On Team Tournaments, pairings, and Scrub Life

Scrubland
noun: land consisting of scrub vegetation

On Even Footing

Hey! Remember me? I post nothing of real value sometimes, in exchange for meaningless validation in the form of page views!

I haven't done that in awhile, though, for a few reasons. I took a step back from participation on forums, Facebook, and posting here when themes finally came out. I was pretty overwhelmed with new options and things I wanted to play, and have been jumping from list to list over and over.  I really didn't want to post a bunch of hot takes on our themes, so I took a few months to play around with them and figure out what I thought. Months later and I'm still not sure where everything stands, overall. The breadth of competitive options is pretty astounding, with really only Mordikaar and Xekaar standing out as duds in our current stable.

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!

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

TempleCon Afterthoughts

So, I went to TempleCon last month. Sorry for the silence, been a bit busy with work ramping up, and after having a 2 con month I've tried to dial back my gaming until my brain recovered. I had a pretty horrible showing at TempleCon, and below I'll try to break down the gist of my experiences...

Champions Lists:

http://conflictchamber.com/#b91b3VeG5D5D5G6N6v6v5V6C6h

Skorne Army - 74 / 75 points

(Morghoul 1) Master Tormentor Morghoul [+30]

 - Aradus Sentinel [16]

 - Titan Cannoneer [17]

 - Titan Cannoneer [17]

 - Titan Gladiator [14]

 - Aptimus Marketh [6]

Extoller Soulward [3]

Extoller Soulward [3]

Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]

Nihilators (max) [15]

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

Rasheth Wants to Pet the Kitty

So I've been thinking about Rasheth with Ferox a lot lately, because of course I have. I decided to try it with the models I have, though I've impulse bought a second unit... Played into Menoth, one of the jacks below is being proxied, but I'll be damned if I can remember which one is which. The one with the gun isn't the AOE gun, but the single target gun. He's on the right in the pictures...

The List:

Skorne Army - 74 / 75 points

(Rasheth 1) Dominar Rasheth [+28]

 - Titan Gladiator [14]

 - Despoiler [18]

Praetorian Ferox (max) [21]

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

Tyrant Rhadeim [9]

Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor [4]

Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor [4]

Void Spirit [4]

Void Spirit [4]

Paingiver Bloodrunners [9]

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

I went a bit heavy on solos, for scenario play and arcing targets. This did pay off, in the end, helping me secure a scenario win and take out a few key targets. The idea is to bully as much as possible pre-feat, then go in for a massive attrition swing and jam to close out via scenario.

I don't really know Menoth, so I can't guess at what my opponents list was. Plenty of jacks, plenty of sprays, Eiryss, character unit, choir, double wracks.

WMW Qualifier Decompression

I'd like to start with a shout out for those who are keeping things positive in the Skorne boards and forums, and elsewhere. There is a lot of doom and gloom, but several people are doing well with the faction (e.g. Paul Leatherby looks like he's going places with Skorne in MK3, and is shaping how I think about my anti-ranged game). There are also the big names in Skorne (Trevor, Watt, and Hornacek) who seem to be finding plenty of positives in the faction.

Now onto the actual post:

Last weekend I went to a WMW qualifier in Rochester, NY, and have been going over it in my head ever since. I wanted to do a post on it, but have been up in the air with my thoughts since then on list tweaking and am finally starting to settle down on my second list. I'll be doing a quick overview of my games, and then discussing my list pairing process afterwards.

The lists I brought: