Meta Evolution - Mk2

Fluid History in Action!

With a new release cycle quickly approaching, I am reminded of the empy feeling of the past few months regarding how the meta has been 'figured out', lists are boring, etc. etc. And to a large extent, this is true - given enough time, player communities will figure out the optimal way to play within an assymetrically balanced system. In a well designed game, these won't be anywhere near 100% win lists and playstyles, but they will be better than their alternatives a (statistically) significant portion of the time. And that is what is referred to as a 'dead' meta game.

The point of this article is to demonstrate that although the metashifts in Warmahordes are ridiculously slow in comparison to most assymetrical PvP games (like RTS, MOBAs, TCGs/CCGs, etc.) there have actually been some sizable shifts over the last decade. The current meta of boxes + ARM spam will likely be around for another few years before a new release or new edition resets the cycle and pushes us once against towards a variant on solo machine (which we have some evidence of in Khador/Cygnar already with certain popular Sorscha1 and Haley2 lists).

Personally, I think more aggressive buff errata between expansion releases would promote metagame activity suitably without requiring the release of new models, but such opinions have been thrown around for years with no show of PP doing anything  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As I remember things:

Mark 1

The biggest meta factors about Mk1:

• Jacks were really bad on average. Most warjacks had -1MAT and RAT compared to their current versions, and were scrapped when they lost 3 systems (the blank parts of the grid counted as the 'hull' system). Each faction had a small handful of jacks that got played. Armor was thus much less of a problem and most infantry could scrap jacks thanks to the charge mechanic. Non-character jacks were more or less out of the competitive game after Escalation, with the exception of arc nodes and ranged assassinations.
• Cavalry had more damage boxes and cost relatively less than now, so they were the 'tanks' of Warmachine.
• As Mk1 went on, more and more ridiculously overpowered solos were released, pushing the game towards 'solomachine'.
• Assassination was the most common victory condition by far. Scenario play developed really slowly - in fact the early Steamrollers were considered so bad that Hacksaw (a prolific PG at the time) ended up making his own format called "Jackhammer" that got popular before being absorbed into Steamroller.
• For a quick summary of Hordes, which had far fewer releases than Warmachine in its early stages and therefore didn't have much of a meta influence:
  
  • Trolls were pretty bad (Defining list: Madrak1 brick),
  • Skorne was pretty bad (Defining list: Hexeris1 infantry, Canoneers, Ancestral Guardians),
  • Circle was good (Defining list: Tharn Bloodtrackers, Wolf Riders and Woldwardens)
  • Legion was amazing (Defining list: Seraph Spam).
  This only changed with the last Mk1 Hordes book where Skorne became insane overnight and Trolls became good, Circle stayed about as strong and Legion got even better.

Defining Lists

The most powerful tournament list in Mk1 Prime was Sorscha1 assassition with Destroyers, with a secondary win condition of scenario. It was very difficult to stop the assassination since her feat initially did not require LoS, and difficult to stop the scenario win because 12" AD Doom Reavers + Widowmakers would get in your face insanely fast.

Following that with the release of Escalation, the counter to Sorscha was released in the format of Goreshade1, who had Mage Blight to stop her feating, Mk1 Cloak of Shadows made him nigh invulnerable, and he had a super-potent assassination in the form of Soul Gate (the jack used to be able to attack after teleporting).

Apotheosis brought us epic casters (restricted to 750pt games or more, equivalent to 50pt games today) and character jacks. These were actually used somewhat regularly since they were ridiculously strong (Deathjack especially). I seem to recall all the casters in the book having a lot of pull on the meta and really pushed up the power level in the game.

Of particular interest were Old Witch and Vlad2, which came to completely dominate Khador lists until the end of Mk1 and the game in general. Both had crazy good assassination game in combination with Khador's bonkers solos and units like Widowmakers and Manhunters. The fastest kill in Hardcore Mk1 was Vlad2 + Eyriss1 + 4 Widowmakers killing a caster in under 2? minutes. Vlad's feat was not only +3 to all stats but also extra attack per weapon and boosted attack and damage rolls with ALL attacks (including range).
The Old Witch's feat was extremely strong in a troop spam meta, and could be centered on Scrapjack rather than herself, which means she would usually pin you down in your deployment turn 1 and laugh.

