Tales of an Irish Druid

[VagrantPoet]

Okay, so I've recently gotten back into warmahordes, and after a brief foray into Cygnar, I've settled on playing druids, the eventual aim is to build up and play tournaments competitively, Dublin and my local store (Gamer's Hub, Maynooth) both host games.

I've been playing a bit lately, but with the christmas I'm going to start writing up battle reports, in hopes of making myself a better player.

Yesterday evening I played against Scaverous at 35 points with Mohsar, I made a lot of little mistakes, stuck megalith down wrong and he was stuck behind my forces for a long time, I went a bit crazy with sands of fate and killed a few blood trackers for little gain, my PoS placement isn't up to scratch, but worst, I didn't leave fury on him, and Scaverous feated and telekinesis'd my army out of the way for an assassination.

Here's to improvement, I'd love advice and suggestions, and any banter from other Irish gamers.

[VagrantPoet]

Cath Chéad (Running Circles )

I played two games today, however I didn't take notes like I plan to in future.

My list,
eKaya (Tier 1)
-Laris
-Winter Argus
-Stalker
-Pureblood
Shifting Stones + UA
War Wolf

My foe,
eSorcha
-Juggernaut
-Kodiak
Iron fang Pikemen
Widowmakers
2 Field Gun crews (I warned him of stealth, he just lved cannons too much)

Setup
Scenario-Killbox
-He won the roll off, and chose to go first. He set up sorcha with her jacks in the center, with the two field guns flanking them, then he made the terrible decision of putting his ironfang off to one side.
-I then set up, put most of my forces on the side opposite to his iron fang, my poor move was trying to distract him with shifting stones, which I ended up porting to the side my army was on anyway, while his iron fang an second cannon trundled away doing nothing anyway.

Round 1
Alot of running around, setting up got in good charge positions, kept kaya hidden behind a forest (he wasn't using his usual list, and hadn't faced my circle before, but he nows how to make a sorcha assisination run, and its a long one.
his snipers popped off a shot on my warpwolf, and did 2 damage before I got shadow pack up.
Stupid Mistakes I didn't rile enough fury, had to cut kaya for it. I'd do this again later, I really have to ensure fury supply.

Round 2
It got serious, the snipers blew away my war wolf, his snipers and cannon got bundled while sorcha and jacks occupied the central hill, everything was with 8" by the end of his turn.
I used my feat, the winter argus cleared out the snipers with boosting sprays, then the pureblood shot into the gap and screamed the cannon crew out of it, before teleporting back into my shifting stones. Laris and Kaya hung out at the back, then the stalker hit his juggernaught and made scrap of it before porting back, all is going okay, then...
Stupid Mistakes I forgot the argus, he's now staring down the barrel of a kodiak.

Round 3
The kodiak makes mess of my argus, but fails to kill it, I begin the second wave moving my pureblood and laris out, the stalker walks around to flank the kodiak, all the while I ignore his IF and second cannon. Sorcha gets behind a hill.

Round 4
He finishes off the argus, but realises how open he was, I move up and around keeping well away from sorcha***, the stalker and pureblood team up to annihilate a dogpiled kodiak.
Stupid mistake I didn't have enough fury again... Also ***

Round 5
A desperate sorcha (he had work soon) tries to charge on kaya, angle make him decide instead to annihilate, he fails by 2 damage boxes,
kayas heals him, he dices sorcha all is well...
***I didn't watch killbox in round4, and turns out I was exploded there and then

Result LOSS by Scenario

Despite a stupid mistake, and some rookie moves, I moved around well, and bounced off him fantastically, he postioned badly and fell into every trap I set him. some learned, but mostly an easyish game, due to his unfamiliarity with his and my units.

[VagrantPoet]

Cath Dara (Of Wolves and 'Jacks)

My opponent was playing Mortenebra, I decided to play a second wolfed out tier list, this time the trinity in honor of the *****ing new kit.

eKaya
-Laris
-Stalker
-Pureblood
-Feral

Mortenebra
Deryliss
-Deathjack
-Leviathan
-Slayer
-Deathripper
Necrotech
2x Warwitch

Setup
Scenario- Close Quarters
I won the roll, but stupidly chose to go second, despite ADing almost all of my unit. We both setup in front of our respective zones.

Round 1
He moved forward, trying to watch my possible charge ranges, the deathripper and scrap thralls peg it up the flank.
I move forward so that I can reach every inch of circle with all of my wolves.

Round 2
He moves forward but does not occupy zone with anything, the feral takes it while I muzzle and pureblood spray his necrotech and thralls out of it.
Stupid Mistakes I went for the easy scenario point, I probably shouldn't have, and if I did I at least should have kept the feral back in counter charge territory.

Round 3
He kills my feral with his leviathan and slayer and deathripper, I stalker his slayer, it dies, however his deathripper dodges two attacks, so I don't win by scenario, kayas feat returns my wolves to my 'lock.

Round 4
I set up for more countercharges, etc while he attacks me with a deathripper rocket, he makes many moves that cost him, he has left Morty too far back for continued terminal velocity, his warwitches start to be ill-used, and he hides deathjack from fear of my stalker.

Round 5
He walks his big guy forward, warwitches focus onto deathripper, morty forced forward.
I slayer the deathjack, it explodes fantastically. The pureblood and an injured teleport returning laris who put dogpile on the deathjack fight the bonejack.

