018 - Makeda2 vs. Ossyan (Invasion 2016 Game 5)

Fifth and final game of the weekend was up, and i got drawn up against Ret! Retribution's somewhat ridiculous amounts of shooting and control effects can be a real nightmare to play against, and i think most Skorne lists might struggle against their powerhouses.

Me and Nico, my opponent, had talked a bit the night before about what he would do if he got paired against me. And i was surprised when he said he didn't really know what to do with his Ossyan/Kaelyssa pair. Ossyan had not nearly enough power to get through the Xerxis brick. And Kaelyssa would have absolutelly no chance into Makeda since she ignores pretty much everything Kaelyssa does. We pretty much agreed then and there that if we were paired against each other, the game would be Makeda2 vs Ossyan. 

So when we faced each other in the final game of the tournement, it was game on!

Supreme Archdomina Makeda WB+24

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Radheim - 9

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Tyrant Commander and Standard - 6

min Paingiver Beasthandlers - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Objective: Arcane Wonder

His list:

Lord Arcanist Ossyan WJ+28

 - Discordia - 18

 - Imperatus - 22

Arcanist Mechanik - 2

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - 3

Stormfall Archers - 9

Stormfall Archers - 9

Mage Hunter Strike Force max - 16

 - Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander - 4

Mage Hunter Strike Force max - 16

 - Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander - 4

Pre Battle thoughts and Deployment:

Holy crap! That's a lot of shots. Although there are a lot of them, the P+S isn't high at all. I should be able to just push through. Outside of Feat, there's not enough power to kill any of my guys without fully committing. And if he do, i can just Feat and remove pretty much his entire army in one pounce, unless he manage to cripple me, which can be tough for him. He does have Phantom Barrage on both MHSF, so i have to be a bit careful with Makeda. 

The scenario was Extraction. I win the roll off yet again (All five games this weekend!) and naturally decides to go first. He choose a side with a Wall to hide Ossyan behind. Which gives me both a Rubble, and a massive Hill to help me Skew my DEF against his shooting.

I Deploy centrally, ready to run towards either side. The plan was to try and force him to commit with just a part of his Army at a time. If i can cripple half his Army, the remainder will lack the required punch to get through my lines. He Deploys his Jacks, Archers, and Ossyan in the middle, behind his Objective (Bunker i think?). MHSF spread out in front.

I push straight down the middle. Taking care not to let the Stormfall Archers be within range of me, and getting as many guys with DEF bonuses from the Rubble and Hill as possible. If he decide to push himself, he won't get me inside FEAT, so the damage wil be insignificant, and will cost him MHSF.

I forgot to take a picture after his turn, but he sees through my trap and just spread out, taking care to not let Ferox do much damage if i commit.

Which i don't. Insteadi  just shuffle everythin over to the Hill, Creating a Fort Makeda. He backed away a bit with MHSF last turn, so by moving like this, i keep outside of the Max threat of several of them, while still threatening a bunch. This also means that i can start threatening a Scenario angle by dominating one flag.

He pull back with his right flank, but push forward with the left.Imperatus runs over to the Flag to Score and MHSF+Stormfalls shoot me a bit, but there's no casualties.

I make the push. I don't commit everything and as such i hold back the Feat for a better occation. I kill 5-6 MHSF and jam up the rest. Gladiator runs over to the Flag to score and i move to block both Discordia and Imperatus from dealing too much damage to me.

He gives it his all, committing the rest of his army, feating and giving dead eye all around, but in the end only a single Ferox and the Standard Bearer (He ran towards the right flag to help contesting) bit the dust. Ossyan is camping 2 Focus and standing within the Threat range of every single Ferox and Radheim.

So in my turn Gladiator charge his Objective and destroys it, a Willbreaker runs over to the flag to let me move to 4-0 (I scored in his turn as well) and Ferox mops the floor with MHSF and Ossyan before Radheim even gets to join in on the Fun.

Victory to the Tyrants!

Post battle thoughts:

Retribution can be a real pain, but when he gave me the chance to take him on piecemeal, i knew i had him. Makeda loves facing Infantryspam. Ferox just remove soo much when they get the chance, and they can handle an incredible amount of damage in return! All five games combined, i gave away 20 BP. Makeda does pretty much everything, but that definatelly leaves me with a disadvantage when i face something that negates her. I really need to work on my second caster from now on.

We were one of the first games to finish, so i got to walk around and see how the other games went. It soon became clear that the two guys in the Final (Jarle (His blog can be found here: Courage of Caspia) and my opponent from game 3, Thomas) would take First and Second place respectivelly. The battle for third woould be between Me, Tor (Cygnar) and Mats (Trollbloods). I was in the lead for a long while, but when the last few results were entered, i dropped down to fifth. (Tor beat me on SOS by one, while Mats had a few more CP than me)

I didn't really care about that though. I was extremelly happy with 4 Victories in my first real tournement. Makeda works like a dream! Now it just boils down to finding the perfect companion for her to bring to Norwegian Masters in January!

Lastly, Thanks to Svein, Kim, Thomas, Morten and Nico for five fantastic games!