Superiority brought us cavalry, which more or less replaced non-character warjacks entirely since they were both resilient and hit hard - and they were fast. This included the 'Flying Pegasus' Drakhun which catapulted the Vlad2 assassination game into the stratosphere, since it would get thrown then charge an effective 127,693" to kill you before you moved anything. I started playing around this time - it was neat as a noob to try to play warjacks in this environment.

The end of Mk1 brought the Legends book, which was basically full of ridiculously overpowered stuff for everyone, so much so that it's not even worth discussing the meta at the time. The game was really broken and started to feel a lot like 1-turn instakill Legacy Magic: the Gathering decks. Fortunately, Mk2 came out pretty soon after.

Mark 2

Mk2 released 2010, with Field and Play Test Cycles about half a year before that. The Field Test meta was heavy on Gun Mages (Cygnar), Winterguard deathstar (Khador), Stalker spam (Cryx) and good old jack spam (PoM). The Deathstar was slightly nerfed (the Rocketeers had boosted damage rolls) and Stalkers were bumped up to 4pts in final release. People also really liked Skarre2 during the Field Test, mostly because most games were at smaller points levels.
The Hordes Play Test was a bit too all over the place and disorganized to really say anything was popular for long.

Once actual release hit, Khador high DEF spam and Cryx infantry spam became predominant meta leaders on the Warmachine side, on the Hordes side you had Troll infantry spam and Skorne's Holy Trinity (Molik/Gladiator/Bronzeback). Things changed a bit with the Faction books, where Circle got the Warpwolf Stalker and all their lists suddenly became concentrated around Stalker/Gorax/Teleport combos, whereas Legion got Ravagores which basically replaced Seraphs in the Mk1 beast-heavy playstyle.

Wrath was a mostly uneventful book all things considered. Most of the releases were on the weak side and not super exciting, with the exception of Retribution which got a new jack chassis and Ossyan.
Domination was a better book than Wrath but not by a significant marging, although quite a few things in the book (ie. Grissel2) would become very relevant with later releases. Circle got Ghetorix and Gallows Groves, Skorne started developping a ranged game and got Hexeris2 to deal with high DEF (he was more or less the only answer at the time). Legion got Vayl2 and Nagas of course. Gators started to become a bit more legit with Maelok and the Witch Doctor presenting an exceptionally tanky list (like a Dead Meat Mountain).

Colossals changed the meta quite a bit in presenting MOAR BOXES and anti-infantry options (primarily Stormwall template and 2d3 shots) to compete with MOAR BANEZ, although this did take a while to kick in.

Gargantuans was a big meta shaker, and not really for the Gargantuans themselves which were mostly bad with the exception of the Mammoth. Trolls got Warders which radically boosted their tankability to above the meta average at the time, Circle got Morvahna2 and the Warpborn Alpha (which made Skinwalkers about as good as Gatormans) to get into the grindy attrition game, and Skorne got Incindiarii to help deal with high DEF and a stellar support solo in the Willbreaker. Legion only really got the Warspear Chieftain to make Warspears a really solid unit, but otherwise just stuck to their game plan of multiple OP heavies + support. Minions of course got Rask, which boosted Gators to an almost fully competitive level.


Vengeance had some good to great releases for all factions, but didn't push the meta too much away from what started in Colossals. Cygnar got Tempest Blazers which brought back Gun Mages in a new form but otherwise mostly stuck to their gameplans. Khador got Butcher3, the IF Kovnik and Greylord Outriders which all got a lot of play and brought Khador back into the meta following their impotence at the loss of Iron Flesh infantry. Cryx got some good tanky cav in Bane Riders and Goreshade3 which FINALLY shook their core unit choices up a tiny bit (mostly because Cryx players started to get bored I think). Retribution again got more good releases that they use in full capacity.

Exigence was similar to Vengeance in that it had some good solid releases for all factions - arguably the best expansion PP has released so far. Even Pigs got something decent! I don't think it's led to any real meta shifts yet, but I think a lot of the releases in there certainly lay the seed for a change in faction playstyles.

