Sunday, November 25, 2007

HGR Journal Entry No. 036 - Overloaded Auspexes...

Date: November 24, 2007
Venue: Salubri's Place
Attendees: Salubri, Midnight, Balian, Kyuzo, and Joel
Rules of Engagement: Warmachine/Hordes, HGR style
Highlights:

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Game1 - Balian(Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff) vs. Midnight(Archdomina Makeda)
500pts No Man's Land
Midnight wins via Objective

Finally bringing Makeda out of retirement for a 500 pt game vs. Sorscha. I forgot to factor in the effects of the spells I cast during this game - which prompted me to buy the Skorne tokens. I also forgot to cast my feat at the right time, then deciding as most my troops were dead anyway, to no longer cast it all. I did get the chance to use Makeda's 8 strikes (2 basic+6 additional) on a knocked down spriggan - eventually demolishing the whole thing after repeated strikes of increasing POW!

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Game2 - Midnight(Tyrant Lord Hexeris) vs. Salubri(Lord Commander Coleman Stryker)
750pts No Man's Land
Salubri wins via Assassination

Midnight: Fielding another 750 army! Hexeris is proving to be more interesting as a warlock especially in 750 pt games. I still have to get the hang of casting spells and calling Hexeris feat at the right time. I did get to replay death march and hexeris feat but to a lesser extent - his cavalry leader getting away! Stryker still proving to be a challenge but good game nonetheless =)

Salubri: Going up against Midnight's Hexeris is a daunting task. His ability to use my/his dead models right after they die makes his warhost even scarier. Especially when he's fielding a huge number of Beasts! It was clear to me from the start that assasination was not possible until I remove all the War Beasts in play. I opted to keep Stryker back and cast him into a support role. It proved to be effective with Centurion standing guard. The Hunter was probably one of the most valuable units I had here as it did some major damage as well as delaying his left flank. First time I ever used Stryker's cloud for an extended period. It was fun moving the cloud around though it did little damage to his units. Bloody business, this one!

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Game3 - Kyuzo(High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza) vs. Joel(Goreshade the Bastard)
500pts King of the Hill
Joel wins via Objective

Goreshade... yikes. And with a Deathjack too! Tried out an Amon-Ad Raza list, along with a couple of Dervishes for the first time to check out how well Synergy would work on them.

The Deathjack's advance deployment pretty much did the damage in taking the objective since they were able to take the hill early on while the rest of Joel's battlegroup as well as mine were advancing towards the center. By second turn, Joel made a good move by charging his Deathjack straight to my Castigator (who ended up as scrap one turn after and pretty much stopped my advance to contest the hill) while Goreshade and the rest of his minions took over the controlling duties of the objective. My Dervishes and Devout were able to keep his Slayer and Deathjack from running over to Amon, even destroying the Deathjack in the process. Some last turn heroics by Amon in taking out Goreshade by charging in through a gap but not enough attacks or damage was enough to take him out as he secures the hill.

In hindsight some lessons learned:

1. I think I got a better understanding in playing out the Devout warjack compared to last time I played it.

2. Made the early mistake of NOT moving Amon forward and let him get into Meditative Stance early. First turn should have been, move the warjacks first, THEN activate Amon and go Meditative Stance on the next turn.

3. Synergy rocks. Gone high as +8 with just the light warjacks. Too bad I made low damage rolls thus taking a couple of turns longer in destroying the Deathjack and hopefully look for other targets, maybe even Goreshade himself.

4. Amon DID have a chance in taking out Goreshade. Should have Tripped him with Oblivion first, THEN use the succeeding attacks with boosted damage after. Though the math involved an unboosted To Hit roll of 8, I had a better chance.

5. A slight modification to the list I used would be able to make the list more efficient. Take out the Devout and the rest of the troops and try to keep two heavies and the two dervishes in the battlegroup and the rest of the points for choir, wracks, and a couple of solos should make them more cohesive.

Charge to experience. Good game.


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Session ends 9PM

Went to Quattro and Starbucks after, for a change. Both Quattro and Starbucks were packed to the rafters. Let's suffice it to say most of the auspexes were overloaded way before the night was over. Some honorary mentions to Ms. One-Two, Ms. One(!), Ms. Pillowcase, Ms. Lifesaver, Ms. Pink and Perky who pretty much made the night for most of us.

Maybe some plans for the coming Holiday this November 30. Maybe 40k at Galleria? Abangan...

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