Cryx wins!

Hi,

So, been a week or so since my last post, and in that time, I've played a 1275 tournament for Flames of War and a battlebox tournament for warmachine. Much to report.

The FoW tourney was small - both in terms of points (1275) and in terms of players (3!!). I managed to pull out a best painted award, which, given that I was the only one with a fully painted army, wasn't too much of a stretch. The force in question can be seen below:



It consisted of a full company of T-34s, with 5 85mm tanks, a full company of Shermans, and a full company of SU-85 assault guns, plus the T-34/85 command tank. I've posted close ups of the shermans and T-34s in the past, but here's some of the SU-85s:





They're a new addition - I just finished them a week before the tournament, and I'm finding the extra unit of 85mm guns adds a fair bit to the army I'm playing. I've also managed to flesh out the infantry company I've been grinding away at:













And, finally, here's a shot of the entire soviet force I've painted to date:



In the Cryx tournament on Sunday, I won, coming in first overall - again, not a super-surprising result, since I was the only one of the 7 playing with any real experience of the game. It was posted as a battle-box event, but on the day I arrived, the organizer told me that they had relaxed the restrictions to include any 18 point mangled metal force. Apparantly, there was a Retribution player (who turned out to be my first opponent). As the Ret. doesn't have a battlebox, the point cap was instituted, and then broadened to all participants. I ended up sticking with the battlebox (there's nothing wrong with Deneghra, three arc nodes and a slayer), but it made for some unexpected match-ups.

My first game was against the aformentioned Retribution player, who took Rhayven, a Phoenix, and a Manitcore. This was the first time I've played against a Retribution player, and I'm kind of glad that she was as new to the game as she was. The Retribution has a potent mix of shooting and magic, and I won the game mainly because my opponent hasn't learned how to effectively guard her 'caster. Rhayven was exposed, and the Withering plus a few Venoms did the trick.

My second game was against one of the unexpected match-ups I mentioned, a Khador player with Vlad, a Kodiak, and Drago. I advanced, using my usual bait tactic with a forward bonejack. My opponent's tactics mainly consisted of casting Blood of Kings, hiding Vlad in some woods, and sending his 'jacks out to fight. I managed to tag Vlad with the feat, but only was able to land one of two venoms, and did minimal damage. We traded some 'jacks, Vlad healed, and the game ended with a draw, as by the end of the game, neither one of us had a wounded warcaster.

My third game was against a Cygnar battlebox, run by one of my students. He's still learning the game and how to use the force, so in many ways it went like my first game. Withering plus Venom, with I think a little deathripper munching, did for Stryker, and I was left with a 2-1-0 record. Which turned out to be the same as my round two opponent. Rematch in the death cage for the final.

For the final round, win conditions were (in order): caster kill, points eliminated, or in the result of a tie, sudden death - first one to lose a model lost. This time around, I moved toward the forest aggressively, and he make the (I think) mistake of splitting up his 'jacks so they couldn't support each other. I kept Deneghra within 15-16" of Vlad, kept an arc node dancing in and out of LOS of Vlad within the woods, dropped Crippling Grasp on the Kodiak (making it more or less useless) and went to work on Drago. My opponent tried to play it cagey, keeping Drago out of charge range of my Slayer, but that left me able to slowly whittle it down with Parasite, Venom, and the Defiler's spray. After a couple of rounds, my opponent decided enough was enough, and charged Drago in on the Defiler. This allowed me to charge him in turn with the Slayer, wrecking Drago.

On his turn, Vlad finally managed to razor wind my arc node in the woods out of commission (no head or arc node), and I was left with a Slayer, an arc node, and Dennie. I was able to move Dennie within control range of Vlad, popped Deneghra's feat, and cast Ghost Walk (though the 'node) on the slayer. The Slayer, fully loaded, was able to charge into the woods to Vlad, and a couple of boosted POW 16s later, Vlad was toast.

I had a blast. It's been ages since I've been able to play that many games of Warmachine, and it looks like there's a growing crowd interested. I can't wait to get some more games in.

Finally, a little taste of Cryx.