Preface:

So there comes a time where every person stops. They stop everything, and just “listen.” They look back and reflect…

“Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.” – James Baldwin

Having recently won my first tournament and being now one week into a ‘Weekly Steamroller’ my FLGS is hosting, its time to “listen.”

If you dont already know, im a very new player in a very large (12-20~ active player) meta. Additionally this meta is very friendly and competitive. Being mixed in this as a new player, I want to be as good as anyone else who frequents the Warmachine Tabletops there. This is where I declare officially, that I need to stop, and ‘restart.’ You see, my issue is im more focused on things beyond my control or understanding (for now) instead of learning the basics, and using those things to my advantage. (Ex.: More focused on what lists just won a tournament that actually knowing what my own models do, trying to link their synergies/combos as an army.)

With that being said, I now would like to introduce you all to ‘A Grym Journey’ which will be all my battle reports and thoughts as they roll out. I hope these ramblings help me learn as an individual and allow me to become familiar with my armies, good/proper techniques, and see growth and progression in this game as time goes on…in addition to being a nice read for you all.

So officially, on to Journal Entry #1:

I am apart of the Fresno, CA/Central Valley meta. We host our games at the very welcoming ‘Crazy Squirrel Game Store‘ in town. We as a very active Warmachine/Hordes community host monthly Steamrollers, and now we have revitalized a weekly version which allows for more frequent play and even more friendlier faces who otherwise cannot participate on a would be designated Saturday.

For Week one, I am paired with one of our Circle Orboros players. Blake is a very close friend of mine who has himself won one of our Steamrollers in the past. Blake & I have a similar investment of time in this game (half a year or so,) yet he has a better grasp on this game than I do.

List selection:

I have brought the Dreamer in DM & The Wanderer featured in Bump in the Night, for this weekly steamroller.

Admittedly: I have only played The Wanderer once before, and only have six games played with the Dreamer. When selecting my pairing, I wanted to try out more of the popular casters that seem to be used more frequently in tournaments.

Between these two choices, I know I am facing either Wurmwood or Kaya3. Knowing my opponent hasnt fielded Wurmwood enough to feel fully comfortable with him, I anticipate Kaya3 being played. Having seen six Griffons in Kayas list, I make the assumption that im going to see an assassination attempt from Blake. Wanderer with his Arcana and Star-Crossed can be well protected, in addition to clogging any landing zones nearby with my units. On the other hand, Dreamer with Manifest Destiny and MAT 7 S&M’s can be accurate enough to get past the rather high defense the Griffons carry.

Scenario: Standoff

I recognize the unit zones and while I do have two min-units of Dread Rots, and Twilight sisters with Dreamer, I want to bring Wanderer. Knowing Wurmwood probably wouldnt be selected, I didnt feel I needed to be worried about Hellmouth. I was more worried about an assassination attempt more than anything at this point. I declare Wanderer as my Warlock, as he chooses Kaya3 as his. This decision of mine would be foreshadowing for the game ahead.

Lists & Arcana:

Arcana Chosen: Fortunes Path & Shadow

I reason out Fortunes path hoping for it to have some significance in allowing for more successful attacks against DEF 15 Griffons (17 under FEAT.) Additionally with the amount of Units, and wanting to have the Wanderer nearby (CMD 8), I like the idea of Shadow.

Dice are rolled and I win, 5 to a 3 (2+1, due to his theme benefits.) I feel more comfortable choosing a more favorable side allowing me to unbox, rather than be trapped or limited by terrain. (The lack of pathfinder, really messes with me.) I opt to choose sides.

Deployment:

My opponent squares up pretty evenly, with stones to my right. I decide to place Hollowmen towards the center and flank hard on each side with the Dread Rots. I place Longfellow and Eilish to be near the wall on Turn one. My reasoning on this specific deployment is to have both units of Hollowmen nearby to shut down approaching Griffons and put pressure on the Circle zones, early.

