Journeyman League - the Butcher

A few days ago, I posted that my gaming group (small though it is) has started a Journeyman League. This was to get us old veterans into checking out a new army and, hopefully, bring in some new players. We did get one new player (he played back in Mk I), and we have two newer players that are restarting their learning experience from the bottom.

One of the perks of the being a veteran in the group, and to provide a little more variety, is that a veteran can run two armies - one from each of the systems. So, in this article, I'd like to run through the Journeyman progression for my Butcher list.

First, to review, our modified Journeyman rules are as follows:
1) A player may start using any prime warcaster/warlock (which means they have a '1' next to their name). You must start with a 0-point army, and must spend enough points to be within 4 points of each point level.
2) Character warjacks/warbeasts are not allowed in the first week. However, provided you have the points, you may add them at any point increase.
3) Every two weeks, the army will increase in points by 15 points. The first increase in points is still battlegroup only (only warjacks/warbeasts).
4) Points will not be scored, as participation is encouraged more as we attempt to add new players. In future JML's, we will revisit scoring.
5) All other rules for the JML are followed.

Before I continue, I have to make a confession - this list hurt my wargamer soul when I purchased the battlegroup. I have always stated I would never own, let alone play, the Butcher - any version of him. I really dislike him in the fluff, and feel he should be put down like a rabid dog. It also doesn't help that Butcher3 has murdered me in many a fashion, multiple times. However, the Butcher is right down my wife's play style - run forward and apply axe-to-face as hard and as often as necessary, and then do it some more. So, when getting her excited about the JML, I tried to talk her out of playing her Cryx and play the Butcher instead. She didn't, though she did change warcasters from Deneghra1 to Skarre1. I had spent so much time talking about the benefits of Butcher, and spent so much energy trying to get her invested in him, that I just couldn't allow him not to be played in the JML. So, I bought him - and have played one game with him. And I'm sad to say, he was a blast! (Shh - not so loud!) So now, I admit to feelings of guilty pleasure every time I think about him.

With that confession - may the gamer gods have mercy on my soul - I present my Butcher lists:

@ 0-points
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov [+28]
- Kodiak [13]
- Kodiak [13]

This battlegroup is made for one reason - Adam Thies. He's a good friend of mine who runs Butcher3 very well, and I've seen the effectiveness of the Kodiak. Heavy Boiler for extra movement, Vent Steam to clear infantry and make clouds, and Chain Attack: Grab & Smash for free power attacks make this warjack a bargain for 13 points. Add in MAT 7 and P+S 16 fists and you have a powerful melee threat. And with natural Pathfinder, he can come from unexpected angles. That's why I take two (that, and so I can play 2 points down).

@ 15-points
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov [+28]
- Ruin [17]
- Kodiak [13]
- Kodiak [13]

So what to add to the battlegroup to make it better, you ask? RUIN! (hint - that's why I played two points down last week ;-) ) Butcher's character warjack is a beast, a bigger beast than Beast09 (ok, that was bad - it sounded better in my head). Sacred Ward prevents enemy spells being cast on him, Soul Taker lets him have FIVE soul tokens (allowing him to negate spells or trade for focus), and his Bond to Butcher gives him Relentless Charge (so more Pathfinder and extra movement for the "slow" Khador warjacks). His MAT 8 (yes, you read that right) allows you to accurately hit with the fist (the same fist as a regular Kodiak) and the black iron mace (a wicked cool P+S 18 reach weapon that Dispels!). All-in-all, a fitting addition to the Butcher's battlegroup.

@ 30-points
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov [+28]
- Ruin [17]
- Kodiak [13]
- Kodiak [13]
Man-o-War Shocktroopers [10]
- MoW Shocktrooper Officer [4]

I thought long and hard at this point level, as it would change my list drastically. This is because at first glance, I wanted to run Jaws of the Wolf. Eight Khador heavies (which I have!) could really put the damper on an opponent. But ... I decided not to for two reasons: 1) the JML is supposed to be fun, and I don't think anybody can have fun facing eight Khador heavies and 2) I love the Man-o-Wars, and was ecstatic when their theme force dropped. So, I decided to run Armored Corps (eventually) and started with the largest number of Man-o-Wars I could take at a 15-point increase.

