Post MICUP Blues

I'm the opposite of this.

Two weekends ago we hosted the Michigan Cup at Gamers Sanctuary. Based on the Intermountain Cup and Mayhem Cup we (PG_Geneguard and PG_Tadgo did the actual TO'ing, I just tried to help where I could) are attempting to build a twice annual event that brings together the Michigan Warmachine / Hordes community to play and have a great time. The first one was last fall and we had 29 people. This time we had 36 and it sold out in a few days. I'd really like to grow it to something like 64 players, but that would require a hall and cash for renting etc. We'll see.

This year we rolled with three-man teams. I had on my team Jason LaFave, Adam Koziel, and myself. We were team Bloodbath and Beyond. Jason played Trollbloods (Borka and Doomshaper), Adam played Circle (Kaya and Goatvahna) and I played Skorne (eHexeris and Xerxis). I'm going to do some quick battle reports then my thoughts.

The boys gather round. 

First game: Roastbill of GG. Super excited to try out my new 'gimmick' list so I did.

Lord Arbiter Hexeris - WB: +6-    Aptimus Marketh-    Basilisk Krea - PC: 4-    Titan Gladiator - PC: 8-    Bronzeback Titan - PC: 10Extoller Soulward - PC: 2Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader and 3 Grunts: 2Venator Reivers - Leader and 9 Grunts: 9-    Venator Reiver Officer and Standard - PC: 2Cataphract Incindiarii - Leader and 5 Grunts: 9Venator Slingers - Leader and 9 Grunts: 6Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew - Leader and 1 Grunt: 1

I should not have chosen this list. I dad to fight an army with superior range and RAT, plus great DEF vs shooting. I had my mammoth in my Xerxis list so I was worried that all his anti-blast shenanigans would basically render it useless.

I have noticed, though, as I've used the Mammy so far that his ranged game really is just a side benefit. Most of his value comes through face-tanking stuff and beating things down. I should have rolled with him.

I was a bit wary of using my Xerxis list as well because last time I played that list vs Bill's Rahnald list he pulled all my dudes out of shield wall and just killed them. I think I should have just stuck with Xerxis and slogged it out. 

It really didn't work out for me, but Roastbill played a great game. He really didn't make any mistakes. You can hear his version of this batrep on Warmans. Yes, I did get tilted and attempt a Black Spot on Eiryss.

I definitely did not practice the Hexeris list enough. I thought it would just perform on command and it really didn't. I had too much shooting and not enough dudes to get in there. Trying to outrange Ret was a really bad idea.

I also underestimated the Stormfall Archers. In Adam's games where he's used them they hardly ever do anything. They punished my slingers really badly (although slingers are def12, which means they basically just die).

Second game: I played Doktor Grym of Shenanigans. We played a hard fought tough game. He brought a Magnus theme list with trenchers, galleon, and halberdiers, and wreck markers all over his deployment area.

Game 2 at the start.

He advanced up and dug in with his trenchers. That meant they couldn't suffer blast damage but could be set on fire. He flanked hard to my right with halberdiers and flanked on my left with halberdiers (getting stuck in the forest). He advanced in the middle with jacks and shot me up but didn't do much.

I went up 2-0 with Xerxis dominating the central zone. I used my cataphracts with huge armor to shrug off shots from his light 'jacks and galleon. The incendiarii worked beautifully, lighting tons of dudes on fire and clearing the zone up. Galleon had a ton of shots and he did manage to take down a few cataphracts. 

He managed to make it 0-0 by dominating his flag for two turns, making the game go to dice down and points in the zone, which I won. I actually didn't use my extension as I was basically taking what was given to me and didn't have a ton of activations. It was a well-fought game and Doktor Grym as a very sporting opponent.

Tyrant Xerxis - WB: +5-    Basilisk Krea - PC: 4-    Mammoth - PC: 20-    Cyclops Brute - PC: 5Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader; 3 Grunts: 2Cataphract Cetrati - Leader and 5 Grunts: 11Cataphract Incindiarii - Leader and 5 Grunts: 9Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew - Leader and 1 Grunt: 1Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer - Tyrant and Standard: 3

(I have since changed up this list to include Tiberion and removed the Mammoth.)


Third game: I played Mike C from GS / BC. He played a great game with a super solid list. He had eKreoss with a theme list. I believe it was like this:

Faction: epic Kreoss - Crusaders of SulCasters: 1/1Points: 48/50Tiers: 3Grand Exemplar Kreoss (*6pts)* Reckoner (8pts)Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)Exemplar Errants (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)* Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)Exemplar Bastion Seneschal (3pts)Exemplar Errant Seneschal (0pts)High Exemplar Gravus (5pts)

I don't play Menoth so I'm not sure how the other two points were filled out. I thought that certainly with that much beef on the board I had to bring a shooting list to try to carve it up before it got to me. He deployed with the errants out front and the examplars on either side of his lines. They ran forward so fast.

It was a huge mistake trying to shoot him up. He jammed me so hard. His errants were immune to spell targeting, knocked me down if I shot them to death, and could play around with allocating my shots. It was rough.

He charged his daughters of the flame on the left pretty quickly. My slingers did manage to kill them but I got held up from shooting his jack, which is what I wanted them to do. I killed a lot of guys but he was happy to pull them to make way for his bastions sitting in the middle of his force. He put his jack and some infantry on each objective and I couldn't shoot them because there was so much in the way.

He jammed hard and set the line of engagement past the center line. It was rough. I think if I was going to play this list again I'd definitely put in Nihilators as anti-jam. They'd run out front and provide a 10 dude wall of reach. They'd die, but they'd be out there (with ashen veil, so +2 defense basically) for at least a turn.

It was all I could do to kill ~25 models and still lose the game on scenario 5-0. It was definitely a game where I felt totally outmatched and outplayed. Great job by Mike C.

Fourth game: I took the bye. I felt bad that someone who came in from out of town would have to take it. Plus I didn't really get a ton of time for food so I just ate slowly as I am a super slow eater dude.

Fifth game: I played Dryer from Gamers Gauntlet and his eMadrak list. I believe he included a unit of fennblades, two units of warders, stone, and then filled it out with backup stuff. Again I thought "Hey, lets throw down that ranged list!" He jammed me up again.

He played really well, using excellent spacing and LOS blocking his models so I couldn't shoot them very easily. Warders are a huge pain in the ass, especially for ranged lists where you want to put a few shots into them to take them down - it just makes it way harder once you injure them.

He charged his burrowers onto my gladiator and tied him up, then moved the rest of his force up to contest the zones and systematically take me apart. There really wasn't much I could do after a while. I don't know if the Xerxis list would have done better, as he had a ton of weapon masters and I feel like my high arm and wounds would have just been ruined by damage spikes.

I thoroughly realized after this game that I had to have some sort of jam defense in my ranged lists. I haven't played ranged heavy much at all in WMH so I gotta learn the hard way. I definitely need nihilators or karax in there with reach to stop the dudes just running into my dudes and making it really hard to score any kind of points.

Overall I went 1-3 and a bye victory. I did have everything painted so that was a bonus. I was really disappointed with my efforts - I definitely should have practiced more. My opponents played really well but I felt I might have had a better chance with my Xerxis list in the three matchups I lost. Maybe not a much better chance, because I don't have a ton of attacks in that list and I was facing a dudeswarm, but it may have been better.

I really think I tried to answer the 'Cryx' question when maybe I should have tried to answer the 'jam' question. I have altered my lists for Adepticon with that in mind.

Check back early next week for some Adepticon dojo!