017 - Xerxis1 vs Haley2 (Invasion 2016 Game 4)

Day two, and another Cygnar game. This time with Haley2 accompanying the dreaded Caine. I had played Makeda in all three games day one, and really didn't want to be list locked for the last game, so i was determined to drop Xerxis no matter what. Maybe he would fare better against Caine.

Then my opponent surprised me by dropping Haley2 instead. Haley2 without Stormwall no less! Things just got interesting!


My list

Tyrant Xerxis WB+28

 - Tiberion - 22

 - Bronzeback Titan - 18

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Zaadesh - 4 (Proxied with Hexeris1)

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 4

Pangiver beasthandlers min - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Objective: Arcane Wonder

His list:
Major Victoria Haley WJ+25
 - Squire - 5
 - Stormclad - 18
 - Stormclad - 18
 - Thorn - 13
Journeyman Warcaster - 4
 - Hunter - 11
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - 3
Ragman - 4
Storm Lances min - 12
Storm Lances min - 12
Objective: Fuel Cache

Pre Battle Thougths and Deployment:

No Stormwall is good, (Not that i would have any problem at all dealing with it though. Even Ferox can cripple the damned thing with Stir the Blood+Feat. ) Haley2 can be a real pain in the ass, but Ferox helps me a ton here. Even without being the kings of survivability like they are with Makeda, they pack a punch, strike fast, and with Defenders ward they get some incredible stats (especially when paired with the ARM bonus from FEAT.) Haley has to be incredibly carefull unless she wants to get jumped by some very angry kittens, and my brick of beasts, while probably not getting the Alpha, can still survive quite a beating and administer the pain in return. This also means that it's really hard for Haley to lock me out of Scenario.


Scenario was Recon, and yet again i got to go first. I deployed centrally, with Ferox on my right flank. The plan was to just push everything as far up as possible. There's few things more scary than a Xerxis army in your face! If i just push up, and start contesting and just standing around in the middle to threaten him, i will force him to commit, hopefully unfavourably to stop me from gaining a Scenario Edge. If i then could survive his Alpha i should be good, as my counterattack will kill pretty much anything i want to die.

 He deployed his Jacks directly opposite my beasts, Lances against Ferox.

I push up as far as possible. Only making sure that Lances can't get the jump on me. (The square to the right of the zone is a House, not a Trench..) Defenders ward goes up on the Ferox, Tac supremacy on Xerxis.

Cygnar actually backs away from the oncoming Ferox. Only advancing with a lone Stormclad with Arcane Shield and the Hunter. Hunter tries to kill a Ferox, but miss.

Seeing Haley back away, i just have to go for the Push! Xerxis Feats and move up behind a wall of Beasts and Stir the Blood the Ferox. Ferox then jump in to strike at the Stormclad. Two and two combine, and after three pretty high above average rolls the Jack bites the dust (ARM 22 helps little against a bunch of really angry Reptile Cats) the Hunter also goes down to a single box of Movement.

Haley moves up, Feats and TK the Ferox around a bit to negate me the ARM bonus from Feat. He charge in with the rest of his guys, but a few misses and a few Tough rolls means that he only manage to kill two.

I can't do too much due to the Feat, but Ferox manage to kill a few lances and reposition a bit to try and Kepp an advancing Xerxis alive. I don't upkeep Tac Supremacy to make sure that i have as much Fury as possible to survive. I put the BB and Tibbers on the side where Storm lances threaten me. Since Tibbers can't be moved at all, and BB have Counter charge to stop him if he mess up a bit, i feel pretty safe on that side. Especially with a Ferox helping out by blocking the Charge lane and engaging a Lance.

Seeing that there's not really much he can do at this point Haley decides to try the Assassination. She advance to get an angle ( Because of Arcane wonder Telekinesis is only range 6, and he wants Thorne to help out with clearing the way for Storm clad and Lances.) This means Haley has to do the job herself,  and TK's both the Sentry and Xerxis. Lances tries to charge past the Ferox, but two of them die to free strikes from Ferox. One of them manage to move over to Xerxis to try and beat him, but he miss his Charge attack. He didn't have enough Focus for Temporal Acceleration due to TK's and an Arcane Bolt aimed at Xerxis. So the Stormclad only gets 4 attacks, all of which i can transfer. Haley is left standing out in the open, right next to two Ferox, and nothing blocking the Sentry from walking over to her.

I forgot to take any more pictures in the excitement over finally getting to punch Haley2 in the face. Suffice to say, she didn't survive four Ferox attacks and a very angry Sentry to the Face. Tibbers walks over to the Objective to destroy it, the remaining beasts clear the zone, and Xerxis runs over to the left Flag to score, Granting me 3 CP.

Victory to the Tyrants!! 

Post battle Thoughts:

Haley is dead!, long may she rot.. I feel really happy about this game. My beast brick did pretty much nothing, but even so, All Cygnar had left standing when all was said and done was Junior, Lanyssa and a lone Storm Lance. Ferox hits ridicolously hard with the big guy. I could probably have just used all of my guys to just kill everything on the board instead the last turn. Haley alone can't do much against Xerxis with a full camp.

Once again, Ferox were the VIP's this game. Jamming like champs, more or less taking out two Jacks in a single turn. I really can't make a single list without at least one unit of them, they are just too good to not bring.

I was currently in third place, best of the ones with three victories. There was a lot of Cygnar players in the Field around me, and i really feared meeting a third Caine2 possibility in a row. Luckilly for me, there would be no more Cygnar for me this weekend.

016 - Makeda2 vs. Caine2 (Invasion 2016 Game 3)

... Cygnar with Caine2.

Third and final game of day three, and i had to face Cygnar. Cygnar is tricky to play against, no matter the caster, but Caine2 is the absolute worst. He completelly negates the Ferox, and the list he brought was just mean. Plenty of shooty solo's, a Stormwall. He paired this list with a fairly standard Haley3 list. I would be confident playing into Haley3, but Caine2 is a nightmare.

When i started to lock down a list pair a few months ago i didn't take Caine into consideration. Mostly because all Cygnar casters i knew were pretty focused on the Haleys and Sloans, and the occational Stryker. All of which Makeda can handle fairly well. That meant that my Xerxis list was built to handle ARM skews and other tricky match up's for Makeda, not Caine, and especially not this one. It's just too slow. And just to add insult to injury, the Scenario was Incursion, a Scenario that it's really hard to defend yourself against a superior foe.

Seeing as i felt i was pretty down into Caine no matter which of my lists i dropped, i went with Makeda, all the practice i have gotten with the list might give me the edge. I just hoped he didn't see how up Caine is into me, but unfortunatelly, he did, so Caine2 vs. Makeda2 was up!

My list:

Supreme Archdomina Makeda WB+24

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Radheim - 9

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Tyrant Commander and Standard - 6

min Paingiver Beasthandlers - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

His list:
Captain Allister Caine WJ+27
 - Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - 4
 - Stormwall - 39
  - Lightning pods - 0
Gun Mage Captain Adept - 5
Journeyman Warcaster - 4
 - Charger - 9
Captain Maxwell Finn - 6
Eiryss, Mage hunter of Ios - 7
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - 4
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - 3
Trencher Infantry max - 16
Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr - 5

Pre Battle thoughts and Deployment:

So.. how to approach this. Going for Scenario is pretty much out of the Question here. All of his solos means that he can really spread out, while i have to stick relativelly close together to have any hope of surviving the shooting onslaught. And on this Scenario it's even worse, as it's really hard to cover everywhere at once. I have to play defensively, but not too much so. If i play too far forward Caine will shoot me to pieces (Or at least proc a Griecous or six, and then let the rest of his guys do the rest. Too far back and i can pretty much just say GG and let him win by default.
My plan then, was to get a foothold on one flank, and just hang back for a little while and try to find an Assasination angle. Either that, or an opportunity to cripple his army enough for me to make a real push.

Both of those options requires a mess up by my opponent, but i really don't know what else to do. First chance i get i'm going to try a few practice games with this match up to see what, if anything i can do here)

I got to go first again, and deployed as i usually do. Caine deploys pretty centrally as well, with trenchers spread out in front.

I run up, making sure to stay outside both Stormwall and Caine's threat. I'll allow trenchers to take a pot shot or two if they really want to.

Cygnar moves and shuffles over towards my left. He makes sure to threaten 4" around the central flag with Caine. Bullet Dodger on Caine, and the Trenchers cloud up the trench behind the hill in the middle.

I contemplate for a bit to really push now. Jam Ferox down his throat, remove Trenchers and as many solos as possibleand start scoring on the right flag (Unless he somehow manage to get someone over there). That might have been a better play than what i actually did (Just shuffled over to the right and kept outside of Caine's threat yet again. I place the Tyrant on the flag to start Scoring if he don't do anything about it.

I should have placed the Standard there instead, he focus all of his available shooting on the Tyrant, finally killing him after burning through all of my Fury. Now i have lost 2" of threat in a match where that can easily be the difference between Win and loss. He runs the Charger onto the Left flag, Finn onto the middle one. 0-2.

I make the push, Using Ferox to try and clear out all contestors from both the Central and Right Flags and Score, but one Trencher just refuse to die (He gets steady from Heightened Reflexes), and i can't score on the middle flag since one Ferox have to stand outside of 4" to contest the left one. I rile the Sentry for a Fury or two since i expect to take some hits next turn.

But he pretty much ignore my Ferox. The Stormwall places some covering fires and Caine kill a few, including the one contesting the left flag.

I was starting to get a little low on time, so i didn't take any more pictures of this game, but here's what happens:

I realize that there's pretty much no way for me to keep this going, but i still have my Feat, and i can get 4 Ferox onto Caine by using Dash, and he's only camping one. Even though he's DEF 19, he's still only ARM 13, so if i can land a few hits i could manage to get him down. I Puppetmaster both Ferox units (Radheim is too far away due to poor positioning on my part, i forgot that i lost 2" of threat after the TyCom died..)