Round 6
He walks Morty very far forward and engages my stalker, his def 16 saves him, seeing the run I decide to slam the leviathan with the pureblood, it takes a free strike, but nothing too bad, then stalker strolls over the deathjack and kills mortenebra.

Result WIN by Assassination

I played the feral poorly, and should really have stuck to the **** scenario plan, my opponent however was even newer than I am and made many many mistakes, no feat, caster either too far or too close, too conservative with deathjack at wrong times, 12 points that never saw use. I mostly learned, from a frenzying pureblood that I love the shifting stones too much with kaya too dump them.

[John Q.]

Hey, nice to see some reports coming out of Gamer's Hub, I must get a game in with you with my orange Cygnar.

[WeekendDruid]

Like the reports, thanks for taking the time to post them.

[Kyuss]

Hiya,

Sweet reports. The only thing I would say is that my first three beasts out of the block with eKaya are usually the Stalker, Pureblood, then the Gnarlhorn. His animus is great to help extend range, especially if you do not have a blackclad in the theme force (its one of the better ones alongside pBaldur). It also give you another reason to take the Wilder.

I do have to say Mohsar is hard to learn with, because you have SSSOOO many options with him. Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen two Mo' lists alike. Saying that, my meta is predominantly Warmachine, so if you are going to be playing against Hordes at least 30% of the time, his feat will really help you out as it can be really crippling.

Looking forward to your future posts already. The only thing I would generally say about Circle is that we don't really have 'key units'. Everything has a place with a certain Warlock. Hence, if you like experimenting, this is the faction for you

[PG_Valkine]

Wow everybody's taking up Circle now. We had no players for like a year so I decided to start playing and now there's at least 3 others. They are fun though aren't they? At least we all seemed to have picked different warlocks to play for the time being, although I doubt that will last.

[VagrantPoet]

Its good. Menoth are light on the ground too, I'm told, but theres a few more new players up and coming. I'm pushing recruitment for the game pretty hard, so hopefully we'll create a huge batch!

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I won't get a game in today/tomorrow, but I reckon that I'll play against the owner's Ret army sunday!

[niceas]

If you haven't played Ret before, watch out for the Mage Hunter Strike Force - their ability to ignore intervening terrain can be a rude kick in the arse.

[VagrantPoet]

My local has two Ret players, so I've fought the mage hunters a few times.

Cath Tríú (Elves with Beards)

Mohsar
-Megalith
-Wold Guardian
Bloodtrackers
Shifting Stones
Blackclad
Gallows Grove

Garryth
-Griffin
-Banshee
Invictors with UA
Mage Hunter Assassin
Nayl

(I'm not sure Mohsar really works at 25 point, my beasts physically couldn't make enough fury, etc. I probably should have swapped the gallows grove and the WG for a Stalker)

Setup
Scenario- Revelation

My opponent won but gave me first roll, I deployed my non-AD in a black facing on the flags, in hindsight I should have deployed in the middle, then we deployed in a much more spread out way, with Nayl on one flank and the mage hunter on the other, Garryth and his two jacks to my left in or around a forest, the invictors in the open facing off against Mohsar.
I then placed the shifting stones in the center, the blood tackers off to my side to face nayl and hopefully get around to his invictors, then finally placed my gallows grove in front of the other flag.
Stupid Mistake I thought we'd already picked flag order, when we rolled for it it turned out how I wanted, with flag #2 facing the mohsar brick and flag #1 near the GG, I also really should have put more than the GG on that flag.

Round 1
I set up mirage on my bloodtrackers, warped my stones forward and ran into them with the WG, ended up not leaping forward to over extend however. The trackers sprinted their impressive distance up the flank towards nayl. I dropped a pillar to stop nayl running past the trackers and to attempt to slow down his battlegroup.
The mage hunter and nayl both raced up the flank, while the invictors trundled forward, some split to the side to be nearer the bloodtrackers, the banshee shot towards the flag, almost arriving while garryth and the griffin hung out int he forest. The invictors manage to shoot off one of my veryy forward stones.

Round 2
The bloodtrackers annhilated nayl and swung around into the invictors killing three of them who had seperated. The gallows grove moves to within 4" of the first objective, while I move the WG over a bit for a counter attack on the Banshee. Megalith tromps though a forest to be near the second objective.
His mage hunter assassin hits the gallows tree, but leaves it on one life, while the banshee stands on the objective shoots at the WG. On the other flank the invictors kill 3 of my blood trackers.

Round 3
My trackers passed their check so they fly into the invictors and kill two more of them. Meanwhile my gallows grove moves to block the amge hunters' charge lane, while the blackclad joins him and fails to it the banshee with hunters mark, this leaves my WG unable to charge, so I sit him there and use his animus. Meanwhile megalith goes just abit ahead of the second objective while Mohsar hides in a wood, I block the griffin's charge, and the mage hunters, I hope.
His banshee charges my WG, while his griffin reclaims the objective, invictors mop up the blood trackers, while garryth moves forward, planning to rely on his def. He knows megalith's stats.
Stupid Mistakes Many... I didn't realise he could score points in my turn, so he scored 1 point, and I didn't score because Megalith stood away from the second objective, I hadn't moved the WG enough in previous turns, and was left stranded, then forgot to rile him, a bit messy all around.

