Battle Report 93: The Harbinger of Menoth (Vessel CID) vs. Absylonia 2 (Children of the Dragon)

Prologue:

One of the main reasons I originally bought into Menoth's fluff, the Harbinger of Menoth saw some drastic changes between Mark 2 and Mark 3, fading out of the competitive scene and becoming more or less universally bemoaned.

The recent Vessel of Judgement CID changes have brought her back into the fore of my interest when it comes to Warmachine, as Martyrdom + Bastions + Healing all the Bastions sounds pretty good to me.


My pairing was a Harbinger list paired with Vindictus in the Exemplar theme, and my opponent had Rhyas and Absylonia 2 Shredder Spam.

I didn't even really pay attention, as I was playing Harbinger into anything not named Lylyth 3.


I don't think this list is optimized yet, but it's a decent place to start.

The Harbinger of Menoth
- Heirophant
- Devout
- Vigilant
- Templar

Punch Monk!
Vassal Mechanik x2
Rhuper Carvolo, Piper of Ord

Vessel of Judgement

Bastions (proxied by Cinerators)
Bastions (proxied by Blood Pack)
Min Choir

vs.

Absylonia 2 (Children of the Dragon)
- Proteus
- Protector
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder
- Shredder

Spell Martyr x2
Nyss Warlord x2 (Proxied by Deathstalkers)

Blackfrost Shard


Umm...yeah...that's a lot of Shredders. I've seen 3-4 of the little buggers kill heavies under Aby 2 with Kiss of Lylyss up.

We rolled up Spread the Net for our Scenario, and I ended up going first.

I forgot to take a picture of all of my deployment, so basically imagine Harbinger, Bastions, Templar, etc. back 9 ish inches.

Menoth turn 1:

Easy things first, Shifting Sands Stance on the Punch Monk and move him up. The idea is to move him into the left zone and keep him there with Martyrdom and Stance (Spoiler, I forget to move into Martyrdom range like...every turn).

Harbinger casts Crusaders Call and charges into the trench.

Everything else Charges or runs, but most things charge since speed four models get 1 extra inch out of a charge with Call up.

Legion turn 1:

Shredders all run (surprise?).

Absylonia puts Bracer on Proteus and charges up.

The Blackfrost Shard and other solos make a beeline for the left zone, with a couple of Shredders in tow.

Menoth turn 2:

Harbinger can actually have a useful feat turn! I allocate nothing.

Bastions run up, and the Vessel advances. Between its two shots, it kills two Shredders and nearly kills a third. Rolls were a touch low. It takes about 10 damage and gets healed back up to 5 off by the Mechaniks.

The Tharn Bastions run up and screen Harbinger.

The Harbinger activates, moves up, camps a bunch and pops her Feat.

Everything else moves to make it basically impossible for Proteus to get to her without two bastions dying, which isn't happening thanks to Martyrdom.

The Choir sings Shielding (No Spells), and the Punch Monk moves into the Left Zone.

Legion turn 2: 

My opponent surprises me and commits five Shredders to jam my lines up, and my feat leaves all of them on 5-6 boxes. Surprisingly, Bastions go to DEF 15 against charges from living models (11 base, set defense, and Awe) when they're with Harbinger, so none of his charge attacks hit.

Aby casts Psycho Surgery and gets onto her flag, with Proteus and friends in front of her.

My opponent makes a wall of dudes around my Punch Monk, and puts five or six attacks into it, but in vain.

My opponent scores a point.

Score 0-1

Advantage Legion

Menoth turn 3:

Once again, no allocation.

The Vessel moves up, uses Eruption of Faith to destroy two Shredders in front off the Bastions. It then zaps another Shredder and misses an engaged Shredder.

Mechaniks heal it up to about 7 off.

The right hand Bastions go ham, killing four Shredders between them. At dice -2 and four dice damage, they pretty much one-shot the lesser beasts.

My Templar goes in and unjams the Left Unit, and Harbinger goes, casting Guided Hand on them - I thought I was going to be able to clear the zone, but my opponent points out to me that he has a Blackfrost dude in as well.

The left Bastions kill three more Shredders.

The Punch Monk does Shifting Sands Stance and whacks the Shredder next to him. In Hindsight, I should have killed the two Spell Martyrs so that I could move away if I was missed next turn.

I was luckily contesting the flag with a Bastion, so no points are scored.

Score 0-1

Advantage Legion

Legion turn 3:

Aby charges and kills the right hand Bastion, Feats, and Repositions. 

Proteus and friends kill the rest of the Bastions (Grievous Wounds, it's a thing) in that zone. 

Once more the Punch Monk fails to die. 

No points once again. 

Score 0-1

Advantage Legion 

Menoth turn 4:

I start things off with a Harmonious Exaltation. The Harbinger Purifications off Buckler and then the Vessel blasts Proteus for about 15 damage. 

Three charging Bastions finish the heavy off, kill a Shredder, and ding up the Protector. 

Punch Monk whiffs all of his attacks on the Shredder on his side, and a Vigilant caps the right zone for me. 

Score 1-1

Tie!

Legion turn 4:

One of the Warlords connects with my Punch Monk, and Decapitation prevents Tough. 