Faction specific notes:

Cygnar:

• In Mk1, pHaley with Trenchers was also "unbeatable", due to smoke wall denying guns and TB stopping charges AS SOON AS YOU ENTERED THE CONTROL AREA. Trenchers were really good in Mk1 because they didn't stand in the cloud they generated so you couldn't just charge/shoot them and their victim stats.
• I remember the Darius jack spam list was really popular, primarily because his feat allowed you to repair wrecks back to full-health. Plus his little bomb dudes were even better and his gun was also pretty baller. 
• Aside from that you had the usual power casters, the ever present Junior, and cavalry.
• During the Mk2 Field Test, Cygnar players quickly went hard for Stryker2/Caine2/Haley2, which persists to this day. Gun Mages and Rangers were both super prevalent from the Field Test onwards and slowly phase out as Stormwall and merc supports takes over in the heavier ARM meta.
• Cygnar is now a top faction due to very powerful casters, Stormwalls and a huge range of quality mercs.

PoM:

• PoM was really different in Mk1, namely that it loved to spam infantry (more than other factions, although everyone loved infantry spam). The early meta featured melee infantry aplenty combined with Rhupert (granted Boundless Charge at the time) and spell assassination. 
• Soul collection was also cool since you could kill your own guys for souls. 
• The one biggest change I recall was that the Testament of Menoth was considered a top caster after he was released, because he was so good at assassination (especially with Vengers). 
• Harbinger was also really strong because of 20" Martyrdom, working well with Vengers and other invincible Protectorate models.
• The omnipresent models were Vilmon and Idrians. Vilmon could run + Impervious Wall and used to deal way more damage, whereas Idrians could shoot most of your army of the board turn 1 and then had countercharge on the ENTIRE UNIT. Balance.
• Overall, PoM has remained a strong faction throughout its entire existence, although has never really been considered the single best faction in the game.

Khador:

•  Khador has been a meta defining faction for most of the existence of the game, from Sorscha1 to Vlad2 to Iron Flesh infantry. Ironically, this has only ceased to be the case with the Colossals ARM meta, where you think Khador ARM would do real well. It doesn't because although Khador has above average base stats, they have poor ARM buffing abilities and their medium infantry is not points efficient or synergistic compared to most other factions.

Cryx:

• The principle Cryx game plan in Mk1 was sneaky assassination, often by spells through dirt cheap bone chickens or warjack. Mk1's top casters were Denny1+2 and the Coven. 
• EDIT: The one list that was also quite popular in terms of dudespam was 30 Bane Knights, especially with pSkarre, since Bane Knights were riduculously overpowered AND undercosted.
• This is vastly different to the grindy attrition playstyle of Cryx in Mk2, and Cryx players bitched like hell during the Field Test until they realized that Banes and Satyxis as OP as shit and spam that with their casters.
• Lich2 soon became considered best caster in the game and is nerfed repeatedly until he's only one of the "top 5" rather than clearly the best. McThralls also become more prevalent over time since infantry becomes easier to kill and Cryx doesn't really care about quality stats, just getting attacks.
• Just recently after 4ish years of infantry spam, Cryx players are moving towards using slighty different lists with casters like Goreshade3 and Body and Soul (a whole new host of bullshit).

Mercs:

• Barely a faction in Mk1. Pretty much how people treated Minions until Rask came out.
• In Mk2, they remain pretty insignificant until Colossals come out. Then they start stomping on people's nuts. But it's really all about the Colossals at the moment and for the forseeable future.

CoC:

• Mk1: Non existence.
• Mk2: LUCANT HAS PURIFICATION. Also he grinds well and suits the current meta. The Axis theme is also gaining a lot of traction as CoC players acquire enough models to pull it off with its crazy level of recursion/attrition. Perhaps such lists, combined with Cryx' domination of the meta and love of souls, will bring the Testament of Menoth and his Omegus back in some capacity?

Retribution:

• Came out at the very end of Mk1, barely enough to get tournament play.
• Early in Mk2, the gameplan revolved almost entirely around Mage Hunter Strike Force and Mage Hunter Assassin assassinations via things like Ravyn's Snipe-Feat-Go or Rahn being Rahn. As such they were quite weak against Hordes and weak against attrition.
•  The release of Ossyan and the second jack chassis gave Ret more of an attrition backbone.
• With the release of Imperatus, Hyperion, Houseguard Thane and Eyriss3, Retribution have gotten a lot more competent in scenario play and Hordes assassination. IMO one of the most balanced and well-rounded factions in the game despite being elves.

