A String of Games all involving theme lists - Tournament Report

Alrighty, yet more of the Fat Man shooting things. Feeling like I've lost the drive to be creative in any way, what with the impending theme dump, I haven't even bothered to change what I have in my bag for the last few weeks. Does seem to be working out for me, though. Having trouble imagining what will come out of the theme dump that will change that half of my pairing, but if something is there then we're going to be in a real good place.

This tournament was down in Waverly, NY - just on the border with Pennsylvania. There was quite the showing, with people from Syracuse, Binghamton, and Ithaca (where I'm from) traveling down to meet up with the guys that play out of Waverly.

For those who have been holding onto hope that themes aren't the end all be all, every one of my game was into a theme list...


Editing note:
Okay. So. Yes, the original title referenced 1- playing into many tier lists, 2- my blogs current title, and 3- a tragic part of history. It has been changed, because holy shit internet, it is totally fine that some people were bothered. And, hey people who were bothered, sorry 'bout that.

Longest Day - Tournament in Bethlehem, PA

Alrighty, I have a few write ups to do, and this is me starting out with the oldest one I can still remember well enough to do this with. This tournament was a 75pt standard SR down in Bethlehem, PA, about 3 hours and 15 minutes from where I live. Ever since I gave up smoking, doing these early tournaments that require a long haul has been kind of brutal on me, and I've generally done pretty frickin' bad. Right now I'm planning on chugging a bunch of energy drinks when I get there, hoping that will simulate being on my previous cocktail of stimulants. As is, though, I got my bags packed the night before, loaded my car, and went to bed early on a Friday night after having a relaxing time hanging out with my cats and watching TV.

I just dropped Rasheth the entire day, as my off-list was more for infantry spam and/or Cryx in general. So... the list!

GenCon - Batreps and Afterthoughts on Skorne

Prologue~

In the beginning...

I kinda thought I wouldn't do so great at GenCon. I went into it hoping to dick around with new themes, however, and brought a bunch of models that I didn't end up using. Yes - the Skorne book release was disappointing. I did, however, write my lists at 8:30 am for the first tournament, which started at 9am. This may have been a mistake, but my initial poor showing was definitely not a list issue.

Note: I will be doing battle breakdowns, but I'm going to keep them short. I played 15 or so games, and while I don't have pictures for all of them even the ones I do make this a bit of a slog. I'll go into  afterthoughts on where we stand currently afterwards.

Champions Tournament, Morghoul3, GenCon Prep

My last post mentioned a list of tournaments I had coming up, and the first of those came to pass this Saturday. It was a ton of fun with a lot of great people, and the TO from Rochester, NY came down to run it to make sure I could play - so Thanks a ton to Gail for all of her help (those on the West Coast might know her from her role as TO at KingdomCon).

I brought Morghoul3, and of course Xekaar, as my pairing. I haven't gotten much practice in with M3, since he's a bit infuriating to play into unless you're ready for it, and as such I wanted to get as much practice in with him as possible....

So, the list!

https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bhS6U4x4C6N6vcvfF6C5V6c6d6hhV

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Morghoul 3) Dominar Morghoul & Escorts [+25]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Extoller Soulward [3]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Nihilators (max) [15]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) [13]
 - Praetorian Swordsman Officer & Standard [4]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]
Siege Animantarax [17]

Back from a hiatus, still kinda hate Xekaar

So, you've probably had no idea that I hadn't been updating. Seriously, who checks this with any regularity? But hey, I haven't! So today I've got some updates, and a little batrep where, spoilers, Xekaar dies.

Turns out I got married, and what with the wedding and some followup events I've been kinda swamped. To make up for it, though, and start my marriage off on a rocky footing I have one hell of a WM/H month planned coming up....

Thoughts on Disciples of Agony from one who has played too much Xekaar

Thoughts on Disciples of Agony

Perspectives from one who has played far too much Xekaar....

Initial views:

If you're reading this, I'm sure you've taken a look at the recent theme for Skorne entering CID, Disciples of Agony. This theme focuses on the extreme ends of the spectrum of pain as expressed by mortitheurgy, both internalized and externalized. The Disciples of Agony, if you will. What does that mean, though?