Makeda Feats, Cast Storm rager on a Ferox, Dash, and moves as far towards Caine as Possible. The only survivor of the Left Ferox moves over to Caine and hits with it's first attack, he use his Focus and takes a few boxes. Next attacks miss, reroll, another miss, and he dodges away.. Damn i forgot about that! The two inches he dodge back not only means that one less Ferox will be able to reach him, but it also means that one of the guys that actually do will be ouside of Feat. I get two more Ferox in. Combine Mount/Spear and miss, Use reroll to hit and takes him down to two boxes!

I have one attack left. The lance of the Storm Ragered Ferox. I need an 11+ on 2d6 to hit him and win the game..

I roll Snake Eyes.

Makeda is on a hill, so he tries to shoot the Ferox still engaging Caine to allow him to move over to her and kill her. He miss the Shot and almost hits Caine! After that he just quickly end the game, not wanting to take any more unnessecary risks.

Victory to Cygnar!

Post Battle thoughts:

Maybe i should have gone for the T2 push. If nothing else, it would really put the pressure on him, and i could have ran the Beasts over to the left to Really threaten him if he decided to do what he did the next turn (Move to Score) It might have made things easier, or it might have just meant that i would lose pretty much all of my Ferox and still lose the game..

Caine2 is a real pain in the Ass! but i believe there might be some potential. We played with a fairly low amount of terrain in this Tournement, a bit more terrain to help me with surviving his shooting, and some better plays from me might make this match playable. I will test it in the near future. If it's still a no go i'll have to tool my second list a bit more towards dealing with this. Makeda covers such a wide field of casters and lists that making a successful pair that covers most things definatelly should be possible.

I was kinda bummed at getting a loss for the last game on Saturday, but i still felt good. My chances of winning the Tournement were gone, but i still eyed a Top3 spot.

Later that evening all the people from my gaming club gathered at a local restaurant to eat and talk about the next day. We had just recieved the next days pairing. I stared in disbelief at my next opponent..


Cygnar. Caine2/Haley2.

015 - Makeda2 vs. Wurmwood (Invasion 2016 Game 2)

Game 2 and i got paired against Circle with a Wurmwood/Bradigus (or was it Baldur..? I can't remember) pair. I know Makeda can trivially wipe the floor with the tree, and that she has game into pretty much everything circle has to offer (Except heavy ARM skews), so it's an easy pick for me. I place Makeda down on the table and is surprised to see Wurmwood dropped in return.

My list:

Supreme Archdomina Makeda WB+24

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Radheim - 9

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Tyrant Commander and Standard - 6

min Paingiver Beasthandlers - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

His list:
Wurmwwod, Tree of fate & Cassius WB+27
 - Cassius - 0
 - Feral Warpwolf - 18
 - Ghetorix - 21
 - Megalith - 20
 - Pureblood Warpwolf - 17
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - 3
Shifting Stones - 3
Shifting Stones - 3
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - 5
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - 5
Wolves of Orboros min - 7

Pre Battle Thoughts and Deployment:

So, the Tree of Fate. I've been down this road before, and it really is a match that it's easier to win than to lose. There's generally not enough tools or attacks to chew through the Ferox wall. And with me out-threatening everything he have, and ignoring his strongest stratagem (The Feat) completelly, it's really hard for him to do anything. It might be playable, but nine out of ten times this should be easy pickings for Makeda.

Scenario was Take and Hold, and i yet again got to go first. Circle chose a side with a large obstruction to hide the Tree behind. I deployed centrally so that i could make a straight push down the middle to force him back. The plan was simple enough. Run up everything to block him out from scoring/Contesting, and start grabbing points as early as possible. He can hide the Tree as much as he'd like, but sooner or later he have to come out of hiding or just loose on Scenario.

Circle deploys everything in the middle behind the AD'ing Wurmwood and Sentry stones.

I Run everything up.

The reason behind his very offensive deployment of Wurmwood becomes clear as he runs Cassius towards my left Ferox unit, Teleports Wurmwood behind the House with Stones, then channel Curse of Shadows onto the Ferox, before Dark Pathing Cassius back to safety. Mannikins make their shenanigans, but fail to hit with their sprays. A few runs up to try and jam Ferox. The rest just runs straight down the middle (Except for Pureblood who takes the long way around the house instead.)

Ferox kill both Sentry stones, a few Shifting stones and 50%-ish of the Wolves. They also put a bit of damage on Ghetorix, but there's not much since he Spiny Growth'ed himself. Makeda Runs up to the flag and makes sure she's within Stay Death range of all the Ferox. Same goes for Radheim. The beasts and Tyrant just lumber behind, waiting for their turn to get into the fray.

I have made a blunder though. In my rush to put the hurt on Circle, i have clumped my Ferox up in a big messy pile in the centre. Which means he can go to town on several of them at once, getting them down to one box on by one. This may not seem like much, but when you force Tough/Stay Death, on nearly every hit in the later game, it can become a real problem. I should have been much more careful when commiting, to make sure that he can only get to a few at a time. When he's placed as narrowly as he is, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyways, his beasts all start to go to town on the poor Ferox, and a lot of Tough Checks and attacks later i'm down to a single FURY. The Pureblood walks around the house to Spray, but luckilly for me he misses all the Ferox within range. He then tries to land a few Hellmouths through Cassius, but due to me being engaged, he just can't land that all important hit! Megalith casts Stranglehold on Glad, taking him out of the game for a round.

