First game ever

[BobMakenzie]

Well I have experience with some other wargames but as it stands I have just ~2.5 days until my first game of WarMachine ever. At this point Im having alittle bit of a freakout.

We are going to be playing at 15pts (Khador V. Cygnar) and I expect to see Widowmakers, Man-O-Wars and some heavy jacks *tear* unfortunately in the long run this means only the slightest to me and I of course find this terrifying.

In exchange Im looking at running

pNemo, Lancer, Defender, Squire, Black 13th

So no units really I know but I want to stick with what I've got models for for my first game at least. (I just wish I could make Thunderhead fit in XD)


I dont really know what Im posting here exactly other then just my own mental spasms of the prospect of this game. What do you find the absolute worst to face in a khador army? or what have you. Any pro tips for a new player?

[Fryerdan]

Arm 20. You have nemo to keep his warjacks down and black 13th to mage storm his widowmakers. At 15 points he can't field multiple warjacks, widowmakers, and man-o-wars. he's at 4 points left if he's playing a battle box so he can't field man-o-wars so expect to see widowmakers.

Keep nemo well back and use your lancer to arc chain lightning at his widowmakers. Once they're dead the lancer can be loaded with focus and shield bash his heavies three times for cortex removal. The black 13th can kill the widow makers but it's a gamble unless you have concealment for prowl as standing still they can hit you on 6's. When the opponent gets in threat range have nemo walk up and feat to disrupt both of them to buy yourself another round for the lancer to take the second cortex out. Defender is great to keep sorsha at bay while nemo and the lancer neuter the jacks.

[TKaz84]

If your opponent bunches his jacks together (or only has one heavy) cast Voltaic Snare on it every turn and it will effectively be a paperweight for the entire game.

[Sacredsouless]

Fryerdan has the right of it. Though your opponent may drop a 'jack in favor of the Man-O-War's. But, then you just hit them with brutal damage, or shoot them with your Defender, or kill them in melee with either jack. Even the Shock Troopers, while tough to crack, die pretty easy when you apply ax to face. Widowmakers will be a problem. So send your Lancer against them and then spam Chain Lightning. And don't forget Nemo's tricky spell list. He is very well geared to screw over Khador (and most other factions for that matter) in small point games. You have Disruption Field, which will give a 'jack more strength and make its melee weapons cause disruption. Now your Defender has a PS 18 hammer that causes 1pt of cortex dmg per hit and disrupts the enemy jack for those times when you don't finish burning out the cortex. It also makes your lancer a bit stronger, though not really scary strong, but enough to help kill Man-O-War's (assuming they hit the field). One last thing, Voltaic Snare. If he runs 2 jacks, you can screw both of them with this spell. When it hits a 'jack, the jack no longer advance, has -4 DEF, and any 'jack advancing within 3" of the 'jack hit, cannot run or charge and can only advance towards the 'jack hit. Pretty cool huh?

Anyway, I hope you have a good game. Just remember, if tricks don't work, apply lightning to face. :)

[drachenfels]

well the widowmakers shouldn't concern you at all, even if they get the first shots off they wont be able to kill anything outright, and after that Ryan of the B13'th can advance, place his Magestorm on them and your khador friend will be Crying just as much as you are now.
After that the B13th should flank around and head after his caster. Preferably staying near forests if able to benefit from prowl, and start taking snipe shots at the caster. Depending on who it is DO NOT get in range to use brutal damage - getting to close will get them charged, and they WILL die!

Also in 15pts if he is taking widowmakers AND Man-O-Wars that leaves VERY little room for jacks, he will probably only have one. It will most likely be a Juggernaut. Which is good for you with nemo, With Snare you should be able to disrupt his jack all day long, or use Disruption field for the same effect. Khador jacks while being a hard annoying nut to crack aren't at their best when they cant buy additional attacks. After shooting it up with the defender on the advance put Disruption field on a jack and charge it, swap disruption field over to the other jack and finish it off.

As for the man-o-wars... well those could be an issue... you dont have any troops to deal with them, and your defender and lancer are going to have to tagteam the jack in combat to finnish it off probably (after having been shot up a bunch). depending on what type of man-o-wars the b13th's guns may not have enough pow to punch through if they are in shield wall (it puts shocktroops up to arm21). even nemo's chain lightning probably wont be enough... these will be hard to punch through with their 8 wounds and heavy armor... but they are slow, especially if they are moving up in shield wall. you should have the mobility to run around them and not engage, but it will be tricky. If they ever run and are not in shield wall TAKE YOUR SHOTS! buuuuut..... not if it means risking anything, or not taking out his heavy.

so overall it will be a hard battle, but with cygnar tools and some luck you should be able to pull it off.

[Fryerdan]

ignore the man o wars they are too slow to threaten you.