First off, the internalization: Naaresh and the Nihilators. Ascetics who subject themselves to the most extreme self-mutilation they can survive in order to enhance themselves. As much as I love this concept in the Skorne lore, we're incredibly limited in what we actually have from it. Really, just the one unit and caster. I had been really holding out hope that this theme would crop up as a sub-faction release, most likely alongside an expansion of mortitheurgy in general - think willbreaker units alongside nihilator solos and UA's (also, Genzoul plz).

Externalization, however, comes from the Paingivers - Morghoul, Xekaar, and the various units and solos. I had expected us to get a Paingiver/Minion/Beast theme, a la Hit Squad or Chain Gang. Unfortunately for those who loved Chain Gang, this theme does not allow Rasheth (I'll touch on this more in the next section). It does, however, permit access to Minion beasts - Yep, Rage and Primal in Skorne (as well as 5 point Spiny Growth, Elasticity, and a few other things of note). This seemed pretty absurdly good, at first glance, and really had potential to crack things wide open for some of our list options.

I Hate Myself: My Month of Xekaar - Final

Well, it is finally over - my month of Xekaar has come to an end. I'm not entirely sure of the total number of games played, I lost count around 18, and I'm sad to say I didn't manage to take pictures or do write ups for most of them. Herein I'll be discussing my afterthoughts given my poor showing at the WMW qualifier in Rochester; I went 2-2, though I don't think I can pin any of that on Xekaar, and one of them I feel like Xekaar would've pulled through if I had dropped him. But first, a quick rundown of my games...


The List!


Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
 Tyrant Zaadesh [4]
  - Cyclops Shaman [8]
  - Titan Gladiator [15]
 Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
 Paingiver Bloodrunners [9]

 Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

Scrambled - I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 5

Well, I played a few more games last night - both of them into the same opponent. He was working on a Zerkova1 gunline with double winterguard infantry + UA + 3 rockets. Gotta say, I had no real way of surviving it. Round 2 jamming and feating was about all I could come up with, and his volume of attacks still let him clear most of my army out of the way and assassinate Xekaar. Shit was rough, and I'm really intrigued to see where he takes that list next (seriously, I was confused as shit by the Winterguard Infantry UA until grapeshot started spraying me down after I tried to jam).


At this point I've decided I can't rely on Xekaar's feat to do anything defensive against ranged attacks (sans hydra builds). So, since I'm expecting to still have to handle some ranged attacks with any list I drop, I'm planning on building him in a brick. Instead of my usual reliance on Brutes, I think I'm going to have to use some Sentries. Their animus isn't as good for Xekaar, personally, but they make a damned near impenetrable wall for him to hide behind. I'll also bring a krea, because why the hell not, and an agonizer to just further skew things (also, repulse has quickly become one of my favorite spells). Tack on a few support models, some infantry for scenario presence, and below is what I'm thinking:

Scrambling to Make this Work- I Hate you Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 4

Right now I have less than a week before the Rochester WMW qualifier. Last year, despite the state of Skorne, I pulled off 3-1. I had been hopeful that I'd make it to the second day this year, but I'm doing this Xekaar thing, so we'll see where this goes...

From time to time, the people at my FLGS run scramble tournaments, 2 or 3 round tournaments that aren't scheduled, $5 buy in, winner take all. Some weeks we'll do one Monday and another Saturday, depending on attendance and other things going on, and we go back and forth between WM/H and Guild Ball. Last Monday (the 12th), I brought some Xekaar into a 2 rounder at the LGS. Round 1 I played into an opponent who was, for the first time ever, playing Cygnar - dicking around with Kraye and Trencher theme. Round 2 I played into Gaspy3 in the Bane theme.

THE LIST:
https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bg24v4xhG4C6N5V67eI6c6d

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Basilisk Drake [8]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Chiron [19]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [20]
Praetorian Keltarii (max) [15]
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) [13]

 - Praetorian Swordsman Officer & Standard [4]
Note: The role of Chiron will be played by Bronzeback Titan.

Sensible Lists played Senselessly - I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 3

Got another 2 games in at the FLGS last week on Monday night (the 5th). I have another 3 in the pipe to write up, but figured I'd get these done first. These are the first 2 games I ran after spamming Archidons for the sake of spamming Archidons, and while the lists are a little more sensible, I did pretty poorly if I do say so myself.


