Ides of March 2014 - How 42pt makes life difficult

I have a relatively huge 42pt tournament coming up in a couple of weeks. I say relatively huge because this is probably the biggest Warmachine tournament in the NZ calendar, and it happens to be local. Yay!

This tournament is run by Soulless Dave, who enjoys the following things:

1 - Running sweet tournaments, which he can't play in otherwise he'd probably win those too.
2 - Giving me beer mugs.
3 - Shamelessly relishing how OP Cryx is.

Quite the gentleman.

Anyway, I have been told that Gator list building is faceroll and requires no decision making at all, and that playing Gators for so long has erased my ability to write "good" or "sound" lists for other factions. In light of these comments, I thought I would write a post about my list writing process for this 42pt nightmare.

First, I must admit that writing lists are the part of the hobby/game I enjoy the least. This could do with the fact that Gators have way less options than everyone else, or it could be related to how writing lists for my previous factions (Khador, PoM, Skorne) used to remind me that I would have a much better chance of winning games if I just bought X unit or Y solo for this specific list, or it could be related to how I would rather the game be as well balanced as people claim and lists had very little impact on the outcome of a game rather than a sizable one. But then I accept that a lot of people really enjoy the meta-game, and I too see the appeal in it, I just don't really experience the enjoyment of it too often.

Secondly, 42pts is a kick in the nuts, especially when you play Minions. Unlike most of the fleshed out big boy factions, it is very, very difficult to build 2 lists that answer enough matchups sufficiently. 3 lists might be alright, but two is very tight. In Minions, this is primarily a result of our casters being so dominant and being the primary "solutions" to problems we face. Factions like Legion, PoM or Cryx don't really have trouble making 2 lists that can more or less deal with more or less everything, simply through having a wide range of beasts, units, support and niche-filling mercs. That's not a luxury Minions have.
The higher the points, the more balanced the game is. That's been my experience in the past year anyway. I really think the meta would benefit on the whole from a push up to 60/65 pts, but that's another post altogether.

The Proto-Lists

These are the lists I started with, and I would have to choose 2 of these:

List 1: Rask

Spitter 

Snapper

5 Gatormans
5 Gatormans  
5 Gatormans
Min. Trogs
Gobbers  

4pts for "support"

3 Posse version. I take a Spitter in this list because the entirety of the damage potential of the list comes from cycling Fury on Gatormans and shooting off defensive upkeeps. High skill plays right there, woo! Anyway, having a Spitter is nice to clear jams and soften up targets at range. I guess he can also do stuff in melee with Paralysis and Fury and Boundless Charge and all that. Maybe.

The min. Trog unit and Gobbers more or less make Rask invincible, which either will result in my opponent wasting attacks on Rask, or ignoring Rask and his fish friends entirely so they are free to wreck havoc as they please. Either way, points usually well spent.

So the two questions with this list are '2 Posse, or 3 Posse?' and 'What to do with those 4pts?'

List 2: Barnabas

Wraster 

Spitter
Snapper

5 Gatormans
5 Gatormans  
5 Gatormans

Feralgeist

I would really, really like to throw in some solos like Croak Hunters, a Thrullg or Totem Hunter in there to give the list some flexibility, but 42pts! I think the beast composition is pretty fixed - without any Croaks, you really need a Spitter for some ranged presence, and Bull Snappers are too good to pass up between their sweet man-eating abilities and Spiny Growth on Barnabas.

The Wrastler could be changed for a Horror, however. More on that later.

List 3: Maelok

Bull Snapper
Bull Snapper
5 Gatormans
5 Gatormans  
5 Gatormans

Witch Doctor

Witch Doctor
 +9pts

Max Posse, the two Croctors I own, and 2 Bull Snappers to use up those beast points. This is pretty much the Maelok list I used at Battlecry this month (minus Pendrake), and does what you want Maelok lists to do - get a big unpredictable feat turn, then tank up and grind your way to victory.

The only real question is what to do about those last 9pts?

THEORYMACHINE TIME!

Some things are a given:

1. I have to play Rask to break ARM, and doubly so post-Colossals. Also he's like one of the best warlocks in the entire game, so there's that going for him too.
2. I have to bring at least 2 units of Gatormans per list, because 2 Posse is better than every other alternative in almost every situation. 3 Posse, in my opinion, is not a certainty however. 
3. The tournament is mid-March and has a fully-painted requirement, so I am unlikely to have Shamblers ready by then.

Because the field is so big, every faction is likely to be represented in some capacity. Except Pigs, since the only guy I know who plays Pigs told me he'd be playing Gators because his Gators are fully-painted (but really, he's just sick of Pigs).

Factions I don't really have to worry about in general:

• Skorne - any Rask list does great to decent here. There are of course builds that will hurt like Xerxis Cetrati brick or Zaal attrition, but in general it is not something I can really list tech against heavily.
• Retribution - Similar to Skorne. I think Rahn and eVyros Griffon spam can be a real worry, but not something I really have to tech for. As long as it's Rask, and perhaps Barnabas, we're alright. Gators shred infantry, and Fury kills heavies.
• Protectorate - similar to Skorne but more annoying. The Errant/Piper/Book combo is also cryx-level, jigglypuff-in-a-vaccuum-cleaner type of retarded, but since I have no anti-tough, I cannot do a single thing about it or the Gorman hiding behind them chaining Black Oils onto my stuff. They also usually have lots of magic weapons to skrew Maelok's feat.
• Circle - Most Circle stuff is squishy and dies to Gators. Gator casters are also real tough to assassinate so they lose that gameplan.
• Legion - a fair matchup for Gatormans, so it mostly comes down to how I play. Usually Legion has trouble dealing with so much ARM and anti-shooting. Note the comment on Vayl below however.
• Cygnar - Cygnar does Cygnar things. I have pretty good anti-shooting tech (which Siege ignores), but otherwise there's not much to specifically worry about. Rask is pretty good most of the time here.
• Trolls - For the most part, Trolls are like Gators except with crappier troops but way better lists, if you catch my drift. They can bring some problematic lists like Runes of War and eDoomshaper heavy spam. But I think it more or less comes down to two things: good play, and the troll player rolling 5s when he needs them.
• Mercs - Infantry dies, bad jacks are bad. The Merc Colossal skew can be a problem though, but overall the faction isn't really problematic.

Factions I have to worry about in general:

• Cryx - my arch nemesis. Infantry that destroys mine for half the cost + all undead and all that. Stupid. Does it with pretty much any caster.
• Khador - these guys are tough in a multi-list environment because they will always hit really hard in any list, but the possibility of IF Kayazy is quite a list-chicken problem for Gators (to Barnabas or not?). I don't think I have problems with specific casters as much as their general options and the many, many mercs they are sure to bring. It's like Cygnar, except it actually hurts.