Round 4
I cast curse of shadows on the banshee, as my gallows grove stood just out of reach of his feat, then megalith charges garryth, hoping to soften him up and drop his defense for the WG, however Megalith hits him first go, and deals enough damage to kill him in one hit.

Result WIN by Assassination

I was very lucky to avoid getting screwed by Round 3, however, as unforgiving as mohsar is, the vastly improved toughness of the wolds gives me more staying power. Even without the lucky assassination, I think I could have won by tanking on the second objective long enough, with pillars of salt. I enjoyed the game, though not riling in round 3 caused me to cut Mohsar for 5. That made me sad!

[VagrantPoet]

Half Battle
I played a battle against Legion running Rhyas, I was using Mohsar, we both killed each others infantry and were sitting on our respective objectives when we had to end the game early to go to a christmas dinner with some friends.

Mohsar did the infantry killing singlehandedly, sands of fate, spray, crevasse, SoF. It was shaping up to be interesting, I'm not sure how I was going to deal with his heavies and little beast spawning.

I've a game against Kaelesa (?) with Morvahna to report, but I left my notes in the store. I'll play tomorrow, get some more notes, and write up a few tomorrow.

[VagrantPoet]

Cath Ceathrú (Autumn is Coming)

Morvahna
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Megalith
Full Bloodtrackers + UA
Wolves of Orboros + UA
Shifting Stones + UA
Swamp Gobbers

Kaeleasa
-Griffin
-Phoenix
-Griffin
Invictors + UA
DG Sentinels + UA
Arcanist

Setup Scenario- Grind

I was given first pick, I chose the side with the biggest wall to hide behind so he wouldn't be able to, my stones and warpwolf, and bloodtrackers were just off to my right, while megalith and the gobbers were on the left, with a center of wolves and Morvahna.
The DG and an arcanist/griffin pair faced my right, while his jacks were on my left. The invictors were in the center. I preyed the DGS.
Stupid Mistake As much as it would have opened them up to Kaelesa and her shenanigans, I should have put the BT down the center and preyed the invictors, I thought Kaelessa had upkeep removal.

Round 1
I cast my buffs, regrowth on the trackers, restoration on the wolves. Then moved into position, running the gobbers in front of my lines. He did much the same moving forward and into position. The two infantry teams facing off. I found it unusual as I haven't played so much infantry before.

Round 2
More positioning, I was aggressive this turn, getting up the field and throwing down gobbers smoke to screen my wolves, while a pair of trackers ran right up closer to the DG the rest of the unit about 5" behind them. My stalker booted the right hand objective towards the DG.
He half retreated the Dg, moving 5 forward to attack the objective in front of them, and the rest back onto a hill. He then spent his turn trying to kill bloodtrackers while his other jacks squared off against mine and tried and failed to shift the objective. He forgot his feat, and this would hurt him terribly in the next turn.
Stupid Mistake Not throwing the objective out of the way towards the board edge. It got in my way alot on the following turn.

Round 3
I replaced my lost trackers, then set up Morvahna's feat, however I left her very much so in the open. My stalker charged his griffin and wrecked it, while megalith geomancied eruption of life into his invictors, the wolves charges and levelled the invictors, while the blood trackers hit the DG in drips and drabs but killed a good four or five of them.
In his turn the DG fought back against the trackers, while his heavy got up on megalith, the invictors floundered a bit but attacked some wolves, however kaelessa shot the hell out of morvahna and dropped her to three hit points.
Stupid Mistake Leaving Morvahna in the open like that was too aggressive, he didn't take his feat as I'd expected, and in my zeal to take advantage, I left her out in the open. I should have kept her surrounded by shifting stones and made them the restoration targets.

Round 4
The tables having turned morvahna flees over toward the stalker, while almost everything else continues its engagment in a bloody fashion. I teleported the stalker into his lines but he was 2.5" inches from kaelessa, so I killed an invictor to sprint up to her.
His phoenix killed megalith, while the DGs and BTs were left with only two or three models each, kaelessa failed to kill the warpwolf, but hurt him badly. His arcanist attacked morvahna, but failed to hit her.

Round 5
Moved morvahna, healed the warpwolf, the stalker kills his caster.

Result WIN by assassination

Neither of us had used our caster before, and there was some confusion, but it was a fun game. and my first dabble in both morvahna and infantry heavy.

[VagrantPoet]

Cath Cúigiú (Through Tar and Snow)

eKaya
-Laris
-Stalker
-Pureblood
-Gnarlhorn
Druids + UA
SS

eIrusk
-Spriggan
-Destroyer
Iron Fang + UA
Winter Guard Rifle Corps
Mortar

Setup Scenario- The Guantlet

He won the roll and went first, he placed his mortar on a hill to my right, behind the spriggan, with irusk behind the iron fang and the destroyer on his other flank, I placed gnarlhorn facing his destroyer, my two puppies facing his spriggan which I feared, my stones and Kaya down the middle and my druids facing his rifle corps.

Round 1
My opponent trundled forward with few suprises, I ended up doing much the same, launching myself up the board hoping to get my wolves on his spriggan. Usual buffs were cast, FE on Stalker, stealth, etc.