Aby runs away, and we both score a point. 

Look how scared she is...that's her on the bottom right. 

Score 2-2

Tie!

Menoth turn 5:

The Protector is about a third dead, and I figure a bunch of charging Weaponmasters should be able to take it down. I had forgotten that Children of the Dragon gives Nephilim Unyielding though, so ARM 20 was a bit of a shock. 

I waffle about a bit, and then send the Bastions in. They...almost all miss. 

The Templar walks up and... does a couple of damage. 

The Vessel moves up and draws LOS to the Warlord through the Stealthed up Blackfrost Shard, but it misses both of its boosted shots. The Healing Miracle goes up, and the Mechaniks go repair it up to about five boxes. 

Harbinger moves up away from Absylonia, and we both score again. 

Score 3-3

Tie!

Legion turn 5:

He tosses away a member of the Shard to kill a choir member and tie me up. The Protector flails ineffectually at a Bastion. Absylonia scoots around. 

Both Warlords pile in behind the house, and once more we both Score. 

Score 4-4

Tie!

Menoth turn 6:

I realize here that if I don't decisively take the lead here, my opponent is going to basically be able to take me point for point and then potentially contest the 7th turn to win.

With that in mind, I allocate three to the Templar and run the Choir leader to contest.

The Vessel blasts the Shard member off the table and heals up. Harbinger moves away from Absylonia. Once again, all of the Bastions either miss or bounce off the Protector, as does the Templar. My opponent and I are laughing hysterically about the thing surviving at this point.

I score and my opponent does not.

Score 5-4

Advantage Menoth! (Almost typed Circle out there)

Legion turn 6:

Absylonia runs to her flag. Whoops...The zone on the left gets cleared and the Shredder that's been controlling it all game moves up a bit. 

He scores two and I score 1. 

Score 6-6

Tie!

Menoth turn 7:

Last turn!

I run Harbinger to HER flag. I finally kill the Protector, and I run Bastions to make it impossible to contest my flag.

I run a choir boy to contest the flag and another into the zone, while my overloaded Devout kills the Spell Martyr in one shot.

I score two points.

Score 8-6 

Advantage Menoth!

Legion turn 7:

He cannot contest, but he can make me do push ups and sit ups for our Warmachine Fight Club. 

Both Choir die, as does the Devout, and then I score two more points to his one and the game ends. 

Score 10-7

Victory for the Menite Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

In a slow, attrition fight into an army with literally no guns, Harbinger and the Vessel are amazing!

I feel like the Vessel is extremely potent right now, which is great. I'm not sure if it's too strong, it definitely could be slightly too powerful, but it feels meaningful, impactful, and significant - which it should for 20 points. 

Bastions are too squishy, getting one-shotted by a LOT of stuff - only Martyrdom really kept them in this fight. 

The Scenario felt at first absurdly dead and then around turn six became absurdly important - I'm not sure if that is intended or not but while I was comfortably ahead on attrition, I could have lost this game if I had passively just let the game go where it was going. 

Overall, a very interesting game. 

Thanks for reading :)

Battle Engine CID Week 3: Celestial Fulcrum

A quick touch on the latest changes to our (extremely pretty) battle engine. 

The original CID Fulcrum gained the following:

+10 boxes (30 total)

Fury Vault (Your warlock can give it fury during the Warlock's activation, to a max of three)

Quieting the Stones - able to leach Fury from Friendly Faction construct warbeasts within 5".

Veteren Leader [Blackclad] - Blackclad models within 10 inches of this model get +1 to hit. 

It also lost Fury Generator, so it no longer creates Fury every turn to supplement what it pulls from Wolds. 

This week, the CID packet gave us the following changes:

Reduce cost from 19 to 18. 

Reduce boxes by 2 to a total of 28. 

Lose Fury Vault. 

I was all onboard with the changes until I saw the last one. The Fulcrum was a bit pricey, fitting it into lists with an odd points cost in Circle is hard since we have access to a single one point model, so seeing it go down to 18 points is nice. 

I can also understand the drop in boxes - the Fulcrum is immune to electricity (Cygnar Shooting) Fire (Menoth and Legion Shooting) and Corrosion (Cryx Shooting), and so it's already fairly hard to kill at range. 

Losing Fury Vault....well that might be a deal breaker. 

I'm going to be echoing some of the thoughts Dan Y. posted on the CID forum, since he raises several valid points. There will be some expansion with my own ideas, but the framework is his.

In order to fuel the Fulcrum, you were already playing two Woldwyrds, making it a 37 point module - that's the same point cost as a Woldwrath. 

Why Woldwyrds? Well let's take a look at our other options. 

Ranged:

Woldwrath - this is honestly one of the better choices to run with the Fulcrum - it can fully fuel the Battle Engine by itself, doesn't want to commit to the fight too early, and between the two of them you can block LOS to your Warlock easily. 

That being said, a Woldwrath and a Fulcrum is now 55 points, which is well over half of your list, and while it is a solid gunline (two boostable POW 15s, a boostable POW 14, and a boostable POW 12), the Fulcrum needs to be quite a bit closer to the fight than the Woldwrath does in order to utilize its guns, meaning you might be exposing your colossal earlier than you would normally want to. 

