movement means there is almost no way for me to get to his caster by turn 3—well played sir, well played.  Zerkova upkeeps watcher and allocates 1 focus to the decimator.  The juggernaut runs forward again.  The decimator walks forward, misses its first shot, and blasts a servitor into scrap with its second.  Zerkova walks forward and tries to hex blast a second servitor into its component parts.  While we are reviewing the card it turns out that this model came with the MKII documentation (facepalm.)  The store has updated cards so after a little delay to resleve the new materials, Zerkova finishes blasting the servitor.  I leave her on 1 focus.  Rorsh and Brine run forward.  Holden tags the third servitor wiping the unit.  Galvanizer moves base-to-base behind the Cipher.  The Cipher lobs a blast template at Zerkova.  It misses doing no damage.  His Holden takes a shot at the Kommander and misses as well.  The modulator takes 2 boosted shots at Zerkova for 6 damage total after she spends a focus to over boost her power field.

4.       Top of 3, I allocate 2 to the decimator.  We do a bunch of measuring and referencing.  Zerkova can only use one of her artifacts per spell so there is some question as to how to maximize her damage output.  It turns out that I am only going to get one casting at this due to how far back his caster is placed.  I figure it is probably better to go for the attrition now since there is no way I can assassinate his caster this turn.  Zerkova lets watcher expire.  His vectors are never coming in range so might as well save the focus.  The Kommander hex blasts reconstruct off the Cipher.  She pops feat sitting on 3 focus.  The decimator nails the Cipher with 2 boosted dozer shots but I roll terribly and it still has half its boxes left.  The juggernaut runs into charging distance of his vectors next turn.  The pigs keep running.  Holden takes a shot at the Forge master but misses.  The forge master’s ability kicks in and starts repairing the cipher.  Syntherion advances and casts convection twice at Zerkova, hitting her once for trivial damage after boosted power field and leaving him on 0 camp.  The galvanizer does some work on the cipher.  The modulator moves up to block the juggernaut from getting any ideas.

5.       Top of 4, clobbering time!  Zerkova allocates 1 focus to the decimator.  She moves into LOS of Syntherion and misses with her first hex blast.  Her second boosted casting hits for minimal damage.  The decimator boosts and hits with both shots but flubs the damage rolls.  Holden takes a shot and misses the forge master.  The juggernaut walks up and smashes the modulator down to half its boxes despite not having been allocated any focus beyond powerup.  I have one remaining shot at this.  We check some non-linear movement options and find that Brine can make it into combat.  Rorsh uses diversionary tactics, almost kills Holden (oops), and sends Brine into charge position.  Brine activates, Charges, boosts to hit with the gore, and splatters Syntherion.  Game-Zerkova or Rorsh?  Who gets the credit when you have a lesser warlock/Jr. warcaster?

 

Post-game musings:

1.       What is this no speed, accuracy, or damage buff nonsense?  Zerkova is a lot more about control than directed aggression than I am used to.  Part of that came down to Mike holding back.  By turn three I wanted to yell “get over here.”  I was lucky I brought Rorsh & Brine or Mike could have kept me sprinting after him for another turn.  Thank god I had the decimator.

2.       Zerkova really does-not-like-to share focus.  I mean _really_does_not_like it.  Ignoring watcher and ghost walk, her main tech is cloud walls, frost hammer, and hex blast—which in this Meta means hex blast.  She can cast HB twice with 2 allocated boosts using her full stack and focus sphere.  I picked up Sylys back when I decided on the Kommander.  Looks like I need to get him on line pronto.

3.       This game highlights the challenge in playing under 35 points in this edition—especially with a non-battlegroup centered caster.  Zerkova wants tools to damage and control the field.  That means jacks like Ruin, Behemoth, and Conquest.  I would like to try her with Hutchuck, gun carriages, and field guns too—maybe a couple Kodiaks when I get them up and running.  At 15-points, I do not have the resources to make full use of her toolbox.

4.       I really need to get my hands on a conquest.  I am not sold on Victor but conquest solves the 4 floating WJ point problem Z1 has with Behemoth and gives her some needed board control.  If she bases up with the big guy he can even make P+S 22 watcher attacks for her.  I feel the same way about Hutchuck—got to get her some board control options.

