I was recently at a Warmachine tournament. I finished with an undefeated 3-0 record, splitting the first place prize with the other undefeated guy. I had fun, but I noted that some attendees-- most particularly, three other members of my local gaming scene-- did not seem to. And that made me mad, because we play this game for fun, and especially if you're paying for entrance you want to have some fun that makes it worth it. I'm not even going to go into the story of the guy who was turned away, because that's a separate set of issues.
The thing is, tournaments always bring out powergaming. And powergaming in Warmachine is very much focused on a set of counters. That's why we bring multiple lists. "How to be a good player" is a topic I could write about for days and never finish, but I sincerely want to help my friends (and even though our relationship is sometimes a little difficult I consider all of the local game store guys my friends) to be better players.
In Warmachine, to win, you must 1) identify the threats your opponent's army is capable of projecting 2) identify the threats your army is capable of projecting 3) identify the weaknesses in your opponent's list 4) identify the weaknesses in your list. It is most important to do that in that order. I am going to use two games I played to illustrate that. No names will be named.
The first game was against a Cryxian force led by Asphyxious. I identified each threat in this list: first, the arc nodes that allow Asphyxious to cast his powerful spells; second, the bile thralls that could effectively clear infantry; third, the bane thralls that could kill my heavy beasts; fourth, the pistol wraith that could shut down a heavy beast for a turn; and fifth, the Slayer that could hit like a train with three Focus on it. Finally, the caster himself poses a significant melee threat.
Having finished Step 1, I went on to Step 2. My army is EXTREMELY fast, with Nihilators being capable of running up to 14" and having a 2" melee threat. They can't attack after that, but the ability to engage the enemy from 16" away is a BIG deal, since engaging on your own terms is an invaluable tool. More on this later. My second threat is Molik Karn, but he actually doesn't hit any harder or more accurately than a Slayer-- the Slayer's two POW 16 arms are about equivalent to Karn's POW 13 Weapon Master attacks, though Enrage changes that calculus somewhat. Karn does outdamage a Slayer due to his capacity to buy more attacks and the efficiency of being able to boost after rolling, but he also costs almost twice the Slayer's price point and is equivalently fragile (one more armor, several less hitboxes). Karn's threat is mostly due to his extreme movement distance. Attacking first is the most powerful threat of all, and he's great at that. So my army's threat is the extreme speed of movement.
Step 3 came next. Each aspect of my opponent's army had a different weakness: Bane Thralls, while excellent at dispatching beasts, struggle to deal with infantry, because of their low MAT, low threat range and one attack each. Bile Thralls can do nothing once engaged in melee. Arc Nodes have the same weakness as Biles, being unable to channel or shoot once engaged.
My own weaknesses include my reliance on beasts, of which I have only two, and my lack of ranged ability.
Having completed all four steps (last one was up there, checking own weaknesses) I settled on a plan of action. By accelerating my Nihilators via Road to War and running, I was able to engage the arc nodes and bile thralls, locking them down. By engaging the Bane Thralls on my own terms, I was able to deny them access to the kind of targets they want to hit. In order to prevent them from being killed by Hellfire, Banes and the Slayer or locked down by the Pistol Wraith, I held my beasts back. This plan was phenomenally successful. How could it have been countered?
Let's switch sides. How would I have dealt with that? The Skorne army I was running really only had two types of threats: tons and tons of Nihilators, who are Tough and Fearless but have low armor and average defense; and two beasts. I would feel confident that the Pistol Wraith could keep the Titan mostly locked down, so I would focus my efforts on Karn. I have a Slayer and Banes; either one of which can deal Karn a crippling blow. I could use one to bait him and the other to kill him when he took the bait. So that's the beasts planned for. Once I started the game, I would see that my opponent was going to head in with the infantry first. That changed the game a little. I would know that the Biles would be essential, so I would hold them back. Having brought four arc nodes, I would know that I could afford to sacrifice two of them to lure out the Nihilators.
In fact, that's very similar to what my opponent did. He simply moved his biles up a bit too far. Unfamiliarity with the extreme threat range of my army was a factor, certainly. But Warmachine is a game of trades, and making the trades go in your favor. By tossing out two Breath of Corruption clouds, he could put huge holes in my formation and block off charge lanes (indeed, only three Nihilators were able to charge on one flank because of the cloud). I could not afford to let this remain, so I had to send in the Nihilators to shut down the arc nodes. If the Biles were far back enough, my opponent could have waddled them forward and Purged my Nihilators. That would take care of one flank. The other would require a different approach. The Bane Thralls were ill-suited to that job, but he had two undamaged bonejacks. Unfortunately, they were both Ripjaws. If he had sent the Ripjaws up forward and held the Defiler back, then he'd have Bile Thralls on one flank and a boostable spray on the other-- easily enough to chew through a formation of Nihilators.
I have sort of rambled, but I hope I have made my point: what won me the game was identification of the threats my opponent could project, as well as the best way to shut them down. I was able to take the one resource in which I had a clear advantage-- speed-- and leverage it to victory. In an upcoming post (possibly tomorrow) I'll talk about another game, and how contingency planning can rescue a game that seems lost.
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