Some Circle Orboros List Musings

So my friend (Chair126) and I have done some Circle list crunching with units and casters we like - there seems to be a lot of correspondence here... That silly blighter has me wanting to start Circle again, particularly with the Privateer Press summer bundle up atm. Le sigh. So let's take a quick look - my friend is pretty keen on 50 points yet I don't see many tournaments around here that high - most seem to be 35 so they'll need to be cut back (and 50 points seems bloody easy to make :P).

Making the Witch Coven Work (part 2)

Alright 3++, let's finish our list building exercise on the Witch Coven of Garlghast today with part 2!  These ladies offer a lot of flexibility on the tabletop and are very different from any other warcaster in the entire game.  Consequently, they are often ignored as a choice because they are a bit intimidating when you're looking at building a list.  Added into that, Cryx is normally a pretty straight-forward faction, relying mostly upon their numbers and melee abilities that the Coven seem a little lackluster without crazy damage buffs.  In reality, these buffs come in disguise and the Coven has a great feat which can mitigate the fragility of most Cryx models.

Today I will look at a few models for consideration when taking the Witch Coven.  Lastly, I'll share a diagram to hopefully illustrate the power and effectiveness of the Coven on the tabletop.  Obviously, there are many situations you could find yourself in, but the example I will share will hopefully help you understand the true potential of the Coven.

Vindictus 35 point playtest

So this is what I'm going to use with Vindictus over the coming weeks to try and generate some more practical experience. Thoughts & comments?

Vindictus (+6)
 - Reckoner (8)
 - Repenter (4)
Min Choir (2)
Full TFG + UA (8)
Full Bastions (8)
Daughters (5)
Covenant of Menoth (2)
Rhupert, Piper of Orr (2)
Heirophant (2)

Vindictus...35 points

Dankeblarg

 Yes yes, another Menoth caster potential list :P. And I'm yet to reply to the eKreoss feedback, I'll get there! So Vindictus, like eKreoss, is more an infantry caster with the spell True Path - +2" movement and pathfinder for units/models starting activation in control zone. That's pretty awesome at not only increasing threat ranges but ability to jam units and simply get across the board quickly though only infantry & solos are benefitting from this. Have to look to eFeora for Warjack speed boost whom I'm already running. Increased movement means increased options for board control, etc. - never a bad thing.

Thoughts on Reznik

Dankeblarg

So I've been looking through the Menoth casters to see if there are any I'd like to try out next. There were of course several but I'd like to try out Reznik as he's very different from what I would normally run (I like spellcasters and the like over brute force). So a quick look at Reznik!

He's a medium base which isn't great on a warcaster - harder to hide him though Menoth do have some decent medium base options (Bastions looking at you). He's otherwise a decently durable but not great warcaster with DEF/ARM 14/17, 17 health boxes and no defensive spells. Focus of six is a bit limiting but workable with some solos. Otherwise Reznik's spell list and special abilities are geared towards a very offensive playstyle.

Making Amon Ad-Raza work

Greetings ladies and gentlemen, today I have another wonderful treat for you from the Steam-Powered Gamer, but first, some personal news.  Last week I proposed to my amazing girlfriend in front of the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter World, at Universal Studios in Orlando FL.  We are now happily engaged (her response was: "Challenge accepted!") and she has created a blog to share the story of our planning of an amazing steampunk wedding!

Ravyn & Rahn 35 point Scyrah lists

PPForums

So continuing with some Scyrah tinkerings and trying to wrap my head around another faction ^^. We'll start with Ravyn (yes that's not Ravyn pictured).

Ravyn (+6)
 - Discordia (10)
Max MHSF + UA (10)
Max Halberds + UA (9)
Max Invictors + UA (12)
Arcanist (1)

35pt Ossyan List thoughts

Lost Hemisphere

With Menoth rolling away (and Vince never playing me, forcing me to look to Vassal), it's time of course to look to my next army! I probably won't get this for a while but it's nice to play around with lists, understand the army (particularly when playing against it) and playtest a little on Vassal.

Battle Report: Fiona the Black

Greetings ladies and gentlefolk of 3++ from Whitestar333, the Steam-Powered Gamer.  Today I have something different for you than my usual fare: a Battle Report!  While I certainly love discussing underdog warcasters/warlocks and figuring out how they work, I was really fascinated with my post on Fiona a while back.  At Templecon this year I won a prize from the Iron Arena which included tokens specifically made for Fiona, and I figured it was Thamar herself blessing me to go forth with Fiona, and so I did.  I've had the model for over a year but I've finally had the opportunity to play a game with her, after all of the list-building I've been doing.  It was against a friend of mine and he has been playing around with the list he brought but he admittedly jumps around between armies fairly often (it's a local joke that everyone buys his used stuff on clearance).  This was the first time that I have played with Fiona and I had a really bad match-up against me, but my army performed quite admirably.

Making Fiona Work

Greetings ladies and gentleman, it's Whitestar333 again fr- okay you get the idea.  In continuing with my trend of taking the less popular warcasters and warlocks and making them competitive, today I bring you a mercenary privateer warcaster that you probably rarely see on the table (competitively or otherwise): Fiona the Black.  I really like Fiona's artwork, fluff, and design as a pirate.  She blurs the line a bit between the mercenary privateers and the undead Cryxian pirates as she worships Thamar - the goddess of ambition.  She has a lot of tools at her disposal but it's challenging to figure out what her "win condition" is, and her theme list is honestly pretty bad, so it's difficult to find an appropriate niche for this fine lady.  So, I figure that she's a great warcaster to look at in-depth to see if we can figure her out and make her work.  Let's take a look at what Fiona the Black has at her disposal for spells and then we'll take a look at her feat and abilities.