Round 2
Khador moved forward, the spriggan lit up my stalker and he got bombed with the mortar, meanwhile the druids were also lit up but only two were sniped off. With Tac Supremacy the spriggan then retreated 3".
I popped Kaya's feat, my stalker only just managed to charge the spriggan and terrible damage rolls meant I didn't really hurt it, my gnarly slammed the destroyer 7", Laris was left exposed in getting dogpile on the spriggan, because it needed that and bounding to get the wolf in, my pureblood just smoked some rifle guard and retreated while my druids took potshots and sniped a few more WG.
Stupid Mistake I underestimated my charge ranges, I didn't need dogpile or the claw attack, and it cost my Laris next turn.

Round 3
Standard Kaya stuff again, he mopped up my exposed units and hurt my druids very badly, all while trundling forward.
I moved forward and got my stalker in on his spriggan again, wrecking it this time, while the pureblood sprayed pitifully at the IF, the gnarlhorn engages the WG while Irusk in a fit of cowardice moves back a bit far from the action.

Round 4
The mortar mops up the druids, while the IF badly wound but fail to kill the Stalker. Irusk and the Destroyer start to move up the flank.
My stalker uses beserk for the first time ever, and holy cow does he clear out infantry, single handedly killing six IF, the pureblood kills another as he retreats to block the destroyer, my gnarlhorn tramples over the WG to reach the mortar.
Stupid Mistakes I shouldn't have moved my gnarlhorn, the mortar, was barely contributing to the game any more, and it took my 8 pt heavy away for 3 points that had already earned themselves. This would cost me the game.

Round 5
He finally kills my stalker and is left with and engaged mortar, a two WG, three IF and his detroyer, while I have a pureblood, and a gnarlhorn too far away to do anything. He walks irusk and the destroyer and scores a point,
I charge with my pureblood but forget to give him forced evolution.
Stupid Mistakes See above

Round 6
Irusk and the 'jack hurt the pureblood badly, while the IF engages Kaya.
The pureblood, on his last legs and unable to kill the jack, I decide to chance a caster kill, but he dies to the free strike, losing me the game.

Result LOSS, by Scenario

Though my last move with the pureblood seems stupid no doubt, what really cost me the game were throwing the gnarlhorn away and forgetting forced evolution on the pureblood. The extra def would have saved me, and allowed my to try and slog it out against him.

[VagrantPoet]

The previous game was the store owner, who is a Ret player trying out Khador to see if they could be competitive, this game was one of our regular Khador players who has a few bad habits, like running far too many jacks with eSorcha trying out the units the store owner used. We had to play in an hours time, so he did timed turns. This adds a serious level of stress to the game, and I recommend using units/models you know well, and getting used to planning in your opponents turn before trying it, however it was good practice to prepare for competitive play.

Cath Seachtú (Against The Sands of Time)

Morvahna
-Stalker
-Gorax
Bloodtrackers + UA
Druids + UA
Shifting Stones
Gallows Grove

eIrusk
-Spriggan
Mortar
Mortar
Kovnik Jo
Man o War Bombardiers
Iron Fang

Setup Scenario- A new radial steamroller one, you had to control a flag and contest a 4" zone, it was read as an 8" diameter circle however, and I mistakenly taught that thats how large it was. Stupid mistake here was evident.

My opponent set up with his jack in the middle, his iron fang and mortars on sides aiming for my objective and his own, while I sent the BTrackers after his iron fang and my druids went for the same objective as his bombardiers, the one I needed to control.

Round 1
My opponent moved forward, and got a lucky mortar shot which deviated straight forward six inches to kill two bloodtrackers. Very cheeky and annoying.
I got my buffs up, regrowth on the trackers, restoration on the stones, then ran the bloodtrackers well out of mortar range, while the druids, gallows and gorax started to move towards my objective, and the stalker strolled into the open.
Stupid Mistake There were many this game, I positioned the stalker all wrong, and was too far forward.

Round 2
My opponent used energiser and charged my stalker with his spriggan, while his bombardiers trundled again, his iron fang got close to my bloodtrackers, irusk stayed on the hill with the mortars.
I got my gorax on my objective and ran one bloodtracker up to 7" from the zone center. My stalker fought on.
Stupid Mistake I misread the objective, and was under the impression the being out of formation cost my entire unit its activation, I was wrong on both counts. No control points for me and I'm overextended.

Round 3
Beleiving the same as me, my opponent doesn't kill my BT, and moves the Iron fang to charge the BT, his bombardiers charge but do not kill the gorax, while his mortar bombs some druids. His spriggan hurts the stalker some more.
My trackers don't activate but my gorax kills one bombardier and wounds another down to 1 hp, my druid push the other away while two other druids run to score a control point for real.

Round 4
The Iron fang kill half the BT, while the spriggan finishes the stalker, the last bombardier kills the gorax, while irusk kills the contesting druids.
My trackers regrow and maul the Iron fang, the druids shove away the bombarider, while the gallows grove sits on my flag, and my stones teleport into contesting range scoring me a point.

Result WIN by scenario

This was a poorly played game, the time limit, and misreadings on my part cost me alot, and my opponent didn't really use Irusk very well, dividing his forces so much he couldn't take advantage of my mistakes. Messy, but interesting to play fast, and I'm enjoying Morvahna alot, very different to eKaya.

[PG_bushman101]

good stuff. Your reports and short and to the point

[VagrantPoet]

Bad game today, I lost it for myself.

