BatRep: Warmachine Cygnar (Nemo) vs Khador (Sorscha) (35pts)

OK.  A word of warning.

Both of us are Veteran Warmachine / Hordes players – we’ve both been playing since MK I.

We are TERRIBLY out of practice!!!  Neither of us can remember the last time we played a game!  (We’ve been devoted Dystopian Wars Version 2 Beta testers since January – but that’s another story)  So this was a re-learning mission for both of us.

For those who don’t know the game, Privateer Press created the game Warmachine to simulate battles between various nations using Warcasters who have the ability to remotely control large (typically) steam-powered Robots called Warjacks.  The problem is, the Warcasters have only so much magical ability to do both spells and controlling their robots, so they’re usually supported by various other “Combined Arms” in their battles.

I was playing Cygnar and chose to play the following list:

• Original Nemo with:
• Stormclad
• Thunderhead
• Journeyman with 
• Charger
• Unit of Stormblades with 3 Storm Gunners to boost the unit numbers
• Mechanic with 5 Gobbos (Proxied with Trenchers – I forgot the models at home!)

Khador list was:

• Sorscha with:
• Wardog Attachment
• Behemoth
• Juggernaut
• Yuri the Axe
• Widowmaker  Marksman
• Winter Guard Mortar
• Winter Guard Field Gun
• 3 Man ‘O War Bombardiers

We decided to play a standard “Kill the Warcaster” as this was a re-learning session.  Cygnar got to deploy and move first.  Due to the choice of troops, Cygnar was a “Tier 1” list, allowing the Journeyman and Charger to deploy an extra 6” ahead of the main deployment zone

Initial Deployment

Turn 1:

Cygnar:

Journeyman activated and cast Arcane Shield on the Stormblades (+3 to their Armour Rolls), then moved forward behind a hill, following his Charger.  The Stormblades advanced to hide behind the same hill, but not all made it into cover.  Thunderhead and Stormclad both move forward, Nemo right behind, casting Disruption Field on the Thunder Head, Electrify on the Stormclad and Deflection on himself.  The Mechanic and Gobbos followed Nemo, ready to jump forward and repair either of the Heavy jacks when they needed it.

Khador:

Mortar takes a long-ranged shot at the Charger, damaging it.  The Field Gun, suspecting it was out of range, moved forward, just to the edge of the hill.  Bombadiers and Behemoth move forward, then the Marksman took a shot at a Stormblade that was in the open, but found he was out of range.  Yuri the Axe ran forward, out of 1 forest and into another by the Cygnar Deployment zone, planning to ambush Nemo next turn while concealed in the woods.  All remaining units advanced, with Sorscha casting “Fog Of War” to protect her troops.

Turn 2:

Cygnar:

Both Nemo and the Journeyman maintain their Upkeep spells.  Nemo cast Locomotion on the Thunderhead, advancing it 3”, then the Thunderhead marched up to Yuri in the woods and belted him – Yuri dead with 1 hit!  First Blood to Cygnar!

The Charger advanced towards the Field Gun, but found it was less than a ½ inch out of range!  Uh oh…

Stormblades stay hidden behind the hill and the Mechanic and his gobbos moved forward to act as a screen for Nemo.

Khador:

Field gun takes a shot at the exposed Charger, but failed to damage it.  The Mortar made up for it, knocking off the Charger’s Left Arm (and gun) with a Direct Hit!  Bombardiers advance and shot at the Charger, but all scattered and failed to damage anything.

The Marksman runs and hides behind the rock pillar in the table center.  The Behemoth advanced and damaged the Thunderhead with 2 Bombard shots, while the Juggernaut failed to damage the Thunderhead with its gun.  Sorscha continued to follow her ‘jacks and cast Fog Of War once more.

Turn 3:

Cygnar:

Now, in spite of the weapon arm being “blown off”, the rules state the weapon can still be used, it just rolls 1 less dice to hit and damage.  Using this information, The Journeyman advanced behind the Charger to provide more support, giving the Charger 2 Focus points to do its attack.  The Charger advanced and using the gun’s special rule, boosted the Attack & Damage rolls (back to a normal 2 dice) and managed to kill one of the Field Gun Crew.  Too little, too late, but a moral victory.

The Thunderhead, having been damaged, moved towards the Mechanic and crew, who rush forward to repair the damaged ‘jack.  Unfortunately, they were only able to repair 2 damage points on the Thunderhead!  Nemo cast Deflection once more and the Stormblades continue to cower behind the hill.

Khador:

The Field Gun shot and Critically Damaged the Charger, knocking it down off its feet!  In spite of the reduced Defense Rating from being knocked down, the Mortar crew missed.  The Bombardiers move forward and each shot at the helpless ‘jack, reducing it to only 2 Damage Points!  Poor ‘jack!  Showing a LITTLE mercy, the Marksman takes a shot and finally destroyed the light jack.

The Behemoth, taking advantage of the mob around the Thunderhead, fired his Bombards and clobbered the group, badly damaging the Thunderhead and killing the Mechanic and 2 Gobbos!  OUCH!  The Jugernaught attempted to do the same, but failed to damage the Thunderhead, though he did kill the last Gobbo in base-to-base contact with the Thunderhead!

