Thursday, August 25, 2011

Warmachine Steamroller Tournament Report - Interview with Chuck E.


Geneguard and I played in the 50 point Steamroller at Gamers Sanctuary on Saturday. I was planning to get my face beat in for the most part but I played pretty well and actually pulled out a win and a super close loss. Initially I was very intimidated to do something like this with 3 different lists, a time limit, and probably playing against dudes who have played for a long time, but I enjoyed myself immensely.

My first game was against Circle with Baldur. This was a tough one - I brought Epic Vlad with Uhlans, Doom Reavers, Fenris, and Kayazy with Drago and Spriggan. He put out a TON of rough terrain and my pathfinder didn't work during his feat turn. I ran Fenris around one flank and the Kayazy around the other and eventually pincered his caster right in the middle with back strikes and RAZOR WIND from Vlad to win the game.

So much rough terrain around. Uhlans jam the middle.
Uhlans pop the middle in the feat turn. Kayazy work their way around the side.
My second game was against Jason and his Khador (Khador made up half the field!). He brought Karchev and a number of 'jacks. Karchev seems tough - his Hell on Earth spell ghetto boosts all his dudes I believe, and tow makes his 'jacks get in quicker. Plus he just has a ton of boxes. I ended up losing this one as I didn't know what to do with Zerkova. This was also my first battle using the Gun Carriage. It ended up being GC vs GC. I took his down pretty fast at the beginning.

Gun carriage vs gun carriage!
A battle line view. The riflemen managed to scare me for a while.
My last battle was against Dennis and his Khador. He brought Harkevich, who I think is really really solid. My whole line of battle got shot up early in the game, but during Strakhov's feat turn I managed to get a really nice overrun and charge with Spriggan into Harkevich. I ended up leaving him with 1 box and I lost the game.

More rough terrain. My dudes got killed pretty quick. See the 'jacks lining up in the middle for the feat turn?
Harkevich is behind that 'jack on the right. I used Overrun to get Spriggan around him and then he beat the hell out of Harkevich. I lost by 1 box :(
My overall thoughts from this format: I had more time to play than I thought I would. I only ran near to 9 minutes left against Karchev, and this is because I couldn't figure out what to do. The character restriction + 3 lists thing is a bit tough for a newer player, but it did make it more interesting.

The boards were very terrain-heavy which I whined about a bit, but commanders cannot choose their battlefield, they fight where the enemies are. Overall I enjoyed myself quite a bit. I managed to interview Chuck E. who won the overall prize for the tournament. You may recognize him from NQ Magazine and the forums. Here are the questions and answers:

1. What did you think of the tournament overall? GS is using a new board layout, did that help?

A:    I thought the tournament had a good format, it was used at GenCon and helps to make sure the tournament players move away from using the same models in every list as to assure the overall winners are those that in some way have a mastery of all models, most of them any ways, in their faction.  The board layout was nice for some tables, being able to have some room to the left or right of you where a table was not being used, however that was the case for only 2 of the tables.  It is nice though that a hobby shop notices a chance for new board layout and tries to put it into affect.


2. How familiar are you with the Steamroller rules? They can be a little intimidating to a newer player, any tips?


A:    I am very familiar with the steamroller rules, I was one of the original 8 press gangers that got to work on it.  My responsibility was to go over the scenarios and make suggestive changes to help with clarity and look for loopholes that could make it hard to understand.  We worked on it for 2 months, it got sent out to the rest of the press gangers for further feedback and then we got to compile the results so as to make it into the version that is used now.  Tips I can suggest would be to read the scenario fully, don't skim over it, before deploying and picking your list.  Knowing what the victory conditions are helps out and allows you to know what your opponent might try.


3. What list did you bring, and why? What was your main strategy?
A:    Since it was character restricted, meaning you can only have any one character model/unit in any of your 3 lists, I went with theme forces as usually 3 different warcasters/warlocks are not able to share character models in their lists.  I played Legion of Everblight and I chose warlocks that were all very different in their play style.  Prime Thagrosh was able to play in a scenario where both players are trying to control one area and his theme list not only brings high armor beasts but an ability to lower your opponents STR, as well as a lot of medium bases to block lanes to beasts and the warlock.  My next list was Bethanye, this list has a lot of ways to move around and a high model count to try to move to multiple zones that you have to control, and an ability to move the opponent off the zones.  My last list was Epic Lythlth, which was used for scenarios that had to defend one zone while trying to take another.


4. What would you change about that tournament setup if anything at all?
A:    I really wouldn't change anything, I like the format of restricting characters in multiple lists and the fact you have to use every list.


5. What is in the near future for you with WM / H? Any events coming up? Any cool stuff in Michigan?
A:    Right now our group is setting off for a tournament in Madison Wi., the mayhem cup.  This is a tournament to win a trophy that every 6 months players from all over the United States comes to compete for.  We are hoping to win the trophy and bring it home not only for the prestige of winning it but the fact that it will draw many players to Michigan to play in a large tournament format.


Finally, some random shots from the tourney:

Bill's troops line up
Paintvagrant's Skorne army
Kayazy begin their flanking manuevers
Chuck's Legion fly through the city ruins
Chuck's Legion vs Dennis' Khador
Jason's Khador. Karchev was mean!
My models. I had one fully painted list. I created a snow based movement board for them the night before.
Bill's Cygnar
Dennis' Khador

1 comment:

  1. Good job, sounds like you had fun. I still haven't even tried a game over 25 pts yet, let alone have 3 different 50 pt lists.

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