Games!

Last weekend, we had a Warmachine get-together with a bunch of people and I managed to grind out 3 games, so I figured I might as well log my performance.

I’m still rocking my Skarre 1 / Skarre 3 pairing. Though I did add a Misery Cage to the Skarre 3 list, as that is something that will definitely happen with the new Oblivion rules, since the Kraken was confirmed to get discounted and I can take Jussika free instead of the Satyxis Blood Priestess.
Regardless, it didn’t matter as I kept forgetting that I even had it…

Game 1
Skarre 3 vs Axis(/Lucant)
Anarchy

I’m not sure about the exact list, mainly because I can’t keep Convergence models apart, but it had double TEP, a bunch of various Servitors, one of the Shield Guard Vectors and a couple of the once-per-turn knockdown guys. He also had access to Magical weapons. I’m not sure if Dark Host can stand up to that kind of fire power without Tough and the mass of bodies that SFR provides. I figured my guns can also make a dent in the numbers of Servitors and maybe soften up the TEPs a bit (I forgot about Sacrificial Pawn/Shield Guard for a moment).
The game itself was not very interesting. Large swathes of infantry died to his TEPs (3 fully boosted sprays per TEP per turn). His feat makes it difficult for me to do anything at all, so I just don’t. Eventually he puts Axis within 12″ of Skarre and I can get Ragman in range by walking up to a nearby enemy warjack and using it to block line of sight, so I don’t get counter charged. Skarre then feats and with effective P+S 18 and an auto-knockdown, I quickly burn through his 2 focus after boosting my initial. I did use the Treasure Chest buff to reroll snake eyes on damage.
This is actually a very hard matchup, where all I can do is try to play scenario and not die. Eventually, the Kraken and Skarre can maybe take out a TEP each, but they probably get destroyed by the battle group afterwards, so that’s probably not a good option. Shooting is all but useless because he has 6 respawnable Sacrificial Pawns and dozens of Shield Guards.

Game 2
Skarre 1 vs Stryker 3(/Kraye)
King of the Hill

I almost played Skarre 3, because I kind of wanted to, but the lack of Magical weapons, as well as the scenario being King of the Hill (we saw how good that was for Skarre 1 last week), made me reconsider.
My opponent hadn’t played seriously in a while and wanted to try if Risen with Fury (get Alexia out of formation to apply it) and auto-hitting weapon master charges (Stryker’s feat) are as good as it sounds.
He gives me a big alpha where he loses all of his cavalry and a freshly popped Machine Wraith walks the Stormclad away from my Wraith Engine. The Risen have to activate before Stryker, otherwise he can’t cycle Fury and MAT 4, even with CMA, is not too great at killing DEF 15, ARM 18 Stalkers.
I win on scenario after killing his objective and scoring both rectangular zones with a Wraith Engine each, after which my opponent can’t kill either of the Wraith Engines and can’t contest 1 of the zones, so I go to 5-0 at the end of my turn.

Game 3
Skarre 1 vs Butcher 3(/Vlad 1)
Invasion

Turns out the last 2 points were a Gobber Tinker that my opponent forgot to deploy.
This was probably the most interesting game of the day; technically Banes are good at taking down ARM bricks, but sometimes enough is enough. Skarre is good at having a big alpha and taking a few big targets off the table, so when everything is ARM 23, things get difficult… I also can’t commit Wraith Engines because Butcher will gladly wipe the floor with them.
I get first turn and go as far as is humanly possible. My opponent does the same, but he plays Khador, so he lacks the possibility to be actually fast.
Machine Wraiths are my best bet at actually opening those silly clam jacks, so I run the Wraith Engine on my left towards his artillery and send in two Stalkers to clear out the Field Gun and Mortar, turning a crew member into a Machine Wraith.
This sounds like it was a good idea, but it turns out it was a mixed blessing, as I didn’t account (enough) for Butcher shenanigans. He simply Energizes to the side, charges the Wraith Engine after getting Boundless Charge, pulls in the 2 Stalkers and cast Flashing Blade twice to take out 31 points of my army. Alrighty then…
At least the Machine Wraith was immune to the push due to Incorporeal and now I have a model that can permanently contest that zone while hiding behind a building. Yay, I guess? Another advantage is that Butcher is far off to the side, which actually gives me time to do something useful to all the Marauders that are mucking around in the forest in the middle playing with my Banes.
So, I still can’t really kill much, because I don’t want to feat yet, but I can run Skarre to the right circle zone and position the second Wraith Engine aggressively at the edge of it. My 2 remaining Stalkers circle around to behind his army on the same side. I score 1, but my opponent counters by killing my objective and scoring the middle zone, yet not contesting mine, so we go to 2-2. Butcher repositioned towards the middle, behind the forest still. Three clam jacks opened to make this happen, but I’m running out of models and thus out of feat targets.
So, my opponent accidentally left a Devestator nearby Butcher and just within 3″ of the forest’s edge, in line of sight of my Wraith Engine. I only need to kill an opened Devestator to create a landing spot. What’s more, is that I only need 1 of the Stalkers to kill 2 Winter Guard so my second Stalker can move through the gap and jump to Butcher, who is not camping anything (Energizer is a hell of a drug).
Let’s go!
I feat on Tartarus, the Wraith Engine, both Stalkers and on 2 Bane Knights that can charge the Devestator blocking my way. I also cast Dark Guidance, or Butcher might dodge some attacks. Tartarus flubs his 2 attacks on the Devestator, but the Knights manage to finish it off. Both Winter Guards that needed to die do so. Butcher already goes down to the Wraith Engine, but even if he failed, I had 4 more P+S 19 (12 + feat + Dark Shroud) attacks from the Stalker.
My opponent would’ve clocked himself either way, but I’m honestly not sure what would’ve happened if the game hadn’t ended in my favor like this. I was running out of models and the scenario is very central, so I won’t keep scoring forever.
Notes:
* Dealing with 5 Devestators is a pain in the behind, even with an ARM cracking list.
* Butcher can literally kill the world without a sweat.
* Don’t leave half your army to be killed after you do something “clever”. But if you do, at least make sure you get an infinite contester out of it.
* My flanking Stalkers would’ve still won me the game if the Devestator had been 0,1 mm further back, which is comforting.

Summary
Skarre 1 is still a beast and Skarre 3 still has a lot of options, even if she’s not a meta boogeyman. But all in all, what was important was that I had a great day, with good people that are a pleasure to play against.