I'd carried those Galleons around all day, so by God I was going to use one of them.
Speed Machine - Obligatory classic Keanu Reeves movie joke here. It's 25 points, Battlegroup only, 15 minute Deathclock, Take and Hold scenario, Tie Breakers go assassination/army points destroyed/CP. Lose if all Beasts/Jacks killed.
I took Bart, a Galleon and a Nomad generously loaned by a local with a real life to attend to.
Basically, if I don't go against a Colossal/Gargantuan it should some sweet face rolling. Obviously this tourney is suuuuuuper balanced on a Razor's Edge/Milhouses nose.
No pics, because seriously? That ain't happening.
Round 1 - Into De-Breyer, with Stryker 2, Rowdy, an Ironclad and a pair of Hunters.
1M - I run up first, Hot Shot/Batten.
1C - He runs up, plus wings the Nomad with Hunters. Batten and Shield were sweet.
2M - I feat, go to the friendly flag and chortle. Then the comeuppance for the wonky as match up begins, Galleon drags in the Ironclad, misses all the melee attacks. Eeep. Nomad runs and engages the Hunters.
2C - Ironclad shakes his head blearily, I enjoy the bemusement of self countering my feat as he just stands on the spot and punches the Galleon for a bit. Rowdy/Stryker hang back. One Hunter moves up to contest, takes a good freestrike and falls over. The other backs out of my feat, takes a good freestrike and pings the Nomad for some plink damage.
3M - This time for sure! Galleon backs up a tiny amount to avoid the freestrike, stabs the Ironclad. Misses all bar one attack that takes nothing out. Damnable 6's! 72% hit chance is an illusion! The Nomad kills the Knock Downed Hunter. I score again.
3C - Rowdy, the Ironclad and Stryker kill the Galleon, Hunter backs up again.
4M - Oh god. Lets get some army points before we die, as I can't get to Stryker. The Nomad and Bart, in the complete opposite of the loser Colossal, charge in and between them kill both Heavies. The Hunter in the distance does a mocking french dance as he prevents the Mangled Metal Condition win.
4C - Stryker Overcharges for a die, gets +5 strength and a damage point. makes Bart eat his hat prior to Bisecting him.
That was glorious. Hyper enjoyable game, made the irritated sign and journey across the room to grab both Colossals each Iron Gauntlet round well worth it.
Round 2 - Samanananen with Doomshaper 2, a Mauler, Earthborn and....Rok I think?
Alas for the Trolls, this was a stomping. Got a good early drag angle, so popped the Mauler early, feat messed things up allowing the Galleon to easily polish off the Battlegroup.
Round 3 - Into the Chisseler with Thagrosh 1, a Blight Bringer (The effort needed to not write Bright Blinger is weird), two Shredders and a harrier. A list responsible for a very confused TO moment in round one when someone got 90 odd points killed.
Most important thing: Entire army in Deadpool colours, Thags modeled with the facemask and eating a Chimichanga. It was hilarious, but my brain literally took the whole game to even click what was happening. Sleep on Con weekends dammit.
This was a long game that featured massive cowardice on my part. The Galleon out threated the Blighter, so I shot it a bit, feated and killed the lesers that fell over that Legion turn, then kept winging it until a Shredder got feated back. Then Galleon finally managed to shoot down the Blight Bringer and Thags couldn't kill Bart, thus was killed in return.
And that was Speed machine. Sweet format, though Palette Cleanse at best.
Alright, next day, the best of tourney formats, ye old Who's The Boss.
The cheesy pile I tried to pull off this time:
The Boss - Reinholdt, Rockram, 2x Drillers, 6x Gunner, Blaster
All Rhulic warjack all the time! Rockram included for something to buff, Reinholdt is there because I couldn't find Thor. Figured if nothing else it'd be a test bed for those two models that I have under utilised in my proper list testing.
Got beginning and end photos, though sadly for round 1 they were to dark to make anything out (Consider this versus the normal pics, bit shocking to discover some QA isn't it?).
Round 1, we get the normal Khador Boss list (Behemoth, Rifle Corp with Rocketeers, Joe then extras. In this instance that's a pair of Juggers and Eliminator units).
I have Gunnbjorn1, going into Mohsar1.
So.....Sunhammer.....all Jack list of mostly lights. Ouch. Otherwise both feats have game, Pillars can block and Mirage increases threat for Khador while I can cycl Snipe and Explosivo, then Rock wall when things close to hold off the opposing heavies with ease.
It starts off magnificently. I blow through the Pillars with minimal issue, knock of Behemoths arm and pop a Rocketeer with a cycled Snipe shot (Someone has to pass a tough roll sooner or alter, so fair enough). Gunnbjorn feats, becomes immune to Ranged damage and sits out in teh middle of the board on no camp mooning all the guns.
The sticking point is that the Explosivo didn't pop the Eliminators, so they jam up as Mohsar feats (Strips Power Up). Put some focus out, I become super Eliminator Blind. Explosivo an the Spray Bunny utterly fail to kill them, so Gunners have to take freestrikes , even then they only pop three of them. This would all be fine, accept I got Kayazy blind and failed to move the last Gunner activation to block LoS to Gunnbjorn, who is on no camp due to cycling Explosivo and upkeeping. Without feat he gets blown up quite easily by Behemoth and a Rifle Corp CRA.
Had I not done that screw up I think this game is beyond mine, the Bunnies easily grind down the opposing list. Dangit.