@ 45-points
Armored Corps theme
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov [+28]
- Ruin [17]
- Kodiak [13]
- Kodiak [13]
Man-o-War Kovnik [0]
Man-o-War Drakhun [9]
Man-o-War Shocktroopers [16]
- MoW Shocktrooper Officer [4]

Ok, now that I have the basic Man-o-Wars I'm going to run in this list, let's examine each of them - and realize why I like them so much!
- Man-o-War Shocktroopers (and their Officer): MAT 7, ARM 17 (that climbs to ARM 21 with Shield Wall), P+S 14, RNG 2 halberds. That sums up these guys fairly well. They even have Combined Melee for the really hard targets. With eight wound boxes (more than almost any other heavy infantry), they have 48 wounds in the unit (counting the Officer). Speaking of the Officer, he's got +1 MAT and +1 POW on his axe (which also has Critical Freeze). But what really makes him shine is what he does - Granted: Assault lets you USE those shield cannons now (and let's be honest, who doesn't like POW 14 guns); Tactics: Steady and Tactics: Sturdy means they aren't going anywhere they don't want to. The really cool one there is Sturdy - no pushing these big guys around!
- Man-o-War Kovnik - He's basically another Man-o-War, with one MAJOR difference - Desperate Pace. Being able to make the incredibly slow Man-o-Wars essentially SPD 6 (yeah, I know, it's not really the same thing, but close enough) gets the hard hitting powerhouses up the field faster, and makes it much harder to jam them out of scenario.
- Man-o-War Drakhun - A light warjack on a horse!! That's basically what this guy is, with 18 boxes (between mounted and dismounted versions). And his MAT 8, P+S 14 weaponmaster blade will do some serious damage to opponent's infantry (and even 'jacks). Too bad he only gets one attack :-/ Beyond that, he's also ARM 20 (due to his shield) and Steady as long as he's mounted. With SPD 7, he's also going to get where he needs to quickly, along with Countercharge to provide an extra threat.

@ 60-points
Armored Corps theme
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov [+28]
- Ruin [17]
- Kodiak [13]
- Kodiak [13]
Man-o-War Kovnik [0]
Man-o-War Drakhun [9]
Man-o-War Shocktroopers [16]
- MoW Shocktrooper Officer [0]
Man-o-War Shocktroopers [16]
- MoW Shocktrooper Officer [4]

Simple addition this point level - add in another full unit of Shocktroopers with their Officer. The Officer is free because of the theme :-)

@ 75-points
Armored Corps theme
Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov [+28]
- Ruin [17]
- Kodiak [13]
- Kodiak [13]
Man-o-War Kovnik [0]
Man-o-War Kovnik [0]
Man-o-War Drakhun [9]
Man-o-War Drakhun [9]
Man-o-War Shocktroopers [16]
- MoW Shocktrooper Officer [4]
Man-o-War Shocktroopers [16]
- MoW Shocktrooper Officer [4]

And finally, adding another Kovnik and another Drakhun. This gives me a Kovnik for each unit and a Drakhun for each flank (or maybe I run them together, for mutual support - options!).

There's the list, and I think it will be a very tough nut to crack. Shield Wall Shocktroopers are ARM 21, Drakhuns and warjacks are ARM 20, the Butcher and the Kovniks are ARM 18. All have at least 8 boxes, making the whole army extremely good vs. attrition, and with the speed buff from the Kovniks can get upfield fast enough not get pushed out on scenario. It's not really geared towards assassination, but Butcher is always an assassination threat. I think it's got a lot going for it!

Thanks for reading, and feel free to post any comments you may have!

Battle Report #6: Khador (Sorscha) vs Cryx (Deneghra)

Second game with my wife, this time with a better understanding of just how scary Deneghra can be, especially in small games. However, I don't think I will give as much help to my wife, so maybe I can do a little better ;)

Same lists as the first game:
Sorscha
- Destroyer
- Destroyer

Deneghra
- Twitch (Slayer)
- Spew (Defile)
- Gimpy (Deathripper)
- Clank (Deathripper)

The rolloff for first turn was won by me, and I elected to go first.

