Masters

I’ve booked in a couple of tournaments for the not too distant future, the National Masters being held at the North West Gaming Centre, near Manchester being the main event.  This is a 128 player ‘Masters’ event taking seven rounds to find a champion.  It will probably be the biggest event of the year and all of the ‘who’s who’ of the community will be there.  I’m under no illusion that this will be one of the toughest events I have ever attended for Warmachine, all the top players, a two day gruelling challenge and most likely a stifling hot atmosphere!

I have also just attended the ‘Brothers in Armour’ doubles tournament on 09/06/2013, partnering Paul North – I’ll do another blog entry on this in the near future. [spoiler we won]!!

National Masters 2013:

Regarding the Masters, I am pretty much decided on lists now; I’m going with Kreoss1, Feora2 and Harbinger.  The latter caster has seen a lot of table time recently and the list has evolved to something that I am both comfortable with and somewhat competitive too (more so than the Feora1 and Kreoss3 lists I've been tinkering with lately).  I’ve tweaked the Feora2 list a little and switched the second Reckoner for a Vanquisher, then due to this change, dropped the Zealots unit down to a minimum size and squeezed in a second Vassal.  Reason; having two 4” AoE flaming templates of doom is too good an opportunity to pass up and will get more work done than four zealots.  The other Vassal has a similar function giving the Judicator a third twin missile of flaming goodness, but I also now have more Enliven options.  I am still considering switching the whole Zealot bundle out for the Temple Flameguard bundle in the Kreoss1 list – I just feel the TFG do more work and are more survivable; though the Zealot mini-feat and the KD feat of Kreoss1 is a very strong synergy.  Below are the three lists I’m likely to take:

The Lists:

Harbinger	+5	Feora, Protector of the Flame	+6	High Exemplar Kreoss	+5
*Reckoner	8	*Reckoner	8	*Reckoner	8
*Heirophant	2	*Vanquisher	8	*Reckoner	8
Avatar of Menoth	11	*Judicator (bonded)	18	(4) Choir of Menoth	2
(4) Choir of Menoth	2	(4) Choir of Menoth	2	(10) Exemplar Errants	8
(6) Exemplar Errants	5	(6) Holy Zealots	4	Exemplar Errants UA	2
Exemplar Errants UA	2	Holy Zealots Monolith Bearer	2	(10) Holy Zealots	6
(5) Exemplar Vengers	11	(10) Temple Flameguard	6	Holy Zealots Monolith Bearer	2
(10) Temple Flameguard	6	Temple Flameguard UA	2	Vessel of Judgement	9
Temple Flameguard UA	2	Vassal of Menoth	2	Vassal of Menoth	2
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist	2	Vassal of Menoth	2	Vassal of Menoth	2
Kell Bailoch	2	Vassal Mechanik	1	The Covenant of Menoth	2
Vassal of Menoth	2	(3) The Wracks	1	Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord	2
				Vassal Mechanik	1
				(3) The Wracks	1

Rational behind the lists:

Harbinger

The Harby list is very strong in scenario, her feat is best employed on turn one or two preventing the opposing infantry from advancing and contesting scenario elements.  This isn’t always going to be the case as multi-wound and high ARM units will survive it, certain builds will have no problems such as beast heavy Legion lists for example; but for the most part it will be effective.  This generally boils down to only heavies being able to run forwards and contest, so the Harby player can plan on this and set-up a counter charge to alpha strike said heavies – or go way ahead on control points.  I think that in my practice games so far I’ve won mainly on scenario, though Harby is one of those casters who possesses the trinity of threats: scenario, assassination and attrition in plentiful supply.

The Harbinger list

One of my play-testing changes was to drop the Errants in this list down to a minimum squad, this really felt bad, but they’ve done OK with four less bods and I’m relatively happy with this.  Dropping Gravus was kind of a shame, he synergised really well but in the end he was a big magnet and didn’t really get his points worth – essentially a canny player would target him at range and dismount him reducing his effectiveness greatly.  The list change granted the full TFG unit and I feel they are a real workhorse, they get good use in any list to be fair and they’ve got some great synergy with Harby and her spell list too – so they’re definitely staying!  The Vengers are expensive, but can hit hard from afar, flank if necessary and out-threat/tie up other units when needed.  They block LOS to Harby and saved her bacon from shooting assassinations several times by continually Martyring, for example on a Kara Sloan feat turn, where the battlegroup killed two intervening Vengers about four times over, her Martyring ability keeping them standing and continuing to block LOS!