5.       R&B are not clutch pieces but they sure do have nice reach.  I wish Brine had better game against warjacks.  Still, that nonlinear 14-inch threat is hard to defend against.  I’ll leave them in for now—maybe a gunboar?...hmm.

6.       I like playing something other than straight caster kill.  The flares added unexpected depth.  I cannot wait to try a full on S.R. game at 75 points.

7.       Mike might have just got lucky but his plan worked very well.   Had my assassination fallen through, I would have been sitting on 0 camp in front of most of his army.  There was some difficult terrain and the juggernaut had the modulator locked up but I am pretty sure Syntherion could have gotten the job done on his own.  He delayed me long enough to keep me from earning a bonus point and gave himself an extra round of shooting.  If I had not popped feat on turn 3, he probably would have taken me out.  It does not help that his entire army is built on giant constructs without easy targets for Zerkova’s rod.

 

Good times were had by all.  Next month we will hopefully end up with some more people.  Here is hoping.

Sorscha1 updated tactica

The following is an updated tactica for Sorscha 1 with the new edition in mind.  Your mileage may vary. Feedback and heckling are welcome.

 

I have mixed feelings concerning Sorscha 1. On the one hand, she’s a hell of a threat. She’s fast, has a great feat, and definitely brings the noise. On the other hand, she’s a high defense squishy warcaster in a faction that favors beat stick melee powerhouses—and then there’s the matter of her older colder version. I can’t pick up her new model without remembering her younger days.

Back in the early days of MKI, a friend said he had a surprise for me. He pushed three models across my kitchen table. We spent the next few months slugging it out between my Khador and his Cygnar battle box. I fell in love with the Motherland when I took a sip of bourbon and said for the first time “Sorscha pops her feat and…” Sorscha wasn’t just defined by her feat; her feat made her the bar by which I measured all comers. She froze everything in her control area. Back then there was no way to shake stationary affects. She would walk up, pop feat, freeze everything within her control range regardless of line of sight, and use tempest to knock things down. Then she, the destroyer, a hand cannon, or a raiser wind would drop on your caster. If you survived that, the next turn you stood there and did nothing. Then, with your pieces still knocked down, you’d watch while Sorscha’s entire army unloaded for a second turn—terminating your warcaster with extreme prejudice. It was the single most ball bustingly hard core feat in the game. Sorscha wasn’t just a faction defining model; she set the standard for bad ass. Khador dominated national tournaments with variants on that strategy over and over again…feat, knock down, kill caster. She was so good that I felt bad playing her against all but my most competitive adversaries.

Now a days, freezing the enemy battle group is not as game breakingly harsh as it once was. The line of sight restriction and the ability to spend focus to unfreeze and stand up renders icy gaze powerful but tolerable. Never the less, playing Sorscha in MKIII feels like going back to your home town and finding out that the captain of the football team who gave you swirlies, took your lunch money, and stole your girlfriend is the guy manning the drive through window at McDonalds. You don’t want him back the way he was…but it steals the mythic proportions from your nostalgia.

Sorscha is still all about her feat—especially in larger games. There are a couple reasons for this. First, she brings very little qualitative enhancement for her forces. Fog of war is a great passive bonus in the early game but does not play to Khador’s strengths of high armor and devastating hitting power. PButcher and PVlad are fantastic casters because they throw the opposing warnoun into the hurt locker with authority and they offer excellent support spells—signs and portents, wind wall, full throttle, fury, and iron flesh. They make already good units amazing while simultaneously posing major threats on their own—and that’s not even taking their feats into account. Sorscha can set up attacks with freezing grip and tempest, but she doesn’t boost Khador’s specialties to epic levels or gloss over its weaknesses. Further, setting up those attacks requires her squishy 14 armor base to be dangerously forward. On average, she’ll die to 2 attacks worth 45 boxes (essentially 2 unboosted P+S 15 hits.) The upshot is that there’s Sorscha and there’s her army. Outside her feat, the rest of your points are on their own.

Second, the ice queen is greedy. She wants to throw down wind rush, tempest, boosted hand cannon shots, multiple critical freeze generating reach attacks with shatter, move-boosted freezing grip-wind rush to safety, and boundless charges at ridiculous distances. Every once in a while, she’ll have a focus or two to throw at a jack or boundless charge a model; but those are the exceptions. She doesn’t “share” well.” So, between her lack of support spells and a dearth of spare focus, her two defining characteristics are her feat and her speed.