[TKaz84]

Indeed, Man-o-War Shocktroopers are really there to block LoS as opposed to actually attacking. If you can swing around them (and with Locomotion you can) you can ignore them entirely.

[BobMakenzie]

Alright starting to calm down a little bit.

I am pondering the Widowmakers now a little more and it occurs to me that Chain lightning shouldnt hit them terribly easily should it? Unless I could arc it off something else in front of them? I dont really expect this to come up in this game but it occurs to me that locomotion + arc Lightning might make a nice little combo if I could get a jack immune to lightning in close to them first. (at a larger pts level)

Am I right in thinking it might be valuable to ignore all but the heavy jack(s) first and then start tearing into whats left? In the theory that what remains should probably be more support units?
Being able to keep a jack or two disrupted is nice but it seems as though disrupting then immeidiately halting any potential future threat would be the best move. I suppose the flip side of that is that they shouldnt really ever become undisrupted?

[Fryerdan]

boost to hit you have a high chance of hitting up to def 18 and squire lets you reroll the miss. It's certainly a valid strategy to hit your own guys, all storm knights and smiths are lightning immune as well, most jacks shrug off pow 10s. You also could just run the lancer up and engage the widomakers in melee with your reach, they'll never kill it and if they try to get away you get the bonus for freestrikes.

[drachenfels]

Alright starting to calm down a little bit.

I am pondering the Widowmakers now a little more and it occurs to me that Chain lightning shouldnt hit them terribly easily should it? Unless I could arc it off something else in front of them? I dont really expect this to come up in this game but it occurs to me that locomotion + arc Lightning might make a nice little combo if I could get a jack immune to lightning in close to them first. (at a larger pts level)

Am I right in thinking it might be valuable to ignore all but the heavy jack(s) first and then start tearing into whats left? In the theory that what remains should probably be more support units?
Being able to keep a jack or two disrupted is nice but it seems as though disrupting then immeidiately halting any potential future threat would be the best move. I suppose the flip side of that is that they shouldnt really ever become undisrupted?

Even if your not immune to lightning hitting one of your jacks with it wont do any real damage to the jack.

and yes, disrupt/shut down the jacks and see what your opponent does. If he sends the man-o-war forward then focus on them. if he pulls back and bunkers i say lay into the jack something fierce.

And once again if you are running the B13th go and reread Mage storm, and dont even give a second thought to the widowmakers.

[BobMakenzie]

Interesting. I had thought you were talking about the other aoe attack. I suppose my mind just started working properly. You could even combo that up with fire beacon (to make it that much easier to hit them) then mage storm them once the camoflauge is ignored. But I suppose thats just bread and butter of the standard rules here XD

[Cowboy247]

I would never fear widowmakers in a low point game such as 15 points. I play my friend at that point level all the time, and I decimate his widowmakers in 1 turn each time. If I go first he doesn't even get a shot off. If I go 2nd then he gets 4 hits on a jack that cant do any real damage. If the lists are as you say, its pretty much an insta lose for him.

[Halfhoot]

I don't think Widowmakers are stealth are they? Just shoot or chain lightning them. Mage storm will wipe them all out. Even if you aren't in range to get it on them go ahead and shoot it at them anyway. It can deviate and it does block line of sight since it's a cloud effect. The other option too is to run Watts a bit forward from the other two to try to draw the widowmakers out. Unless you're relying on prowl, he's the least important of the three and if they come forward to kill him... they'll be in plenty range for you to wipe them out next turn. Also if he keeps them within 4" of his jacks that's an easy chain lightning. :D Though honestly I'd just let the B13 deal with them if you can to save your focus for voltaic snare and upkeeps.

Also don't forget the Defender's hammer if you get fairly close. Throwing Nemo's +2 damage and disruption spell on it will do a number on a Khador jack. At only dice minus 2... it'll do a lot of damage and knock their cortex out. A Khador jack is tough, but even with their power they won't be doing too much with no cortex. Between the Lancer and Defender you should be able to handle a pair of jacks without too much trouble. Just watch out for Nemo since he is really squishy... if he brings a Destroyer with arcing fire... get it in melee as soon as possible.

[Kej]

I really like the hammersmith versus multi wound resilient infantry. It can roll down the line with good positioning and crack those manowars.

[Fryerdan]

yeah, but at this point value you can just walk around them and gain LOS to caster and they'll be huffing and puffing yelling "guuuuuuys! come back!!!"

[drachenfels]

yeah, but at this point value you can just walk around them and gain LOS to caster and they'll be huffing and puffing yelling "guuuuuuys! come back!!!"