THE LIST! (for game 1)
https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bg2eG4x4y4ygl5G6N6vfF5U

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Aradus Sentinel [16]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Cyclops Brute [8]
 - Cyclops Brute [8]
 - Desert Hydra [38]
 - Titan Gladiator [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Extoller Soulward [3]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

3 Games, 4 Archidons, 0 Wins - I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 2

So I recently picked up 3 archidons, bringing my total of them to 4. I had a few plans, mainly because I had only started running Naaresh near the end of Mk 2 and Archidon Spam - a mostly terrible idea that seemed to gain a lot of traction post-errata - actually seemed fun with him. P+S 20 defense 14 armor 19 beasts that threaten 13"? Yes Please!

Instead, I fielded them with Xekaar.

https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bg26U6U6U6U4xhG4C5G6N7y5V

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Chiron [19]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Titan Gladiator [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]

I Hate You Guys: My Month of Xekaar, Part 1

So, I asked the Skorne Facebook group to pick a caster for me to main this month, to help with my faction ADD. The plan is to try a variety of lists and builds and really test out their capabilities, posting battle reports as we go.

You asshats picked Beast Master Xekaar.

I played the hell out of him pre-errata, because the only real strategy I could come up with for awhile as playing for clock. Xekaar with 8 or so brutes is pretty good at a clock game... Apart from playing an aggravating brick, though, I don't really know how to make him work. I have a few lists I've been dojo'ing, and spent more time than I'd like to admit on it yesterday. Below I'll go over my initial thoughts on Xekaar, Pro and Cons, and then a few list builds and strategies I think might be viable.

Caster ADD, Broken Cameras, Tournament series. The last few months

So I haven't posted in awhile... this is in part to having some issues with my phone camera - hence the garbage quality of my pictures from CaptainCon. I just kinda stopped trying to make it work, so stopped getting material for battle reports. Without battle reports I'd just wind up being someone yelling at a wall. Not that I don't spend a good 15-20 minutes every morning yelling at a wall, what red blooded american doesn't do that? Just, it feels kinda pointless with how much terrain and positioning matters in this game to post about it without pictures.

So, what have I been doing? Fucking too much. I haven't been able to stick to a single caster, after putting Rasheth on the sidelines. That list became a bit too mechanical to run, and was frustrating for opponents in some matchups, so I tabled him. No reason to bring something dull to game night. Apart from that, though...

On Breaks, Anticipation, and Pairings

I've been pretty quiet recently, probably mostly because my cell phone camera is almost completely useless so I haven't been taking any pictures. Part of it, though, stems from not playing as much as I had been. Felt burned out at the end of February, and despite being really excited by the new things in Skorne and having a dozen lists I wanted to try out I haven't really had an avenue to do so. I'm also currently not committed to any event until the SOO, and despite feeling pretty good about my chances there this year I haven't been doing as much prep as I'd like to.

Breaks

Or how to burn out without fading away

I played a lot of this game in February and January. Probably more games than I'd normally get in during a 3-4 month period. I then switched over to practice for a guild ball tournament, which I took first in. Overall I probably played around 50 games of the miniature variety from the dropping of the Skorne Errata to the end of February, where in a non-tournament week 4 games would be a lot for me. 

This was especially problematic, as near the end of 2016 I had all but stopped playing - I dropped in for a few tournaments just because I like the community, and kept showing up for game nights, but had kind of lost the desire to play knowing that the faction was going to be upended. Felt like going from 0 to 60 overnight when the errata dropped, painting up tons of swordsmen, getting a hydra ready, figuring out lists, and playing every chance I could. I started to feel like a bit of a local meta-boogeyman, and wound up pushing things a bit too far towards competition for competitions sake than I'm honestly comfortable with.

Repainted to reflect newfound awesomeness

So... I took a step back. My last few games have been a bit more toned down - no clock, keeping the Rasheth to a minimum, trying new things. I know Rasheth is going to be one of my warlocks for the foreseeable future, but I have no idea who the other 2 are going to be. I'm thinking of going back to using ADR, maybe playing around with those four until I land on a three list pairing and a champions pair that I really like.

State of the Meta: A brief look at Skorne and our place in the world

State of the Meta

There have been several conventions this month (CC, LVO, SmogCon), and some pretty impactful yet small changes in the Una2 nerf. I've played... something like 8 WM/H tournaments since the errata, ranging from small 2 rounders to 4 round tournaments or more (I have a problem, please help), and thought I'd share some of my views on how things are shaping up for us at the moment.