If you accept these limitations, PSorscha is an excellent warcaster. She won’t be supporting a huge battle group but Khador has plenty of independent units and models to make up the difference. Some jacks, like the marauder, can happily run on the power up focus alone.  I prefer taking focus efficient jacks anyway. Anything that can make do with single focus runs/charges is helpful. The Kodiak is an excellent choice with free run, pathfinder, the ability to threaten massed infantry with vent steam, LOS blocking cloud affect, and a chain attack which auto triggers on her feat turn.  Likewise, the devastator is a great choice for holding zones, threatening large units, and slamming/bulldozing stuff out of the way.

Sorscha operates best on the theory that the best defense is a strong offense. Her spells and mobility predispose her to a front-line role. You can use wind rush to advance, act, and then retreat, but at some point, you’re going to need to freeze/knock down something that will require her to extend into risky territory. Thus, she likes infantry that are independent, can make use of her feat turn, and that keep constant pressure on the enemy. The winter guard deathstar is an obvious candidate, but certainly not the only one. I like widow makers with marksman, gray lord outriders, gun carriage, MOW Drakhun, Uhlans, eliminators, field guns, Hutchuck, and the elf to start. These models force your opponent to play defensively or take heavy casualties.

It’s tempting to build an all ranged, all melee, or similarly hyper focused force to maximize the benefit of icy gaze. This is a mistake—especially as point values increase. Skillful players will deploy in such a way as to limit Sorscha’s pre-feat movement and line of sight while maximizing counter charge lanes and fields of fire. You are better off building a combined arms list which does its own heavy lifting—using icy gaze to swing the tempo at key points, capitalize on an opponent’s error, or force your opponent into sub optimal model placement in order to minimize its impact. In this way, the threat of icy gaze can be of more use than its execution—either your opponent deploys to minimize IG’s affect or they risk disproportionate losses.

Do not underestimate the value of freezing grip.  Beyond her feat, one of her best moves is move, boosted freezing grip key model/unit, wind rush away.  This was not possible in previous editions but with FG’s reduced cost, S1 is hell on wheels against any kind of massed infantry.

So, let’s talk about icy gaze. I think of Sorscha’s feat thusly. “Once per game, Sorscha can threaten up to 19 inches. At certain points in that movement she will make every enemy model within LOS and 12 inches easier to hit.” Some models are immune to cold. Models with focus/fury can shake off stationary. Some casters like Harkevich have spells that completely negate IG past your turn. Because of this I celebrate the games where Sorscha lets me run amok for two turns—but I don’t count on it. If Sorscha is popping her feat, it’s because I’ve found an assassination lane or because doing so will let me permanently swing the correlation of forces in my favor. You use icy gaze to make sure victory is a foregone conclusion or you don’t use it at all. In most cases the feat comes out to set up an assassination.

 

The process runs something like this:

1. I remind myself that I am in control of when the ice queen makes her move. Bating Sorscha is a time-honored sport raised to an art form by experienced players. The longer you go without popping icy gaze, the more you want to. I start every turn asking myself, “can I win the game with Sorscha this turn?” If not, no feat.

2. I measure 12 inches. Sorscha’s charge range is 6 movement+3 charge+2 reach. Put another way, any model completely within her control range is fair game.

3. I assess lines of sight, relative distances out to 19 inches, and difficult terrain. If completing an assassination charge is going to go through terrain or put Sorscha’s base between 9-11 inches, then I’ll need to cast boundless charge. If I don’t start my turn with LOS to the opposing caster, then the rest of my army needs to make a road or I am going to need to use wind rush to reposition. If the target is outside 13 inches, then I’ll need wind rush to put me in range. Note that the riskiest feat turn is one where you use wind rush and boundless charge. You’ll spend 2/3 of her focus getting to the target—seriously reducing her destructive output.

4. I use wind rush if necessary. If yes, I check her threat range again. Even if she has to use boundless charge, her maximum threat range is 1 inch beyond her current control range.  I want to be absolutely sure that her charge target is within her grasp before going all-in.

