I got to play at a realize tournament of Warmachine MKIII on July 3rd. The people at
West Texas Cards and Games were great and their new Press Ganger was there to help out with rule questions. There were 8 players so no one had to sit out a round. 50 point lists with 1 hour games, 4 games total. There were coins for Best Player, Best Painted, and Best Sport.
The list I took:
- Sloan - Shooty Warcaster
- Hunter - Advanced deployment assassin Light Warjack
- Hunter
- Defender - Long distance, heavy hitting Heavy Warjack
- Charger - Two shots per round, Light Warjack
- Charger
- Thunderhead - Electricity shooting, troop killing, melee Heavy Warjack
Every 'jack has a ranged attack and Sloan's once a game feat allows every 'jack in her battlegroup to make an additional ranged attack at +2 to hit. I didn't know Sloan is a really popular choice right now for this reason. I just felt like it would work.
My first game was against Circle (sorry, no pic). My opponent took:
- Wormwood, an ancient tree that teleports around the battle field
- Feral Warpwolf
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Sentry Stone & Mannikins
- Shifting Stones
- Tharn Wolf Riders
- a minion unit of Croak Raiders (read fire tossing frogs).
We were playing Moshpit (I'm pretty sure) and I didn't understand how the control points worked. I thought they were tallied at the end of each round. Instead, they are tallied at the end of each turn. My opponent had first turn, I had a turn, then he took his second turn and they started counting control points. Because my list was shooty, I had held back and was not in the 10" circle in the middle. That was the only point scored in the game. I killed 29 points of his army and was halfway through killing his Warlock. I had lost a 9 point light jack when the hour was up and my Warcaster was untouched. He won by scenario by the one point. My opponent actually felt bad about winning as I had done more damage!
When writing this, I went back and checked the rules. The rules actually say, "Starting on the second player's second turn, a player scores 1 control point if he controls the zone at the end of his turn." So, we should not have started counting points until the end of my second turn. Then again, I am not sure I would have moved into it and I am not going to hold it against a great tournament.
0/1
Second game, I played against Legion. At first I thought they were Skorne but they were just painted red, instead of the traditional blue/cool tones. I am pretty sure the Dragon Father would not approve! His list included:
- Saeryn
- Neraph
- Ravagor
- Scythean
- Blighted Ogrun Warspears
- Shredders x2
- Beast Misstress (I think)
The scenario was Incoming. Each round, artillery is randomly lobbed into the battle. While it was fun to roll for, it had zero impact on the game.
Unfortunately, my opponent held back a little too much and never really closed with my army. Eventually, I was able to get a clear line of sight to his Warlock, chilling behind the Ravagor on the left flank and pick her off with my hunters.
1/2
 |
| Death to the Skorne! |
Round 3 was Cygnar vs. Khador, the classic matchup! His army included:
- Supreme Kommandant Irusk
- Spriggan
- Behemoth
- Full line of Iron Fang Pikeman plus officer and standard bearer
- Iron Fang Kovnik
- Field Gun Crew
It was his first time running Khador and he took a little too long getting across the battlefield. His war caster was behind a nearly impenetrable line of Iron Fang Pikeman with shield wall up and they were marching across the field on an assassination scenario. Somehow, my 'jacks were able to shoot a hole through the pikeman line, just enough to be able to shoot Irusk from the front and with a Hunter from the side.
In the picture the below, Irusk is behind the wall, as we discussed where he could have been to stop the assassination.
2/3
 |
| Assassination of Khador |
Round 4 was against a great opponent running Pigs, a minion army (again, no pic). He told me several times that he had a Sloan Shooty list that he almost brought and I was pretty sure he knew how to get past my list. His was a melee heavy list and really the only one to close with me all day. I am not sure what was in his army as it was the first time playing against them and I didn't get a pic. He was smart, ran straight at me, and took down my Thunderhead in one turn with a single pig. Somehow, I was able to flank him and get an assassination with the Hunters.
3/4
So at my first tournament, I had a blast and I came in tied for second place out of 8 players. The players were super nice about making sure I got the math right for hit and damage rolls. Overall, I definitely have to do this again!