He does not manage to contest me, so i move to 1-0.

Okay, so, crisis averted for now. Now i have to hit back! Unfortunatelly, Glad is useless this turn due to Stranglehold, or else i would probably remove at least two beasts. Ferox still do a ton of work though, leaving Ghetorix on a single box before the Sentry even gets to engage him. Radheim and Tyrant hits like gods as well, singlehandedly getting the Pureblood down to 3 boxes on their charges. (I've never seen so many box cars at once). Feral also takes a few hits and I remove the rest of the Wolves. Move to 2-0.

The tree tries to hit back once again, but he lacks the power. He manage to kill a Ferox or two, and finally lands a Hellmouth, but i tough like a god and has plenty of Fury left to survive it. Ty com is outside of Stay Death, so he goes down after the Pureblood is healed, but he miss Radheim, allowing me to dodge to safety with him. He manages to teleport a few stones within 4" of my flag to contest me. But, since Cassius is engaged by a Ferox, and have no way to get away without tanking a Free strike under Makeda's Feat ( i Feated last turn)  He had to teleport the Tree next to me to try and land the all important Hellmouth, He did camp 4 Fury though...

(Forgot to take a picture after his turn..)

But only the Pureblood left standing on 7 boxes is a viable Transfer target as both the Feral and Megalith is maxed out on Fury.
Ferox remove the Contesting Stones, Sentry flubs a bit on his damage rolls, but the Pureblood goes down in the end, leaving Wurmwood with no protection of a Storm Ragered Radheim charging in to land the Killing blow! Then reposition over to his flag to move me to 4-0 as well. (Got to remember the Tie breakers!)

Victory to the Tyrants!

Post battle thoughts:

My views on this match up haven't changed a bit after this game. Wurmwood into Ferox spam is pretty much unplayable for Circle. Granted, i got lucky my overcomitment in the centre didn't cost me more, but even if it had it wouldn't change too much. Makeda would still be safe, and i would eventually win out the Grind. All the moving around, teleporting and Hellmouthing takes a lot of time as well, especially when you add in thinking time, and just the amount of time you have to roll the dice against the Ferox.

When Circle cloked over to me after his T3 he had about 10 minutes left on his clock to my 25 -ish. So the clock would have become a real issue for him if he hadn't comitted the Tree like he did.

Anyways. Another great game, another great opponent, and another win. My morale was peaking! That was until i figured out what i was paired into next..

014 - Makeda2 vs. Borka1 (Invasion 2016 Game 1)

Invasion 2016 was finally here! After months of waiting i finally got to attend my first real tournement. I had 5 amazing games against a variety of lists, and had a real blast! I also got the chance to prove Makeda's flexibility to several new people, (I think i even managed to recruit a few new tyrants!)

First game of the weekend and i got to face Trollbloods with a Borka1/Gunnbjorn pair. I feel very comfortable dropping Makeda into mostly anything Trollblood, and didn't see a point in dropping Xerxis into any of the two infantry heavy lists. So i dropped the Ferox spam and recieved Borka in return!

Supreme Archdomina Makeda WB+24

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Radheim - 9

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Tyrant Commander and Standard - 6

min Paingiver Beasthandlers - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Objective: Arcane Wonder

His List:
Borka Kegslayer WB + 28
 - Keg Carrier - 0
 - Dire Troll Mauler - 15
 - Troll Axer - 10
 - Mulg the Ancient - 19
Fell Caller Hero - 5
Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes min - 6
 - Stone Scribe Elder - 3
Trollkin Champions min - 10
Trollkin Sluggers min - 13
Trollkin Fennblades max - 15
Kriel Warriors min - 7
Objective: Bunker

Pre Battle Thoughts and Deployment:

Borka is an interesting Warlock. The Keg Carrier means that Fury 5 isn't that much of a limitation for him as he can allways get two Fury after he's activated for camps, or two extra if he really need to sling spells. His Feat really compliments a fast moving hard hitting army (is there another kind of Trollbloods army?) . The rest of his army fits him pretty good with a lot of fast, hard hitting elements. My opponent was pretty new to the game (returning from a few years break), and that might be reflected a bit in his unit choices. And the list he dropped. I think his shooty Gunnbjorn list is a better drop into both of my lists. Anyways, i did my best to explain how Makeda works and we were off!

The Scneario was Entrenched and i won the roll off. I naturally decided to go first (Makeda always wants to start!) I deployed as i allways do very centrally. The plan was to go for his weak flank, block him out of the zone and force him to commit unfavourably to try and stop my Scenario win. He deployed Fennblades and Sluggers on his left flank, and everything else in the middle. Game on!

I jam everything down the middle, putting on the pressure!

He realize that he just have to move in and advances. He does absolutelly nothing to try and jam me though. He advance prety much straight forward with everything, but his left flank is slightly weaker. Arcane Ward is up on Fennblades.