Casters/builds I have to worry about specifically:

• eMorvahna - Maelok does so much better than Barnabas here on account of his feat and assassination potential. Barnabas does ok, but he does better than Maelok vs most other Circle stuff.
• Harbinger - Awe is public enemy number 1. MAT 5 is terrible. Of course I can make the Gators undead, but then I have to use 3pts down on a Croctor or two in the Rask list, and at 42pts that's a big support investment for only one caster. The alternative is to drop Maelok and hope like hell the second list isn't some jack spam list (which is a tall order).
  The feat is nasty as well but usually I can get in the zone after that and stay there till the end. She also brings the Errant tarpit up to mega-powered Ben Stiller fully retarded.
• Vayl - Incite, her feat, Dark Sentinel and Rampager can be really problematic for my lists. She is also a pretty popular caster around here. I do not like her, Sam I am. And there's not too much I can do about it. Barnabas is probably the best bet due to Pits + Iron Flesh + feat.
• Terminus - if I don't have a Thrullg, I probably lose. Sweet. People like Terminus as well so he's very likely to be pretty well represented in the field. Because hard skewing is fun for everyone.... said the guy playing 3 Posses.
• Bart/Galleon - this is a tough cookie. Theoretically, if I can shoot off Spiny Growth and cycle Fury, I can probably 1-round the Galleon. However every single other thing in the Galleon list is made to stop that happening and I get grinded out as Galleon gets repaired up every turn. So I probably drop Maelok or Barnabas, ignore Galleon and go for everything else, and hope it's a 2 zone scenario?
  I guess Rhulic casters with the Pooper Scooper also fits in here, but again, there is a near total lack of quality experience against quality lists on my part.
• Haley/Denny/hard control casters - The great thing about this is I can worry all I want, but can't really do jack about it. So I suck it up, hope the feat turn goes ok for my opponent while he timewalks over my play time, and we move on if I have anything left.

Decision 1 – Barnabas or Maelok?

The Barnabas list is a pretty good all around list. It does "ok vs Cryx" due to many Posse, his feat + Spitter. It does pretty well against Circle and Legion, even without Pendrake. I am also quite a bit better at playing him than I am at playing Maelok, which counts for something.

Maelok is much better vs Cryx, ok vs Circle (great against eMorvahna), ok vs Legion (mostly because I am not so good at playing him) and also has some game vs jammy infantry Zaal Skorne and most Trolls (even with the anti-incorp aura - if the Troll player is using it, then he's not using +1 STR and you live longer to grind).

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Both feel a little gimped by 42pts rather than 50pts, Barnabas probably a little less. There is no real alternative (Calaban is a bad dream and Pigs are Pigs) outside these two for a second list. So I guess it just comes down to how I feel on decision day.

Decision 2 – Rask with 2 Posse, or 3 Posse?

The 2 Posse alternative involves dropping one Posse for WE+ Snapjaw (since he is probably the best combat heavy we have and does bad ass things with ALL THE BUFFS), and the Spitter for a Swamp Horror, since the Horror brings Elasticity for the two big Crocs and does some really good damage with Rask.

For the way I play, 3 Posse is better against Trolls while 2 Posse is better vs PoM and Skorne. This is from 50pt experience, where I will usually have Horror+Wrastler+Snapjaw in the Rask list and can blow stuff up with only a tiny charge lane by spreading the triple-heavy threat and then stacking buffs on the chosen heavy when the opportunity presents itself.

However at 42pts, you have a bit more space on the table and the 3 Posse skew can be really problematic for your opponent (a.k.a. skewy as balls). On the flipside, taking 3 Posse is also a hell of a lot less interesting for me tactically since it basically removes Boundless Charge from Rask's spell list and power attacks from mine. I do love me some power attacks... damn you Colossals. Damn your stupidity.

Thus it comes down to what I can expect to play against, and whether I will hate myself for only taking 2 Posse when I get dropped against Trolls 3 rounds in a row.

For Barnabas and Maelok, I play 3 full Posses by default. If Gator beasts hit harder/more accurately than a full unit of Gators, this probably wouldn't be the case, since both can do pretty good things for Gator beasts - not as much as Rask of course, but a lot nevertheless. But as things stand, I have found that playing three Posse with these two is much preferable to taking two (I played two Posse with them for almost a year before getting a third).

Decision 3 – Rask solos

In any case, I have 4pts left over in the Rask list (5pts if you discount the Gobbers). These are going to be used for solos.... a sort of "support" allocation, one might say.

I've given myself 3 options here:

1. Two Croak Hunters - these guys are mediocre as hell, but when they are one of your only ranged attacks, you learn to value their input. They can hold zones about as well as the other two options, they can unblock Gators, they are two independent activations and are really sweet at countercharging.
2. Totem Hunter + Feralgeist - the Totem Hunter is a lot like a Croak Hunter on steroids but without a gun. His stats and mobility are almost better than a Croak in every way, but he relies entirely on proccing Sprint to unblock Gators. This has led to bad things in my life. But he can also sometimes break games open if used patiently, and does work at all stages of the game. Finally, he is also a character so putting him in this list means he isn't in my other lists, and I do love him vs Circle to snipe out Shifting Stones.
   Feralgeists are 1pt zone holders/contesters 99% of the time, and sometimes take over beasts to annoy people (primarily me).
3. Croctor + Feralgeist - This would almost be purely for the Harbinger matchup alone, because the stuff I drop Rask against doesn't usually care about Undead and Tough on Gators is mostly a non-issue.

 

Decision 4 - Barnabas asks "Wrastler or Horror"?

Another tricky question revolving entirely around one beast selection:

• On one side, the Wrastler is SPD 5, reasonably tanky (especially with Spiny Growth), and is P+S 17. He can do respectable, although not great damage. He also keeps the 'Rise Missile' threat alive, which is the one thing people seem to know about Gators. Being able to independently knock heavy targets down following a charge is also pretty neat. His weaknesses are lack of reach and an extra point cost relative to the Horror.
• On the other, the Swamp Horror has really good protection vs shooting, can do work against infantry, has built-in reach, can give reach to other things (mainly Barnabas or some random Gatorman), benefits a LOT from Warpath since it is slow, and also costs 1 less point than a Wrastler, allowing me to level the Feralgeist up to a Croak Hunter for that extra ranged attack. Its weaknesses are being squishy as balls in melee, and being 1 less POW and 2 less STR than a Wrastler.

Decision 5 - Maelok's last 9 pts.

Unfortunately Posse are (only) FA:3 in Blindwater. Sad face. That means I have to take other things.

• WE + Snapjaw - Usually in a Maelok list, you want to have Wrong Eye around to put up another 2 Spiny Growths a turn. And you also get a sweet heavy to go with it. However, at 42pts, that's not really a luxury we have. But you still get a pretty good heavy and solo with solid animi.
• Support solo staff: TH + Thrullg + Pendrake + Feralgeist - This gives a little more flexibility to the list. Thrullgs are good against Cryx, the Totem Hunter can also be super scary with incorporeal charges followed by a Sprint away and 15 Gators in your grill, Pendrake makes Gators much better vs beasts (so they can Dirge or Pathfinder on the charge if needed), and the Feralgeist gives you specific zone control potential. But, you don't have a heavy hitter outside Malediction (which you really don't want to be using as a core ARM crack strategy).

So there you have it - how faceroll easy it is to chose Gator lists, why I don't have to worry about list chicken because all my lists are the same and why I am so bad at making lists for other factions.

What did lists did I go for in the end? Stay tuned for exciting revelations in March (after lists have been submitted to TO)!!

I ❤ Calaban

Not really. But after over 18 or so months of almost exclusive Gatorman play, I have finally played a game with the Calaban tier list. And it was alright.

Shock. Horror. Surprise.

The two good things about it are:

1. AD Wrong Eye and Snapjaw - very decent for scenario play and flanking. Quite self sufficient too when you can throw in a 6pt Spitter or a 2pt Snapper to tag along with them.
2. 10" Bone Shakers and Parasites and 12" Hex Blasts - Craft Talisman makes a really big difference on the feat turn in terms of the threat range and cycle opportunities you have with them offensive spells.

So I can eat dirt a bit and finally say something mildly positive about Calaban on this blog. Although I am not altogether surprised that the two above things are good. I also believe I've stated a few times how awesome I think SPD 6 is on a Gator caster, and having a 14" control area is mindblowing. Plus really decent late game melee presence on a spellslinger/debuff is really cool.