Khador - Turn 1
In retrospect, I probably should have went second. :/ The Destroyers move on, along with Sorscha. Focus is allocated, but not used. Everybody simply walks forward. Mainly because I am trying to stay as far from Deneghra as possible, until I'm ready to put the smackdown on. Sorscha does cast Wind Rush for +2 DEF.

Cryx - Turn 1
Cryx moves on the board on the left side, moving halfway up the board thanks to how fast they are. Holy crap! Moving 7" on and then running 14" is really huge when the board is only 30" wide. Gimpy runs into the center woods, with Spew moving in behind him (but out of the woods). Clank ran up the left side, approaching the flag. Twitch advanced to 10" away from my Destroyer. Deneghra walked up, and arced a couple boosted Venoms onto Sorscha and the Destroyer, for no real damage.

No picture of this turn.

Khador - Turn 2
So, I kept out of Deneghra's feat range, which was nice, and now lets kill some 'jacks. First, I made a big mistake here. I forgot about Boundless Charge. I knew that Twitch was 10" away, and assumed I wouldn't be able to get to him because I was only SPD 4. However, Boundless Charge gives +2" of movement on the charge, so I could have gotten to him. Then a couple of whacks with my axe and I could have easily dropped the heavy.

Instead, Sorscha hit Gimpy with a boosted Freezing Grip, making the little guy Stationary (and DEF5). The Destroyers then sat still and aimed at him, wanting to remove the arc node. The two shots left Gimpy on only 3 boxes, with cortex and movement out. Not exactly the result I was looking for.

Cryx - Turn 2
This is where my wife completely surprised me. Rather than advancing or charging everything into my 'jacks, she repositioned. Clank moved into base with the flag on the left. Gimpy moved out of the woods to the right, and Spew ran to base the flag on the right. Deneghra moved around the woods, used her Feat, and cast Scourge onto the Destroyer next to Sorscha, knocking them both down. She then hits Sorscha with Crippling Grasp.

Twitch then charged into the Destroyer and tried to whack him. It didn't go well. :)

No picture of this turn, again.

Score 0-2
Advantage Cryx

Khador - Turn 3
Hmm, that's not good. I didn't expect her to go for scenario. I need to contest the right flag, or she's going to win by moving Deneghra into base contact (and losing on scenario in a Rumble would be embarrassing). So the right hand Destroyer moves up 2" (his new speed *sigh*) to be (just barely) within 4" and shoots into the cluster of 'jacks and Deneghra. He kills Gimpy, knocks out the head and cortex of Spew, and puts a couple damage boxes onto Deneghra (she ignores five of it, though).

Sorscha stands up, feats, and moves to the right a little, to support that Destroyer. The left Destroyer stands up and prepares to wale on Twitch - but not killing him!! Three focus, and I left Twitch on two boxes. *shakes head*
Cryx should have scored another point, but we spaced it.

Score: 0-2 (should be 0-3)
Advantage Cryx

Cryx - Turn 3
She knows she's got me on the ropes, so upkeeps Crippling Grasp, and shakes Stationary on herself and her 'jacks (sitting on 1 focus), and runs through the forest to the left side flag (away from all my stuff), basing the flag. Clank then charges the Destroyer, scratching his paint, and Twitch does some more scratching.

Spew limps forward and blocks out the right-hand Destroyer. Cryx scores two points.

Score: 0-4 (should be 0-5)
Advantage Cryx

Khador - Turn 4
Only one chance to win - assassination. Destroyer backs up, taking two free strikes. Twitch does nothing (both his arms are crippled) but Clank hits. Sadly, he does the perfect amount of damage to disable the Destroyer's gun :( So boosting to hit only gives me two dice, and I miss. Scatter comes back and to the side forever and a day, so nothing. Sorscha Wind Rushes (getting close in melee range of Twitch), casts Boundless Charge (because Crippling Grasp stole 2" SPD), and charges Deneghra (Twitch missed the free strike on one die). Both Sorscha and Deneghra are now bssing the flag. I need to boost to hit, though (Crippling Grasp again) and ... miss. Buy an attack and pray ... and hit! Wahoo - but I only do five damage, which Deneghra voids with her last focus. :(

No picture this turn...