Woldwatcher - inferior to the Woldwyrd in every way except surviveability, I never even consider this model when building lists. It has no role, it serves no function, and it cannot do enough damage to justify including it. 

Melee:

Megalith - this is probably the next best escort for the Fulcrum after Woldywrds. He almost always has a spell to cast, is hardy, fuels the Fulcrum alone, and is just all around a solid piece. 

He's also 20 points, bringing this module to 38 points now, or again, the cost of a colossal. 

Woldwarden - the budget and seriously inferior version of Megalith, this guy is not a terrible choice for some lists, but at Fury 3 and PS 16, he's not denting most heavies, and at Mat 6 with no Mat buff, he's not killing infantry en masse either. Add to that his inability to fuel the Fulcrum should he commit to a melee target some distance away and I find myself shying away from this guy. 

Woldguardian - I like this guy least of all. He contributes nothing to the Fulcrum's damage output until very late game, is expensive, has low melee damage output, and, like all of the other melee options cannot fuel the Fulcrum if he goes in to the melee fight.

Let's recap - outside of the Woldwyrd, we have a couple of decent options in Megalith (can't be taken in theme with most casters) and the Woldwrath. 

Melee options aren't good because, simply put, they're in there to get in melee, which will often leave them far out of the way from where the Fulcrum wants to be in order to pull fury. 

This doesn't even account for the fact that outside of the Wrath, Wyrd, and Megalith, the Wolds are bad beast options - expensive and pillow-fisted. 

Okay...soo.....?

Apart from this, the fact that you have to take other (expensive) models in order for the Fulcrum to do anything is a problem. None of the other battle engines have such stringent requirements to be effective. 

In Skorne, Beast Handlers are a small points investment and are almost always in the list anyway. 

Menoth mechaniks are 1 point a piece. 

None of the other engines that I can think of require any support at all. 

In order to make the Fulcrum effective, you must now bring an additional (minimum) of 16 points for a Woldwarden to tail it around all game, making our battle engine actually a 34 point model. 

Thirty. Four. Points. 

Now I know that the default is going to be a Fulcrum and Two Wyrds (37 points guys), but that is a module that has a relatively short threat range for a ranged package - heck, Menoth Reckoners have the same ranged threat as a Woldwyrd - and is completely reliant on the Spirit boxes of two ARM 16 lights be intact. 

This package is only one Woldwyrd nerf away from being borderline unplayable, as many of the Fulcrum's native weaknesses (no way to mitigate RAT outside of aiming or getting crit freeze and short range guns) are made up for by its ability to boost. 

Suggestions:

Give it back Fury Vault - this is my preferred as it allows it to be taken with many Warlocks who wouldn't otherwise. 

Reduce the point cost and give it back Fury Generator. 

Increase the range of Quiet the Stones from 5 inches to 10 inches - I don't like this one as much because it still makes the Fulcrum less and less useful as the game goes on AND keeps it completely reliant on bringing almost twenty points of other models with it. 

I'm going to hopefully get a couple of playtest games in with the current rules this weekend, but first impressions lead me to believe that this iteration of the Fulcrum is probably worse than it's pre- CID rules. 

Hobby Time: Painting Aspect Markers

Prologue:

A couple of months ago I wrote up a review for the Broken Egg Games Aspect Markers (Which you can read here if you are so inclined, and you can purchase these tokens here if you want to follow along at home), and included a photo at the end with my personal set of painted ones.

I got a LOT of questions regarding how I had done them, but since I was leaving for the ATC the next morning, I just said that I would be writing up a "how to" guide shortly and left it at that.

To my shame, I completely forgot, and so I am writing this up to rectify that. To all of my readers who messaged or commented asking for the guide, I am sorry this took so long. Hopefully it was worth the wait!

I am using exclusively P3 paints and inks for this project, with one exception which will be noted when it comes up.

Body:

Step 1:

Don't bother priming these. Apply a layer of red ink to the recesses of the tokens.

Step 2:

Apply a thin layer of Sulfur Yellow to every raised area. Once it is completely dry, check for opacity - you may need a second layer.

 Step 3:

Blend Morrow White into the tip of each "flame" and also to various points on the letters. I used two brush blending for this.

Already you can see the beginnings of fire-like effects after just one highlight.

Step 4:

Apply a thin glaze of Citadel Troll Slayer Orange to the farthest edges from the Morrow White. I recommend a couple of thin glazes accompanied by some blending for best results.

(A Glaze is a very thin paint, similar to a wash but not as wet - apply it in thin layers and blend the edge with a clean, wet brush to achieve this look)

Step 5:

Use Khador Red Base in a very thin glaze or two over about half of the area where Troll Slayer Orange went.

You may also find it necessary to blend some of the Sulfur Yellow back in if you got a little too enthusiastic with the shade colors.

Just like that, you're done!

Mind:

Step 1:

Again, don't bother priming these! The fifth one at the top is an example of a finished marker.

Apply a Blue Ink to the recesses of each token.

Step 2:

Apply thin layers of Arcane Blue to the raised areas until you have a nice, opaque coat. Should take about two goes.