Sensing victory was near and not wanting to expose herself needlessly, Sorscha hid behind the rock pillar – out of sight and lines of fire.

Turn 4:

Cygnar:

In another brilliant display of mechanical prowess, the Gobbers fix . . 1 Damage Point on the Thunderhead!  ARRRGHHH!!!

Nemo cast Locomotion on the Stormclad, moving it 3” closer to the Behemoth.  The Stormclad then charged the Behemoth and after a flurry of blows and lots of damage . . the Behemoth still stood!  Only 1 arm is disabled!!!  More humiliatingly, the attacks caused lightning to arc onto the Warhound twice, and it survived with a single life point left!

Stormclad in trouble...

In desperation, the Stormblades move over the hill, hoping to get shots on the Bombardiers, but only the gunners had the range and using combined fire, only damaged 1 Bombardier.  The Journeyman wisely stayed behind the hill and headed towards Nemo…

Charge of the Stormblades...

Khador:

Can you say “Shooting Gallery?”  I knew that you could!

The Field Gun, the Mortar, the Bombardiers, the Marksman and Sorscha all blast the Stormblades on the hill, killing over half the squad (there were only 2 models left at the end of the turn).  Fortunately, the unit passed its Command test.

"Sir!  You have lost the King's Stormblades!"

The Behemoth, in spite one arm gone, struck back at the Stormclad, taking out its Sword arm and Cortex, leaving the ‘jack pretty much useless.  The Juggernaut moved forward and using arcing fire, took a shot at Nemo, but missed.

Sneaky Shot at Nemo!

(Looking at the photo - the Jugger appears it was probably in the Stormclad's 2" Reach - it probably shouldn't have been able to fire, but...)

Things are grim for Cygnar…

Turn 5:

Cygnar:

Gobbers fixed another 2 Damage Points (as useless as that may be) on the Thunderhead.  Thunderhead was too close to charge, so walked up to the Juggernaut and proceeded to hammer it with multiple sustained attacks, but the Juggernaut was still operational at the end.

Thunderhead lays a beating on the Juggernaut!

The Stormclad, with no focus due to lost cortex (brain), swung at the Behemoth and missed.  In desperation, the Stormblades advanced on Sorscha and shot at her, but failed to hit her.  The Journeyman, cowering behind the hill, cautiously advanced towards Nemo.

Last (Failed) Hurrah of the Stormblades...

Khador:

The Firing Squad opened up and when the smoke cleared, the last of the Stormblades were no more.  Behemoth finally destroyed the Stormclad and the Juggernaut attacked and destroyed the Thunderhead’s Cortex, rendering it useless.

At this point, due to time constraints, Cygnar conceded the battle as Nemo headed for the deep woods to hide...

Khador Victory!

=======================

OUCH!!!  Poor Cygnar!

Well, I deserved to lose that one.  I had terrible deployment, troop selections and played poorly.

First, my army choices.  I like Nemo because in a pinch I can allocate 5 Focus onto a single Warjack when I think it will do the most good.  I actually did that with both the Stormclad and Thunderhead.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t rolling high enough to do the damage I needed to do with the "overcharged" 'jacks.

One thing I would change before next battle is the Journeyman and Charger.  True, I used them badly and left them exposed on one flank.  True, I miscalculated the distance at a critical instance and was just out-of-range when I needed to do something.  But I think Nemo needs at least one more ‘Jack under his personal command or another self-contained fighting unit, such as Long Gunners or Sword Knights.  I just haven’t been able to get the Charger to perform where and when I needed it to.At the very least, these two were badly out of position.

Speaking of Positions and Deployment, I should have left the Stormblades behind the hill at least 1 turn more.  They had hard cover and didn't need to expose themselves when they did.  I got impatient and the Stormblades paid the price - to the last man.

Finally, there were the Mechanic and Gobbos.  I use this unit all the time with Nemo and usually it brings tears to my opponents’ eyes.  Nothing is quite as demoralizing as almost  wrecking a high-armour ‘jack only to see the worst of the damage repaired so that he stomps back on you next turn.  This time, I just couldn’t roll anything higher than a 2 AND I lost half the unit while they attempted to repair the Thunderhead!  OUCH!

Hard to criticize Khador – he did win the game!

Behemoth and Juggernaut together are nasty!  Both have good ranged and close combat capabilities.  I can’t fault his choices other than he would have been able to get more choices into the army if he replaced the Behemoth with a cheaper ‘jack.

The only other fault I saw would be the Field Gun.  As a 1-shot-per-turn weapon, it didn't seem to have the punch he needed to deal with the Charger and didn’t have a multi-shot Rate of Fire that would make it good against infantry.  It could have been his rolling but it didn’t really do that much damage to the Charger.  It was the Mortar and Bombardiers that caused the damage.  The Field Gun would probably have been better on the other side of the table, shooting at the other ‘jacks (though with today’s rolls, it’s hard to tell).

Anyway, a good learning game!  Spent a lot of time reviewing rules and card stats and I know I made lots of mistakes.  Time to dust off other figures and get back into the fight!