HORDES

Trolls:

•  In Mk1, Trolls were mostly based around the Madrak Sure Foot brick with Champions, and didn't do that great in assassination nor scenario play. As such, they were maligned in the competitive scene, at least until the release of unkillable Madrak2 and beast zerger Hoarluk2.
• Following the Mk2 Play Test, Trolls were strong out of the game with variations on troop spams under various casters (Madrak1+2 especially). 
• After about a year of that, Trolls became considered crappy again in the "high DEF or Cryx" meta until Jason Flanzer showed up on the tournament scene with Runes of War and started winning a lot of high profile events.
• Runes of War then became the "only good Troll list" and the whinier Troll players bitched about that and the Mountain King for a while, while the more positive Troll players just paired it with Grim1 for the Cryx matchup and did quite well.
• Warders then came out and contributed to the Meat Mountain meta we are currently within, specifically lots of high ARM and high box infantry (or equivalent, as is the case with the recently popular Elemental Mastery list).

Circle:

• Very assassination focused in Mk1, sort of like the Hordes version of Cryx. They had lots of movement tricks like Shifting Stones, but even more so - for example, Blackclad Wayfarers were also much more mobile and annoying than currently (Phase Jump was place ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE). Woldwardens were the most common beast by far (spamming spells, another thing Mk1 Circle did really well), Druids and Tharn Wolf Riders (who did not need to keep formation) were also very common. Also Sentry Stones were sickening - they did everything they do now except cheaper at bigger ranges with more resources.
• In Mk2, Circle was a bit poop early on while adjusting to all their favourite stuff getting super nerfed but then quickly got Stalkers, which changed every list into Stalker/Gorax delivery systems. And they did well for a long time with it.
• Just as this list became less effective with heavier ARM and more boxes appearing, Morvahna2 is released to give Circle a ridiculous grind/assassination game. PP then decides she isn't enough and decides to release the Bradigus theme force. Yay.

Skorne:

• They were considered uncompetitive in Mk1 but had a very different game plan to now. They were based around 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' type of punishment mechanics. The most common build was Hexeris1 due to Death March being RIDICULOUSLY overpowered (instant trigger + fully boosted attacks) and feeding souls to Ancestral Guardians who basically 2 shot anything in the game at the time given enough souls.
• At the end of Mk2 were considered possibly the best faction in the game thanks to Molik Karn, Morghoul2 and Makeda2.
•  Radically changing from an infantry spam faction in Mk1 to a beast heavy army in Mk2, Skorne were considered quite strong early in Mk2 following player adjustment, thanks to the Holy Trinity of Molik, Gladiator, Bronzeback killing everything with Makeda2. 
• Once people got used to the Molik bullet and Purification became a popular way to deal the Krea's animus, Skorne fell by the wayside a bit until it was recently revived with the use of medium infantry (thanks to the release of Incindiarii and their benefit to the Fist of Halaak list) and hopefully also by the range-resistant Scarab beasts

Legion:

• Mk1: Top faction, thanks to two factors: first is that Flight gave immunity to free strikes so the beasts just shat on everything and could do whatever they wanted as long as you had even a basic grasp of estimating distances, and second is that AD used to be 12" rather than 6", causing ranged infantry Legion to have a very brutal ranged attrition game from Turn 1.
• Mk2: While the nerfs were strong and the rage stronger, Legion are still a top dog in Mk2 and have been the whole time. The gameplan has changed a little bit since Ravagores were released to replace Seraphs and their infantry nerfed quite a bit, so the focus is more or less exclusively on beast heavy lists. However the caster and army support for the beasts is so good that good players always seem to make it work, and they get enough interesting things here and there to flavour what is essentially the same list core for the last 5 years.

Minions:

• Mk1: Didn't exist as a faction.
• Mk2: No real meta respect at all until Rask came out, although triple Posse was still a scary list (especially with Maelok). I'd say at this stage, post Rask and definitely post Sacral Vault, Minions (really, Gators) are a competitive faction. Pigs by themselves aren't there yet but with Carver and Arkadius tier, you can make a good 2nd or 3rd tournament Minions pairing that deals with certain matchups were Gators don't excel.

TA DA.


 

Sacral Vault Battle Engine spoilers

Finally, something actually Gatorman related to write about...

From War Room Beta spoilers:

SPD: 4
MAT:0
RAT: 5
DEF: 9
ARM: 20
CMD: 10
20 health boxes / 9pts

Gunfighter, Eyeless Sight

Ranged Weapon: Spectral Fury
Range: 12, RoF 1, Pow 13
Magical Weapon
Rapid Fire [d3]
Deathly Dominion: Costs 1 soul for the Bone Shaker effect on each ranged attack.