Round 2: It's the damnable Swans! Rowdy and Thorn are the battlegroup, aided by a Junior with a Firefly, then it's Stormlancers plus Laddermore with the support of Arlan and a Squire. Lightning module and high quality jacks, sensible choices.
I get Syntherion. D3 repair each round feels workable,though not be legit Convergence I can't induct to get around damaged Cortex's. Hot Shot didn't really have a place, though in hindsight I should have put it on the Rockram and placed Reconstruct on a Driller (Spoiler: Didn't do that). Was conflicted on Synergy and feat (Jacks gain Weapon Platform/Dual Attack), the Bunnies aren't exactly the best to get that rolling with their MAT 5.
Swans get Vyross1. Feat gives flank to Warjacks for faction infantry, that could be devastating. He otherwise will speed up the two character jacks, has an armour buff and Righteous Vengeance. I don't feel confident at the get go, Vyross appears to be a superior combination with the relevant list than my own.
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Fear the Shadow! It knows!
I win the roll, take first. Photo is end of the first round, sure enough the Swans are much further up the table. Synergy is up, I have Reconstruct on the Rockram.
After this the Swans jam everything forward, the Lancers engage all the Bunnies and stab away, Thorn and Rowdy hangs around above the wall near my flag.
I only just get Syntherion out of the killbox, my models are quite hemmed in. Spray Bunny sacrifices himself to contest.
The swans score defensively multiple rounds running, Rowdy/Thorn manage to pop the Reconstructed Rockram near the end.
However, I had significantly underestimated Synergy and my feat. I allocated hard to my Drillers, the early Bunnies got lucky bashing into Lancers then shooting models in the distance, the Synergy Drillers had max focus and needed none of it to kill Rowdy and Stormlancers.
I grind it hard, whilst eventually getting a Driller and Bunny up in the closing stages to contest the Swan flag when nothing could reasonably finished. I'd also been efficient with my turns, whereas some analysis paralysis sees me get to a pretty convincing clock win.
Game end:
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Round 3: No Woodsy game (Think he actually did a Steamroller?), so my WTC application is safe (For a given value, if any of them read these Cancon reports I can only presume I'm gooooone)
It's the Tree Huggers! Stalker, Gnarlhorn counter slam goat thing, Gorax, an Argus of some kind, Shifting Stone, Sentry Stone, Druid Wilder, Blackclad, Blood Trackers with Nualla.
He draws Sturgis1. The feat is almost irrelevant, as it can only affect Reinholdt with its Pull/damage deal (Sturdy list ftw!). He does get Arcane Shield, which is always good, and Blood trackers with Snipe seemed bad.
So, whereas I was wrongfully pessimistic about Syntherion1, I get a legit piel of absolute gunk this round.
I've got Bethayne and Belphagor.
Literally no feat, as the models that can trigger it are.....Bethayne. That is, if I don't meld her to let Sturgis come in and butcher her. Spells likewise irrelevant, I've got a caster only buff that I guess I'll cast maybe and Cloak of Ash, which could go on a single model,leaving plenty of other targets.
Alright, lets get this done.
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That's a giant hill in the centre of the board, it's where the conflict mostly plays out.
You'llll neeeeevvvvvveeerrrrr be alooooone if you give a dog a boooooooone.
Whoops, listening to DAAS. Classic. Also the last line of the song is pretty befitting my warlock play this rounds.
I've got first, the plan is simple. I'm going to Meld early on and never leave, then retreat to the very corner of the killbox and prey that Sturgis doesn't get the stones to come up and stab my Def 11 face. Speaking of Prayer, the tracker Prey a Bunny.
Said Preyed Bunny stays behind the others and goes to the right away from the trackers, it felt like an excellent example of the anti-Prey play that is very easy to do.
Sure enough I Meld and hide in a corner. Top of 2 Reinholdt finally gets a chance to do something, as I scalpel out the Sentry Stone. God that felt good. It's too early to get past the Tracker stealth, so I then crack the Shifting Stones.
Bottom of 2 is to me the defining moment. The Trackers attack the Bunnies, between them all they kill......
One.
A single Bunny.
Outside of assassination, I think this is easily mine.
Spray Bunny kills a couple Trackers a turn, I cede some Circle CP's, but ultimately trade up against the Heavies with the Drillers. The Satyr proves to be a pile of rubbish. Even the Stalker needed to max Fury on Primal to kill the other Driller, thus could not Sprint and get away from the Rockram.
Near the close of the game, in which three jacks are contesting both flags, Sturgis has to charge a bunny, pop his chain attack place 3 inch forward, then teleport to get to Bethayne/Belphagor with three boxes. He buys a ton of attacks, but can't chew through the armour/focus camp at all.
I then walk Belbeth away, as I can't die to the freestrike. The various Bunnies lightly scratch him due to Arcane Shield, then a Driller goes into his back, hits the boosted Drill attack and one shots him with two auto hitting attacks left.
Game end:
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Weirdly enough, Who's the Boss felt mroe balanced than Speedmachine to me.
Rhulic jacks are good. Don't tell anyone. Well, maybe not the Rockram, he's merely average.
Reinholdt totally worth, now making lists with him featuring because killing Sentry Stones trivially feels too good.
Getting a few more casual games in than usual, so still three game reports behind, probably five as off tomorrow. Worth it, must Cancon again.