Let the paint dry completely between each layer.

Again, the top right one is a finished token.

Step 3:

Blend Morrow White into the tips, just like with the Body tokens. The smoother your blend the better.

This should also be used to highlight the letters of "Mind".

Step 4:

Take a glaze of Cygnar Blue Base and apply it to the areas farthest from the White, and also on the letters.

I believe it took two thin glazes to get the saturation to where I was happy with it for these ones.

Spirit:

Step 1:

Don't prime them, and apply a Green Ink to the sunken areas. The far right token is a finished one for comparison.

Step 2:

Apply a couple of thin coats of Wurm Green to the raised areas. Again, you want a nice opaque coat, so apply multiple, thin layers, and let them dry between each one.

Step 3:

Blend Morrow White into the tips, as you did for the other two aspects. At the same time, add highlights to the letters with the white paint.

Step 4:

Take Gnarls Green and apply a few layers of thin glaze to the far edges of the "flames" and also to the letters of "Spirit" to make the words pop.

I recommend finishing these off with a Matte spray varnish to protect the paint.

Here are a couple of group shots - I spent far, far too long staring at these under the lamp before snapping out of the trance. The colors are just so pretty!

These techniques can be used on all kinds of wooden tokens, and are quite enjoyable too! It's nice to spend 10-15 minutes on something and have it be done rather than spending hours and hours on a model.

The added color really makes them pop on the table, and also makes them easier to pick out of my tokens bin.

Hopefully this was useful - sorry it took so long to get made!

Thanks for reading :)

Hobby Time: Patience, Practice, and Time

I had the unique opportunity today to paint up a model that I had previously painted, quite a few years ago.

This is perhaps not quite a unique event in itself, as I have cycled through every faction except Mercs at least twice now, but what made this experience special was 1) I painted this model four years ago, at the dawn of my Warmachine career and 2) I had good pictures of it.

That model was Mohsar, the Desertwalker, and I first painted him in the Summer of 2013 (Click to Enbiggen).

I picked up Mohsar again a few weeks ago, as he was the last Circle warlock that I did not own, but after assembling him, I dropped him into some battlefoam and let him sit there. 

With the Celestial Fulcrum CID happening right now, I was already thinking pretty hard about taking him out and painting him up so I could play with him, and then Dan had to go and win Kingdom Con with him, so out of the foam he came and onto the painting desk, leap frogging a commission and Kaya 2. 

I spent probably 8 hours on him, which I feel is about double the time I spent on the last one, but I also know a lot more now, and with knowledge comes the need to use it. 

I think we can all agree that this one looks a lot better (although he still needs basing, I know). Sure there are things I'd like to be getting better at (glow effects, the frustration!), but it is very gratifying to see progress between then and now.  

I was originally going to critique the two pieces and talk about what specifically makes the second one a better model than the first, but instead I think I'd just like to address a couple of specific things I have learned in the last four years.

By no means do I intend for this to be a preachy article, nor do I claim to have excessive authority on the subject. I am still learning, still struggling to be better, and always looking to improve.

1) Use good brushes and paints. 

I think I was still using Acrylic Canvas Paints for part of that first Mohsar, and it shows. The paint is gloppier, it's not smooth, and it looks messy. I was also using Hobby Lobby brushes, and that, while it probably doesn't show quite as stark, is also a problem. 

I highly recommend getting proper miniature painting paints, whether they be Vallejo, P3, or Citadel, or any of the other brands out there. These paints are designed with higher pigment levels in mind, and are much more suitable for painting detailed models than any other type of paint. 

A good paint brush ( I recommend Windsor and Newton Series 7 sizes 1 and 2 ) will last six to eight months depending on usage, and then spend another year or two as a very serviceable blending brush. 

An inferior brush will only last a few weeks of steady painting, and many will lose their point after just a few days. 

To those of you that say you cannot afford a nicer brush, I offer this argument. I buy one Windsor and Newton Size 1 and 2 every six months or so, for a total of $40 plus shipping per six month period, or about $90 a year.  

Were I to buy a new $5 Hobby Lobby brush whenever they ceased to be useful, I'd be getting a new one every week. About $5 a week, say 40 weeks of painting a year or so, and that's $200 a year. 

Quality tools are always worth the investment. 

2) Copy other people's work. 

I've been dabbling with the game Infinity by Corvus Belli, and their studio painter is a genius, absolutely phenomenal at Non-Metallic Metals and painting super fine detail. 

As I work through my models, I've been doing my best to copy him, and I've noticed that I am getting better as I do. Here is my attempt at a studio scheme Umbra Samaritan:

And here is the actual Studio Model:

Mine is definitely not as smooth, not as polished, and not even in the same league, but it's getting closer than I was beforehand and it is extremely gratifying to see myself improve. 

Ask people how they do things. Ask them to show you. Look at people who are better than you and try and copy what they are doing. Every great artist and musician builds their abilities on the backs of other people, don't limit yourself to what you can come up with on your own. 

3) Paint a lot, and paint lots of different things. 