Cath Octhú (A Zone Too Far)

eKaya
-Laris
-Feral
-Pureblood
-Stalker
Bloodtrackers + Nuala
Shifting Stones + Keeper

Ravyn
=Wishnailer (I'm not spelling it.)
-Phoenix
-Gorgon
Scyre
-Griffin
DG Sentinels Full + UA
Halberdiers

I should have surrendered the feral and bloodtrackers for skinwalkers and druids with UA. I lost because all of my army was hit and run, they killed wonderfully for the most part, but that wasn't my problem in this game.

Setup Scenario- Sacrifice; There is a zone and a flag, to control the zone you also need any unit B2B with the flag, that unit then takes a pow 20 magical damage roll after you score. Radial scenario.
My opponent won the roll off, but let me be first player. I kept all but my bloodtrackers central, and had them on the flag side.
My opponent set up a wall of infantry, with DGS facing the zone, halberdiers facing the flag and the jacks and caster out back.
Stupid Mistake I tried to keep him off the flag, rather than the zone, that wasn't a good move, as its alot harder to keep any unit away from the flag than it is to contest the zone. I realised this midgame and just tried to run with it. Also not a great move. Let's just say I played a poor game, and let my fear of how brutal DGS can be force me to play badly. I lost the psychological battle and that lost me the game. Circle should never let the other player define the terms of the battle, our faction is all about forcing the opposite.

Round 1
I moved my bloodtrackers up into a forest covering the flag, their prey was the halberdiers. Laris, the stones and the feral strolled in that direction, with Forced Evo. on the feral, while the pureblood and the stalker go for the zone and the DG.
My opponent trundles forward, the gorgon running to be close to the zone.

Round 2
I place a single BT on the flag and my wolves in the zone, other wise moving cautiously forward, and shifting my support to the flags edge.
My opponent runs the DGS onto the central hill, threatening everything, especially with vengeance. He then moves the gorgon in to contest the zone.
Stupid Mistake More dividing myself, if I wanted to score points I should have set up to do that. If I wanted to stop him doing so I should have set up to stop him scoring points. I did neither.

Round 3
FEAT TURN! I annihilate the DGS down to three men with the pureblood and stalker, while the feral levels a griffin. As a gesture I place the bloodtrackers on the flag.
My opponent kills the BT with ravyn the halberdiers and scores a point.
Stupid Mistakes Where to start... I'd already sown my own demise. But after I'd killed so many dawnguard, I just didn't need to teleport away. Secondary problem, I didn't move Laris at all, if I had he could have run to the zone next turn.

Round 4
I kill some more stuff, but fail to kill and sprint from the phoenix despite cycling FE onto him.
He scores another point without any real effort.

Result LOSS by Scenario/fear of attrition

I lost myself the game, I've said everything I need above. I've not really learned, because I saw it coming and just tried to stick to my poor original plan. I now see the use of the druids/skinwalkers in the eKaya list, I need something that can and will stand on a zone, etc. Beign entirely stealth and hit and run, makes threatening and holding points really hard, despite my fantastic killing power. I might have done all the impressive killing, but I still lost the game.

I could have played that list better, but I'm going to try tier next, probably the following list.

eKaya
-Laris
-Stalker
-Pureblood
-Gorax
Shifting Stones + Keeper
Warpwolf Skinwalkers min
Druids + UA
1 spare point

[VagrantPoet]

Two games today, both with Morvahna. Vastly different levels of performance in both games. Reports to follow.

[PG_Pickles]

Though my last move with the pureblood seems stupid no doubt, what really cost me the game were throwing the gnarlhorn away and forgetting forced evolution on the pureblood. The extra def would have saved me, and allowed my to try and slog it out against him.

It's worse than that the Pureblood can Warp ghostly to make it immune to free strikes.

It's been fun seeing you learning in these reports keep em coming!

[VagrantPoet]

@DGPickles: GAH! Son of a *****! I didn't know Ghostly included free strikes. That makes a big difference to how I'll play my wolves. I don't think anyone in my meta realises either. At least it will be a nasty surprise.

Speaking of learning experiences...

[VagrantPoet]

I considered gloss over this entirely, my mistakes are many and were oft compounded. The jump to 50 points is alot more to remember and manage than I was expecting.

I learned two major things in this battle, that almost don't rely on the events of it.

1) Always know what your units do, which leads itself to having a clear idea of what and where they want to do and deploy. Especially with a tricksy team like Circle who relies on activation order so much.
2) My greatest losses tend to be from psyching myself out. My opponents rarely play terribly, but my disastrous defeats aren't from a sudden unstoppable offensive, rather their from psychological weakening. I've seen in in tactica of several armies, and its vital. Always keep a level head, regardless of your mistakes, or you will make more.

