Recently I attended a Warmachine Weekend Qualifier up in Rochester, NY, which had a large host of players and a really competitive group of attendees. This is how my games went. I’ve been practicing and refining my lists for the event for a while, and I was moderately confident that I’d have a respectable showing at the event. Millennium Games in Rochester is a great store that hosts great events, so I knew I’d have fun if nothing else.

My pairing was a Kallus1 with Blightbringer in Primal Terrors (2 units of Warspears) list, and a Thagrosh2 Primal Terrors list with Golab–because the two of them sync so very well together. At the bottom of this post you’ll see my roster sheet with the full details of the two lists, but wanted to avoid spoilers of the action!

My first opponent was Spencer, who had a Baldur2 list and a Kaya2 list. Either way I was going to face a lot of boxes, so I had to take Thagrosh2 into him. He dropped Baldur2, and we set up for the clash. Roots of the Earth was good, but I still managed to snag three of his heavies on Feat turn. All four of my heavy hitters were in the right spots for my own Feat turn to carve my way through the rocks. I got up on scenario by holding my left flank, which meant he had to try and leverage Baldur2’s personal threat–and Golab cruised in to finish him off. Was a fun game, and it showed me the ceiling of what kind of damage Manifest Destiny plus this beast package can do (would come back to bite me later…)

Round two I faced Piotr’s Cryx force. He had a Deneghra1 Satyxis force, and an Asphyxious3 heavy warjacks list (not 9 slayers, but a lot of slayers plus an Inflictor, Seether, and Cankerworm). I was more confident about facing Satyxis than the Slayers, and took my Kallus1 list as it was going to be the better choice against either for me. Piotr dropped then Gaspy3 list, and we clashed. I got very lucky that the scenario was Spread the Net, because his battlegroup couldn’t quite stretch across all the spots they needed to be. Let me winnow down both sides of the force, while taking some pretty hairy casualties myself. The Blightbringer waited until late game as I try to, and it worked well–being a sweeper that crushed two Warjacks. He had to try an assassination run that honestly looked pretty good–managed to clear a path for the Inflictor and got it onto Kallus1 with a charge. However, the dice decided to go my way. He left Kallus1 on three boxes, and I managed to pull off an assassination myself in the following turn (was far closer than it should have been, as I forgot Murderous on the Scythean)–an incubi’s combo attack was what finally got the job done on Gaspy3. 

Round three I got paired up against Rob McCarty, another Cryx player and one of the great people from the Pittsburgh meta. Was a bummer to be 4 hours from home and face someone I see frequently, but still a good game. He had Satyxis with Asphyxious1 and all the slayers with Gaspy3, and he dropped the Stayxis. Again, I had to go with Kallus1. This time I think I fared a little better, though Satyxis gunslingers do fearsome work. I had a lot of crossing shots that happened from the Blightbringer, and that helped clear the waves of Blood Witches, while Kallus1’s nuke and the Scythean helped with the Raiders. I managed to get to a small scenario advantage, when time finally ran out on Rob’s turn. Was a great close game, against an opponent who usually beats me. It also left me as one of the four undefeated players going into the next round, against some pretty fierce competition. 

Round four I faced Tim Banky, a member of the Canadian WTC team and one of the people behind the great Arcane Assist battle report series. He was playing Trolls, with Madrak1 and Borka2 as his drops. I expected, and got Madrak1, and accordingly had to drop Kallus1. This was my weakest game of the event probably, as I made two key mistakes. He also played an excellent game, which led to my loss. It would have been closer had I not flubbed the timing of my Feat turn (should have used it rather than waited on turn two). And I flubbed remembering a critical piece of his defensive tech: Kallus1 killed a Fennblade who had hero’s tragedy up. After that herp derp moment of him getting knocked down, it was all over but the assassination run. I did what I could to prevent it, but Madrak1 has a lot of tools (a running Dire Troll Bomber followed by Jackhammer managed to carve thru my fury and finish him off). Was a fun game against an excellent player, who showed me a side of Madrak1 I haven’t seen before. Definitely learned a lot. 