Score 1-4
Advantage Cryx

Cryx - Turn 4
She just smiles, and wins on scenario 1-6. Actually, she won the previous round 0-5, but oh well.

The happy victor

Time for a rematch, again, but I've really got to find a way to defeat Deneghra or my wife is going to roll all over me. Honestly, I don't even have any real take-aways except fighting Deneghra sucks...

Battle Report #5: Khador (Sorscha) vs Cryx (Deneghra)

As stated earlier, I'm starting a slow-grow, teaching "league" with my wife, Melissa. We have both of our battle boxes painted, and were finally able to get some games in last week.

Both of our battle boxes were chosen based on multiple criteria, but the main was that I already owned the battle boxes. After that, Melissa wanted the opportunity to build her own battle box, and paint her army. Since Khador is my second army (after Minions), I finished building and magnetizing the Khador battle box (by the way, in case you missed the earlier posts, these are Mk II battle boxes) to match against Melissa's Cryx. However, there was too large of a discrepancy in points for the standard battle group, so it was changed slightly.

My army:
Kommander Sorscha [+29]
- Destroyer [14]
- Destroyer [14]

Melissa's army:
War Witch Deneghra [+28]
- Clank - Deathripper [6]
- Gimpy - Deathripper [6]
- Spew - Defiler [8]
- Twitch - Slayer [10]

A quick addition shows Khador is at -1, and Cryx is at +2. :) But, I'm not worried - I'm an experienced Warmachine player and Melissa is just a beginner. ;)

First, since we were playing such small games, we were using the Rumble rules. For those who have never played, the rules for a Rumble game are as follows:
- The board is 30x30
- Armies are not deployed on the board at the beginning of the game.
- When deploying, models are moved onto the board their speed. Once all a player's models have been moved on, that player's first turn starts.

Our board was set up, with a simple two flag (control for 1 CP, dominate for 2 CP) scenario, though it would be highly unlikely that the scenario would come into play. Also, we were playing a fairly simple ruleset (no Advanced Rules or anything funky), giving my wife an opportunity to get her feet wet without lots of things to remember.

Khador - Turn One:
Cryx won the roll-off, and she decided to go second. So, Khador moved onto the board centrally, and then ran both 'jacks towards the flags (trying to get into good firing locations). Sorscha cast Wind Rush, and then advanced into the woods. With no targets, that was my turn.

Cryx - Turn One:
First, let me say Cryx are fast. Really fast! That was really a surprise for me. After Melissa moved her army onto the field 7" (everything but the Slayer anyway), we discussed strategy and possible avenues of attack. One of the things that drew this faction to my wife was that it was made up of very fast, hard hitting, but fragile, components. She really digs the glass cannon concept.

So, after discussing possible first turns, she selects her favorite scenario and starts. First, she moves Clank to the edge of the hill, 8" from Sorscha. Next, she moves Gimpy up in front of Deneghra to provide some protection. Deneghra then moves up and Feats. She then attempts to arc a boosted Parasite into Sorscha (from Clank) but misses. However, her feat catches my whole army (all three models), which really hurts. Spew advances and attempts to spray Sorscha, catching the Destroyer as well. She doesn't roll well, missing the boosted shot into Sorscha, but it does catch the Destroyer (no damage, but it is now Corroded). Then, Twitch charges Sorscha. The monster misses his charge attack, but does get two hits on her, so Sorscha uses focus to blunt them slightly and is sitting on about half health.

My wife showing her happy face!

Khador - Turn Two:
Hmm, that's a little not nice. -2 to every stat, no charges, runs, or slams makes this turn difficult. And I thought SPD 4 warjacks were slow - try SPD 2! And then I see that Sorscha's feat requires LOS (I didn't know that before). So rather than Feating and then moving, she has to move first to catch Deneghra.