Cath Naoú (Meatgrinder)

Morvahna
-Stalker
-Megalith
Skinwalkers min
Shifting Stones + UA
Full Bloodtrackers + Nuala
Druids + UA
Wolves min + UA
Gallows Groves x2

Ravyn
-Phoenix
-Griffin
Arcanist
Full invictors UA
DG Sentinels UA
Stormfall archers
Mage Hunter Assassins x2
Nayl

Setup Scenario- ? Can't remember name, but there was a single huge box in the middle.
My opponent won the roll off, and gave me table edge. I chose and began to deploy.
Morvahna was in the center, surrounded by skinwalkers, with my beasts flanking her and the wolves packed into the corner of the board.
My opponent set up so his jacks and solos were off to my side, while his DGS faced my center and his invictors faced my wolves.
I placed my AD so that the bloodtrackers faced the invictors the druids were in front of Morvahna and the stones were off to the side.
Stupid Mistake I wasn't ready for how big my 50 point infantry army was. I placed the wolves worst of all, I've seen what happens when you throw infantry in the corner against Khador using Iron Fang. It would have let them reposition better. Instead they got stuck behind my army in graphic and terrible ways. This and another moronic mistake cost me the game as my army walked piecemeal into his. The wolves placement also left on flank very open, forcing me to cover it with the Stalker. This list needed solo hunting badly.

Round 1
I prey the invictors, I still don't entirely regret this, as BT kill invictors but I probabl should have focused on the DG and let the wolves with cloud cover try and get up on the on invictors. Anywho, my army then creeps forward, the Stalker going off to the side, while the wolves get stuck behind the skinwalkers.
My opponenets line surge forward, the DGS and invictors running about 8 inches forward, while the stormfalls take a hill and fire pot shots with little success.

Round 2
My druids try a few Shenangians, the Bloodtrackers send prey activating probes forward, while the Stalker sits in stones so solos can't escape him. Wolves try to squeeze forward.
More trundling and stormfall archers kill three druids.

Round 3
I hit the front half of the invictors, killing for sport, all out of harvest range. My stalker kills Nayl and retreats. Otherwise still jammed up despite filtering forward.
The DGS get up in my druids and kill have my wolves,while his fane knight impacts and kills several bloodtrackers and engages the druid leader, failing to kill him. The griffin charges my stalker, then a MH Assassin hits him and does 22 damage killing him outright. I'm now wide exposed.

Round 3
For dramatic purposes, I'm acting as if this happened now. My wolves, their to get one counter charge under Morvahnas feat to start a ripple chain of eruptions of life fed by harvest are in perfect position, finally, and... I roll a 12 on my command check. Then I move the druid leader to let megalith get at the dragoon, and forget the rest of the unit, effectively sticking the skinwalkers where they can't get forward and attak to activate Morvahna's feat either.
The bloodtrackers annihialte all but two invictors but end up massively out of formation. I move stones to form a wall around Morvahna.
Vengeance clears my front lines, while ravyn blitzkriegs the trackers herself, the MH assassin kills a skinwalker.

Round 4
Megalith charges his phoenix, while the remaing skinwalker hits a DGS, before I activate Morvahna's feat, because I'm dumb like that.
Ravyn and the phoenix kill megalith, the mage hunter kills a stone in its way. The DGs cut down the last of my scattered druids and skinwalkers.

I forfeit the game, its become inevitable at this stage.

Result Loss by attrition/stupidity/pschology

I've kind of said it all above, I didn't put many subsections for mistakes above, because most of my turns were full of them, and they should be pretty evident. This was extremely dispiriting after my previous game, making me 2 for 2 losses by my own hand as much as my opponents, the second worse than the first.

There was light at the end of the tunnel however.

[VagrantPoet]

Cath Dóú Cuid Déag (To The Gallows)

eKreuger
-Megalith
-Ghetorix
-Gorax
Shifting Stones
-UA
Gallows Grove
Bloodtrackers full
-UA

Old Witch
-Juggernaught
-Scrapjack
Ironfang full
-UA
Doomreavers
-UA
Kayazy full
-UA

Setup Scenario- Outlast,

My opponent deployed in a long line, with the Old Witch and battlegroup central wit the iron fang and the Kayazy to my left.
I went second and deployed my battle group just off the center facing one of the zones. Then he deployed his Doom Reavers off to the right. I put the bloodtrackers to the right with my grove then placed my stones just ahead of my battlegroup.

Mistake With increased size of my triangle thanks to the UA I should alway place it so it clips my battle group incase I need to get up the field in some way. I didn't and thus didn't get as much out my first turn as I should have.

Round 1
My opponent ran the pikemen, then used their special mini-feat to be right up the board. Everything else ran and Iron flesh went up on the pikemen. I was already feeling swamped.

I moved the grove up and telekinesis'd two pikemen out of position megalith was too far to get a third. I put ghetorix and the gorax up front in the stones, then moved on the bloodtrackers. I walked forward a bit then started throwing spears. I killed four of them the reformed to retreat a little.

Mistake Why didn't I turn those guys around? The def 16 was killing me as it was, turned around I could have walked up killed those guys and quick worked to give me easier kills and more shots. Things were looking a bit rough.

Round 2
The old witch decides to upkeep iron flesh, and goes on about her turn. The mortar skulls the gorax, while scrapjack charges and fails to kill a shifting stone. The doom reavers clip two bloodtrackers, but with inspiration I'm not in too much danger. The kayazy run right up into my face, very close to kreuger now. Meanwhile the pikemen because they still have iron flesh elect to walk forward and attack a few trackers while staying in shield wall. They only kill one more. Between choosing not to feat and not charging the bloodtrackers, I feel that I'm under alot less pressure, as long as I can handle those Kayazy.