But the status quo remains, where Rask + Barnabas/Maelok is the best tournament Minion pairing, and Calaban remains frustrating as hell in many many matchups that the other three skip their way through. But at least I said something nice about this abomination of a model design :)

Rallypoint - The Reckoning

2 day tournaments are soul-draining affairs, which I guess is why Cryx does so well.

Here are some quick reports from my games. I have no pictures or anything from the event, and only had a punnet of strawberries for lunch on day one. I will therefore have to keep you entertained using witty anecdotes and my own brand of bitter rage. Opponents' list have been gathered from repressed depths of my memory, while my lists were the same as Choptober except WE + Snapjaw instead of a 3rd Posse with Rask.

DAY ONE

We left Auckland at 6:30am and got to the venue in Hamilton about 8am. Road tripping is the best part of the tournament since you can talk about how awesome you'll do on the way down and rage about how bad you did on the way back up. It is especially good when you have a Retribution player on board and they constantly talk about switching factions on the return trips.

Game 1 vs Legion (Nikola) - Scenario: Close Quarters

Faction: Legion of Everblight
Vayl, Disciple of Everblight (*6pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
* Typhon (12pts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Strider Deathstalker (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

Nikola is one of the guys who drove down with us in the car. He is a new player and a Croatian immigrant, which makes him alright in my book. I chose to play Barnabas vs Legion, and he dropped pVayl since that's the list he was comfortable with (pVayl is one of the strongest Legion matchups against Gators with Typhon due to Incite + Rampager). He went 3-1 with his Vayl list, and 0-3 with his Lylyth2 list over the tournament.

This was the only game of the tourmanent where I felt I played legitimately badly and was outplayed by my opponent and lost. This could be because I spent most of the time explaining everything on the table in multiple ways and as a result blew up my brain and ignored vital factors like scenario, threat ranges, and board control, but either way I got crushed pretty bad after my poor plans combined with  some crotch dice and lost Barnabas to a Typhon melee assassination. Typical of my tournament starts were I get nutstomped round one.

0 CPs

Game 2 vs Retribution (Chris Ford) - Scenario: Incoming

Faction: Retribution of Scyrah
Points: 48/50
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper (*7pts)
* Banshee (10pts)
* Phoenix (10pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (7pts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard (2pts)
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

I am missing some filler points it seems. Maybe there was Scyir in there somewhere.

I have never played against Chris before and it was a pleasant experience. He was a good player and put up a strong game with a sweet-looking Ret army. I chose to drop Barnabas again so I could save Rask for later since he didn't have a Hyperion in either list. This made the matchup much more even than if I had dropped Rask but still in my favour. He chose to drop Kaelyssa rather than Ravyn (good call).

Barnabas spent the whole time hiding in a Swamp Pit inside my zone, and I sent a single unit of Posse to contest his zone, which they did fine vs Infiltrators for the whole game. I responded to his feat by running about ~7 Gatormans into the Halberdier wall, which then became a huge line of jam as Halberdiers and Sentinels tried to kill as many Gators as possible (they got most them). The one odd thing is he didn't use the Halberdiers mini-feat that turn, since he felt he would get to use it again more effectively later. I asked if he had played against Gators before, and he said no.

Here is a picture of a Gatorman in combat with Ret infantry.
Notice the mass casualties on the right.

I then killed almost all the Sentinels and Halberdiers with a Spitter, Totem Hunter, Croaks and a couple of the remaining Gatormans. I also charged the Phoenix with my Wrastler, death rolled boosted and rolled a 1,2,2 like a boss. GG Wrastler. Anyway, I got to 4CPs that turn and he didn't have much left, so he ran Kaelyssa into my zone to steal 3 CPs (Incoming is a pretty stupid scenario) since I forgot to leave a non-warcaster model in the zone. This minor mistake would later cost me a game the next day.

Another thing I remember in this game is Chris passing like 7 terror checks over the course of the game. It was a sight to behold as the elves stood firm to the end. Who needs fearless?

5CPs

Game 3 vs Skorne (Gavin) - Scenario: Incursion

Faction: Rasheth - Chain Gang
Points: 44/50
Tiers: 4
Dominar Rasheth (*5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (9pts)
* Titan Gladiator (7pts)
* Titan Gladiator (7pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Paingiver Task Master (2pts)

Obviously missing some stuff. I dropped Rask. This gap is memory is understandable given the events that followed:

Round 1, Turn 1: I run up.
Round 1, Turn 2: He runs up. He casts a Breath of Corruption through a Nihilator, killing a Gatorman.
Left flag disappears.
Round 2, Turn 1: I run Snapjaw into B2B with the right hand side flag, and run a unit of Gators close to the middle flag. Rask feats and puts up Inhospitable Ground.
Round 2, Turn 2: He backs everything up and contests nothing. I get 2 CPs.
Round 3, Turn 1: I move Rask in B2B with the middle flag, bringing me to 5 CPs.

TO's reaction:

I didn't roll a single die. My opponent was obviously super bummed that he let something like that happen, but that's why they say there's no better place to learn the game than tournaments. The better course of action would have been to run most stuff into my Gators, feat and use dual Agonizer auras to reduce incoming damage significantly. After that it would probably be a dice rolling contest of Furied Gatormans vs Enraged beat-back heavies, since I don't have the guns to remove the Agonizers from the back, making my beasts near useless.

So I won in the douchiest way possible (pro skillz) and got a much desired 1.5 hour break to go walking around the venue and play some Watchmachine.

10 CPs

Game 4 vs PoM (Chris Baker) - Scenario: Supply and Demand

Faction: Protectorate of Menoth
Points: 49/50
High Exemplar Kreoss (*5pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
Avatar of Menoth (11pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Knight Exemplar Seneschal (3pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)
The Covenant of Menoth (2pts)
The Wrack (3 wracks) (1pts)
Vassal Mechanik (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
  
I seem to play Chris once every tournament. He plays a different army every tournament, but always complains about how bad he is, irrelevant of faction, while taking nutbusting lists and getting a winning record. This time he played PoM, and I dropped Rask. There were also two HUGE obstruction pieces to either side of the zone. These factors resulted in a really stupid game played on the middle 16" of the board with very little room for tactics or clever use of game mechanics.

Here is a summary of the game, turn by turn:

My turns - Cast Inhospitable Ground, disrupt Reckoner. Stab Errants.
His turns - No KD on book, Tough on Defender's Warded Errants, blind my Wrastler with Gorman hiding behind three Errants (which I will obviously never kill due to their Self-Sac, thus never getting an attack on Gorman). Stab Gators.

This went on for about 5 rounds or so (he used his feat somewhere in the middle to kill about 6 Gators with Zealot bombs and Errants), until I managed to get a Furied Boundless Charge Swamp Horror onto the Avatar and within reach of Kreoss, who totalled the Avatar and pulled Kreoss in to get charged by Snapjaw. I brought Kreoss down to 3 boxes, and probably would have killed him had I boosted my last damage roll instead of futilely fishing for a crit with my initial tail attack (forgot that no KD was up on the book, somehow).

Things then got serious as stuff started really dying, and I was looking to either lose on attrition or win on deathclock until Kreoss charged forward to kill some Gators, camped 8 like a boss, then got shot in the face with Rask's Disruptor Bolt, getting rid of that focus and rolling some death. Yep, Rask actually killed someone himself.

Oh, I also gave him a CP by destroying my own objective. Apparently that changed from SR2012 to SR2013. Anyway, I got 2 zealot kills out of it. Totally worth it.