Abilities:
Crypt of Souls: Gain 1 soul for each living model that is destroyed in its command area. If no souls are on it at the beginning of your Control Phase it gains d3 souls. Souls can be spent to boost attack and damage rolls.  (Supposedly 5 souls max)

Arcane Vortex: Spend a soul to negate a spell targeting the Vault or a model within 3'' of it.
 
Soul Sacrifice: Warlock can remove a soul to gain 1 fury point...[then the image cuts off].
 
Soulstorm: While this model has 1 or more soul tokens enemy models entering, or ending their activation within 2'' of the Vault take 1 damage.

Source

The Good

• It's a huge base with a good boostable gun
  Huge bases are not usually good without guns, for logistical reasons. Boostable guns are  very good, because they kill many things from far away. RNG 12 POW 13 is a pretty good weapon for sniping out things
• That boostable gun is magical and has Eyeless Sight
  This allows it to kill incorporeal models and shoot Menoth jacks. This is very nice. Blackbane's will still be a pain in the ass, but now you can just snipe-out Blackbane himself and then stand in front of the rest of them with Soul Storm and be a douche.
  AND IT ALLOWS YOU TO KILL TARTARUS AND GORMAN AND THE BLOOD HAG AND DENNY AT RANGE WITHOUT SACRIFICING YOUR WRASTLER OR SPENDING 3 FURY ON FLESH EATER ONLY TO FIND OUT THE HAG HAS STEALTH. FU CRYX DIAF Aaaaarghhhhhhhh...... *ahem*.
• Soulstorm
  This ability is AMAZING. Probably the best rule on this thing, besides Eyeless Sight. Especially on a huge base, that is a huge FU bubble to small based melee infantry (lol Cryx), and at ARM 20 it doesn't really care about small-based ranged infantry either. Especially since you can probably put it in a Swamp Pit (assuming amphibious) or Spiny Growth it or whatever.
• Always has some souls, and gains them within a large radius
  Very nice - PP seems to have realized that the Skorne BE is a total piece of crap mostly because it doesn't start with any tokens and will die by the time it gets any. The free d3 also helps slightly vs Cryx, which has less living models, and when you want to Zombify all the things for Maelok's feat.
• Gives fury to warlocks
  This is neat for the Maelok Posse spam list, since if for whatever reason one of your Snappers gets killed, you have a little backup plan. Or just in general, free fury when you need it can be better than cutting for a point (like when you are at one box of life left).
• Very large anti-magic bubble
  Again, the huge base is put to work with Arcane Vortex. The thing I like about this ability is that it is preventive as much as it is reactive - if your opponent knows you have it (and you should probably remind him at the right time), then it just messes with his plans.
• I can use my Soles tokens every game!

The Bad

• d3 shots at RAT 5
  RAT 5 isn't that big a deal since at RNG 12 and a desire to get souls, it will probably be quite far up and thus able to sacrifice its movement for the aiming bonus when it actually wants to shoot stuff. Plus it can boost.
  1d3 shots however is a bit of a dick punch and a little too random for my taste. d3+1 would have been quite a bit more reliable for a gun platform. Therefore, what this indicates to me is that the Sacral Vault's primary purpose is not really to be shooting stuff, but to be a huge Soul Storm / Arcane Vortex construct and pseudo-fury battery.
  The gun is to be thought of as a single shot you get to do for free every turn to snipe out an important thing or two, and a way to spend "uneeded souls" if you happen to get extra shots (via the Bone Shaker effect). Keep those souls for the Soul Storm, and situationally the Arcane Vortex, unless you are going all in sniping out that Gorman or Tartarus.
• Does nothing to help vs ARM for non-Rask casters, or buff beasts
  One can dream, right? Maybe we'll get a beast that can actually deal damage later on. Or the new caster can mix-up our list pairings a bit.
• Huge base, gets shot and killed.
  Oh wait, I forgot I play Gatormans, and don't usually get shot. Very nice. ARM 20 is also pretty sweet. Just don't let heavies get to it.

The Other Stuff

If these are correct, which seems likely barring the fine details, then it's a very nice but not fundamentally game changing piece for us Gatormans - just game changing at the non-Rask level. I like it a hell of a lot more than Shamblers anyway, with which it can combo pretty effectively (double dipping on souls/corpse tokens for every living model death).