The army has tools to deal with both armour and infantry, something that a lot of Protectorate units possess both qualities, e.g. Errants charging weapon masters for armour, but also high accuracy stats.  TFG can combine their melee attacks to suit and Protectorate ‘jacks are perhaps the most accurate in the game.  There isn’t a massive amount of assassination threat in the list though everything has the potential, increased speed and an accuracy buff really help here. An Avatar to the face will spell the end for a lot of casters and Harby herself can lay down some hurt, focus 10 with an auto hitting P&S 12 melee weapon or an up to two fully boosted POW20 auto hitting spells is scary.

Feora2

As noted above I made a couple of small changes, I lost some melee threat range on a second Reckoner charging, but gained a really scary AoE and a more surgical method of dealing with infantry, the Zealot mini-feat and set them all on fire for Feora’s feat trick is a lot easier with this and the big AoE synergises well with Feora’s Caustic Presence.

The Feora2 list

The list packs a real punch with the ranged game; Flare from the Reckoner aiding the Judicator’s accuracy when shooting enemy heavies, the ancillary attacks for further damage and the Escort spell giving the ‘jacks 2” more movement to get range.  Clearly the list can deal with infantry; that many continuous fire templates will scare most infantry and Feora2 can surgically target certain models under her feat to almost guarantee this.  With Ignite and the Hymn of Battle the ‘jacks can deal with most armour in the game and the extra movement will help get an alpha strike off.   Perhaps this list can deal with excessive armour more easily than the others, though light infantry will make good hunting too!

In terms of scenario, Feora2 probably has nothing particularly strong to offer, but her army has a good potential to clear zones and scenario elements, she is also very survivable with good native stats and protection buffs, so I’m hopeful she can take charge in scenario by being able to weather an enemy assassination attempt and dominate zones.  Her attrition game is strong and the army can inflict huge damage, assassination wise, she has some tricks and no enemy caster likes being on fire.

Kreoss1

This list has remained the same for quite some time, but synergises well, I’ve mused over swapping the Zealot unit out for the TFG – exactly the same points, possibly because the TFG get more actual work done, though Kreoss’ feat does allow the Zealots two turns of getting out of melee with the enemy and easy pickings for direct hits off their usually low accuracy high POW bombs.  I think the Zealots are staying, but it is always good to muse over these things!

The Kreoss1 list

This list has clearly got a strong assassination threat with the ‘pop and drop’, it can deliver three fully-boosted POW 15’s and two un-boosted to a knocked down target.  If the caster can’t be targeted, or is too tough to kill then the feat can be used in a strong attrition game by killing the enemy army – Errants doing a ‘live the dream’ turn with their Quickwork ability and double tapping enemy infantry.  Regarding scenario, Kreoss1 doesn’t do anything especially effective, though his army is very resilient and can contest zones and scenario elements well, the feat can buy a turn to clear a zone and score points if necessary.

List Match-ups:

This is a real problem for me, I'm just not sure what will do well against certain factions, all of the lists are pretty well balanced so I'd probably do reasonable with whatever I drop against Cygnar for example.  There is a lot of talk about creating and 'anti-X' list, which is perhaps the way to go, but then people build and anti-anti-X list and so on.  To be fair I'm not going to be fighting it out at the top so I'll try and not get too hung up on this, just play what I fancy, or maybe not drop a certain list if they've got a lot of anti-tech, say anti-knockdown in each list would mean Kreoss would be a poor choice.

I've thought about asking various friends who are also honing their Masters lists about which of mine they would least like to face and why, that way I'll see the strengths of my lists rather than focussing on their weaknesses against others.

Glamour shots:

Tactica: Exemplar Errants

As promised a couple of entries ago here is my take on Exemplar Errants and their use in the game, I’ve included the Errant Seneschal in this tactica too, given the obvious synergy.

Errant Unit Overview:

Exemplar Errants unit

The Exemplar Errants are possibly the best unit available to the Protectorate of Menoth and arguably one of the best units in the game, quite a statement and something I’ll attempt to justify in this article.  Errants are a medium cost unit at 5 points for a minimum unit and 8 points for a full unit, the unit attachment being an average 2 points; in all fairness this is quite cheap for what they bring to the table.

Offence:

The Errants are speed 5 without reach, so their threat range for a charge is mediocre (without buffs); they do however possess a RNG 10 crossbow and therefore can provide ranged support.  Errants have a huge array of abilities, some of which are provided by the UA (the UA is mandatory by the way) and solo (Errant Seneschal).  Regards melee capability, they have a high MAT of 7 and are weapon masters at P&S 9, this will average a score of 23 on the charge, something to bear in mind when selecting a target.  They are RAT 6, one less than their melee stat, but still respectable, hitting DEF 13 on average rolls.  The Errant crossbow is Blessed and magical, which means it ignores the bonus to enemy DEF and ARM buffs created by spells (note however it wouldn’t ignore cover or concealment benefits if these were gained through a spell) and can damage incorporeal models.  In summary they are fairly elite in terms of their offensive aptitude and highly versatile given they possess good ranged and melee capabilities.

