Von said... Cool tray, no doubt about that, but I think there's a reason Warmachine players don't use them, and a consequence for you that you might not have thought about.
The sheer openness of Warmachine Mark II's formation rules open up a lot of tactical options (with lines of sight/fire, casualty removal, counter-attacks and so on), especially for high priority units with different actions and attacks available to them (like Trenchers and Long Gunners).
I worry that you're locking yourself into one rather limited formation, and thus locking yourself out of those options. I also worry about terrain, particularly buildings, although I assume you'll just abandon the tray there.
Of course, strength of play may not be as big a priority for you. This'll certainly speed up your play, and if you did a battlegroup and solos one as well, they'd be nice display/transport utilities.
I hadn't really thought about how the tray would lock me in. Recently, I have played several games with pHaley where I line up two full units of Long Gunners, 24 mini's, and shoot holes in the oncoming hordes. I thought it was a pain in the butt when I had to move them all up the first turn, thus the idea a tray was formed. I think I also just wanted to play with power tools =)
I like the imposed spacing so I don't get all my guys killed in one round of Khador AOE's. I also think I can leave the tray when needs be. I knew going into it that it would probably only help for turns 1 & 2. However, once they are in the tray, my tendency will be to leave them in that formation simply because I am too lazy to want to move them all. I pretty sure I would pull them off it when I needed to but it would have to be a conscious decision.
Another thing for me to consider is that the Long Gunners are at their best when they don't move. If they stand still, they get a +2 aiming bonus on either 1)their first of two shots at 12" each or 2) on a 24" shot. They also have the combined range attack ability. I might just start leaving them in their deployment zone starting positions. They won't get a shot the first turn but they have longer to shoot at the enemy. I guess it still depends on the scenario.
Anyway, Von, thank you for the comment. It has really given me a lot to think about. I still plan on finishing the tray and trying it out a couple of times. There is nothing like experience to show me if I made a movement tray or an interesting display board!
Thanks for reading!
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Blogging at its best .... sharing thoughts and strategy ....
Umm... that 12"/24" thing is the 40K Rapid Fire rule. Think you crossed your wires there.
Long Gunners get two shots at 14" or one at an effective 20" (RNG 14 + SPD 6). I suppose you can get to 24" if you put Snipe on them, move and fire a single shot, though...
Anyway, I've been thinking and I reckon you're probably all right as far as the Long Gunners go, actually, provided you're good at spotting lines of sight and knowing when to give the tray up as a bad lot so you can fit more CRA contributors into a lane of fire.
I do advise against building one for Trenchers, though. There's a sort of triangular formation for Trenchers that can work extremely well... maybe I'll do a post on my own blog about it, since it'll mean more mucking about with maps.
Good luck with the tray. Prove me wrong! ;)
Thanks again for the comments. I am definitely still figuring this out. You were right about the Long Gunners shooting range. I would like to see the triangle formation for the trenchers. I have only used them a couple of times and would love to see some of their possibilities.
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