List Building: pSkarre Theme List

Greetings ladies and gentlemen, it is Whitestar333 from Steam-Powered Gamer (it's been awhile, I know!) to bring you another list building session.  Today I wish to discuss an interesting warcaster who is often known for her Great Rack (it's the name of one of her weapons!).  That's right, today I wish to discuss Pirate Queen Skarre.  I know, I know, Cryx is dirty and they're no-good jerks.  In the Master's tournament at Templecon 5 of the 16 players brought Cryx armies to the tables.  Have no fear, however, as those dirty Cryx players didn't win this time, so I have no qualms introducing one of my favorite Cryxian theme lists today from the pages of No Quarter 37: Ships in the Night.

Making pNemo Work

Greetings ladies and gentlmen, it's Whitestar333 again with some more list-building ideas on how to make the more-maligned warcasters/warlocks work for you.  While I already posted an article on pNemo on my own blog, I will be adding a little bit more exposition here as well as an alternative list to consider.  I'm certainly in the camp that believes that pNemo is one of the worst warcasters that Cygnar has (although that's more of a testament to how great most of them are), but I believe that like with any warcaster, once you figure out how to maximize on the strengths and minimize the weaknesses, any warcaster can be good, and at the very least, fun!  I came up with some thoughts on pNemo a few months ago and so I reflected back on those ideas and tweaked them a bit to come up with a couple new lists for pNemo.  Part of the trouble with this guy is that there are so many routes to go, but I figured that here I would provide a starting point for those who might be thinking of playing him, and you can go from there.

List Building: General Nemo Part 2

Greetings again ladies and gentlemen of the intertubes, Whitestar333 from SPG again here for the thrilling conclusion to my article on General Nemo.  Today I will start by sharing a 35 point list which I believe plays to eNemo's strengths (covered in the first article here).  I will justify each decision made in the 35 point list and then I will craft a 50 point list for you to peruse to detect any trends, differences, similarities, strengths, and weaknesses on your own!  Part of the fun of Warmachine is that making lists can only take you so far and that it really depends on whether the list matches the player's style.  These lists work for me and I have fun with them, but you might find that swapping a few things will work better for you.

Now that we've analyzed his abilities, I'll present you with a 35 point list followed by my justifications:

List Building: General Nemo Part 1

Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the intertubes, Whitestar333 from SPG again here to share some more list building tips for you.  Today I want to talk about my favorite weatherman: General Adept Nemo.  Cygnar is a faction that is known for being the most technologically advanced of the Warmachine factions, having mastered the blend of arcane energies and the power of lightning.  General Nemo (also known as Epic Nemo, or eNemo) maximizes these powers and so if you love the idea of calling lightning down on your foes with a wall of warjacks, he's the man for you!  Since this could easily turn into a very long article, I will be again breaking him down into two parts like I did for Dr. Arkadius.  Let's start by looking at eNemo's spells and abilities to see how we can make the most of him and then in Part 2 I will share a 35 point list which I believe plays to his strengths.

Enslave and Subjugate - Archnomad's New Skorne

Disclaimer: This is one of those thought process articles I sporadically write. It's a general summary of my thought process whilst I was writing out my current (post Dominion) eMakeda list. Hopefully you'll find it interesting, and if I'm lucky insightful. Cheers. 

So, I dunno if any of you know this, but I played my Skorne at NOVA (and did pretty damn well, also huge thanks to 200ponies for allowing me to even enter). I was using Rasheth T4, which is considered an unconventional or even bad army by a lot of people. I really don't get the Rasheth hate in the WM/H community, he's really a powerhouse. But hey, that's a discussion for another day. Today, I'm going to talk about eMakeda. Specifically, the eMakeda force I'm going to start.

Theme Lists and How To Use Them - pButcher

Theme lists are in my opinion one of the most interesting aspect of the games Warmachine and Hordes. Each list is broken into tiers which offer separate benefits but require you to meet the specifications of the previous tier. Often times they have very strict requirements that are not worth the bonuses that they grant but a great many are worthwhile and even preferred because of what they offer.

Now when you are making your list and deciding if you want to use a theme list or not, you have to determine if you gain more by using the theme list or by running your warcaster/warlock as you normally would in faction. Unfortunately, most themed lists can only be made effective at 50 points or higher due to the restictions involved. Lets look at pButchers Theme list shall we?

eFeora 35 points

So still waiting on our two-player battlebox to arrive...but I've got pretty much everything else I want for my Menoth minus a couple jacks (Blessing of Vengeance, Avatar of Menoth) and casters (pSevvy) as well as the usual assortment of Mercenaries (but screw them). Besides that though, I've played a couple games with our lovely SirBiscuit and done a lot of fiddling with what I'd like to start building up experience with to obviously hit tournaments ASAP.

With Steamroller style tournaments (which the local tournament seems to run on) I would need two lists I'm proficient with which cover each other's weaknesses as well as possible but am obviously going to start with just one. Any recommendations in a caster which is a good counter-point to what I'm about to post would be appreciated though!

Trial Menoth Lists

Made some lists to get some ideas in relation to what I want/need to buy and how I want to play with the faction. SirBiscuit was of some help, what a nice young lad! Have at ye. (all are 35 points).

eFeora (+6)

-          Reckoner (8)

-          Redeemer (6)

-          Vanquisher (8)

Min Errants + UA (7)

Min Choir (2)

Full Basitons (8)

Covenant of Menoth (2)