It helps the Cryx matchup a lot in providing a large anti-magic bubble and a magical gun, as well as stealing their souls and screws over small-based infantry with Soul Storm. I think it'll do some really great things with Barnabas and pushes him up quite a bit as a Cryx matchup, even perhaps taking the place of one Posse unit. Plus, another boostable gun always helps in that old-school KD assassination.
I've always had a slight preference for Barnabas over Maelok as my second list (I like rough terrain creation and I hate getting shot) and this model would certainly push me further towards our patron future god in a two list format. Not to say that Maelok doesn't get a lot from it as well.



I think my Rask lists will remain mostly unchanged, since the tankier factions I bring Rask against (and Ret, because they just can't handle the Jewfish) won't care as much about the Soul Storm or the Arcane Vortex. Unless of course one brings a shooty Rask list with 2 Posse, 3 Spitters and a Sacral Vault. That might be pretty legit.


Summary - would likely buy this model when it comes out in 5 to 11 months. Would be mildly disappointed if the spoilers weren't legit.

Battlecry 2014 - 35 pts + Moar Cryx hate

aka. How to Write Stupid Lists at 35pts

Step 1 - Choose casters

I went with Rask and Maelok. Calaban can only "really" be played with his tier (note that unlike Runes of War, this does not make him really baller, just makes him less bad) and the tier is not great at 35pts. He himself is not really that sweet at 35pts, or ever.

Rask is good because he does Rask things. Combine this with 35pt foolishness and you have a pretty strong skew. I usually play Barnabas as my second list and wanted a change, therefore going for Maelok (the only other alternative).

Step 2 - Choose to skew or not skew.

I decided to skew one, and then skew both:

Rask
Snapper
Snapper
3x Gatorman Posse
Min Troggs

Feralgeist
Croak

This list is pretty stupid. I called it "GOING FULL RETARD", which it was. 3 Posse at 35pts is the kind of skew that makes games uninteresting, but hey, why not do it if they're not going to fix it. 
If you ask me, I think we should move to 60 or 65 pts as the new tournament standard as it'd make factions like Cryx, Circle and Legion a little weaker, Trolls a little stronger, and everyone else more or less the same. And include 15 pt Specialists on top of that. Boom.

The Maelok list was the same as the Rask one, except switching Feralgeist and Trogs for 2 Witch Doctors, and the Croak for Pendrake. Pendrake did nothing good in any game - he is the king of the sideboard.

 

Behold, this zoological majesty!

A very short summary of my games

1- Luke H w/ eDoomshaper, Mountain King, Earthborn, Krielstone and Scouts. 
Incursion.

His second list was eGrim with 2 shooty heavies and the Krielstones UA. Despite this (the Incorporeal destroying Stone UA), I had a nagging feeling I should have picked Maelok, but I pushed this out of my head and picked Rask. This was a bad choice as eDoomshaper's feat is "+3 SPD, full stop, bitches!", not "+3 SPD if charging or slamming" as I had first thought, meaning his entire pathfinder list responds to my feat by jamming me with tramples and killing my stuff.
As expected, Luke's response to me popping Rask's feat was jamming me with everything in his list, including the Scouts to block charges to the MK. I wasn't able to get enough damage on the King because of some fortunate tough rolls on his part (ie. 4 in a row on the same damn Scout), so he healed to full and kept swinging.
Luckily Rask is basically immune to assassination with Trogs around, so I ran him over to the right flag over 2 turns, where the Croak Hunter had been parked since turn 2 and won on 5 CPs. A stolen game I should have lost on account of getting outplayed and outlisted, but managed to take advantage of his skew list's small footprint.


2. -  Paul H w/ Hexeris2, Bronzeback, Gladiator, Krea, Nihilators, Incindiarii, Nihilators, Paingivers. Process of Elimination

I was forced to pop my feat turn 1 as I had ambushed my Bog Trogs and only had Rask on 2 transfers - had I not used it, Hexeris would likely have spelled me to death using his feat. This was a planning mistake on my part as it otherwise only blocked 2-3 Nihilator charges from happening (which likely would have been stopped by Inhospitable Ground alone). So, I more or less played without a feat.
Otherwise it was mostly a matter of charging Furied Gatormen into things and trying to keep Rask alive with Admonition and transfers alone, which worked pretty well. I ended up assassinating Hexeris in the end after he decided to YOLO charge some Gators, then got hit by 2 Furied Gators (from different units), a charging Croak and died to a Bog Trog hook in the back.

Rask is pretty good against Skorne.