5. Boundless charge if required. If not, charge.

6. Feat. Note that you always want to pop before the charge if it will catch more models in Sorscha’s LOS.

7. Attack. On average boosting damage is only worthwhile if your target is arm 20 or greater. Most of the time you’ll be better off buying extra attacks.  Keep this in mind when you are doing the math before charging.

Beginning the Campaign

              This Sunday I will be playing in my FLGS’s first session of the Narrative campaign.  We got a late start due to only “doing warmachine” once a month and the need to encourage players to join up with the journeyman league.

 

              Alternate worlds is not what I would call a highly competitive venue.  Most of us only get to play when the store runs its events.  For my particular limitations, this works well since I am not holding anyone back.  Unfortunately, to keep people playing, the store runs at very low points values.  This first section will be at 15 points—which is just short of a full unit of Man-o-War shock troopers or Malakov and a juggernaut.

              I find myself preparing for games more than I used to.  I reread the core rules, check discussions and tacticas for my models, and review the scenarios.  That last is important since your choice of team (reapers or sewers) gives you different bonus point potential and victory conditions.  I chose reaper since I have a newly painted Zerkova 1—which by store standards should put me in for one bonus point.  Rorsh and Brine will be my 15-point army along with a decimator and juggernaut.  This is…less than ideal but has the virtue of letting me play some new models while putting a lot of threat on the board for such a small force.

              I have never played a caster like Z1 before.  Kozlov was about as straight forward as they come.  Zerkova has lots of tools between cloud walls, boosted sprays, and hex blast.  I do not know how useful rod of whispers is going to be in this small a points range but even without grave door she seems to have a strong assassination potential.

              My concern is that facing Josh’s protectorate wedge of sadness again ™ or any list with three heavies leaves me at a distinct disadvantage.  R&B, for all their mobility, are not especially durable.  It feels like my best bet is to ignore the scenario and go straight for assassination unless my opponent brings a decent clump of infantry.  Meh, I am going to have to read up on throws and the like again.  At least Rorsh comes with a boostable gun.  Widowmaker marksman he is not but against mid-level infantry he should hold his own.  Also, in the messenger scenario, he’ll be my only solo which may end up killing Brine but could win me the game.

              Regardless, this is my list.  I shall take to the mountains for Empress and country.  I shall unleash freezing death upon my enemies.  Woe to those who dare face lady Z’s wrath for they shall learn the truth of the age-old question of how the world ends—in ice, lots of ice.

Considering Kozlov

Rounding out my review of Khador’s new battle box, we shall consider Kozlov, friendliest of the Northern warcasters.  As usual, any mistakes are my own.

 

Basics:

              Kozlov is a beefed-up iron fang Kovnik.  Tuff, defense 15, and Arm 17 render him bullet resistant.  MAT 7, precision strike, and P+S 12 weapon master on his axe give him enough punch to threaten all but the most durable heavies.  Sidestep and SPD 6 leave him surprisingly mobile.  His feat gives friendly faction models within his control range +2 move and unyielding.  He features average focus and warjack points.

Spells:

·       Avalanche—gives AOE attack with critical knockdown.

·       Raiser wind—standard Pow 12 magical zap.

·       Fury—Upkeep that gives +3 melee damage and -1 defense to a friendly faction model or unit.

·       Tactical supremacy—Upkeep that gives reposition to a friendly faction model or unit.

·       Chosen ground—Upkeep that gives Kozlov’s battlegroup pathfinder and steady.

 

Role:

              Kozlov is a tempo caster.  He tunes up a couple quality units with fury and tactical supremacy.  At the critical moment, his feat sends his army sprinting into battle where unyielding helps them weather counterattacks from whatever survives his charge.  While Lord Goat can get his hands dirty, he prefers to work the mid field—enabling the rest of his army rather than personally leading the charge. 

 

Effectiveness/value:

            When Kozlov was first announced a lot of us compared him to Butcher 1.  It made sense—weapon master, durable stat line, big freaking axe, fury, feat that turns his army up to 11.  So, when I started building old goat lists for my journeyman league, my first reaction was to make a face wrecking train of doom.  It turns out Kozlov is a far better support caster than front line combatant.  Once he has 2 upkeeps running and one of his jacks loaded for bear, he does not have the resources to take on heavies single-handed.  So getting him to work well required a change in perspective.