His cautious approach allows me to go for my own zone fairly easily, and block him pretty effectively. Ferox klears Kriels and Fennblades then repositions to block him off as much as possible. i move so that he at most will kill two cats with all of his beasts combined and his right flank infantry combined. A Fennblade on the right manage to survive, but he is knocked down, so i don't have to worry about him Vengeance moving into my zone. I position two Ferox so that he will have to tank free strikes from both of them to get into the zone. The Titanss move after to counter his Beasts.

I let him go for his own zone if he wanted to, but he does the smart thing and hangs back in a bunch of trolls. The assassination threat is very much real, and going out there exposes him a lot if he wants to still be in control range for his beasts. He moves Arcane Ward onto Borka, and then tries his best to kill Ferox. He misses a lot and does next to nothing. I get to dodge around and create new openings for myself. He have nothing to contest me with so i move to 1-0.

Ferox clears away most of his remaining infantry and bash his heavies a little bit. Mulg goes down to the Gladiator/Radheim combo. 2-0.

He send everything (Even Borka) to try and kill Ferox, and manage to kill one or two, but he is left standing right in front of my lines, camping 1 Fury..

Makeda Feats, Storm rager Radheim. Puppetmaster on Radheim+Ferox. One unit clears away the stone, the other starts putting the hurt on Borka, removing the last Fury, then Radheim jumps in to finish the job.

Vicory to the Tyrants!

Post battle thoughts:

A great way to start the day! My opponent was a real good sprot, and even though he never had a chance, he kept his spirits up and made the game an alltogether enjoyable one. Not knowing what your opponents army do is never a good thing, especially when it comes to lists like mine that are incredibly hard to deal with without the right tools. With all the defensive synergies on the Ferox you allways have to be on your toes, and try to use every tool you have. The Fell caller was stranded deep on his right flank, and without any MAT buffs, all the missed attacks allow me to do so many shenanigans. Moving out of combat, moving into combat, moving around him to open lanes etc.

I had gotten the good start to the tournement that i wanted, but i knew it would only get harder from here on out!

013 - Makeda2 vs. Nemo3

Last game of the weekend and i got to play against Cygnar again! This time with a caster i have never seen before, Nemo3. After a 3 game losing streak i felt ready to hit back hard, so Makeda was up!

Me:

Supreme Archdomina Makeda WB+24

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Radheim - 9

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Morthieurge Willbreaker - 4

Tyrant Commander and Standard - 6

min Paingiver Beasthandlers - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

His list:
Artificer General Nemo WJ+25
 - Storm Chaser Finch - 0
 - Centurion - 17
 - Centurion - 17
 - Dynamo - 18
Journeyman Warcaster - 4
 - Sentinel - 8
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - 4
Stormsmith Stormcaller - 5
Anastasia di Bray - 3
Harlan Vesh, Illuminated One - 4
Storm Lances Max - 20

Pre Battle Thoughts and Deployment:

I know very little about Nemo3, and most of the things in his army for that matter.. But after a quick readthrough of his cards i could see that this could be tough. The Centurions will be incredibly hard for me to remove, with Arcane Shield/Electrify they get to silly levels of ARM, and Polarity Field means that getting the elements of my list that can actually dent them, to them, would be kind of a problem. He have very little that can deal with Ferox though..

We played The Pit, and once again i got to go first! I deployed in the usual way (in under a minute! Got to save time wherever i can). Cygnar deployed mostly behind his own flag. Storm Lances spread out a bit. Game on!

Stuff Runs up!

Cygnar Spreads out.

I shuffle a bit, moving Makeda over to my flag and setting up some threat angles on his his flag if he decides to move there.

He moves to his flag to score, but he blocks himself up real good to stop any poential threats. Di Bray ambushes and contests my flag. He shoots a bit, but there's little to no damage done to me.

I commit everything. I kill a Stormcaller, a few Lances, Journeyman and Finch. I jam as much as possible, and use the wall in the corner of the zone to my advantage. TyCom and a Ferox both tries to get rid of Di Bray, but fail.

Nemo Feats, and he manages to get rid of a Few Ferox. Anastasia tries to get rid of a Willbreaker, but she fails.

I kill the remaining Lances and the central Centurion is left with a single box of Movement. I deal a few boxes worth of damage to the other Centurion and Dynamo as well, and a few boxes on Nemo (I Feated).  I Finally kill Anastasia as well, and Versh.

I didn't take any more pictures after this as my clock started to run pretty low, but on his turn he kill a couple of Ferox, but not enough. The following turn four Ferox combine their attacks to strip the Focus Nemo is Camping and Radheim one shots him under Storm Rager.

Victory to the Tyrants!!

Finally a victory! And a pretty decent one as well i would hope. I never felt really threatened, although the Ferox line started to get a little thin towards the end. Even if the Assassination run had failed, i would still have both Titans left to Wreak some havok. 

It was really good to get a final victory before the upcoming tournement in Kristiansand! I'm really looking forward to it. I'm feeling pretty confident about my list pair, even though i haven't been able to get nearly enough table time with Xerxis to be really comfortable with him. Hopefully Makeda will be able to keep me up!