Like the fat kid in gym class.

also the same could be said of their jack.

but as i also said before it all depends on what caster they are using. Even if you eliminate the jacks, man-o-war and widowmakers, If it's pButcher with Iron Flesh on himself and camping the rest of the focus...well that is gonna be a nightmare to try and pound through, especially if anything took any damage earlier.
If it's Vlad there is always the risk of him assassinating you himself from a decent distance or allowing his force to quickly rush forward with either doubling their speed, or +3 to it and all other stats depending on version.
If Karchev camping focus...well that's allot of armor and allot of boxes to deal with...

If Zerkova WATCH out! she is dangerous! she will charge and wreck everything!!
just kidding, if it's Zerkova congrats on the win.

[Fryerdan]

if he brings destroyers you must deal with those.

[leo_neil316]

Wow, so am I the only person who remembers that shocktroopers don't have to shieldwall, have reach and can charge?

9" threat range dudes, tis not insignificant.

[BobMakenzie]

I get the feeling that he is basing the army off the battle group which would make his caster Skorscha? (is that spelt right even?)

Though I suppose it is entirely possible he is using someone else.

[Sacredsouless]

Wow, so am I the only person who remembers that shocktroopers don't have to shieldwall, have reach and can charge?

9" threat range dudes, tis not insignificant.

Uhm...they do have shieldwall. Its the other two who don't. And its run or charge every turn, or you get the +4 armor. And without that +4 ARM, you can kill them easily with the B13 (or at least much easier).

And its Sorscha, not Skorscha.

[drachenfels]

If it's pSorcha it isnt that much to worry about. She doesn't really support the battle box all that well. She can make for some very long attack runs herself, and her feat will lock down your focus for a turn (remember jacks can shake stationary) so watch out for that. She can also knock things down, but once again that can be shaken and it isnt that massive of a spell range... Which means you should be able to charge her back.

[Halfhoot]

She doesn't use her feat to lock down your focus... she uses her feat to kill you. With a 17" threat and a charge run that hits on every bought attack for no boosting... I've found her to be quite formidable in the battle box.

[Dark Fledgling]

I'd say drop the Black 13th, turn the Defender into a Stormclad, and grab Junior. A) he will give you an extra focus, and B) Arcane Shield on your Lancer or Stormclad will make them VERY hard to kill, even for a Khador jack. Besides, if you feat appropriately to disrupt them the turn before they would charge you should be golden.

The Squire + Chain Lightning + boost will kill the widow makes no problem, and if the first one misses, just do it again. You should have the focus for it easily enough with the squire and junior giving you a second one on turn 2.
The stormclad, if it gets the charge off, will hit like a freight train, and with 5 focus can easily kill all 3 manowars, or the khador heavy with ease. If you can, get the junior up there to Arcane Shield it afterwards (if you had Disruption Field on it). Remember though, with your feat, disruption field, and voltaic snare, you should be able to get the charge off on the enemy heavy. Just make sure to keep Nemo in the back and you will be golden.

Also, boosted POW 12's kill casters. So remember you juniors Handcannon, even if you think its useless.

-DF

[Fryerdan]

Just remember, it is just a game. Win, lose, draw, but have fun doing it. You can do all the first three a thousand times so long as you have the fourth.

[BobMakenzie]

My Opponent backed out abruptly at the last minute *tear* Will have to wait till next week. >.> of course I dont want to wait >.<

[BobMakenzie]

So I got in a pair of games over the weekend against my foe. We agreed to up the points by 1. So I ran:

pNemo
Thunderhead
Charger
Black 13
Squire

I came up against a list that is over points but I didnt really care at this moment I was just looking to get a few games in and get a feel for the rules. I could work it out with him later and see about having a good few games.

He had
pSorscha
Heavy Jack with Axe
Heavy Jack with AoE Cannon
War Doggy
Widowmakers
Kommandos? (Infantry they had like Gas Grenades)

Either way We were playing without terrain because of the local. In the first game we stumbled through and did alright I made a few obvious movement mistakes and he beat my jacks pretty hard in return but left his caster open to an abrupt last second strike. (I was 3 dmg from completing an assassination but I fell just short and he finished nemo on his turn.)

The second game he left his caster a little too close so I locomotioned a turbocharged Thunderhead in and beat the stuffing out of her. So I am feeling pretty good about the game so far. Nothing's totally gripped me about it but I will definitely continue playing now that I have the models.

Having said that we also have a new Cryx player locally and it looks like we'll be duking it out a bit. my concern is that in low pts games I wont have the bodies to slow down and stop the speed of his units I suppose. Any tips for Cryx? What exactly are they great at? (I think he has the battlegroup and then a bit more)

[Knarfy]

If you dig the Thunderhead, pick up Arlan Strangewayes (and probably epic Eyriss).

The first to use evasive action so that the T-Head can walk out of melee to Pulse, and the second to strip things like crippling grasp off of him so that he can Pulse.

Also, never forget the Supercharged/locomotion pulse autohitting ranged assassination. Its honestly one of the T-Head's best moves.