            The key to getting the most out of Kozlov is understanding that everything revolves around his feat.  All of his abilities are geared toward powering up models/units/his battlegroup in order to maximize his list’s output when he goes all in.  The optimal play is to charge everything forward end of turn 2 and remove 25-50% of the enemy force outright.  If your opponent has anything left to threaten you after that, unyielding should throw the attrition game even further in your favor.  If the alpha is out of reach, your army can always run forward and jam—setting up for a turn 3 assassination.

 

Downsides:

            I like everything on a caster’s card to have a purpose.  Unfortunately, a third to a half of Kozlov’s spell list is dead weight.  Avalanche is too expensive on a caster that will always be upkeeping at least 2 spells and loading a jack—especially since hitting and fishing for crits requires him to boost to hit.  Raiser wind and avalanche are two redundant “I can do magical damage” spells on a caster who ends up farming out most of his stack each turn.  Chosen ground—his signature spell—should be amazing.  In practice I found it to be useful but far from game warping.  Do not get me wrong, battlegroup wide pathfinder is nothing to sneeze at.  The catch is that it only came into play 2 out of 8 games.  Steady looks good on paper but did not do anything for me.  Unless I wanted to set up a throw chain, even if I had steady active, I still had to sacrifice a movement or action if hit by a knock down affect.  It does not help that pathfinder and steady are natively available on the Kodiak and devastator chassis.  For a signature spell, chosen ground left me unimpressed.  Replacing steady with sturdy would make Kozlov into a scenario monster but sadly such is not the case.

            Kozlov “helps” lots of models.  What he does not do is offer much strategic flexibility.  His game is won or lost on feat turn.  Beyond that turn, all he has is fury and tactical supremacy.  This left me feeling as if I was a spell short or an extra ability shy of a full caster.  I have heard it said that Khador plays a fair game well.  Kozlov exemplifies this perception—and in my opinion this leaves him somewhat wanting in the larger competitive environment.

 

Notable strategies:

Warmachine is all about the signs and portents rule.  Everyone can benefit from signs and portents but there are some models that gain a lot more than others with S&P on the board. Put another way, warmachine is about magnifying great models, not papering over the weaknesses of lesser offerings.  So, Kozlov loves two types of models.  His feat adds movement and armor to engaged friendly faction models.  Movement benefits everyone but especially high threat range pieces.  armor tends to help higher armor models with multiple wounds.  So, we are looking for fast high armor multiple wound models—cavalry.  My preference would be for Uhlans and Drakhun but outriders certainly wouldn’t mind the help.  Malakov 1 with redline on a jack also benefits heavily—you have not lived till you have thrown a fully loaded juggernaut 11 inches on a free charge ending its turn with arm 22.  Eliminators? Heck yes!  I would even look at manhunters and Uri.

            Second, Kozlov loves some solid ranged support.  Widowmaker scouts and marksmen are the obvious choice but do not overlook mortars and field guns.  Since ranged options probably won’t be mixing it up in hand-to-hand, the usual mercenary shooters are also great additions.  Grab Behemoth or a gun carriage to cover both options.  Kozlov needs his targets taken down a peg to set up his charges and insure successful one-round-removals.  Anything that can threaten heavies and infantry turn 2 is worth consideration

 

Fury’s musings:

            Kozlov is one of the best battle box casters to learn the game with owing to his simple order of activations (turn 1 cast fury on the juggernaut and tactical supremacy on the decimator.  Run forward.  Turn 2 charge if going second, or wait just out of charge range to bate your opponent out if going first.)  Other than allocating focus and picking when to feat, you do not have to make many decisions.  This leaves fewer opportunities for strategic blunders than with other casters.  At high skill levels the game becomes more competitive—I would even say bad for Khador once Cryx learns to maximize the reaper and parasite for example.

As the game gets bigger and bigger Kozlov starts to look a little tattered around the edges.  The original prime casters have great feats that enable their strategies.  However, they all have strong toolboxes outside their feats too.  Kozlov has no such depth.  Even at 75 points he comes down to who is getting my 2 upkeeps and when will I pop feat?  This consistency is handy if you are just learning the game but if you have some experience under your belt I think his small toolbox holds him back.  He asks a single question—a great one mind—but just the one and he only gets to ask it once.