012 - Xerxis1 vs. Kromac2

New day, new games! First up Circle. This guy is representing Norway on WTC this year with a Wurmwood/Kromac2 pair. We have tried the Mak2-Wurmwood match a few times, and both know that it's pointless. And i know that Mak2 have game into Kromac2, but how does Paws of Halaak play into the fast moving monster mayhem that is Kromac2? Let's find out!

My list

Tyrant Xerxis WB+28

 - Tiberion - 22

 - Bronzeback Titan - 18

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Zaadesh - 4 (Proxied with Hexeris1)

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 4

Pangiver beasthandlers min - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

His List:
Kromac, Champion of the Wurm WB+28
 - Feral Warpwolf - 18
 - Ghetorix - 21
 - Warpwolf Stalker - 19
 - Warpwolf Stalker - 19
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - 3
Shifting Stones - 3
Tharn Bloodweavers - 8
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew - 2
Sentry Stones & Mannikins - 5
Sentry Stones & Mannikins - 5

Pre Battle Thoughts and Deployment:

Scenario was Incursion and i got to go first! Kromac2 is an absolute beast! Even more so than his actual beasts at times. There's very little i can do to stop him from getting the alpha. Especially since he is another caster that can clear away jammers with Grievous Wounds. My beasts can handle some punch though, so if i can just manage to survive said Alpha, i have more than enough punch to grind him into the dust! Even with his FEAT up. But surviving a Kromac2 Alpha is no easy feat, so i knew i had to get a scenario angle to try and force his hand. Ferox would be important to stall him. and hopefully do some damage in the process.

I deployed fairly centrally with Ferox on one flank, Zaadesh and company on the other. He placed his beasts in the center, bloodweavers on his left, and Sentry Stones against the Ferox.

I moved a bit before i remembered to take a picture..

Stuff moves up. Defenders ward on Ferox, Tac Supremacy on Xerxis.

Circle moves. Bloodweavers spread out around the Right flag.

I shuffle slightly. Preparing to make a Scenariomove T3, and taking care to stay outside of his major threat ranges.

Circle shuffles as well, preparing for his Alpha, while protecting his important elements from my own.

But by doing this he opens up for my Scnario move! There's no one contesting the middle and left flags, and just a single Bloodweaverwithin 4" of the right one. He made sure that single one was outside of the Gladiator's 10" threat, but i can get within range for First Blood from Zaadesh and a Ferox if that fails. If i can get that one guy down, Glad can score on the Right, Sentry on the Left while Xerxis himself can stand safelly behind Tibbers and BB and score on the middle flag, moving me to 3-0. Ferox will jam him down so that he can only get a pillowfisted alpha at most, and i should be able to clear any contestors to move to 5 points next turn.

Unfortunatelly i fail to kill the Bloodweaver, and only get two points this turn. The Ferox kill a few Mannikins and jam to the best of their abilities. I also manage to get a few wounds on the Feral and Ghetorix.

I gambled on not needing Zaadesh my next turn and placed him very exposed to get the First Blood off. He capitalises on this as Bloodweavers kill the Ferox blocking the Rightmost Stalker, and said Stalker charge and kill the Junior. Kromac Feats and the remaining Ferox bites the dust. Kromac and the other Stalker charge Tibbers and BB, Tibbers bites the dust, but BB survives with a few boxes.

I forgot to take any more pictures, but what happens next is that i try to find something to do to win, but with all his Heavies left standingand two of mine out of the picture there's not much i can do. I could clear out all three flags in theory, but there's no way for me to score on the right flag if i do. Atrition is pretty much out of the picture as well. The gladiator is pretty much lost to me, and even if i manage to kill both the Stalker and Ghetorix, that would mean setting up both BB and the Sentry for death the following turn. So i forfeit.

Victory to Circle

Post battle thoughts:

In hindsight, i gambled too much on the Scenario opening. Granted, it was a good one, but by exposing myself i was extremely vulnerable if i failed, which i ended up doing as well. But for training purposes, i feel it was a good thing to do. 

So how does Paws do against Kromac? More testing is definatelly needed, but i believe there could be game here. Two of his heaviest hitters just barelly managed to kill Tibbers on Kromacs FEAT turn, so if i can just manage to force him to commit more, and survive, i should be good. 

011 - Xerxis1 vs. Stryker2

Following the close fought game against Trollbloods, i got the chance to play against more Cygnar (roughly 50% of the players in the local gaming club plays them (at least that's what it feels like), so every bit of practice helps). He only had one list with him, Stryker2 with Stormwall and Cavalry. I'm pretty confident i can deal with this with Makeda, but what about Xerxis? Time to bring the Paws of Halaak into the light again!
Scenario was Entrenched and i won the Roll off, deciding to go first!