10 CPs

So as is common with me, I lose my first game of the day horribly and win the next 3. Typical JS chipmunking. We drive back to Auckland and hear about how bad Retribution is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DAY TWO

All three of my Day Two games were quite close despite the matchups not being in my favour at any point.

Game 5 vs Cryx (Evil Dave) - Scenario: Into the Breach

Faction: Cryx
Points: 50/50
Warwitch Deneghra (*5pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Deathjack (12pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Bloodgorgers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Satyxis Raider Sea Witch (2pts)
General Gerlak Slaughterborn (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Satyxis Raider Captain (2pts)
Warwitch Siren (2pts)

Yay Cryx. Dave is possibly the nicest person one could ever play against and his army looks really stellar so it's tough to hold his choice of faction against him. Tough, but not impossible. There is always a place in my heart for Cryx hate.

He dropped pDenny, I dropped Barnabas. I decided to push for the zone, he pushed for the flag. I feel that he delayed his feat too long (used it Turn 3), which allowed me to feat first and kill basically his entire army, except for some Satyxis, all Bloodgorgers (who both have No Sleeping on the Job because they are Cryx) and Deathjack who was miles away and terrified of the Swamp Pits. That satisfaction you get when you kill a full unit of Bane Knights in one turn.... oh yeah. There were 2 Satyxis in the zone I wasn't able to clear, so I didn't get any CPs at this time.
He then feated and killed some stuff and we went back and forth on points as stuff died. Eventually I lost out in the end as I didn't leave a model in my zone again (see game 2), therefore allowing him to score a point there by toeing in and win 5 to 4. If I had left a model in there, I would have had to kill a now-fully healed Deathjack with Barnabas and maybe a Wrastler... not the greatest proposition. Probably the best game of the tournament, where I made 2-3 tiny positioning mistakes that lost me CPs and the game. If only Barnabas didn't hit like a wet noodle....

14 CPs

Game 6 vs Circle (Luke Brimblecombe) Scenario: Fire Support

Faction: Circle Orboros
Points: 50/50
Morvahna the Dawnshadow (*5pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Warpborn Skinwalkers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
* Warpborn Alpha (3pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gatorman Witch Doctor (3pts)

Luke was the only undefeated player at this point so in my opinion should have won, but alas this is a 2 day NZ format that rewinds grinding your face against the wall until you bleed. He got matched up against me despite my pretty average record due to some unusual pairing system and was pretty confident in the matchup given that eMorvahna is an OP grinding monster.

Anyway, he ran tough undead Bloodtrackers in my face and slowly killed Gators with hit/damage rerolls, traded one Stalker for my Wrastler. I then proceeded to move Barnabas up to the halfway mark, feat, and kill all but one Skinwalker (who was in melee with Barnabas, so I should really have killed him), most of the Bloodtrackers, and the Gallows Groves. He responded by feating and bringing back EVERY SINGLE MODEL I HAD KILLED then running back behind an obstacle right on the edge of the kill box. Demoralizing to an extreme, but at least I can comfort myself with the fact that unlike eHaley and Deneghra's feats, I could have done something about it (wipe out units to the man). Alas, the Croaks failed me. There's a reason I'm not generally thrilled with Croak Hunters.

Seeing how screwed I was with most of my Gatormans dead and only a dead Stalker in his casualties pile, I decided to try and execute a plan the likes of which I have not executed since the release of Rask and Gargossals, both of which have dumbed down the game for me to a large extent and made me the mediocre player I am today. The moment where I was concocting this convoluted and low-probability assassination run was probably the most exciting minute of Warmachine for the last 10 months of my life, which I guess is an indication of the state of the game these days. Either that, or I'm getting old:

Morvahna has approx. 5 boxes left after the feat and a crapload of fury. She has two transfer targets - a half dead Gorax and a Stalker about 13" away from her since she had moved so far back. I managed to kill the Gorax with the last 2 members of my blue Posse (who were now surrounded by Skinwalkers), triggering Warpath so my Spitter can walk up and throw the Stalker outside her control area. A Croak Hunter and Snapper then killed a model each to try and give Barnabas a wider charge lane (which proved futile in the end as Morvahna still gained the cover bonus from the obstacle so their activations were redundant), which Barnabas used to charge into a Gallow Grove to get a free Blood Boon Flesh Eater on Morvahna, needing 13s and rolled 6,5,2 to hit and killed her with boosted damage.

Barnabas - clutch as fuck.

I stole this game so bad, I expected police to be waiting outside to question me.

So I ruined Luke's tournament that he probably should have won by taking him out of the finals and turning him off eMorvahna. Good job, JS. Kingslaying like a boss.

14 CPs

Game 7 vs Trolls (Luke Harvey) - Scenario: Rallypoint

Faction: Hoarluk - Runes of War
Points: 50/50
Tiers: 4
Hoarluk Doomshaper (*7pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)

Dat list.....

I was paired up to play against Chris Baker again for whatever reason, but managed to haggle with the TO to play someone I hadn't played that tournament since rankings were not at stake in either match-up. Fortunately for me, this person was Luke Harvey, a Troll player of legend with a very manly beard. He has yet to beat me in a tournament game, including a loss in a Who's the Boss event where I had Wrong Eye as my warlock, but this time he came prepared with this ridiculous pDoomshaper Runes of War tier.

Here is a summary of the design meeting for this tier list:

Privateer Employee A: "Hey, Troll players think Doomshaper sucks."
Privateer Employee B: "Purification, Goad, Rampager, Fortune, that feat... what were we thinking designing this piece of crap? He does absolutely nothing against half the game!"
A: "Totally. I think we should take a highly underrated unit with a crapload of rules and damage boxes and make a list that includes like... an unlimited number of them, but also reduce their cost by 25%."
B: "Mmmm... that seems kinda OP. We should make it difficult to achieve by adding some rough tier requirements like 'must include Janyssa, two Dire Trolls and two units of Runeshapers'."
A: "What? That is way too harsh! You better give them sweet bonuses like extra 2" deployment and some walls just in case they get shot. That Doomshaper is surely going to die even at DEF 17 ARM 17 with transfers and troll animi."
B: "And Mulg too I guess. For lolz."
A: "Mega lolz."

FU A and B. You guys are assholes.

Anyway, this list is pretty good. You can either lead with the Runeshapers or the beasts depending on who you want to take the hit. He led with the walls, because having 3 walls is fair. Usually I have zero problems with Trolls, but a swarm of cheap steady pathfinder guys with POW 14 crit KD AoEs and damage boxes is really problematic. To put Runeshapers in context, they basically get to cast a 3 cost magical AoE (more or less Baldur's Earth Spikes), along with good survivability, Tremor and Force Lock for 1 pt. That is really, really strong, and makes Gorgons look like absolute horse shit. It's almost enough to make me respect Trolls. Almost.

I traded Mulg for my Wrastler bottom of 2 (Rask shooting off animi + Fury + Boundless Charge +  feat => dead Mulg and safe army), then jumped up to 3 CPs next turn through dominating his zone and mine (with the Effigy objective). I didn't any get more points after that as he just grinded into my Gators with POW 14 AoEs and made more toughs than I did, basically out-listing me. In the end I had lost every single model but Rask, and went for a list ditch assassination on Doomshaper which need like a 14 on 3 dice for damage, but failed.

Looking back I think I may have made one mistake, which was to use Wrong Eye to clear the enemy zone giving me 2CPs on turn 3, where I probably should have just kept him back and left those CPs on the table, since trading heavies is pretty much where the game is won/lost in this matchup. Especially since Doomshaper's feat was up and that put 12 or so damage on Wrong Eye in the end. If I can take out his heavies while keeping mine, then he will just deathclock himself since Luke is the NZ deathclock master. Next time.....