3. - Dave S w/Skarre1, 30 McThralls (that's 15 pts, btw), 10 Bloodwitches with UA, 2 Necrosurgeons, 2 Helldivers, Min Blackbanes. Destruction.

Dave said he took this list just to play against me. Thanks Dave. You are too kind. His list writing took my 35pt motto "GOING FULL RETARD" to heart, and managed to out-retard my list - proving that only Cryx is capable of giving 110% retardation by simply Cryxing harder.

Basically the game was a huge grind where I popped my feat on my second turn and killed like 22 guys but none of the Necrosurgeons, then he popped his feat and got boosted-to-hit POW 20s everything (cause Cryx). In the end I mistakenly assumed Skarre was SPD 6, when she is in fact SPD 7, so she just walked over to Maelok and easily killed him with her 11 focus (all in the name of balance). Thus began my downfall.

I think overall we both played quite well with some minor mistakes here and there to even things out. The only huge mistake in the game by far, on both our parts, was when I cast a boosted Venom at a Necrosurgeon hiding behind a wall, and Dave called Sac Pawn to a Stitch Thrall. We got into a short debate regarding Sac Pawning sprays and agreed that you could, when in fact we should have been focusing on the fact that Venom is a spell, not a ranged attack! If that Necrosurgeon had died (very good chance - need 7s on 3 dice + Corrosion), the game would have played out very differently I think, with that flank collapsing much faster and Maelok being entirely unthreatened and able to pull back and stay much safer while simultaneously pushing me forward in attrition. Basically a massive boost for me. Alas, you live, you learn, you continue to hate Cryx.

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MINI RANT OF THE WEEK:
Skarre1 and McThralls are straight up OP, and where probably designed in the midst of a really dark LSD trip, overflowing with hatred of the world. Here is how you fix them:
Skarre - Remove Ritual Sacrifice entirely. Dark Guidance is not a choice when you have 10+ focus at next to zero cost (like losing one of your 45 small-based models matters), and non-choices are the antithesis of games design and competitive play. And who the hell thought it was a good idea to make it a d6 roll? Going from 1 more focus to 100% more focus seems legit, right?
I'd say make her focus 7 to compensate but her feat is also simply stupid (it is literally pStryker's feat + a 100% denial of eStryker's feat - all for 5 life points) so I wouldn't want more stuff affected by it, but it's probably the simplest way to do it. That or +1 ARM.
McThralls - MAT 4 -or- no combo strike. You shouldn't be able to hit an average heavy on expected dice if you cost 0.5 points and hit at P+S 15 completely independent of buffs/debuffs (of which there are PLENTY in Cryx). HALF. A. POINT.

Easy. Too bad it's not going to happen since PP are scared shitless of balancing anything post-release :) 

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4. - Nikola w/Vayl1, Typhon, Seraph, Scythean, Raek, Shredder, Shepard, 2 Deathstalkers. Some scenario (Incoming?)

Nikola played actually really well and I played really bad. Like, really really bad. I think Rask was a way better matchup here, but I dropped Maelok again for practice since I realized that the prize pool didn't include mugs, and mugs are the only thing I care about in NZ tournaments (I have 4).
Basically I ran stuff up way too far, Typhon and Scythean one-shot like 9 Gators under Incite, then I tried to assassinate Vayl with feat + Revive BS, got cock-blocked by Dark Sentinel and forgot to move my unit leader so the Revived guys couldn't even make attacks. What a muppet. Got steamrolled and outplayed and basically put up the worst match one can imagine. Much like the last time we played. I am guessing his total nice guy approach disarms my asshole WAAC ethos, making me play like a complete ballsack.

Usually I consider myself 50/50 against Legion and it is one of my fairer matchups, but this time I really wasn't in the right mindset. I need to practice more with Maelok, as I play him far too aggressively, which gets him killed. He's tough but he's not Barnabas sitting in Swamp Pit with transfers and Spiny Growth tough.

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Dave came 1st, Paul placed 2nd and Nikola placed 3rd, giving me officially the most ball-busting schedule in the tournament.  I'm guessing I placed something like 8th or 9th out of 17. Overall nice tournament, thanks to Darryl Painter for organizing and running it!