            As previously stated Kozlov also does not have a lot of juice to offer a large battlegroup.  Even at 50 points I was glad Malakov was there to pump up my third heavy.  The ease of turn movement kept my clock down but that was a result of his simple style, not my experience.  In a game that favors larger battlegroups Kozlov feels like he wants 2 quality jacks at most—probably Behemoth and a juggernaut or Kodiak.  That smaller battle group and straight forward approach is a feature in the beginning but started to feel like more of a bug the farther I got down the rabbit hole.

            As a relatively new player I love_playing_Kozlov.  Outside the field of honor, I keep comparing him to other casters.  He is not as aggressive as the butchers.  He does not have the flexibility of Malakov 2 and the Irusks.  His feat is not as ball-busting as Sorscha 1.  Unlike many of our casters, his fiction leaves me with a definite feeling of “meh.”  Whenever I read his back story I expect the author to include something to the effect of “and he is good with children too.”  I feel like he should swap out a little nice-guy for a little more bad-ass.  Lacking that, He falls firmly in my list of second tier choices.

 

Conclusion:

            Kozlov is a solid stepping stone for new players.  He offers a strong simple game that easily expands beyond the battle box.  He does not challenge Khador’s design space much.  He works the fundamentals—and that is a good thing for new commandants.

Consider the juggernaut

Continuing my review of Khador’s MKIII battle box, today we shall consider big red’s archetypal melee jack, the juggernaut.

Standard disclosure…all mistakes are my own, comments welcome, bla bla bla.

 

Basics:

The juggernaut comes with the usual Khadoran 10-20-34 for defense, armor, and boxes.  It looks like its factional equivalents the crusader and ironclad.  It has a single open fist and a capable melee weapon in the ice ax.  At MAT 7 it hits more accurately than some of our warcasters but at SPD 4 getting to the fight can prove challenging.  Critical freeze on the ice ax means that occasionally the juggernaut will render its victims stationary. 

 

Role:

The juggernaut is a basher, a smasher, a crusher of enemies.  The ice ax is one of the most powerful melee weapons in the game and the juggernaut is a capable delivery system.  Its P+S 15 open fist gives access to standard power attacks as well as making a decent backup melee enabler.  It is built to charge opposing pieces and remove them with extreme prejudice.  First turn, it runs.  Second turn, it charges or sets up to counter charge/contest.  Third turn, it continues pushing up the board.  You can use the big lug to block lines of sight, contest zones, and/or jam opposing pieces; however, it is at its best when applying the ice ax to your opponent’s biggest model.

 

Effectiveness/value:

The juggernaut is the standard against which all heavy warjacks are measured.  It hits hard, can take a punch, and still hit back decisively.  Its appeal is the value it provides for 12 points.  Assuming the juggernaut successfully charges with a full focus loadout, it will inflict 27.5 damage against armor 19.  Tack on support spells and that number skyrockets.  Add in a little pre-charge shooting from widowmakers and most heavies are toast.

            In my testing, the juggernaut was the most effective way to convert one activation and 3 focus into a dead enemy jack/beast.  It hacked most of the way through a gargantuan on its own.  With a little help from the decimator it cleared out 2 Protectorate heavies in one turn.  I found that on average it killed off most of one heavy but with a little support—fury, redline, preliminary bombardment—there was no job too big for the juggy.  It helps that even if you do not get the charge in, the juggernaut can survive a surprising amount of damage and remain combat effective.

 

Downsides:

            I just spent a couple paragraphs praising the juggernaut to the heavens—and rightly so.  I want to temper that enthusiasm with some experience lest other players expect too much of the mighty juggy.  First, Sir juggernaut is kind of a resource hog.  On average dice he almost kills most heavies—almost.  He can absolutely wipe anything short of a colossal or clamjack on mildly warm dice but only at the cost of a third of your caster’s stack.  If you want to insure his victory, you will need to soften up the target first.  This functionally limits the number of juggernauts most casters can support.  More than 2 and most warnouns are going to have to make some difficult choices.