I teleport Ghetorix over his lines beside the juggernaught which is in front of the old witch before levelling it. The gorax hurts scrapjack but not much due to the mortar shot taking out his spirit. Kreugar and the stones lamp AoE's at the kayazy, killing 4 before Kreugar feats and pushes them, while breaking up the iron fang. The bloodtrackers hit the iron fang pretty hard killing another 5 leaving only the ua flag and a dude. Meanwhile megalith finishes scrappy and AoE's two nearby kayazy. I'm in a good position but I'm barely in the zones.

Mistake I should have healed the gorax's spirit, and I feated too early. Should have let the bloodtrackers stand and aim. I only killed as many as I did through sheer luck.

Round 3
The long and short of it is, the witch tries to go for Ghetto and fails, and ghetto finishes the job.

Result Win by Assassination

I got really lucky that he let the pressure off, I'm not sure how I would have faired otherwise. I'm glad that I dealt fairly well with it, but I really felt the lack of upkeep removal.

eKreager, like so much of circle demands careful order of activation. I hope I face little eHaley!

[taffyjoe]

Hey, Great Bat reps, really like them.

I question with the Morv list - what is the point of the min wolf+UA unit? Would you not be better off with bloodweavers or wolfriders?

Mohsar is not bad against Legion, although they can deal with the pillars they have to use quality attacks to do it and eyeless sight doesn't work against them. Plus his feat is nasty against them.

[VagrantPoet]

The wolves were there as a cheap unit, and to deliver feats as bloodtrackers tend to be too far away. However I think that you are indeed right about the bloodweavers.

I'm not finished with this thread, but I have been playing my Cygnar over christmas in an effort to use them competitively in my local for a league next month. However times may change and I may bring my circle to that, at which point I'll be flooding this thread. eKreugar and pBaldur are next on my list to try out.

[VagrantPoet]

And the revival begins as the weather starts to turn in the Emerald Isle. I bought eBaldur and had a hoot playing him this week.

I might get more games in soon and actually get a report up.

[AzureKommander]

Three Khador Reps and not one of em was me... Hmm!

[VagrantPoet]

You're battle's 1 and 6. And as soon as I beat you again you can be more!

[AzureKommander]

I am? I was under the impression I had never used Iron Fang... Strange!

[Karchev_the_Terrible]

Nice reading your threads, one point though, your game 2 vs Cryx, unless I'm horribly mistaken, you're using a 25 pt list while your opponent had a 29 pt list.

[VagrantPoet]

Hmm. Maybe. It's been a long time now, I could just have gotten the list wrong!

[VagrantPoet]

I've recently started using eBaldur and Vassal. So far the player's on Vassal have been stunningly good, and I'm getting annihilated, but hopefully that will make me better at the game! My first opponent was a guy called Kestrel, who was really nice. eKaya and Vindictus duked it out, but I lost the logfile. So I'm going to start again with my match against a guy called Mal who was a real top class player and guy.

WARNING: I misunderstood sidestep and thought it required a kill. As such you can see me set myself up to die!

Cath Déag (Between a Rock and a Karn Place)

eBaldur
-Ghetorix
-Megalith
-Gorax
Shifting Stones + UA
Gatorman Posse
Blackclad

Zaal
-Molik Karn
-Gladiator
Ancestral Guardian x2
Immortals
Nihilitors
Paingivers

Setup Scenario- Close Quarters

I won the roll off and deployed in a brick on the top side, while opponent did similarly, his immortals (non-living immortals) facing my gators. I made a bit of a mess of deploying here. I got in my own way alot on the first turn. I also still haven't quite figured out the optimum placement of my shifting stones so they get alot of use turns 1 and two. As such there was alot of shufffling and I ceded the initiative early.

Setup

Round 1
Megalith ran forward, and slightly around the stone keeper, I followed this by moving the stones, which I should have done first, and then realised I wanted Ghetorix in the stones. The Gatormen and Ghetorix ran forward, the Gatormen should have begun sloping towards a more central position, while Ghetorix had to run to get into the stones. Finally the gorax, and baldur ran while the blackclad phase jumped forward.

My opponents Gladiator runs forward, immediately screened by nihilators. This was followed by the immortals presenting a hard front to the gators, while the ancestral guardians ran up behind. Finally Zaal and the paingivers ran up, throwing some souls onto the AGs, casting resolve on the immortals, awakened spirit on Karn and last stand on the nihilators.

Round 1

Round 2
This is the stage at which I lost initiative. I did very little this round, I threw up roots and a rock wall, and retreated, but even that wasn't quite enough. In particular the Gators walked backwards. Moving back is usually a death sentence in Warmachine.

The immortals charged right out of the gate, clipping on of my stones and a gator. The gator dies while the rest of the immortals run up behind the first two. An ancestral guardian then shuffled into the middle of the immortals. The nihilators declared a charge order, most run while one gets a last stand punch against Ghetorix. The second AG and the Glad followed up behind the nihilators. Meanwhile Karn and Zaal go and hang out at the far side on my opponent's zone.