Luke also gave me his best sports vote (out of guilt, because I am actually a terrible person to play against since I question everything). I gave mine to Chris Baker on the futile hope that he will one day win best sports instead of best painted. I gave my best painted vote to Nikola, since I like the colour black. Everywhere. Some may call it primer, I call it grim minimalist art.
 
17 CPs

Tournament Total: 4 wins, 3 losses, 17 CPs
with 2 very close losses and 2 very close wins. Also managed to beat the top 2 ranked players in the country :P
I placed in the upper half of tournament so I am happy with my play and placing despite the numbers, except for the first game of course.

The tournament final was Cryx on Cryx (both players named Dave), and was won by a Cryx player (coincidentally also named Dave, who is my blog's biggest fan) for the second year in a row. The shock, the horror, the surprise. OP faction whining aside, they are both top blokes who usually rank well and play really strong lists so congrats to them (for choosing the right faction, Cryx, which is OP, especially when your name is Dave).

Thanks to Dan Conlon for organizing and being super chill the whole time despite our whining about pairings and terrain and such. What a guy.

Thoughts + mini-rant zone

• Still not a fan of Divide and Conquer but I can live with it over a long tournament. It's potentially a dealbreaker for factions with less depth like Mercs/Minions and barely relevant for Cryx, Legion and PoM. It worked out alright for me this time with the right matchups happening at the right time. The only time I would rather have dropped something else was in game 2, where I would rather play Rask vs Ret than Barnabas (and it turns out, I could have).
• I have a bit more respect for the Maelok + 3 Posse list. Not so much because I think Maelok is necessarily stronger than Barnabas overall, but because Undead is a really strong buff. I was reminded over the weekend how many abilities trigger off living only. It's a bit ridiculous at times. Bring more Witch Doctors.
• Rask with 3 Posse is stronger against Trolls I feel, but Rask with WE + Snapjaw is stronger against PoM, Skorne, Cygnar, Khador...
• F*ck Cryx, that faction is so stupid. Nobody even defends this anymore, and instead of fixing the many broken things, PP just go passive aggressive and stop releasing Cryx models for a year and a half. That'll teach them!
• Broken 2pt merc solos need some serious balance work. Gorman, Piper and Witch Doc Croc were my bane this time around, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. OP Merc stuff is a large contributing factor to lists getting stale as options just get sidelined and make balancing the game a lot more difficult. Remember how bad Cygnar was pre-Stormwall when they actually used Cygnar models?
• Whoever came up with spam tier lists (the ones that combine FA:U on already good units with point discounts) is either a dumbass who has made a grievous error, or a clever businessman who understands pewtercrack addiction at a fundamental level.
• eMorvahna - demoralizing to play against. It's not so much the feat or all the healing - while it is an insanely powerful timewalk feat like eHaley's or Deneghra's, it's that she does all that while rerolling everything and being miles away. Fits the OP formula of 'why does X Cryx model have Y ability'.
• I really dislike Rally Point as a scenario. I am guessing it was included here purely for the name. Movable or cutesy objective-based scenarios become a distraction rather than an addition to the game most of the time. The purpose of a scenario is to force engagement. That is it. I like most of the Masters scenarios (with the exception of Destruction because that one is just a huge clusterfuck).

Choptober 2013 - The Lists

As mentioned in my previous post, the next tournament I will be attending is a one-day event held on the first Saturday of October named 'Choptober'. The name really makes no sense, and should instead have been called something cool like 'Alpha Strike' or 'BattleLust X'. But alas. If you want to hear about it from the viewpoint of a man struggling to contain his excitement, see here.

Basically it is a 1-day, 50pt, 2 list, 4-round Steamroller event that has been split into two completely unrelated pools - the upper pool (where I have been placed) and the loser pool (where Ian Hart, arguably the best WM/H player in NZ, has been placed). The placings were determined by the NZ Rankings HQ, which are more a measure of tournament attendance than they are actual game aptitude, but it is the best data available (I think I am 30th or something, good enough for the winner's bracket).

The lists:

Having recently acquired Pendrake and a third Posse, I wanted to try these out. I also wanted to try using Croak Hunters for once, because it's not really fair to hate on them as much as I do without giving them a fair shot. So I don't feel either list is really optimal but it's a nice opportunity to try them out.

Bloody Barnabas (*6pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
* Blackhide Wrastler (9pts)
* Ironback Spitter (8pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Croak Hunter (2pts)
Croak Hunter (2pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)
Totem Hunter (3pts)

The standard Barnabas 35pt list with an extra Posse, Pendrake and two Croaks. This is almost a legit pop 'n' drop assassination against living enemy warcasters! Almost. I also think if I am matched up against Circle 3 times in a row by scheming TOs, this list will have some game against anything but eBaldur stone-spam.

I used to take a full unit of Trog Ambushers (8pts) with Barnabas, until it dawned on me that for 1 more point, I could have another unit of Gators. This is the mind of the Gator player - take all the Gators.
I think 3 Posse is the best way to run Barnabas and Maelok since they suck at cracking ARM anyway so you might as well just max out your Posse advantage. Following on that train of though, I feel I'd be better off with a Swamp Horror instead of a Spitter (so many reach initials) and a Witch Doctor + Feralgeist instead of the Croaks to give me a fighting chance against (Cryx) infantry swarm.

Maelok was a close contender for this second list, but ultimately I have given up on winning the Cryx matchup in a two-list format and feel Barnabas is a better rounded option to deal with Mercs/Legion/Circle and the like.

Rask (*6pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)
* Blackhide Wrastler (9pts)
* Swamp Horror (8pts)
Bog Trog Ambushers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Gatorman Witch Doctor (3pts)

This is basically my standard Rask list except with an extra Posse replacing WE + Snapjaw. I think it is probably worse in the matchups it is intended since you lose hitting power and a really long-range POW 20 Snapjaw missile, along with some utility from Wrong Eye's spells (esp against Skorne and Trolls). We will see how it goes.
I've considered not taking Bog Trogs with Rask to free up points for another heavy but for 5 pts they basically take assassination off the table (great support) and have done really good work for me late game with fury (MAT 8 POW 14s + reach + CMA = business).


You can find out how badly I do next week! This is probably the most exciting thing to happen to Gators since January 2013, the date of Rask's release. Yep, it's been that long, and still no Shamblers (not that I would really play them any way other than a Rask meatshield).

Until then, here is a video of Croatia's greatest contemporary punk rock band doing their thing:

Shamblers update #2

Another quick post before my next big Gator theorymachine rage/rant/inane collection of thoughts. Part 1 of my observations here.

I've been thinking about Shamblers a bit more, and managed to get in a game in with them yesterday playing Maelok tier vs Lich3. I wanted to see how an all-undead list fared vs a Cryx horde, but Lich3 likes to take a few jacks so that kinda sucked.

The turning point of the game was failing to kill a Necrosurgeon with a charging incorporeal Gatorman (not being able to reroll sucks, as does lack of guns), which resulted in enough P+S 17 McThralls to come back and destroy my ARM 20/22 Gatormans and that flank collapsing on itself.
I made two sizable mistakes - one was loading up Snapjaw unnecessarily so Wrong Eye had no transfers and got 2-shot by non-charging Bane Knights (rookie mistake one makes after not playing WE for a month), and forgetting to Revive a Gator before activating its unit, which would have put a bit more pressure on Lich3 and maybe bought me some time.. Otherwise it was just a matter of bad dice and a tough matchup (undead + armor + Banes).