Final game of the series was against Larry Paladin, another player from our Pittsburgh meta. He was the other player who reached round four undefeated but lost to Bubba Dalton in his game. The good news is that we could just relax and have a good game. I had a feeling I was going to see his Heretic list, which is a really nasty proposition, and I wasn’t surprised. I dropped Thagrosh2 as I needed his destructive power to carve thru all the wounds. I mentioned that round one showed me the ceiling of damage with Manifest Destiny? This one showed me the floor. My damage just wasn’t there, and at one point Thags himself had to hang out way too close to a Skin and Moans. I managed to survive, and get to a decent-ish scenario position, but I spent too much time trying to get myself out of the difficult situation left by coming up short against multiple heavies in a turn. Which led to me clocking out. Happy with some moves in the game, but overall wasn’t pleased to drop the last two at the event. 

My rosters above. I’m really pleased with the Kallus1 list, though it will definitely change a bit as I get more of the Primal Terrors stuff built. I’ve got Anamag, rotwings, and a unit of Warmongers on the build table as we speak. The Thagrosh2 list is still a work in progress, as I am thinking that it would much more prefer a unit of Chosen in place of the Warspears. But I do know that Thagrosh2 plus Golab is absolutely nasty, albiet a bit streaky against high armor targets.

This was the announcement the amazing T.O. of the event, Gail Martindale, made after the event was over showing the final rankings of the top ten. Was really pleased to make 6th place in a tournament that had so many excellent players who are renowned tournament winners. And here’s the link to every player’s lists from the event that she mentions for those who were interested in what was fielded.

Overall a great event. I remain unqualified for Warmachine Weekend, but that was likely anyhow. I’m setting my sights mainly on doing well in a few team tournaments this year, to help prepare for the America’s Team Championship in January. And despite my one-and-a-half weeks of playing Menoth, I’m still going strong with my commitment to Legion of Everblight in painting and practice. Slowly but surely the faction is coming together for me.

365 Points Challenge Progress (2018):

226/365

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2018: 73 (Win/Loss 47/26); 2017: 120 (Win/Loss 86/34): 2016: 123 (Win/Loss: 74/49); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14)

Legion of Everblight:

38 Wins (Denny1 x2, Scaverous x2, Issyria, Wanderer, Skarre1, Sloan, Naaresh, Gaspy2, Madrak1 x2, Strakov2, Kaya3 x2, Helynna x3, Sorscha2, Kaelyssa, Dreamer, Jaga-Jaga, Denny3, Elara2 x2, Thexus, Sorscha1, Maelok x3, Heretic, Strakov1, Borka2, Caine2, Karchev, Baldur2, Gaspy3, Gaspy1) / 18 Losses (Denny1, Krueger2, Dreamer, Sorscha1, Jaga-Jaga, Old Witch3, Caine1, Issyria, Child, Helynna, Gaspy3 x2, Karchev, Vlad1, Barnabas, Heretic x2, Madrak1)

Protectorate of Menoth:

8 Wins (Gaspy2, Helynna, Vlad2, Sorscha1, Vlad1, Kraye, Garryth, Naaresh) / 1 Loss (Madrak1)

Convergence of Cyriss:

1 Win (Haley3) / 7 Losses (Heretic, Rask, Kaelyssa, Xerxis, Siege2, Testament, Bradigus)

So this post is mostly about my new additions to my army and practice games, trying to “unlock the puzzle” of what list to pair with my Kallus1 Primal Terrors list. I really enjoy Kallus1 with the Blightbringer and Ogrun, and I think that it can play into lots of forces and do okay. I’ve been now puzzling over what to use as a second list–what does it struggle against? My problem: I think it has limits with lots of troops, and with serious armor. So this is me working out a list that can reasonably deal with both of those things. So, as always, more painting to help build things that can help vs. troops and high armor.

First up, I finished painting my Angelius, which I think displays my scheme really well. It’s not quite as mottled in the bone as some of my others, but I think it’s equally striking as it makes it appear a bit smoother and more serpentine. Pretty much my favorite armor-cracking piece in the game lately. 

I also completed Ammok the Truthbearer–a new Blighted Ogrun model for Legion of Everblight. I definitely wanted to get him done because I see him as really useful in Primal Terrors lists. Between Rise for the other Blighted Ogrun and his ability to stop Incorporeal, he’s a lot of utility. It’s also the first Ogrun I’ve done, so a good chance to start to work out what they’ll look like when painted. 

As for games, I’ve been practicing for a big upcoming tournament in Rochester, NY. It’s a Warmachine Weekend Qualifier event that takes place over two days. I’m not holding hope for winning, as it’s supposed to be a full six rounds event (that means 64 players competing for the title). What I do want is to get more reps in with my Legion forces, to get as much experience with them as I can in higher-level play. So it’s a great event for that purpose. This week that means some last-minute games to prepare and practice lists for the tournament.