Defence:

The Errants have a fairly low-to-medium DEF stat of 12, but a very high ARM of 16.  These stats can be improved with certain Warcasters’ spells as well as in game effects and from other sources e.g. terrain and buffing solos.

Errant Abilities:

Errants have Advance Deployment, Self Sacrifice and Fearless as standard.  The Unit Attachment brings tactics: Quick Work and tactics: Pathfinder to the unit as well as being non-targetable by enemy spells.  The merits of the UA and solo abilities are discussed below.

Advance Deployment:

This is a double edged sword, on the pro side it allows the Errants to be placed ahead of the army by up to 6”, this helps with their fairly slow speed, but as I came to realise it brings them closer to the enemy more quickly and their inevitable deaths.  Basically they are always going to be ahead of the main Protectorate force and as such will be the first unit in range and get targeted first.  Positioning them on a flank, or not advancing them quite so quickly can mitigate this and on a serious note the tendency is to simply hurl them forwards as fast as possible into the jaws of the enemy army!

Fearless:

A simple one, they won’t flee from terror causing or abomination models, nor will they need to check command should they sustain 50% casualties.  This makes them very reliable and can be counted on until the bitter end.

Self Sacrifice:

A whole article could be written on this ability; however I will try and be succinct.  Simply put, if you would loose an Errant to an enemy attack, you may choose to Self Sacrifice and destroy another Errant within 3” of the disabled Errant.  In other words you can get a measure of control over which of your models die.  Now the above statement can be pulled apart with many ifs and buts, some of which I will explain below as well as how to get the best use out of the ability.

Self Sacrifice means that another Errant destroys itself allowing the target model to heal 1 point of damage, therefore in-game effects which trigger on boxing or destroying an enemy model DO NOT occur, examples include additional attacks or moves which are triggered when an enemy is killed such as Beserk, Snap Fire, Warpath, Shanghai and many more.  Souls/corpses are also not generated, though if the model which Self Sacrificed is within range of the soul/corpse collector its soul/corpse will be collected as these trigger off destroyed models – so choose carefully.  Be also aware that effects which prevent healing will make sad days for Self Sacrificing Errants, basically if you chose to Self Sacrifice you would loose two models as the original can not heal!  Additionally you can not Self Sacrifice on a simultaneous attack, such as Thresher or that of an AOE, only sequential attacks.  See p.66 & p.244 Prime MKii for further explanations of this.  As noted above there could be a whole article on this skill, but the basics are covered; as a player getting the best out of Self Sacrifice is what makes Errants shine.  Read on for some hints and tips in this department!

Exemplar Errants Officer and Banner Bearer

UA ability- Pathfinder:

Errants aren’t slowed down by rough terrain, this is something that Protectorate models lack somewhat.  If you intend to take gaming seriously, i.e. attending tournaments, some thought should be focused on mitigating this flaw as a board with loads of terrain could spell disaster before a single dice is rolled!

UA ability- Quickwork:

Similarly to Self Sacrifice, this skill can be maximised by good planning and spotting opportunities, positioning your models after a charge in order to get the second shot off is key.  Remember that after a charge you must face your opponent directly, which will dictate the Errants field of vision.  Additionally if the Errant is still engaged, i.e. if it entered melee with two enemy models it will not be able to make the shot.  It is worth noting that in certain circumstances this ability is unbelievably powerful allowing each Errant to kill two enemy models, dubbed as a ‘live the dream’ round on several internet forums!  I would recommend using it wherever possible and should the extra dice or distance not be critical, just advance the Errants into melee so you can get a more favourable arc of vision.

UA ability- Purity:

Whilst the banner bearer is in formation Errants can not be targeted by enemy spells, note however that they can still be affected by them, just not targeted – so sprays and AOE’s for example could be exploited by a canny opponent.  Also note that friendly spells can still affect Errants as Purity differs from Spell Ward for example which means a unit can not be targeted by spells period.

The abilities the UA brings are what brings the Errant unit up from good to excellent and to be honest is mandatory if you are fielding Errants.  It should be noted that both Pathfinder and Quickwork are tactics, which unlike granted, are not lost if the officer is slain.  Often sniping out the officer in a unit will render it less battlefield potent as the abilities die with the model granting it, not in this case however!  Additionally the banner bearer must be alive and in formation to give the Errants Purity.  A good tip, if the enemy, has no real offensive spell casting and Purity is virtually useless, Self Sacrifice this guy early on as he has no weapons.  Obviously the reverse is true if you really need the immunity to spells; use Self Sacrifice and Take Up to keep him alive.