A World Without Infantry

The title to this section is blatantly false. There is a lot of infantry out there, between people taking a unit or two just for list diversity or spamming to try and throw off the meta. I'm not sure what things look like in your area, but I keep seeing blast immunity as a big selling point to the infantry people are taking - either via dig in, Iron Flesh, or whatever that thing Satyxis have is called. Cavalry is the exception to this, but that mostly seems to be coming from Cygnar at this point (I think I played into Menoth cavalry once, though I do still play Ferox from time to time myself), where they seem to be skewing armor via AS.

What does this mean for Skorne? Well, personally, this keeps pushing me to crutch on Rasheth. BoC isn't blast damage, and it alone is great for denying infantry thanks to the 1 damage on entry. On the same vein I find Sentinels great - Very solid into Cavalry, and the scathers can really shut down single wound infantry. Either throw them out and hope it lands where you want it, or position your own models to shoot in the back. I had a game where I had sentinels pop two of my slingers, then hit 2 friendly heavies with BoC to form a wall of death for infantry.

But I don't want to play Rasheth! You cry, hypothetical person. Well, you're in luck! Infantry spam a la MK2 isn't going to come back - there just don't seem to be enough points for it thanks to the battlegroup size increase. In that same vein, Hexeris 2 has an absurd amount of personal infantry clearing that, likewise, ignores blast immunity, in Ashes 2 Ashes. Tack on blackspot and some ranged infantry of his own and you can wipe whole units easily - A flayer cannon can nearly wipe a unit of Storm Lances with BS on them, 2 of them should easily handle them. I also recommend Marketh for extra casting of A2A. 

The hydra is also really great into these infantry swarms, ignoring a lot of the tech people are using to deliver via sprays or just powering through them with volume of attacks, and the RFP really helps against recursion lists like High Reclaimer. I feel that drakes are missing a certain something, but I'm really hoping Chiron brings that to us this spring.

Reivers are really the champions for me right now, though. Rerolling missed CRA's really makes them shine, as you can more confidently do 2 man pods into high def infantry and get work done. Their range + reposition makes it trivial to get multiple rounds of shooting off, and CRA + Burst Fire makes them flexible enough to work against multiple model types, again also excellent against cavalry. Every infantry list includes a few heavies, and some might be nearly all large-based if they're using Cavalry, and reivers can contribute volume of attacks as well as quality attacks, as needed.

I'm going to throw a special shout out for Zaal2 + all the constructs. Shoving 30+ armor 22 infantry models down the field is a pretty fucking solid strategy. The only real thing that can handle it is area denial a la scatherspam or auto-point attacks like Tanith etc. P+S 13's with reach and magic weapons that are really hard to kill on approach give some really great quality attacks that can handle a variety of targets, and Zaal can run enough of them well enough that they really crank up that volume of attacks that handles most infantry you'll encounter today, as well. Even without the feat turn these guys can be arm lulno against shooting with a Krea, and when it takes jacks to shoot your infantry down you're in a pretty good spot. Doubly so when you have vengeance and a bunch of soultaking models on top of it.

Skornifest Destiny: Skorned Earth

Errata, Tournaments, Cons, Conclusions

So, I managed to get a few games in before my first post-errata tournament rather quickly. My first go-to was trying Makeda2 with double swordsmen and anti-ranged delivery equipment (krea, shaman). I played a few games with it, enjoyed the crap out of it, then dropped it. Played a few games with Hexy2, enjoyed gutting my opponents' support and backlines with Ashes, then dropped him.

Then it was time for the first tournament I'd be attending...

Skorne Festivus

Errata Analysis!

Preamble

So, you may have noticed I stopped posting around the time PP announced a faction rewrite in progress. I know I posted a lot of trashy feedback, which was pretty shitty of me, but I'm glad those of you who stayed constructive actually got things looked at! Good jerb.

I figured today I'd take a look at what's changed, what I'm excited about, and what I'm looking at playing in the near future. I don't have much time to prep for CaptainCon, but I'm not really anticipating doing well there anyway. I'll be helping run the Midnight Madness events, though, which is always a blast. If you're around, drunk, and uninterested in sleep, come on by. 

For those who've missed things, I'd suggest starting here:
http://privateerpress.com/january-skorne-errata-developers-notes