I love, love, love painting cloth. It's my favorite thing to paint. I like trying to get the highlights in the right place, I enjoy how shadows play in it, I just love painting cloth. 

I hate painting metal, and I've had to force myself to learn how to do it over the last few years in order to keep the metallic parts of my models from looking like total and utter garbage compared to the rest of them. 

Paint models from lots of armies, paint models from lots of games. Try new techniques and practice them. Don't try them once, fail, and give up. Try it again, and again, and again. Give it 30 tries and then look back at your first one. There will definitely be improvement. 

I guess the long and short of this is here - don't get discouraged if you feel like you're not moving forward, because you probably are. It was quite a shock to look back at that 2013 Mohsar, because I hadn't thought I had really improved all that much since then. Keep at it :)

Battle Report 92: Mohsar, the Desertwalker vs. Malekus, the Burning Truth

Prologue:

Mohsar has been one of, if not the most, contentious warlock in the Circle arsenal for me.

My Circle Mentor Chandler absolutely loves this guy, and the lack of love in the Mark 3 transition is a big part of what drove him into the loving arms of Menoth.

One of the biggest proponents of this little loved Warlock, Dan Y., recently won Kingdom Con by playing a Mohsar/Wurmwood pairing that he has been advocating for for a very long time.

That, combined with the Celestial Fulcrum CID led me to spend my Saturday afternoon painting up the Desertwalker and then getting him on the table to face down the fires of Menoth.

I shamelessly stole Dan's list, and since I don't own Bloodweavers (yet), they were proxied by Reeves.


Mohsar
- Pureblood
- Pureblood
- Wyrd
- Wyrd
- Argus

Fulcrum

Gobber Chef

Wolves of Orboros
- CA
Bloodweavers

The idea is simple - the list shoots really hard, hits like a truck with Curse of Shadows when the Wolves get to go in, and has crazy assassination potential between Doppler Bark and Sands of Fate. 

Sunhammer and Mohsar's Feat keep Jack spam honest, and Curse of Shadows plus Woldwyrds is one of my favorite things to do in Circle.

This list is only going to get better with the changes to the Celestial Fulcrum, and it is a blast (albeit very tricky) to play.

I was playing into:

Malekus
- Heirophant
- Eye of Truth
- Guardian
- Reckoner
- Reckoner

Wrack
Wrack

Idrians
- CA
Choir
Rhoven and Co.

We rolled up Recon, and I won the roll off. I chose to go first, and away we went.

I made a mistake during deployment here - Mohsar should have been in the front with the front line of Wolves. 

My opponent put Prey on the Wolves, and away we went.

Circle turn 1:

Stuff basically ran.

Both Purebloods warped for Ghostly and ran up. The Wolves ran, the Wyrds ran. Mohsar moved up and cast Mirage on the Fulcrum, Sunhammer on himself, and then I decided he needed to be up closer to the fight and cast Sands of Fate. 

Unfortunately, I had not accounted for this when I was doing my Fury management earlier in the turn, and I was going to be a Fury short next turn.

I also got this sweet cinematic shot of Mohsar and the Wolves - I really need to repaint those suckers.

Menoth turn 1:

I have carefully kept everything out of the Idrian's threat ranges except for my right side Pureblood. He is able to get two 3-man CRAa into it, and they do 8 points.

He opts not to Feat, and Repositions the Guide and Chieftain back into the trench.

His jacks get Shielding (no spells) from the Choir, and Malekus looks at the pair of Wyrds before opting not to cast anything and move up.

Circle turn 2:

I cut for a Fury and upkeep both spells.

He's left two Idrians in charge range of Bloodweavers, so I decide to go in with their Blood Burst ability.

His clumped up troops fall en masse, as two Bloodweavers kill off seven Idrians.

Pureblood spray on the right kills the Guide, the Fulcrum nails the Idrian on the hill and leaps into the Chieftain, and by the time the dust (or Sand) settles, he's down to a solitary Idrian.

This is actually very important for this list - the less attacks your opponent has, the better Pillar of Salt gets.

I run Wolves up and then cover them with three Pillars of Salt as Mohsar moves into the zone and Maltreats the Argus for a couple damage.

Menoth turn 2:

His right hand Reckoner is in aim range of the Pureblood, and between the Flare from that gun and quite a few Open Fires on it from Malekus, that Pureblood nearly dies.

The Guardian comes in to contest, and Eye of Truth moves up behind him.

All of the Jacks were battled this turn, and they all took a few damage from Sunhammer. 

I also just have to note something here - mark where your stuff is and what in game effects are present. I would have completely forgotten the Pureblood had crippled aspects if I hadn't marked them with these great little widgets.  It's just as important as keeping track of Fury, so mark it!

(In advance of the hordes of questions - you can get these at brokenegggames.com)

Circle turn 3:

It's go time! I upkeep Sunhammer but drop Mirage.

The Bloodweavers run, one to within 8 inches of Eye, one to the toe of the zone, and one to charge the remaining Idrian, which explodes. 

Mohsar activates, Sands of Fate up to the Weaver closest to Eye, lands a Curse of Shadows on the Warjack, maltreats a Wyrd, and then Sands of Fates back to the edge of the zone and pops his feat. 