Some thoughts

• I don't like 35pts much as I dislike skews and list-design having that much impact on the outcome of the game, but I really like one-day events so that worked out alright in the end. Came home to a nice dinner of salad + fish. Good stuff. Cryx is OP.
• I should probably practice with Maelok more, but our local Ret player is about to get his new caster Tinkerbell in the mail, and I think she will totally steamroll Maelok. He will probably still refuse to play Rask :(
  I don't think Maelok is as good as Circle/Legion matchup as Barnabas, but he's the better Cryx matchup. It's the eternal question in a 2-list format.
• I think my all-star picks in the Rask games was the Croak Hunter. Despite their mediocrity, as I have gotten better as using them they seem like a worthwhile addition to most lists given then ability to clear jams and charge lanes, or countercharge like mad, or just go for scenario points. He pretty much single-handedly won me my first game by just being a solo with Stealth, and did a crapton of damage on Hexeris in the second game.
• Yeah, I am totally mad about Cryx. Deal with it, because I can't (at least until my Battle Engine loaded with anti-incorporeal, anti-tough and anti-undead tech is released).

SR 2014

Here it is! The hype! The excitement! The meta-shift! The solution to all the game's problems! Who needs a balance update when we have Steamroller and some new models once a year?

>>>> SR 2014 DOCUMENTS  <<<<

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, I can inform you that there's probably not all that much change coming. At least nothing like the 2012 to 2013 change with pretty big changes to scenarios and the introduction of dominating. This is more of a cleanup of SR 2013 and generally improves the packets and provides responses to common criticisms. 

Here are some of the bigger changes:

• All objectives are now ARM 18, 15 boxes. SR 2013 unified the zones into either 12" circles or 6"x12" rectangles, now SR 2014 gives all objectives the same stats.
• Models out of formation can no longer contest.
• Objectives that give bonuses no longer have to be dominated to grant the bonuses, but simply uncontested by enemy models. These also have a larger buff area of 4" rather than 2".
• You can no longer score 3CPs when dominating certain enemy zones/flags/objectives. This was a big problem in 2013 scenarios like Incoming where you could super jam your opponent and lock them out with a bullshit feat like Harbinger or pDenny and then win quick.
• Objectives with "Inexorable" can no longer be Prey targets.
• You can measure 4" from any flag or objective during your turn.

Some specific scenario stuff:

- Destruction: now only 1 objective on each side, and objectives have an optional "Call to Sacrifice [Friendly]" type rule. So an objective swarmed in Shamblers or McThralls is unlikely to get destroyed.... ever. Go go Shamblers!

- Balance of Power: new scenario where dominating a friendly flag makes an opponent LOSE 1 CP before other CPs are scored that turned. I have no idea where that'll go but it could be interesting.

- Rally Point: the Effigy objective can no longer be moved. THANK KOSSK ALMIGHTY IN HIS WISDOM. I hated that scenario so bad for reasons unknown. Also the Valor buff from the objective gives Inspiration to friendly solos within 4", basically giving you a massive (partially mobile) bubble of fearless. Minor nerf to Gators, I guess, since sometimes people fail command checks.

- Incursion: The flags are further apart, but the middle flag never disappears. Also dominating the centre flag only gives 1 CP, while the outer flag still gives 2CP.

- Into the Breach: one of my favourite 2013 scenarios, now has 2 Effigy objectives thrown in for lolz. Probably to give that extra CP since that scenario could be a bit slow at times.

The Hardcore scenario has been changed to have a central circular zone rather than a rectangular one, and dominating it puts 7 damage on your opponent rather than the 5 you get from killboxing.

There is also a new format called Commander's Crucible that is basically a pseudo one-list format except you have to change Battlegroups every round (while the rest of the list stays the same). At least half your points have to be in BG stuff as well. It doesn't sound terribly exciting in a competitive setting but could be neat especially for newer scenes.

Early thoughts

In the end, I would be surprised if this format changes much in the current metagame by changing tournament list-building mindset - something that did happen last year with eLylyth, for example. 2012 goddess, 2013 benchwarmer. I don't think we'll be seeing much of that, but we will get some better games I think :)
I wish they had made Specialists for 20% of your points (10pts at 50, 7 at 35) baseline for Steamroller and Masters events, that would have changed list composition quite a lot. However it does artificially increase the size of your list so you have to buy more stuff (oh noes).

Basically scenarios are less 'live' on the whole than they were before, and zones are less likely to be far apart so tight brick lists have less of a disadvantage.

As a Gator player, just keep on doing what you're doing, basically - Rask + either Barnabas or Maelok and a swampload of Gatormans.