Turn One:

Circle – Stones port behind the small shack on my right, and he runs the majority of his models up (mindful of my threat ranges, including apparition.) Kaya tosses out Soothing song & Synergy and takes refuge in a cloud put out by the Bellows Crew.

Grymkin – I measure out ranges and notice three of my Right Hollowmen unit can reach into two different griffons. I make the decision to toss three missed shots into them. At this moment I feel ive made a statement of “im not afraid to take chances.”

Looking back, the decision to shoot was very poor on my part. Rolling 10’s to hit and thinking it could happen was very naive of me, and just gave him more open ground to approach up into the next turn.

Wanderer tosses up ‘Star-Crossed’ and advances. Everything else runs up, placing a few unit models up ahead, to draw the line. Road markers are placed in various spots, including to my right (I want to favor that side now,) and I pass turn.

Turn Two:

Circle – Blackclad on my left advances and tosses a Hunters-Mark on my most forward Hollowmen. Able to charge for free, a Griffon on my left charges the marked model and kills it, triggering Synergy to 1. Another Griffon advances up the middle. Kaya activates and advances up to extend her Synergy range. The last Griffon on my left charges in and misses two of his three initials then kills of two to clear up some room in front of him to reposition. Synergy to 2. Gobbers lay down another cloud, and the remaining griffons shuffle up tossing up their animus, Elusive. Turn passes.

At this point its very clear to me he intends to block me out of his back zone so he can score uncontested for the remainder of the game. In addition, he again is taking advantage of the tabletop space ive left available and has control of over 60% of the board.

Grymkin – Wanderer hops to the right marker at the start of my turn. I want to send my S&M up to take out the two center Griffons this turn, and hopefully remove a total of four with some lucky hits (being careful not to trigger his animus.) I clear a path out for the S&M, make some preparations. Wanderer activates and I boost a Lantern’s Light into the Griffon to the right of my objective, hitting it and ultimately making it an easier target for my S&M. I send in my S&M and without much work, he removes the griffon who got Beacon’d/Flared by the Wanderer. Unfortunately he was unable to remove the second griffon (boosted attacks, but subpar damage rolls.) On my right, I eventually kill off one of the two griffons but it takes my Witchwood, Longfellow w/ puppet strings from Eilish, and a CRA from the Hollowmen to do so. The remaining takes some damage but not enough to be relevant.

At this point I decide to do something unorthodox and it doesnt pan out (while it could have worked, it failed miserably due to rushed/bad planning.) This is definitely the mistake that makes it much easier for the events of the next turn to become a reality.

I realize after some measuring, I have enough distance to get fully behind the griffons on my left and could (with some sheer luck,) hurt them. I order my Dread Rots on the left to press forward and position several behind the griffons attempting to box them in, so they could not escape with their animus during my turn.

It seemed pretty unpredictable when it first popped into my head, and I didnt consider that if it failed, he could easily escape with Kayas feat the next turn. A poor choice to even consider, looking back.

The first of five charges on the first griffon misses and he dodges to freedom, able to use flight and having just enough room to clear the would be blockers behind him. I begin to show my emotions at this point. Im very frustrated with myself as any reality of me being able to see a win, is fading. The Hollowmen unit on my left get a similar order and the same happens, again to bad positioning and to an obviously non-thought out strategy. I step back and make sure the remaining models I have not activated, block landing areas and get into zones. Passing turn, Circle goes 1-0 on CP.

Turn Three:

Circle – My opponent looks at the board for a few minutes. He then acknowledges me and informs me that he is going to try and win on scenario this turn. I dont see it. No doubting him, but simply I am not knowledgeable enough (clearly) to recognize it.

Another ten minutes in invested in measurements and him talking things through to himself and I. He has about twenty odd minutes left to execute his plan.

Gorax walks and Primals the Warpwolf on my right. The Wayfarer that was next to the stones behind the shack emerges and hits his Hunters-Mark on a Dread Rot. (While feated, I now know that this will allow for the Primaled Warpwolf to charge in for free, giving it reach to the majority on that side.)

