Warmachine - First Games

Over the bank holiday weekend I had the opportunity to get some Warmachine games in. All of us are novices to the game, despite my knowledge of the setting I've only ever played 1 game under the Mark I rules! So it was back to basics, learning by making mistakes (and boy did we make them!).

My opponents for the weekend were:

Big Al - Cygnar: A force made up of Gunmages, Stormblade and an Ironclad under Alistair Cain
Mannall - Menoth: Crusader, a Repenter and a min unit of Cinerators lead by Kreoss
Div - Cygnar: Black 13th, <rest of army> lead by Styker
Alan - Retribution: A Kaelyssa fronted force made up of a Griffen, Hydra, Mage Hunter Strike Force and a Ghost Sniper.


And finally, my Cryx was a typical Deneghra force made up of 2 Deathrippers, Mechanithralls with a Necro Surgeon, a War Witch Siren and a Pistol Wraith.


In all, we managed to get 2 games a piece in, each facing a different opponent. Didn't quite manage to gt everyone playing each other, as we were a little distracted by WoW TCG related stuff as well. We'll do better next time.


The games went well. We all had at least been able to read the quick start rules, so had a decent idea of the core mechanics. Trying to remember the difference between control and command areas caused some initial confusion, but I think we've got that down now!


I can't remember all the details of the battles, so I'll simply remark on things I can remember (mainly the mistakes I kept making).


In my first battle, I messed up my assassination run against Stryker, leaving my poor warcaster very exposed. It wasn't even the dice gods failing me, I made a complete hash of the tactics. While sending my Deathrippers in a flanking manouve was a valid strategy, once they were out of my control area they slowed down and simply were not in a position to support when I needed them. Stealth is a great defence, but not when they are shooting you from within 5". Needless to say, I didn't last long there!


My second attempt at an assasination run went a little better. Warcaster was kept well in cover, and the arc nodes did most of the work. The only time she came out of hiding was to land the finishing blow. Not a perfect run though, as I couldn't quite do things the way I wanted, mainly activate a model in the middle of another model's action. Didn't stop me in the end, but will need to make sure I'm getting everything done in the right order.


My Mechanithralls didn't do a lot in either game, mainly because I failed to run them forward. As a result, they lagged behind the rest of the forces and by the time they were in a position to engage, it was all over. I will need to work on using them better, as they make a great tar pit unit when coupled with the Necrosurgeon.

The Warwitch Siren also didn't really get much of a chance to shine. Its abilities are great, but it ended up just being a support model for the Deathrippers and didn't get a chance to use more than provide a bit of extra focus.

Finally, I think our feat timing wasn't always the best. I think I was the only one to make use of mine in both games. They are massive game turners when used, and the sooner we get the hang of timing them the better.

All together though it was good fun, and I have a much better idea of what my forces are capable of. Next time I will be able to tweak my army to better suit my play style, and hopefully have my Hordes stuff ready to go as well!