Anyway, about the Shamblers - I don't feel that they are great in Blindwater. Most of my experience playing them is that they die easily to stuff that usually doesn't even touch Gators (blast damage, POW 10 guns, evil stares), and then jam up charge lanes (usually your own). Their stats are understandably atrocious (and far worse than McThralls - lol Cryx), although with CMA they can do some light-lifting.

In this game I think I killed as many Shamblers as he did, and then my Gators were Zombified most turns so there were almost no living models on the table to generate more - I think I got 3 tokens before the Bokor died.

Basically the only new things they bring to the Gators is:

1.  a body recycling mechanic, and 
2.  a RNG-3 boostable stationary magic attack. 

#1 is not that great in Blindwater due to low model count in lists that aren't Rask tier (even then you're probably not getting many bodies since everything ambushes). #2 is cute and useful to have around but not that reliable as a strategy.

They don't really bring anything to the Maelok tier - it would be a different story if the whole unit got AD. Then with tough + making new guys they could be a serious jammer unit. Alas they don't, so it's the same Posse story.

My initial impressions remain the same: Shamblers are not terrible, but not really good either. Probably better in Circle, Skorne and perhaps Legion.

• Barnabas - would rather have more Posse.
• Maelok - would rather have more Posse. Feat + Death Pact + tough would make them mildly annoying at ARM 17, but not worth the opportunity cost.
• Rask - Call to Sacrifice on more/cheaper bodies that can potentially recycle seems good.... but better than MAT 8 CMA Furied Ambushers? Remains to be seen.
• Calaban - would rather be Rask.
• Non-Gators - wooooooooooo!

TL;DR - play better stuff, better.

Wolfcry 2013

I attended a small 1-day, 4-round, 16 player 50pt Steamroller last Sunday, and placed a respectable 6/16. I consider this an improvement over my last tournament placing, which was 24/32 or something equally terrible.

The one non-standard thing about the event was the choice of lists. You were allowed to bring as many lists as you wanted (up to 4), but had to play each list at least once. I chose to bring two lists, which didn't work out that well for me:

List 1:
Barnabas
Wrastler
Spitter
Snapper
2 Full Posse
Full Trogs
Witch Doctor
Thrullg
Swamp Gobbers
Totem Hunter

List 2:
Rask
Horror
Wrastler
2 Full Posse
Min Trogs
Wrong Eye
Snapjaw
Snapper
Witch Doctor
Swamp Gobbers

The Barnabas list was intended to face Legion, Cryx, Circle and certain Khador lists. The Rask one was best to deal with everything else. As you will see from the battle summaries below, this didn't really work out too well for me in terms of match-ups.

Game 1 - Skorne - eHexeris

This game was against Paul, a new player to our meta, who - like me - was ripped away from his native Canada at an early age to grow up in the southern colonies, and thus suffers from thinly-veiled rage at all times. But he is Canadian enough to repulse at being called a Newfie (which he isn't). The TO had matched us up together since he was under the impression we had never played before, when we in fact had played a match a few days before - with almost the exact same lists:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Cyclops Raider (5pts)
* Mammoth (20pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
* Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)

I dropped Rask, as I like to do against Skorne. I decided to ambush my 6 Trogs as I felt relatively safe from assassination at DEF 17 ARM 17 and camping a fury or two, since I know can I remove Mammoth from the table without too much trouble. The scenario was Supply and Demand (Mosh Pit), which made no difference to anything.

Long story short, I used my feat + Inhospitable Ground to alpha strike, killed Mammoth with Fury + Boundless Charge Swamp Horror and a single Gatorman after shooting off Counterblast, then put pressure on his support with the ambushing Trogs. The middle of the table is otherwise a huge grind based around a really annoying hill - the one remaining threat at this stage was a half-dead Gladiator within charge range of Rask. I charged this Gladiator with a full-health Wrastler, Death Rolled boosted to hit, and rolled a 5. A follow up POW 17 attack also missed. I ran the Swamp Gobbers in the way in the hope that it would prevent him trampling or charging his way up. Hexeris went for a last ditch assassination attempt by killing the Wrastler using most of his fury + his feat, giving the Gladiator a chance, but he missed the Swamp Gobber hoping for a follow-up slam (which wouldn't have worked, we discovered, as the Gobber dies 100% to the slam itself, so no follow up).

He said he was going to try to assassinate Rask under Dark Waters using his feat + several Soul Fires through his Raider arc node but screwed up his order of activations so wasn't able to do it. I am kind of glad, since Rask's feat also stops arcing (the caster is the one making the attack and he is further than 5" from the spell target) and that would have left a bad taste in my mouth.

1-0 so far. Happy I didn't choke first round as I usually do.

Game 2 - Bart/Galleon 

All these things are horrible inventions and have caused untold human suffering.

This game was against Chris Baker, one of the NZ Warmachine scene veterans, self-proclaimed dick, and generally a quite knowledgeable and experience player. I like to think of Bart/Galleon as a faction in itself, since it is so goddamn stupid and I hate to think that Mercs are capable of such retardation. This list was Bart, Galleon, a Vanguard, and a crapload of character stuff that makes Galleon manlier (WE+Snapper, Ayanna + Holt, Dougal, Ragman, Thor, Gorman, eEyriss... etc). Scenario was Ammunition Run, and neither of us remember to explode anything (I killed two for 2 CPs, yay).

I chose to drop Rask again as I felt with 3 heavies, Fury, and the ability to shoot off Hot Shot and Spiny Growth I might have a snowball's chance in hell at killing the Galleon. This didn't work out at all, mostly due to good terrain use on his part and good timing with the feat.

We both made some pretty significant tactical errors (he left Eyriss within 5" of Galleon one turn, I left one extra fury on Snapjaw for no reason and he frenzied on some Posse, etc.), but ultimately my strategy for the game was not anywhere near as good as his (sit in the zone with Galleon between two terrain pieces and hide everything behind it), and I lost every single model over about 8-ish rounds in return for killing maybe 5 pts of stuff. One of these next to Galleon the whole game definitely hampered me to no end:

Am I correct in saying these things are EXTREMELY
annoying in Warmachine games? Tiny linear obstacles?
Rough terrain? Miniature Satans? Who knows.

 1-1 so far. My regular win-lose-win-lose tournament streak is going well.

Game 3 - Trolls - eDoomshaper

This was a very odd game. The table had some illegal terrain placement (per SR2013, you cannot place any terrain piece within 3" of another terrain piece), notably a large house on my left, which had a linear obstacle perpendicular to it, which in turn also had a linear obstacle perpendicular to it. Basically it was a large house with a large T sticking out of it made from linear obstacles. My Troll opponent Luke H. got a raging Troll hard-on when he saw this, and spent the first few turns of the game with his heavies and caster hiding in a 3 sided wall bunker (thank Janyssa!).

List was:

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (*6pts)
* Pyre Troll (5pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (3pts)
* Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper (2pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)

The scenario was Into the Breach (the one with the zone on the left and flag on the right), which actually made a huge difference since the aforementioned wall bunker was dead center of the zone. Therefore he decided to throw literally his entire army into the zone. Realizing that I had no chance in hell of getting any points on that side, I ran Rask to the flag (I went second) and told him he had 5 turns to get near this flag as I jammed up his bunker with Gators and heavies, and whatever I could muster.

When it looks like this on your left, go right.

Eventually, one turn away from defeat, he managed to pull off an epic ninja goad chain with Mulg to get him within 3.5" of the flag to deny me my 4th point. I responded by picking Mulg up with the Swamp Horror, throwing him away, hitting him with Voodoo Doll from Wrong Eye and blocking his spirit, then jamming him with stuff. At this stage he had mere minutes on his deathclock and rushed to recover, forgetting I had locked Mulg down for good, and he deathclocked himself.

