Warmachine/Hordes Tournament

Yesterday I participated on my first full scale Tournament in Warmachine/Hordes. I still struggle keeping my own rules in mind not to speak of remembering (or even knowing) the rules of my opponents lists. So my approach was, having a quick look at the opponents caster and then learn on the fly. My goal for the day: I wanted to win one game.

My list (I only played one list, because I „used“ the second one during my bye):

Obavnik Kommander Zerkova and Reaver Guard(*4points)
* Spriggan(10points)
* Demolisher(9points)
Greylord Outriders(9points)(5models)
Greylord Ternion(4points)(3models)
Doom Reavers(6points)(7models)
* Greylord Escort(2points)
Koldun Lord(2points)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt(4points)(3models)
* Koldun Kapitan Valachev(2points)
Winter Guard Infantry(6points)(12models)
* Winter Guard Inf. Officer & Standard(2points)
Fuel Cache(0points)

I’m pretty sure, the list is not ideal, but I thought the Tier 4 bonuses (Warjack-advance, +1 on starting roll and free Koldun Lord) would come in handy. And they did.

Round 1: Erich (Circle of Orboros)
I chose playing second and used my Fuel Cache to get a nice threat range for my Jacks. In round 2 I managed to kill a lot of my opponents infantry and an arcnode. I was standing strong in the Zones and with Serkova near the fuel cache behind her bodyguards I felt quite save.

Then I learned two things: Circle can teleport beasts quite far and my opponents caster can target my fuel cache with some spell, that pulls me towards it dealing damage … twice. With my guards killed and Serkova damaged, it was easy for the beast to finish the job.

Round 2: Bye
Technically it is a win, but I wouldn’t want to get away that easily.

Round 3: Jakob (Convergence of Crysis)
A lot of respawnable infantry two Jacks and a Battle Engine. Infantry is fine, Jacks ok only the Engine I didn’t know what to do with. I forgot what it can do the second my opponent finished explaining.

I think I did quite well until the third round. I killed all infantry and even scored a point.

Then the Engine started its killing spree. It used what felt like a thousand sprays and I took away all my infantry and my opponents caster started scoring. With only a few seconds (and as many models) left, my turns were very short. My time expired, though I would have lost anyway.

Round 4: Vladimir (Retribution of Scyrah)
A lot of Jacks and Cavalry. Also a Tier list that gave him a boost at the start. My first Idea, to go for the scenario was prevented by 5 Jacks in the vicinity my opponents objective. Since he moved very fast, my job was to react.

He feated in his second turn, which actually wasn’t that bad. With Aryana, Holt and Valachev I killed two Horseman. Another one died due to my Winter Guard. I also killed a lot of troops and whenever I killed one, another one came closer for me to spray at. My Demolisher bulldozed a few Jacks back and my Spriggan managed do charge the large Jack, doing some damage. The Doom Reavers played a bit on the right side.

Then I realized: We have killbox! Serkova barely managed to get into the box and I used my Outriders to block the way to her (killing a few more infantry on the way of course).

My opponent decided, now was the time for me to die. He attacked my Outriders and even put his Caster to the center. He managed to kill 3 Outriders and the Spriggan but was nowhere near getting to my caster, leaving his caster for me to kill.

I had a shocking moment, when my 9 combining Winterguard missed the caster (5 to hit) and killed my rider. But in the end it didn’t matter: Aryana Kissed the caster, Serkova froze him and killed him using her feat.

Closing Comments: It was a lot of fun and I really like my list. Thanks to all my opponents for 3 very good and fair games. Of course there is a lot of room for improvement in my skills. But I managed to win a game, so: mission accomplished!