underwaterviuw
01-12-2010, 05:18 AM
I'm a long-time WM player (since just before Apotheosis), but due to... various changes the amount of time for gaming has dwindled to the point that I just managed to play my first games of MkII this past weekend. I have been following the field test and development of the new rules set, so I'm not completely in the dark, however I was set up against RoS (another first for me).
I got to play two games, both with the same pButcher list:
Butcher
-Wardog
-Kodiak
-Berserker
-Berserker
Full WG
-UA
Kovnik Joe
Mortar
Mortar
Drakhun (no dismount)
Game one was against Kaelyssa, three lights (two with halbreds marshalled by the dawnguard solo); K controlled the arc node light; Invictors w/UA, Stormfall, two mechanics, and two mage hunter solos.
I won't type up a full report, but IF went on the WG, who bobbed and weaved for most of the game and never got attacked. The Berserkers took care of the marshal and his jacks quite handily thanks to Full Throttle. The Drakhun covered the other flank and was able to tie up one of the mage hunters and scrap the arc node (and forget to countercharge his caster when). The game came down to Butcher camping focus with IF and Kaelyssa trying to suck his focus off with her magic gun. It was pretty close, but Butcher survived, beasty that he is, and that was the end.
Game two, he switched to Ravyn with a shooting heavy, a unit of magehunters, two magehunter solos, mechanic, mitten solo, stormfall, and full houseguard riflemen.
This game I wanted to see just how effective the magehunters could be (and wanted to speed the game along), so I walled up my jacks and ran them right at the hunters. They all survived and trampled over the elves under full throttle. SO satisfying that trample is actually effective now (though I feel like Darius' MkI FT granted extra movement. did it?). The WG were the real stars though, as under IF and bob and weave they were able to suffer minimal losses to the shooting brought against them and then wreck on feat turn with sprays and Joe's boosted attack speech. I was floored by the ease with which they wiped the table. The heavy he brought spent most of the game trying to snipe Butcher who did his best to pillar abuse with a hill (I was shocked with Butcher took 8 damage while sitting on ARM 23. Good roll!). I never bothered to attack his jack and ended up getting my jacks in his face, and then blew up a Berserker in Ravyn's face FTW.
All in all, I'm liking MkII. Winterguard are now awesome and capable of being the workhorse of an army. Mortars are now less effective. Though between two of them I could cover most of the board, I could only support one at a time and mostly I wished I had dropped one of them and the Wardog from this list to get some Widowmakers or Greylords or Manhunters. It felt really good to have three jacks with Butcher. And though I've heard a lot of weeping over the Drakhun, I feel he's still very effective, even without his dismount, at holding/delaying a flank. Reach makes his footprint pretty big, and paired against the right pieces (low-power solos, support units, ranged lights, etc.) he can easily make a bother of himself.
Next casters I want to try: both Irusks and eSorscha. Also Karchev and Zerkova.
I got to play two games, both with the same pButcher list:
Butcher
-Wardog
-Kodiak
-Berserker
-Berserker
Full WG
-UA
Kovnik Joe
Mortar
Mortar
Drakhun (no dismount)
Game one was against Kaelyssa, three lights (two with halbreds marshalled by the dawnguard solo); K controlled the arc node light; Invictors w/UA, Stormfall, two mechanics, and two mage hunter solos.
I won't type up a full report, but IF went on the WG, who bobbed and weaved for most of the game and never got attacked. The Berserkers took care of the marshal and his jacks quite handily thanks to Full Throttle. The Drakhun covered the other flank and was able to tie up one of the mage hunters and scrap the arc node (and forget to countercharge his caster when). The game came down to Butcher camping focus with IF and Kaelyssa trying to suck his focus off with her magic gun. It was pretty close, but Butcher survived, beasty that he is, and that was the end.
Game two, he switched to Ravyn with a shooting heavy, a unit of magehunters, two magehunter solos, mechanic, mitten solo, stormfall, and full houseguard riflemen.
This game I wanted to see just how effective the magehunters could be (and wanted to speed the game along), so I walled up my jacks and ran them right at the hunters. They all survived and trampled over the elves under full throttle. SO satisfying that trample is actually effective now (though I feel like Darius' MkI FT granted extra movement. did it?). The WG were the real stars though, as under IF and bob and weave they were able to suffer minimal losses to the shooting brought against them and then wreck on feat turn with sprays and Joe's boosted attack speech. I was floored by the ease with which they wiped the table. The heavy he brought spent most of the game trying to snipe Butcher who did his best to pillar abuse with a hill (I was shocked with Butcher took 8 damage while sitting on ARM 23. Good roll!). I never bothered to attack his jack and ended up getting my jacks in his face, and then blew up a Berserker in Ravyn's face FTW.
All in all, I'm liking MkII. Winterguard are now awesome and capable of being the workhorse of an army. Mortars are now less effective. Though between two of them I could cover most of the board, I could only support one at a time and mostly I wished I had dropped one of them and the Wardog from this list to get some Widowmakers or Greylords or Manhunters. It felt really good to have three jacks with Butcher. And though I've heard a lot of weeping over the Drakhun, I feel he's still very effective, even without his dismount, at holding/delaying a flank. Reach makes his footprint pretty big, and paired against the right pieces (low-power solos, support units, ranged lights, etc.) he can easily make a bother of himself.
Next casters I want to try: both Irusks and eSorscha. Also Karchev and Zerkova.