My list

Tyrant Xerxis WB+28

 - Tiberion - 22

 - Bronzeback Titan - 18

 - Titan Sentry - 15

Tyrant Zaadesh - 4 (Proxied with Hexeris1)

 - Titan Gladiator - 14

Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 4

Pangiver beasthandlers min - 5

Max Praetorian Ferox - 21

Objective: Arcane Wonder

His List:
Lord Commander Stryker WJ+28
 - Stormwall - 39
  - Lightning Pods
Journeyman Warcaster - 4
 - Firefly - 8
Captain Arlan Strangeways - 4
Major Katherine Laddermore - 8
Ragman - 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - 4
Max Storm Lances - 20
Min Storm Lances - 12
Objective: Bunker

Pre Batltle Thoughts and Deployment:

His list looks deceptively small, but there's tons of quality there. Storm Lances are still the best cavalry in the game (Narrowly beating the Ferox), and Stormwall is, and will always be Stormwall. Stryker himself is ofcourse no weakling himself, possibly being the Model with the highest damage output in the entire game! (Together With Madrak and the Butchers). But then again, I'm survivable as F***!! The titans can handle a lot, and Ferox with Defenders Ward and Tough is a real pain to deal with.

I deploy centrally with Ferox and the Zaadesh package on my left, the rest on the right. He deploys the large Lances on my Right flank and the small one together with Stryker on the other flank. Stormwall in the middle.

Forgot to take a picture of the deployment again..


Stuff Runs,

Cygnar Moves up. Stormwall deploys a pod so that he can arc lightning on the Ferox, but all of his shooting (Stormwall as well as i forgot to make sure i was outside of his shooting threat), doeas pretty much nothing.

The whole point of pushing so hard forward T1 was to make sure he advanced very cautiously. That worked pretty well, so now i moved back a bit to stay outside of Storm Lance threat with Ferox. One of them kills the lightning pod (I hate those damn things!) The Titans advance a bit to cover Xerxis who moves into my zone. I'm pretty sure i can survive his Alpha since there's only the Storm lances that can get in.

He commits the Large Storm Lance unit, and as predicted he does very little damage. Bronzeback even gets to countercharge one of them to death! Stryker does not dare going in to Score because of the Ferox, but spells and Shooting manage to kill one of them. He also commits the Firefly so that his electro leaps deal additional damage, but unfortunatelly for him it had very little effect.

I see a huge Scenario opening here. With Stormwall still hanging back, clearing his zone should be relatively easy. If i can kill the Objective and clear my own zone i can move to 3-0 and really put pressure on my opponent. And in doing so, i also clear out pretty much everything he can contest me with as well. Xerxis slams the Firefly out of the zone, through a pod that he dropped to arc lightning from, and into a Storm lance. The lance and Pod dies, and the damage on the Firefly spikes. The Titans clear the rest, and kills off the Firefly. Ferox kills the Lances in his Zone and Gladiator kills his Objective, and i move to 3-0!

He really have to commit now, to stop me from winning on Scenario. Junior runs in to contest, and even manage to find a spot where i can't reach him.. Stryker Feats and with the help of the Stormwall kills the Gladiator, Zaadesh and the Ferox.
I realized during his turn that i should just have Run Zaadesh over to my own zone to help clear contestors after the Gladiator had done it's thing. The willbreaker would have made sure that the Titan would still be in "control" and i could really have used him in clearing the damn Junior Warcaster that now stood safe and sound in my zone.

Since i can't kill the damn Journeyman, i move Xerxis and BB so that there's no possible escape for him next turn. I run Willbreaker in to Contest (Again, probably a mistake as you will see later) and my two tankiest Titans move to kill the rest of his possible Jammers. But i roll insanely crap on my attack and damage rolls, and only manage to kill three out of five. This totally screwed me over. He'll still probably not be able to contest me with the remaining two, but Tiberion's Overtake was supposed to move him to Jam Stryker down far from the Action. Both beasts were pretty much undamaged, so he would have to really work to kill them both, and Stryker had allready taken 10-ish damage from an overload when he killed the Gladiator, so trying for more would be really risky.

I forgot to take a picture after his turn, but what he does is to kill Tibbers, and scratch the Sentry a little. Junior does not upkeep Arcane Shield and moves to a position where BB won't reach him.

My Crap dice continues as Xerxis is forced to spend all his Fury to kill Junior (I forgot that i could have just slammed him out of the zone.. if i had done that it would proably be game over.) BB runs to try and block Strykers Charge lane to Xerxis, and the Sentry kills the last two warrior models, and moves closer to Stryker to try to help keep him away from Xerxis...

To no avail. Stormwall brings him down to a single Box (Meaning i don't get the Fury that could have saved me through transfers, and with both Mind and Body Crippled, Stryker easily tanks a free strike from him. Narrowly getting past the BB, and with a risky Overload (He decides that it's all or nothing at this point.) Xerxis goes down.

Victory to Cygnar!

Yet again, a tiny mistake cost me the game. I should have upkept TacSupremacy, slammed the Journeyman out of the zone and then repositioned to a safe position. Had i done that Stryker would never have been able to go for the assassination and the game would have been mine.

I'm pretty happy with the list, though i feel like it could be better. I might try to free up some points for Radheim. Dodge on DEF 15 Ferox is just plain ridiculous. Anyway, Xerxis still makes his Army smash face like no other, and the Ferox adds a long range element to the ARM cracking list that just isn't there with the alternative beast bricks of Xeekaar and Rasheth. I feel that it compliments Makeda pretty well, but there's much more testing to do before i'm happy with the pair.