            Second, the juggernaut is slow.  In order to employ its prowess, it has to make it to battle.  This leaves it in the unenviable position of hoping to go second against overextended targets or use movement enhancers like redline to give it that extra push.  This can leave players having to choose between hoping to bate out/catch opposing pieces and contesting/challenging objectives.  The Juggernaut is not alone in its need for speed, it is however more inconvenienced than most without it.

 

Notable strategies:

Every caster can make use of the juggernaut.  At base, give it 2 focus and let it go-to-town.  There are a couple stand outs however that really let it shine.  Malakov 1 gives it redline which—pound for pound—is just amazing.  A free charge enabling  a P+S 17 attack, a boosted P+S 21 attack, and 3 P+S 21 attacks is off the charts.  Malakov II gives the juggernaut extra movement with escort, tactical supremacy, and feat.  Harkevich’s feat and reposition let the juggy play outside its comfort zone.  Irusk 1 can boost a juggernaut with superiority, though in most cases he will want behemoth or a colossal.  Karchev turns all jacks up to 11 and the juggernaut especially so with feat, battle charged, and road to war.  Strakhov is a straight up speed buff if you combine superiority and feat.  Vlad 1 has a variety of ways to buff his jacks between his feat, signs and portents, and boundless charge.  Vlad 2’s assail gives the juggy a nice boost though many players will probably look for a character jack in his place.  Vlad 3 is perfectly capable of supporting the juggernaut with infernal machine, feat, and dash.  Kozlov does good things for the juggy with feat turn and fury allowing him to reach and remove targets that would otherwise be out of range.

 

 

Musings:

            It is easy to read this battle report or that tournament list and get the impression that the juggernaut is 16 points of awesome in a 12 point chassis.  I get the feeling that people assume that pointing a fully loaded ice ax at an opposing model is as good as guarantying its removal.  To be fair, it is one of the most efficient killers in the faction—especially when you contrast it with models like Grolar and Behemoth which cost 50 and 100% more respectively.

My experience says the juggernaut is the cheapest way to administer a decisive SmackDown in Khador’s 18 jack stable.  That being said, it is not the be-all and end-all that the hype suggests.  It is difficult to get the juggernaut to combat in prime condition against anyone counting threat ranges.  Its minimal threat range means that without buffs, it is a sub-par player in the scoring and alpha games.  Average damage rolls leave most heavies near-but-not-completely trashed—meaning that if a juggernaut removes a threat, like as not it did so with the help of decimators, widowmakers, and such.  Big red has plenty of buffs to compensate for these deficiencies—Kozlov’s feat turn on top of redline from Malakov 1 is my favorite so far.  So, it is amazing in the value-to-investment sense—strategic versatility and independence—not so much.

            Building battle groups, I keep running into the Behemoth question.  In anything over a 15-point game, why not take behemoth over say 2 juggernauts?  Casters like Irusk, Zerkova, and Sorscha 1 to a lesser extent seem to prefer a single quality jack such as conquest but for everybody else behemoth starts to cramp my list design space.  After behemoth hits the table, all I care about are Kodiaks, juggernauts, and devastators.  From that perspective, the juggernaut seems perfectly executed regarding value, effectiveness, and intent.  Unfortunately, the more I play with the Juggernaut, the more I realize just how over-costed most of our non-character 16 and above jacks really are.

            It is not a question of value, it is a question of what do the decimator, grolar, demolisher, destroyer, and spriggan do that other jacks do not accomplish at a better price point or with less cumbersome rules?  The juggernaut asks a simple question.  If you get within 8 inches of me, can you stop me from removing your piece next turn?  If not, then that piece is probably toast.  That is a compelling question.  It is the question we want all of our jacks to ask to one degree or another.  By that standard, every jack gets compared to the juggernaut.  Frankly, point-for-point, the juggernaut comes out ahead in most of those comparisons.  

 

Conclusion:

            The juggernaut is a reliable attrition piece at an excellent price.  It is the best value removal specialist available to Khador short of a character or huge base due to MAT 7 and P+S 19 on its primary melee weapon.  SPD 4 and a 1 inch melee range somewhat limit its impact but at 12 points you can afford to take 2 or 3 to swing piece trade totals in your favor.  With the standard Khadoran armor/grid even a fully loaded enemy alpha may not remove the juggernaut.  It hits the sweet spot between minimal price and maximum output.