Round 2

Round 3
No more backing up, I have the Gators charge the immortals, and get a good selection of targets off, managing to kill 4 of the immortals. Then I decided not to Primal ghetorix and teleport him beside the gladiator. (With mat 7, pow 19 (and one pow 16) I should have done 32+ damage. I'm trying to learn not to overcommit and only kill as hard as I need to). The blackclad then strolled forward and sprayed the nihilators, failing spectacularly. I then had Megalith crevasse which killed a chunk of the front row due to good luck. Baldur then crevasse'd, sweeping the front lines again he then walked over behind Megalith and placed a rock wall in front of him. This should have been further forward to block a Karn charge, especially now that I know sidestep is just hit. I then popped my feat, remembering that I'd forgotten the gorax who was supposed to stand in front of Baldur. #1 Rule of eBaldur. Activate last. So all that aside, its time to kill a gladiator. I miss 3 attacks and never roll above a 7 on damage...

Top of Round 3

The remaining three immortals set up charges with their vengenace move. The nihilators one moving through where the gorax should have been to get Baldur and a big hit forces my only transfer. The immortals charge and one gator dies. Then Zaal starts his set up. Putting last stand and rush on Karn, then popping his feat. Meanwhile the Paingivers enrage his beasts. Then the gladiator reduces Ghetorix to four boxes in mind, before his ancestral guardian runs out of combat, taking the free strike and hitting Baldur for 3 damage after all hs souls are spent. The other ancestral guardian charges and kills a Gator. Finally Karn charges megalith, and nails him for 12 damage, sidestepping closer to baldur, hits meglith and a second sidestep puts him in range. And he kills Badlur with one single blow.

Round 3

Result Loss by Assassination

I don't think I ever really threatened the win here. I was outplayed pretty hard. That said, I made many mistakes I can improve. Deployment continues to be a thorn in my side with Baldur, I'm finding the brick hard to get right. I also probably should have run the gators in to engage and feated on turn two, backing up was inadvisable, and it would have let me move the brick foward with less fear of getting Karned. RotE Gators aren't easy to kill, especially without a charge bonus. My wall placement and failure to kill the Glad were a disaster, I should have just primalled as if I wasn't open to assassination, Karn could have easily killed Gheto anyway.

[VagrantPoet]

New report to come. I played eKreuger today against the Old Witch. Fun times.

[PG_somnicide]

Awesome, I am looking forward to it.

[VagrantPoet]

Cath Dóú Cuid Déag (To The Gallows)

eKreuger
-Megalith
-Ghetorix
-Gorax
Shifting Stones
-UA
Gallows Grove
Bloodtrackers full
-UA

Old Witch
-Juggernaught
-Scrapjack
Ironfang full
-UA
Doomreavers
-UA
Kayazy full
-UA

Setup Scenario- Outlast,

My opponent deployed in a long line, with the Old Witch and battlegroup central wit the iron fang and the Kayazy to my left.
I went second and deployed my battle group just off the center facing one of the zones. Then he deployed his Doom Reavers off to the right. I put the bloodtrackers to the right with my grove then placed my stones just ahead of my battlegroup.

Mistake With increased size of my triangle thanks to the UA I should alway place it so it clips my battle group incase I need to get up the field in some way. I didn't and thus didn't get as much out my first turn as I should have.

Round 1
My opponent ran the pikemen, then used their special mini-feat to be right up the board. Everything else ran and Iron flesh went up on the pikemen. I was already feeling swamped.

I moved the grove up and telekinesis'd two pikemen out of position megalith was too far to get a third. I put ghetorix and the gorax up front in the stones, then moved on the bloodtrackers. I walked forward a bit then started throwing spears. I killed four of them the reformed to retreat a little.

Mistake Why didn't I turn those guys around? The def 16 was killing me as it was, turned around I could have walked up killed those guys and quick worked to give me easier kills and more shots. Things were looking a bit rough.

Round 2
The old witch decides to upkeep iron flesh, and goes on about her turn. The mortar skulls the gorax, while scrapjack charges and fails to kill a shifting stone. The doom reavers clip two bloodtrackers, but with inspiration I'm not in too much danger. The kayazy run right up into my face, very close to kreuger now. Meanwhile the pikemen because they still have iron flesh elect to walk forward and attack a few trackers while staying in shield wall. They only kill one more. Between choosing not to feat and not charging the bloodtrackers, I feel that I'm under alot less pressure, as long as I can handle those Kayazy.

I teleport Ghetorix over his lines beside the juggernaught which is in front of the old witch before levelling it. The gorax hurts scrapjack but not much due to the mortar shot taking out his spirit. Kreugar and the stones lamp AoE's at the kayazy, killing 4 before Kreugar feats and pushes them, while breaking up the iron fang. The bloodtrackers hit the iron fang pretty hard killing another 5 leaving only the ua flag and a dude. Meanwhile megalith finishes scrappy and AoE's two nearby kayazy. I'm in a good position but I'm barely in the zones.

Mistake I should have healed the gorax's spirit, and I feated too early. Should have let the bloodtrackers stand and aim. I only killed as many as I did through sheer luck.

Round 3
The long and short of it is, the witch tries to go for Ghetto and fails, and ghetto finishes the job.

Result Win by Assassination

I got really lucky that he let the pressure off, I'm not sure how I would have faired otherwise. I'm glad that I dealt fairly well with it, but I really felt the lack of upkeep removal.

eKreager, like so much of circle demands careful order of activation. I hope I face little eHaley!

[VagrantPoet]

I played three games on friday. One was a rock meets scissors kind of thing with eKaya vs. Ret to see how the guy dealt with bad matchups. I will try and get reports of my other two up soon, though they are defined by mistakes. More practice with eKreuger though, whom I know absolutely love.