MungFuSensei
12-06-2009, 12:41 PM
Yesterday I had my first couple games of Warmachine. Well, I've "played" before (demos, basically), but this was pretty much a new experience for me.
To start off, I purchased Ravyn, a Hydra, a Griffon, and a Chimera. After the first game, I realized Kaelyssa was probably a better starter Warcaster, so I ran out and picked her up for the second game.
I played against a Circle of Orboros starter box. We pretty much stuck to Mk1 rules when we had to look anything up, because that's the book I have, but anything I had to reference was the same in Mk2 anyway.
First game was on a 4x4 field, large railroad bridge bisecting the map diagonally with hills on one side, and a building on the other, with little barricades scattered gingerly throughout.
Deployment: I had Ravyn, the Hydra, and Chimera start in the middle at the end of the bridge, with the griffon in front of an open expanse that was blocked from the enemy by the bridge. The circle player kind of did the reverse, deploying into his wide open area with only an argus to the side to intercept the griffon.
My plan was to run the main group down his throat, with the Hydra taking the heat, and the chimera would try and abuse any openings. Ravyn would go through the bridge to support the main group, stay protected, and still be able to allocate to the far away griffon. The Griffon would advance seemingly to nowhere, then charge over the bridge with the extra speed and pathfinder to assassinate the warlock.
This plan seemed kind of solid, but it didn't really survive contact with the enemy. The Hydra did get a lot of attention. From a Warpwolf. Those things scare me. Ate the Hydra up in 3 turns. The Griffon got to the warlock on the second turn thanks to Locomotion and his field ability. The warlock took a big hit but Spirit Gated away. I was able to finish the job by having Ravyn veil of mists on the bridge so she could charge through it the next turn to the warlock, in conjunction with a chimera using its apparition ability to disengage from an argus and charge the warlock.
Second Game, we replaced the giant bridge with a smaller blockade, some bunkers, and a set of hills. This time I brought along Kaelyssa instead. The Warpwolf still raped anything I threw at it, and the mixture of hordes regeneration, the warpwolf regeneration, and my poor rolls kept it standing the whole game. However, this time I kept the Hydra back, kept it full of focus, and used Phantom Hunter to keep it sniping at the arguses (argii?). He used the warlock to try and assassinate my warcaster. Luckily I left a hefty amount of focus on her and she survived. One nice boosted attack later, and I win.
Things I've learned:
-The Hydra makes a great body guard. It can sit back and shoot faces with the force cannon pretty easily, and with Phantom Hunter he becomes a very real threat. The wording of the force cannon allows you to do a super pow15 boosted attack boosted damage roll and still have a focus leftover.
-Kaelyssa's weapons make her an attack queen against warbeasts/locks that have a hefty amount of fury on them.
-Against Orboros, boost your attack rolls.
-With Veil of Mists, your opponent is never safe behind anything.
-Ditto for Phantom Hunter.
-Against Kaya, maintain a second line for when she tries to jump away.
-Stay away from Warpwolves.
I've yet to use the arc node. Now that I have Kaelyssa, I'll have a bit better choice of things to arc.
A few questions:
Ravyn players, how do you deal with heavy targets? Is that just not her forte?
Kaelyssa players, have you found any neat arcing tricks to use with her?
To start off, I purchased Ravyn, a Hydra, a Griffon, and a Chimera. After the first game, I realized Kaelyssa was probably a better starter Warcaster, so I ran out and picked her up for the second game.
I played against a Circle of Orboros starter box. We pretty much stuck to Mk1 rules when we had to look anything up, because that's the book I have, but anything I had to reference was the same in Mk2 anyway.
First game was on a 4x4 field, large railroad bridge bisecting the map diagonally with hills on one side, and a building on the other, with little barricades scattered gingerly throughout.
Deployment: I had Ravyn, the Hydra, and Chimera start in the middle at the end of the bridge, with the griffon in front of an open expanse that was blocked from the enemy by the bridge. The circle player kind of did the reverse, deploying into his wide open area with only an argus to the side to intercept the griffon.
My plan was to run the main group down his throat, with the Hydra taking the heat, and the chimera would try and abuse any openings. Ravyn would go through the bridge to support the main group, stay protected, and still be able to allocate to the far away griffon. The Griffon would advance seemingly to nowhere, then charge over the bridge with the extra speed and pathfinder to assassinate the warlock.
This plan seemed kind of solid, but it didn't really survive contact with the enemy. The Hydra did get a lot of attention. From a Warpwolf. Those things scare me. Ate the Hydra up in 3 turns. The Griffon got to the warlock on the second turn thanks to Locomotion and his field ability. The warlock took a big hit but Spirit Gated away. I was able to finish the job by having Ravyn veil of mists on the bridge so she could charge through it the next turn to the warlock, in conjunction with a chimera using its apparition ability to disengage from an argus and charge the warlock.
Second Game, we replaced the giant bridge with a smaller blockade, some bunkers, and a set of hills. This time I brought along Kaelyssa instead. The Warpwolf still raped anything I threw at it, and the mixture of hordes regeneration, the warpwolf regeneration, and my poor rolls kept it standing the whole game. However, this time I kept the Hydra back, kept it full of focus, and used Phantom Hunter to keep it sniping at the arguses (argii?). He used the warlock to try and assassinate my warcaster. Luckily I left a hefty amount of focus on her and she survived. One nice boosted attack later, and I win.
Things I've learned:
-The Hydra makes a great body guard. It can sit back and shoot faces with the force cannon pretty easily, and with Phantom Hunter he becomes a very real threat. The wording of the force cannon allows you to do a super pow15 boosted attack boosted damage roll and still have a focus leftover.
-Kaelyssa's weapons make her an attack queen against warbeasts/locks that have a hefty amount of fury on them.
-Against Orboros, boost your attack rolls.
-With Veil of Mists, your opponent is never safe behind anything.
-Ditto for Phantom Hunter.
-Against Kaya, maintain a second line for when she tries to jump away.
-Stay away from Warpwolves.
I've yet to use the arc node. Now that I have Kaelyssa, I'll have a bit better choice of things to arc.
A few questions:
Ravyn players, how do you deal with heavy targets? Is that just not her forte?
Kaelyssa players, have you found any neat arcing tricks to use with her?