The Pureblood aims and gets the single dice three it needs on Eye, doing about 5 damage. 

The Wyrd activates and does a few more. 

I pop the Wolves Mini-Feat and charge Eye and the Guardian. Damage rolls are awful, and Eye Survives despite seven charging wolves. 

I then realize that I have screwed up colossally here, and the Fulcrum should have activated first and blasted the Warjack. 

I end up losing a ton of my Wolves to sprays from the Fulcrum and the other Pureblood, but Eye does finally go down. 

Menoth turn 3:

My opponent allocates three to the Guardian and one to the right hand Reckoner. 

Rhoven and buddies charge my Wolves. The Guard both connect, but Rhoven misses. This is important since he was going to Battle Wizard an AOE onto the Guardian to clear him off. 

Instead, Malekus moves up and sprays both Wolves off after popping his Feat. 

Choir sing Battle again, and the right hand Reckoner moves up and hits the left Pureblood, Flaring it and doing good damage. 

The Guardian charges it and crit pitches it back into Mohsar. The Pureblood dies, and the objective nearly does as well. 

 

Circle turn 4:

A quick proxy base measurement reassures me that a Wolf can get to within 2 inches of Malekus without taking a free strike. 

Mohsar drops Sunhammer now that it has done about 25 damage over the game and does not force to stand. 

The Argus riles, and Mohsar activates, forfeiting movement. He maltreats the Argus, and then Sands of Fates to the wolf near Malekus. He Doppler Barks the warcaster, and then heals the Pureblood's Spirit before bashing Malekus a couple of times and Sands of Fating out to the last Bloodweaver. 

Wyrd number 1 eats through his two Shield Guards, and Wyrd number two seals the deal, killing Malekus. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I have NO idea how to play this list yet. It's extremely tricky! There are lots of order of activation issues, lots of positioning things (I felt I did fairly well there), and tons and tons of angles to consider. 

It is a ton of fun bouncing Mohsar in and out of the fray with Sands of Fate and just being a crazy Desert Ninja, and the ability to place a Doppler bark 14 inches from a Wolf or 16 inches from a Bloodweaver is crazy!

Speaking of Bloodweavers, I was incredibly impressed with how well they do against low ARM infantry. If that style of list makes a resurgence, I will definitely be getting myself a unit of the ladies. 

I've got a bit of a hobby thing to post tomorrow (I hope), and more battle reports should be coming out early next week. 

Until then, thanks for reading!

Circle List Building for SR 2017

Prologue:

SR 2017 represents a huge shift in the way Warmachine and Hordes will be played. Attrition is going to be the most important aspect of an army, shortly followed by Assassination.

Scenario is going to be a relatively minor consideration from now on, as you have to score max points on nearly every Scenario for two turns without losing more than one or two points in order to win quickly. Games are designed to last until turn 7, with a "mercy" rule allowing opponents who are seriously cleaning house to win earlier if they get ahead by six control points.

Also, certain Scenario elements are uncontrollable by various models. Circular Zones can only be controlled by Warrior models, Rectangular Zones only count for Warbeasts/Warjacks, and the Warcaster/Warlock models can control both, as well as flags, while still not contesting.

One of the things that I really miss about the middle years of mark II was the feeling of the game - yes, there were strong things, but instead of complaining about them the idea was to figure out how to beat them. In that spirit, I present my thoughts on how to play and win with Circle in SR 2017.


Advantages:

There are a couple more changes to the SR packet that greatly benefit Circle players.

The first of these - immobile models can control again - makes our Gallows Groves, Shifting Stones, and Sentry Stones viable scoring threats for low point values.

The second of these - that units no longer have to be at 50% or greater strength to control - means that we actually get a great deal of flexibility out of our units when we do clear zones.

A lone Shifting Stone can score on a Circular Zone if it is the last one in the unit. That's a big deal, since late game they tend to not do a whole lot, and when the game ends on turn limit, the person with the most points wins.

Overall advantages:

Mobility: 

Most of our (non - warbeast) models have Pathfinder, which is going to be handier than ever with the new terrain rules.

(For those of you who haven't seen them, central terrain is now required, and there are recommended amounts of LOS blocking terrain etc).

This means we will have an easier time engaging certain armies by having better threat ranges (Menoth, Melee Cygnar, some Mercs) through rough terrain.

We will also have an easier time contesting with our terrain indifferent models.

Jank Angles:

If the premeasurement restrictions in the packet stay, and your TO/Meta actually enforces them, Circle can perhaps get back to our roots of really odd threat ranges in completely non-linear ways.

Shifting Stones combined with Hellmouth or Telekinesis sounds like a good place to start.

Ambushing Wolves or Orboros are great in the Wild Hunt theme, and I'm actually starting to look at Bradigus and Kromac 1 again, since a 5" and 3" threat extension are both really excellent.

We also have Loki, and this might be the most important thing Circle has gotten for SR 2017. This guy is an absolute monster for Attrition fights, as he can regularly pull in an enemy heavy, smack it a few times, and then have a Stalker charge in, kill it, and Sprint out. If you combine him with a unit of Shifting Stones, Telekinesis, or Hellmouth, Kaya 2's Feat, Kaya 1's Spirit Door, Warpath, Grayle's Feat, Baldur 1's Feat (or Wild Growth to block LOS to him), Admonition, etc. he can do this turn after turn after turn.