Realizing this, Sorscha advances around Twitch, engaging Spew as well, and Feats. This catches the board, making all enemies stationary. She then proceeds to ... roll really horribly, unable to even scratch the Slayer on three of her seven attacks. When she finishes, Twitch is still on several boxes, with only its movement out (which didn't help me much, as it was still stationary).

So, after some measuring and weighing my options, I sent the Destroyer into Twitch (Twitch was barely under 3" away). He killed it in one swing (Melissa had to leave him lying there for one round :) ). The other Destroyer moved up slightly and dropped a shot onto Gimpy, in front of Deneghra. One thing noted AFTER our games were played was that Deneghra has Stealth - she didn't need the protection of Gimpy, and it actually made her more vulnerable. Gimpy loses everything but Cortex, and Deneghra loses a few boxes.

Cryx - Turn Two:
I didn't cast Wind Rush the previous turn (I needed all the focus to smack Twitch) - big mistake! After talking some more about the strategy, Melissa shook stationary from Clank and Deneghra. Deneghra then activated and sent a boosted Scourge into Sorscha. She wasn't in the forest (not completely in, my mistake!) and was no longer engaged/engaging Spew (he was stationary, so can't be engaged) so she was only DEF 16! Serious mistakes on my part, I was expecting her to be DEF 20+. Scourge hit, did a couple damage, but more importantly knocked her down.

Clank walks forward, autohits because she's knocked down, does damage, buys an attack (from the Power Up focus) and kills Sorscha.

The happy victor!

Cryx Victory!!

Well, that was a little ... surprising. Yes, my wife had help discussing strategy - which actually helped me as well. As the game progressed and we talked about various moves, I saw my mistakes. Hopefully, this will help me alleviate them in the future (and help her become a better player, too)!

Lessons learned:
- Deneghra is brutal in small games. Yes, she's good regardless, but in the close quarters of Rumble and the few models to mitigate her Feat, she is crazy, nasty effective.
- Khador is a new army for me in Mk III - quit assuming I know how everything works because I played them in Mk II (a little). Read the cards, pay attention to detail, and stop with the tunnel vision!
- Protect your warcaster! I kept pointing this out to Melissa, wanting her to understand this important concept, and then completely ignored it for myself. DUMB!

Thanks for reading!

Khador Journeyman League

I recently (actually, it's been a month, holy cow!) talked my wife into playing Warmachine with me. After a lot of discussion over armies, models, and aesthetics, she decided she wanted to play Cryx (I think mostly because I had a MkII Battlebox unassembled at home). Since trying to teach two systems to her would be overwhelming, I decided I would play my Khador against her.

I then discovered I had married a gaming snob. She won't play with unpainted miniatures! She also won't play against unpainted miniatures! Oh, man - that means I actually have to paint my Khador! (Man, that's a lot of excitement there) She wanted to learn the complete hobby process, and I think she wanted me to pick up my brush because I've been missing it for a while (shaky hands to not make for perfect miniatures). So, as we start on this journey, I paint my Khador.

First, the scheme. I don't like all red armies, so I spent a lot of time thinking of what scheme I wanted my Khador to be. I kept coming back to the 5th Border Legion. So, rather than fight it, gave in and picked that scheme!

In another post, as I paint more of these guys, I will discuss the colors used to paint my Khador. For now, just pictures!

Since my wife was using Cryx's MkII Battlebox, I thought I would use Khador's MkII Battlebox. However, she has a distinct advantage, as the MkIII points puts her way ahead. Oh, well.

Warcaster: Kommander Sorscha

Heavy warjack: Destroyer (they call him Thumper!)

Heavy warjack: Destroyer (Boom-shakka)

And a group shot of her battle group (yes, I do realize it's not quite the MkII box, but it's close enough):

And finally, just because I'm that kind of guy, I've magnetized both of the heavy 'jacks! That's right, I can run them as Juggernauts or Destroyers (or Decimators, when I get the bits) :)

On another front, when we jump up to 25 points, each of us will be adding our 'casters Character Warjack (in my case, Beast09) and a solo. I already had Beast09 - painted even! This was done as a commission a couple years ago, and the model is a conversion onto the plastic chassis. The only part of this model I did was the base!

Thanks for reading, and expect battle reports soon!