This was my first attempt at running a more beast-heavy list with Fyanna2. My game against Larry IV’s minions had it facing Maelok and all of the gators. I did pretty well in the game to draw it into a position where I was scoring two on the right but threatening his caster enough to keep him from moving my way. I was immediately impressed by how annoying Iron Flesh can be on the Hellmouth–that swing of ARM (plus hiding it from sight) kept it alive against marauding gatormen the entire game. 

My second game, against Larry Paladin’s Heretic Grymkin list, I forgot to take photos. Because Ammok did exactly as I hoped he would in the game, here’s the Hellraiser puzzle box as a stand-in photo. Wow, does he work wonders against incorporeal models. That static 10″ of removing the ability is really powerful. Plus he was one of the models that helped me score early points in the game, sitting on a flag. That said, I lost on scenario overall. I lost one beast too quickly as I had moved it to cover where Golab was going to end up, but then remembered that I needed Golab to hang back and score. Meant for a less favorable exchange. Still hung in the game a while, but it ended with a spot where he simply outstripped my ability to score points (scoring 2 to my every 1) on attrition alone. Was a good game. I’m still not convinced that Fyanna2 with beasts is better than the massed swordsmen, but they do hit far harder–and I need an armor-cracking option that she seems to fill well. 

While I really like Fyanna2 as a warlock, I felt like this list lacked ability to threaten effectively. I need something that can be trickier, I think, to pair with Kallus1. Fyanna2 and Kallus1 are both Feat turn tough choice forcers, which is nice, but it makes it somewhat similar. I wanted to find something that can bring unexpected threat to my opponent, from angles they may not be seeing–that still hits hard and buffs the Hellmouth (because an arm buff on that thing was pure punishment). I realized that Thagrosh2 may fit the bill, so he went into list ideas next. I managed to get in three games with a Thagrosh2 list that I really started to like–so that became my second list for the tournament. Some brief descriptions of the trio of games comes below (clockwise from left).

First I clashed against Ryan’s Caine2 list. While he took out the Ogrun effectively, the rest of the army managed to work pretty effectively. The combination of Carnivean and Golab is fantastic–whatever comes to get the Carnivean gets injured by spiny growth, which means that Golab gets finisher. Worked well to clear out his stuff, and Caine never got to safe place to really leverage his Feat for assassination. Next up was against Paul’s Karchev-led Khador force. The Hellmouth proved effective in forcing poor-outcome trade-offs, and once I started to get the advantage in scenario it became hard for his force to stop me. Finally, Thags2 faced Steve’s Retribution army and Helynna. I just stood back during the Feat turn, and managed to get some unexpected points that way that I leveraged to a scenario win. In each game Thagrosh2 definitely got involved in some valuable ways. P+S 18 on a warlock with Manifest Destiny is no joke. 

So I’m superstitiously nervous about the tourney, as I tend to adhere to the “bad practice, good tournament” line of thinking. I’ll need to keep on my toes during all the games if nothing else, as I’m not as familiar with the Thagrosh2 list in particular as I would like to be. Anyhow, here goes nothing!

365 Points Challenge Progress (2018):

226/365

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2018: 68 (Win/Loss 44/24); 2017: 120 (Win/Loss 86/34): 2016: 123 (Win/Loss: 74/49); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14)

Legion of Everblight:

35 Wins (Denny1 x2, Scaverous x2, Issyria, Wanderer, Skarre1, Sloan, Naaresh, Gaspy2, Madrak1 x2, Strakov2, Kaya3 x2, Helynna x3, Sorscha2, Kaelyssa, Dreamer, Jaga-Jaga, Denny3, Elara2 x2, Thexus, Sorscha1, Maelok x3, Heretic, Strakov1, Borka2, Caine2, Karchev) / 16 Losses (Denny1, Krueger2, Dreamer, Sorscha1, Jaga-Jaga, Old Witch3, Caine1, Issyria, Child, Helynna, Gaspy3 x2, Karchev, Vlad1, Barnabas, Heretic)

Protectorate of Menoth:

8 Wins (Gaspy2, Helynna, Vlad2, Sorscha1, Vlad1, Kraye, Garryth, Naaresh) / 1 Loss (Madrak1)

Convergence of Cyriss:

1 Win (Haley3) / 7 Losses (Heretic, Rask, Kaelyssa, Xerxis, Siege2, Testament, Bradigus)