Wrong Eye was definitely the all-star in this game, as he not only Voodoo Doll-ed Mulg, but the Earthborn's spirit a turn earlier.


2-1 and a lot of CPs. Legit.

Game 4 - Skorne - Zaal

All this point, I was locked into Barnabas and facing Skorne for 3rd place overall. Not a good prospect at all. Jason from Hamilton, who is one of my favourite opponents despite his amazing ability to somehow find new and original ways to douche me every game, chose to drop Zaal, which again is not a good prospect given Zaal's ability to deal massive damage with almost anything and the large number of Steady super-powered AGs around the place:
 
Supreme Aptimus Zaal & Kovaas (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Cyclops Raider (5pts)
* Mammoth (20pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Venators Slingers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)
Hakaar the Destroyer (4pts)

Not feeling very confident at all. Scenario was Fire Support (two flags with objectives that each contest the flags). He deployed the Mammoth, Slingers and an AG to my left which means I was never going to get that flag since I can't kill an Inviolable Resolve Mammoth with that much stuff around it to block charges. And since it is a Skorne heavy and a caster with Hex Blast, I can't jam it up with DEF 16 Posse like I would a crappier Colossal.

Basically I came to the conclusion after two rounds that I was not going to be able to win on scenario and I would have a bad time on attrition. I began my third turn looking at Zaal with 1 fury, and decided my odds of making an assassination were better than the odds of my winning this on scenario or attrition. I charged Barnabas forward into a Nihilator, popped my feat (which caught everything in his army), used my Blood Cleaver on the charge attack to get a free Flesh Eater at a KD-ed Zaal, then cast two more Flesh Eaters. This left Zaal at 2 boxes and still had his transfer - unlucky with the dice = assassination failed. I then shot him with the Spitter, forcing another 7 pts of damage to be transferred and corroding him. Realizing that with 2 boxes he was safe from dying to corrosion next turn, I basically jammed my entire army into him in the hopes that Barnabas would live, but alas a Last Stand-ed Hakar under Zaal's feat can kill Barnabas in 3 hits.

2-2, second most CPs, and a placing of 6th overall.

Things I would have done differently overall

A little bit of reflection always helps one improve. Other than removing the tactical mistakes I made in all my games (which can be addressed as 'play better'), here is what I would change:

• Drop Barnabas against Bart/Galleon - I was pretty sure this game was going to be a loss, so I should have got Barnabas out of the way to give me open selection later on in the tournament. I would still have been able to get my two control points and drop Rask in the final round, which means I kill the Mammoth and then hide behind Inhospitable Ground.
• Ignore Galleon entirely - given favourable terrain placement and tigher play, I think it is possible for Rask with 3 heavies to destroy Galleon. However, this was not the case here. The better strategy would have been to flank heavily with both Gatorman Posses (hopefully protected from Galleon guns with the feat before the charge), while just throwing heavies at Galleon to hold him in place. The stuff at the back is super squishy and prone to death, the hard part is just getting there, which is difficult with no guns.
• Roll 1 better on the Zaal assassination - I still think the assassination run was the right move. To pull it off, I needed to do at least 15 pts of damage to Zaal on 3 Flesh Eaters. 3 POW 13s at dice -1, at expected value is 18 pts of damage. I did 13. Assuming one more point of damage, the Spitter shot was a good chance at a kill, as corrosion had a 2 in 3 chance of finishing him off next turn.
• Take a Croak Hunter or two - So many games I find myself wishing I had one gun to shoot an annoying model, or finish off a Gargantuan with 1-2 boxes, or kill Zaal after rolling poop on damage. Croak Hunters sadly are the only thing Blindwater has for ranged attacks outside Spitters, Sac Strikes and Calaban's gun. Maybe I will try to play with them some more and they won't disappoint me so much.
• Remember Bog Trog ambushes! - I don't think this made too much of a difference, but forgetting to ambush 10 Bog Trogs on turn 2 of the last game maybe changed things a bit (most likely would have taken assassination completely off the table as Zaal would have held on to a few more fury). In the first game I held them until turn 3 on purpose, since I felt the 6 of them would die to A2A or Mammoth AoEs without much in return.

I think my game against Trolls was very well played and capitalized on my opponent's strategic error of overcommiting to the zone so no big changes on that side of things. As to my first game against Skorne, the only point I was really at risk of losing was when I failed to roll a 6 on 3 dice for that Wrastler on Gladiator charge. So, roll better.


Oh, the guy that won the tournament is the Ret player I play almost every week and who rips his hair out on account of Gators. Turns out luck of the draw matchups is a pretty big deal :)

Pedigree Butchery - choosing the right caster for the right matchup

I have received/read a couple of queries regarding how to make lists to deal with certain factions. Given that we have a small pool of models and limited options, it seems like the choice is pretty straight forward a lot of the time, but then again I have seen people claim Barnabas is amazing against Menoth.

I usually prefer Rask with 2 Posse and the other casters with 3 Posse. I recommend bringing two to three units of Posse in every list at 50pts, and most lists at 35pts. Gatorman Posse are without a doubt the best bang for your buck in Blindwater.

Khador

Best casters - Rask (anti-ARM), Jaga-Jaga (anti-buffs)
Other picks: Wrastler, Totem Hunter

Khador has two strengths: high armor with their jacks and heavy infantry, and high defense with Iron Flesh. Therefore you're always playing a game of list-chicken if your opponent has two lists that each fit a separate box.

Rask is great against high armor because of Fury and the ability to almost always get the charge. Inhospitable Ground is also usually quite good against Khador armor since it is so slow. On the other hand, Rask has no real way to deal with Iron Flesh infantry spam. This is where Jaga-Jaga comes in, since she effectively makes such buffs null.

The Wrastler is a good beast with either caster because he brings a POW 17 and is excellent at throwing jacks into pits or out of commission. Totem Hunter is great at hunting out Khador's many crutch solos, and the stealth + high speed combo is really strong against Khador.

Cygnar

Best casters - Rask (2nd: Barnabas)
Other picks: Swamp Horror, WE + Snapjaw

Prior to the advent of the Stormwall (which you now see in 99% of Cygnar lists), Barnabas was a solid matchup against Cygnar - hard to assassinate, great situational shooting protection and Swamp Pits to throw heavies into. However, now that the Stormwall is everywhere, you need to kill it if only to win on scenario. And to do that, you need to charge it with Fury and a way to remove Arcane Shield. As well as a way to deliver your entire army to it in one piece. Rask can do all of this for you.

The Swamp Horror is a winner due to natural shooting protection and being a great multiplier for Fury. He can do a good deal of damage to that Stormwall. Same deal with Snapjaw.

Cryx

Best casters - Maelok, Jaga-Jaga
Other picks - Croctor, Thrullg, Sacral Vault

My thoughts on Cryx are well documented, and things haven't changed all that much. The one thing in the Cryx matchup that shouldn't bother you is ARM, so Fury is not a must. Shooting is also not really an issue. You will also have a lot of trouble at attritioning them in the melee game, since they hit insanely hard, often have tough, tend to recycle themselves.

Maelok with 2 Witch Doctors keeps most of your stuff undead so you can deny them Tartarus Death Knells and such. Tough can also help out a bit to get 2-3 Gators on the enemy caster under the feat, preferably while affected by Malediction (all in!). Maelok's feat also allows you to 'cheat' the melee staggering trade of Warmachine by charging their backline at the same time as their front line.