Next, the Wild Argus approaches on my left and uses Doppler Bark on the Hollowmen near the house. This raises Synergy to one after it also removes two from that unit. Kaya then activates and applies primal to the second Warpwolf which is on my left. She positions on the right side of the house to extend the range of Synergy this turn and gets in range/view of the Griffon next to my S&M to land Primal on it, FEATS, then repositions away. The two griffons on my left advance and position themselves to remove the contesting Dread Rots in that zone, & despite a few tough rolls they do so. Synergy to Three.

The Primaled Warpwolf on my left charges a Hollowman effected by Doppler Bark and kills it dead. This triggers a chain of successful berserk attacks to create an uncontested zone for my opponent, on my left. The Bellows Crew runs over to capture that zone. The Wayfarer on my left advances and is in range to land a Hunters-Mark on my objective.

Next is to clear up my right zone. Blake Charges in the second Primaled Warpwolf at the Dread Rot that earlier this turn received Hunter’s-Mark. A similar chain of Berserk & purchased attacks clear out my Witchwood, Gorehound, & nearby Rots. Reposition is utilized and…

My opponent has successfully executed his plan precisely up to this point. Nearly flawlessly might I note. It is at the end of this Reposition I opt to use my Shadow Arcana. Major mistake. I chose to place in near Kaya. Giving the turn back to my opponent, THIS is when I realize I handed the game to him even more, without even a sliver of hope to rebuttal remaining. Why? He still needed to advance his Griffon already in my right zone which is well within 8″ of Wanderer and Warrior Models (Smaller Bases) to clear the remaining contestants. Had I not been tunnel visioned and instead been observing what else still had to move, I could at the very least earned myself one additional turn for a last ditch effort..by placing the Shadow somewhere in the Zone to contest.

I mis-time/mis-use/mis-place my Shadow Arcana. Any glimmer of hope is gone 100% at this point and im even more frustrated with myself, which is obvious to Blake. The final nail in the coffin is placed & hit on the head. The front & center Griffon next to my S&M Charges my objective (Hunters-Marked) and one shots it (Primal+Synergy) and the turn is passed. Circle reach 5-0 CP and the game ends with hand shakes exchanged.

Post-Game Thoughts:

Talking things out with Blake afterwards I apologized for any emotions I showed and we went over my mistakes. First, was bringing the Wanderer. He fully expected Dreamer, and I fully expected an assassination. I saw Griffons and mistook Blakes list for previous matches with Una2. This is why I had “must avoid assassination” in my head. While Kaya3 is fully capable of it, this was NOT his game plan coming into the match. Secondly I feel bunching up my units on the left in attempts of boxing in his Griffons was also a terrible decision. It just made is easier for his beasts to eliminate everything. Thirdly was the mis-timing and ultimately mis-placement of my Shadow to do a last ditch effort contention.

We talked out what would have happened if I had contested with my Arcana, and we agreed that with good dice rolls, Kaya3 camping 3 Fury was killable (yet not guaranteed) had the game gone one more turn.

Final Thoughts for this entry…

I need to take more time making more safer decisions. I was trying to pace the first two turns with my opponent (knowing I would take more time moving my models than he would.) Moving forward I want to make more logical decisions during list selections, and game executions. Even if I time myself, I feel that in the long run…getting 2-3 solid turns in then losing to time, would be more valuable than careless game play. Lastly, while its not an issue (that im aware of,) I do want to work on curbing my emotions. Casual or in Tournament settings, losing isnt fully enjoyable and it can definitely irk even the best of us.

Speaking of that, Jaden Wind Iwaasa (of Druid’s Dice,) & the Line of Sight Podcast crew recently came out with a very informative episode that goes over emotional responses in gaming. Check it out here: Emotional Response in Gaming I personally feel it can be a ‘game changer’ in its own right, with helpful advice and perspectives from the cast & guest Tim Banky!

Thanks again everyone. Id truly love to hear your thoughts, constructive criticism, or opinions on this or anything else on my page. Take care and until next time!

-Nick