Alternatively, you can soften his target up for him with Circle's wyrdly strong gun options and have him finish the job by himself.

Expect to see Loki a lot more in SR 2017.

Control Feats:

We have access to a couple of really excellent time-walk type feats in Circle. Kaya 2 lets you go in and really mess your opponent up multiple times in a row.

Baldur 1 can let you get 2-3 rounds of shooting off before the ranks close, as can Wurmwood.

Morvahna 2 might see some play again, as the ability to cycle through your army twice in one game is pretty good where attrition is concerned.

If the meta shifts to nothing but massive battlegroups, Mohsar's Pillars of Salt can control those kinds of armies fairly easily. (I know they're not a feat, but you get the idea).

Tankiness?

Baldur 2, I'm looking at you right now. Woldwrath plus Fulcrum plus Woldwyrds is likely to be one of Circle's staple lists in the coming months as the Fulcrum CID becomes canon. It's a really nasty gunline that also happens to be pretty good in close combat thanks to Woldwrath Auto Knockdown fists, Steady Wyrds, and Gunfighter everywhere.

Meta Shift:

The theme forces coming down the pipe really encourage units to hit the table, and literally everything in Circle doubles as an infantry blender. Our heavies have great anti infantry tech, our units are all fantastic at killing dudes, most of our spell casters have good infantry killing spells.

If the meta shifts to more units, especially because units are better able to contest for long periods of time than heavies are, I can see Circle really getting potent. Anyone wanna see my 4 point Bloodweaver Night Witch with maybe Affliction or Curse of Shadows take out an entire Shield Wall unit? I know I do.


Disadvantages:

We die Horatio, we die:

Circle models cannot take a hit. Outside of a couple select models (Woldwrath, new Fulcrum, Megalith, etc.), our Beasts tend to be ARM 17 with 27-30 boxes. That's not holding up to boosted POW 12s nevermind punches from Heavy Jacks.

High Defense is great, but there are lots of Knockdown effects, DEF lowering spells, Stationary effects, and accurate guns/models out there. I've lost two Warpwolves in a round to a unit of Brigands before.

We die easily.

This is a problem because the game no longer ends very fast, and our models tend to not attrition well. I expect to see Circle really struggle to adapt for the first few months of SR 2017 as our stable of current powerhouses get taken down a peg.

Our most powerful option (currently), Wurmwood cannot hold an attrition fight for more than 4-5 rounds. Much of his attrition value comes from forcing opponents to come to him in a mad rush in order not to lose on Scenario.

Lists based on Warpwolves in general are going to have a rough time. I think Ferals are going to hardly see the table in favor of Stalkers with their built in "get away" trick and Purebloods with the ability to spray from a distance. Loki I think will be in most Circle lists because he does the best Attrition tricks against heavies that Circle has. Ghetorix might also see some play with Kaya 2 (pathfinder), Krueger 2 (highest base damage output), and the Kromacs.

Casters that I think can mitigate this problem:

Kaya 2 (double alpha = good for attrition)
Kromac 2 (His beasts tend to live through the retaliation)
Baldur 1/2 (Control Feat and ARM skew)
Morvahna 2 (Kill everything twice)
Tanith (Admonition and Affliction)

Casters that I think might be able to based on meta choices:

Krueger 2 (Control feat is great, Rebuke on a unit can keep it out of the game, assassination potential is high)
Krueger 1 (Good into some gunlines, kills infantry no problem)
Mohsar (Controls battlegroups very well, high Assassination potential between Sands of Fate and Doppler Bark plus guns)
Wurmwood (Good board control for a few rounds, might be enough)
Kromac 1 (Very high threat ranges)
Kaya 3 (Good DEF buff on her Feat, kills the world with Synergy)
Kaya 1 (Spirit Door might just be amazing)
Una 2 (trading 9 point Griffons for heavies is okay still)
Grayle (Good threat range extender, Stealth from feat is nice)

Casters that I think will not see much play:

Bradigus (I hope I am wrong about this. I'm painting mine up this week to see if he is viable)
Morvahna 1 (She is basically garbage folks)


Our Infantry is Bad:

Circle gets by playing with about 3 units right now. Reeves, Sentry Stones, and Wolves of Orboros in the Wild Hunt. We also occasionally see Bloodtrackers with Baldur 1.

These models are all good at killing other infantry, and can also put a dent in heavies. They're faster than average dudes (speed six is nice) and they all have pathfinder.

Most of the rest of our options hardly see play.

Here are a few that I think will get some attention with the SR 2017 changes.


Druids - these guys plus Krueger 2 = lots of assassination potential. Telekinesis plus Pulse of the Earth or whatever it's called means that if an enemy parks a heavy within about 5 inches of their caster, you have an easy KD on their caster, followed up by shots from Wyrds/Loki/Fulcrum/whatever.

Their ability to push enemy heavies out of zones might also allow Circle to play a Scenario game unlike most other factions AND simultaneously keep our heavies safe by moving enemy models out of striking distance. I suspect this unit will see more play in the coming months.