Jaga-Jaga is also really good because of her ability to deny buffs, deny incorporeal, has a lot of answers, and her feat is really strong against infantry swarms.
A Thrullg is also especially helpful in this matchup to deal with Crippling Grasp-like FU upkeeps - shame it can't be taken in tier.
Finally, the Sacral Vault is a custom designed middle finger to Cryx, with its anti-Stealth, anti-Incorporeal boostable gun and its almost total immunity to single wound melee infantry. Also it steals souls and RFPs.

Protectorate of Menoth

Best caster - Rask
Other picks - Ironback Spitter, Bog Trog Ambushers, Croctor

Easy choice - Rask shoots off upkeeps, disrupts jacks, has Inhospitable Ground to slow jacks that can't get pathfinder, has Fury to crack armor and gives you the charge without getting shot up. No really high DEF to worry about, no anti-living, only weapon masters which are a problem for all Gator lists.
Barnabas is a bad choice as he brings no damage buff, dispels (outside Thrullgs) and the Broken Book of Menoth is ever present, thereby negating Barnabas' feat and his most effective tool against warjacks. Maelok also has a bad time due to the prevalence of magic weapons and lack of hitting power.

The Ironback Spitter can do a decent amount of damage with Fury against DEF 10 warjacks if needed, and brings that almighty gun that you can use to take out a few support models. Bog Trog Ambushers are excellent at putting pressure on a flank or to their caster, as their backline is usually squishy. The Croctor is mostly there because of Awe on the Harbinger and the inbuild Ashen Veil on the Reckoner.

Retribution of Scyrah

Best caster - Rask, 

There are a few things that make Gators very strong against Ret: anti-shooting, hard to assassinate casters, Gatorman Posse.  Both Barnabas and Rask are excellent in this department. The one issue with Barnabas is that he can have a lot of trouble displacing a Hyperion or Griffon swarms, whereas Rask can kill them quite efficiently. Furthermore, Rask's feat is a lot more efficient as a delivery mechanism than Swamp Pits because it also shuts down magic attacks - and really, against an all living army, you only need one turn of protection because your Posse starting ripping elves apart with ease.

Rask can also shoot off pesky upkeeps like Polarity Shield or Inviolable Resolve - winner.

Mercs of Money

Best caster - Rask

Surprise! Rask can kill the Galleon, the others can't, and therefore he is the best. I guess you could take Calaban. Theoretically - his feat might be decent vs the usual high model count Mercs, and Parasite + Occultation can sort of keep you safe from Galleon at ARM 17, especially if you can someone get the damn arc node to work. But really, don't take Calaban.
Apart from that, if the Galleon/Earthbreaker isn't present or unkillable (ie. Bart + Spiny), then Barnabas can pretty much handle everything mercs can throw at you while also hiding in a Swamp Pit to make sure he doesn't die.

Writing this has made me realize that nobody plays non-Circle Hordes around here.

Trolls

Best caster - Rask
Other pics - Sacral Vault, Shamblers

Inhospitable Ground, Paralysis Bolt, Disruptor Bolt + Fury beats tanky trolls and big charging beasts. Unfortunately there is no anti-tough tech anywhere in Gators. A fully juiced up, well supported Wrastler is also one of the few things in the game that can take out Mulg on a favourable trade balance.Not much else to say - Trolls are full of medium-based tanky troops that aren't as good as Gatorman Posse with Fury. I'm not sure if ambushing Bog Trogs to kill the Krielstone would be a good investment, since those blue baboons will probably just tough everything and you will cry.

The Vault and Shamblers will usually be pretty decent as you can get a lot of work out of the souls/corpses over the course of your 2+ hour grindfest. Enjoy!

Skorne

Best caster - Rask
Other picks - Bog Trog Ambushers

While Inhospitable Ground is not as good in this matchup, Paralysis Bolt is a winner, along with Admonition and Fury. Skorne are a melee-heavy army they relies on their beasts - either shut them down or blow them up. If the Skorne list is especially beast heavy, you can slow them down drastically by killing the support pieces. This might be one situation (along with Protectorate) where ambushing with Rask' sacrificial Trogs is a good tactic.

I once played against an eMorg list with Ferox, Archidons, Savages and a whole manner of squishy things and incorrectly chose Barnabas since I thought armor wouldn't be a problem. Of course, none of that crap can be knocked down, so I cried some crocodile tears and tried to tank eMorg for glory and got diced to death.

The main thing you should be worrying about is that their Gatormans are straight-up better than your Gatormans. Just because, you know. Skorne. The main difference is your casters are awesome and deliver Gators, theirs not so much.

Circle

Best caster - Barnabas, Maelok
Other picks - Totem Hunter, Bog Trog Ambushers,

While armor will be a problem in a minority of Circle lists, most times with Circle you should be worried about high DEF warbeasts and getting assassinated. I've had Barnabas tank primal + STR warp Stalkers without too much trouble thanks to Spiny Growth and Unyielding plus a transfer or two. Throw Iron Flesh on top of that and you're basically invulnerable as long as you stay on your feet. If you can attrition them out, you will usually end up in a good place.
The Totem Hunter is a must to kill those one of those annoying Sentry Stones early - just prey and walk away. Bog Trogs are great for killing almost anything in Circle due to pathfinder, CMA and MAT 8 on the charge.


Rask will probably make a resurgence against Circle with Bradigus/Baldur2 theme lists, but he suffers greatly against anti-magic effects (Druids/Kromac) and getting picked apart.
Maelok can also be really good against Circle as Revive missiles also him to reach out and touch Circle in unwanted places while also fielding a lot of tanky undead models.

Legion

Best caster - Barnabas, Rask

The name of the game is terrain creation to screw infantry, and shooting-denial to screw the beasts. Rask can still give a good game, but I believe Barnabas is the slightly better matchup due to Legion's generally lower ARM, and their squishier high DEF casters/troops. Barnabas' style of shooting denial via Swamp Pits is also more effective than Rask's one big turn of denial since Legion beasts will often engage in hit and run tactics with their shooting. Certain casters like Saeryn and Vayl will give you serious headaches if played well, but that is more a limitation of Blindwater than anything else.

Pigs

Best caster - Rask, Jaga-Jaga

The only real bad matchup for any caster is Carver due to Batten Down the Hatches, given the Blindwater problem with ARM - which means Rask is the best matchup overall (although Spellpiercer ignores it too!). Maelok would  suffer a bit due to prevalent Slaughterhouser RFP, and Midas can probably outtank him given his huge potential damage output and the aforementioned RFP effects. My only other bit of advice is to control Slaughterhousers with rough terrain if they don't have Saxon Orrik, because tough is annoying and they will blow your Gators up pretty easily if they get to charge.

Conclusion

RASK IS A MIGHTY WIZARD

Basically, my advice in a multi-list format would be to take Rask and Barnabas/Maelok/Jaga-Jaga (season to taste), with Rask tailored slightly more for heavy armour, and your second list tailored more for infantry-heavy / ARM-light lists and general tankability.

Looking at the whole "Minions" picture, I don't think the inclusion of Pigs as one of the lists would really shake things up since a meaty Rask list should be able to handle most heavy armor in the game. The only place where Pigs would do much better is situations where RFP is very much sought after (eLich, eMorvahna) or you face insane amounts of ARM. Otherwise I think Gators are just better off 95% of the time. Currently Pigs only have 2 good lists - Lord Carver and friends, and Arkadius tier.

If it is a three-list format, you might consider taking one of the two Pig lists. If you want to stick to all Gators (preferable), then you will likely want to tailor your Jaga/Maelok list slightly more towards Cryx and leave your third list to deal with everything else Rask has issues with (depending on your meta).


Updated - November 2014 (post Exigence)