Tharn Ravagers - if (and this is a BIG if) the meta shifts to crazy infantry spam, these guys will be kings. The unit can single handedly chew through multiple other units, and they're fast reach models that see through forests.


Here are my picks for models that will see more play than they currently do, but will still be niche:


Mist Riders - the Fulcrum making them Magic 7 is a HUGE deal. The bump between MAT/RAT/Magic 6 and 7 is an extremely significant change in their likelihood of hitting. Between that and a potential shift to infantry heavy lists, these guys could see some play.


Warpborn Skinwalkers - Man I wish they still had two attacks. That being said, these guys are ARM 18 against melee attacks with 8 boxes, and with a few casters (Kromac 1 and Baldur 1 specifically), they go to ARM 20. This means that a charge from a pow 12 infantryman is going to do about 3 damage, and a charge from a pow 12 weaponmaster is going to do 6 ish. What does that mean? Well it means that it takes more than one guy to finish off one Skinwalker, and for attrition purposes, that can be big.

They also have Hyper-Regen, so if they don't get killed in one turn, they're probably not dying the next, and with Relentless Charge, they will not mind the prevalence of terrain that will become the new norm.

Death Wolves (in the Tharn Theme) - with a corpse token, these guys are actually fairly likely to get across the table, and when they do, the enemy units will melt.


Units that I doubt will see play still?

Woldstalkers - Take Reeves.

Blood Pack - Take Woldstalkers. Then when you are still lacking, take Reeves. This unit is seriously awful.


We struggle to kill 8-10 ARM 20 heavies:

Khador is going to likely be our worst matchup in SR 2017. We do not have the firepower to take them on headfirst, we do not outthreat them in melee with about half of their casters (Karchev with Road to War, Harkevich with Mobility and a Kodiak Kloud Wall, etc), and their jacks are mostly Mat 7, so our higher DEF value does very little.

This is a big part of the reason why I think Loki is going to be such a big deal in SR 2017. Contesting with random dudes and pulling in a heavy a turn to kill it with Loki plus guns or Loki plus a Stalker seems to me to be one of the few ways we can hope to win that attrition fight, and even THAT doesn't work if they bring the right Clamjacks.

This is one of the biggest reasons I am considering Mohsar as a serious contender for SR 2017 - Sunhammer chips away at their boxes every turn (Seven turns times 8 jacks times approximately 2 damage per jack is 112 damage, with a range of 56 to 168 depending on your dice - not insignificant), and his feat makes their caster very vulnerable without any focus camp if they want to fuel the heavies.

I personally do not have an answer to this question yet outside of praying for assassinations, but I think this is going to be a constant issue for a while.


Sample Lists:

Here are a couple of lists that I am personally thinking will be good starting points for SR 2017:

Krueger 2
- Loki
- Megalith
- Woldwyrd x2

Fulcrum
Blackclad Stoneshaper
Gobber Chef
Druids of Orboros
- CA
Shifting Stone x2

The list has awesome assassination potential, decent control, and can kill a heavy a turn consistently with Fulcrum shooting, Wyrds, and Loki hooks. Loki and the Fulcrum both have incredible threat ranges in this list thanks to Telekinesis, and can also be kept fairly safe with Druid pushes and KDs and Telekinesis on either enemy models or themselves.

The Druid CA and Gobber Chef are five points that I really haven't a clue what to do with, and the Stoneshaper might not be necessary either, for 8 points of....something else. Options include Gallows Grove and Hutchuk, Blackclad Wayfarers, Night Witches, or a Sentry Stone unit.


Kaya 2
- Laris
- Ghetorix
- Loki
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Pureblood
- Gorax

Gallows Grove
Swamp Gobber Chef
Shifting Stones
Sentry Stones x2

This is my basic beast brick, and I actually like it just fine with Kromac 1 as well. With Kaya, I've seen a couple of builds I really like in the Wild Hunt where the Wolves of Orboros tie things up between the Alpha Strikes.

I think the Gobber Chef is a pretty important piece here, as he allows you to go bananas with your fury on feat turn and then have a bunch of Mannikins for beasts to eat the next turn.


Baldur 2 Bones of Orboros
- Woldwrath
- Megalith

Fulcrum x2
Stoneshaper x3 (free)
Sentry Stone x2

High powered gunline with an absurd amount of Tankiness? Yes please. I really think this list can be terribly potent, and I am even considering dropping the Sentry Stones for two units of Shifting Stones and a Blackclad simply to teleport and heal the Fulcrums.



I am sure there are many other builds out there, but this is my first iteration of several lists that seem potent and interesting.

Conclusion:

I believe Circle is in for a rough couple of months here. We have some pretty cool tools, but a lot of our potency is going to stem directly from what other people decide to play, and that is not the most fun place to be.

That being said, we also have some really cool stuff to experiment with, and I think the last six months of 2017 are going to see some of the most interesting and innovative Circle lists to date surface.

Please feel free to throw your own thoughts on board here, this is just one players opinion and is almost certainly going to be proven wrong ^.^

Thanks for reading!