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

Errant Seneschal ability- Hunter:

The Errant Seneschal essentially brings Hunter (within his CMD of 9”) to the Errants already vast toolbox; basically the ability to ignore forests and cloud effects for LOS purposes as well as not incurring the negative ‘to hit’ penalties for cover or concealment.

The Errant Seneschal has the same stats and weapons as the Errant Officer as well as having Pathfinder and Assault (similar to Quickwork), he can also have a friendly Errant within his CMD Self Sacrifice to keep him alive.  As a solo, if he dies then Errants will loose the Hunter ability.  As far as this model goes I am undecided whether it is worth the 2 point investment, however there will be times that it will win games; obviously it is game-to-game specific and highly dependant on terrain.

Advanced Errant Tactics

The various skills and abilities of the Errants have been discussed above, as well as a few tactics for each of these.  Below I will attempt to highlight how to get the most out of the Errants, expanding on the above.

*They’ve got Advance Deployment, so you can position them opposite the unit you want to focus on, alternatively not opposite a nasty threat (something that Preyed them for example).  Plan where they are going to fight and with which unit, use their Pathfinder and Hunter skills to your benefit, only practice and experience will tell you where best to position them.  Also remember the urge to ram them down the enemies throat will get them killed quickly, so you don’t have to run them a full 10” on the first turn.

*Look for ways to exploit Quickwork, sniping out support pieces is an added extra, consider the range: 8.5” charge, then a 10” crossbow shot, with Hunter you might see through a forest where something juicy is waiting unawares for example; or just the raw additional extra kill – remember to always look for a ‘live the dream’ round!

*Self Sacrifice and tar pitting an enemy down is where the unit really shines, denying your opponent that important charge lane and making them over commit resources can turn the tide.  I’ve played tournament games where a single Errant has held up an entire unit of Trollblood Cavalry or preventing an enemy Avatar from charging because the opponent underestimated Self Sacrifice.  Use it whenever you are charged, so that the opponent doesn’t get to attack with half his models, simply take off one within 3” where the opponent hasn’t attacked yet and has no other targets in range – this is possibly the simplest and most effective use, just practice positioning to get the most out of it.  As noted above continuously keep looking for a way to deny your opponent, but practice and experience is the key here.  You’ll know when you’ve got it right as your opponents will moan about how good Errants are more than anything else! ;-)

Synergies

Errants themselves don’t make up an army, though a full unit with UA and the solo take up a fair few points, though I feel they’re a bargain for their cost.  I’m not so convinced by the Seneschal, but certainly a unit and UA.  They will go with any Warcaster the Protectorate can offer as they bring their own toolbox to the table, however I have found that Menoth Warcasters with the Defender’s Ward spell make the Errants incredibly hard to kill, basically their mediocre DEF of 12 increases to 14, where MAT and RAT of enemy troopers needs to be 7 to hit them on average, meaning only elite troopers will hit them on an average roll – obviously not being hit is the first step to surviving and achieving their goal.  The added +2 ARM combos even better than the DEF bonus as ARM 18 is very hard for basic troopers to crack reliably, POW 10 guns will need to roll quite a bit above average to kill them and only charging infantry and weapon masters pose a serious threat.

There are several Protectorate Warcasters with Defender’s Ward and other similar DEF/ARM buffing spells and Errants make ideal targets given their proximity to the action  Other positive Warcaster synergies include the Harbinger, she can make the Errants melee threat range greater with Crusader’s Call, Feora et al can give the Errants Ignite to make them hit harder, Thyra can even make them stealthed, as well as many others; but when playing them with Defender’s Ward you’ll really notice the difference.

I have found that perhaps the dirtiest combination is using the Errants with a Defender’s Ward Warcaster and the following solos: Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord and the Covenant of Menoth.  This combo elevates the Errants from excellent to just obscene.  Rhupert gives the Errants Tough, whilst the Covenant issues ‘no knock-down’ in its CMD meaning that each Errant remains at DEF 14 and ARM 18, has tough, can Self Sacrifice and can’t be knocked down, nor targeted by enemy spells!  Errants can take a tough roll first and if that fails then Self Sacrifice.  This is why the unit becomes so powerful as your opponent will have to dedicate significant resources to shift them.

Clearly there are weaknesses that a skilled, canny opponent will exploit, snipers will hit DEF 14 fairly easily and opt to cause 1 point of damage.  Eiryss2 will shoot Defender’s Ward off the Errants, as will any other models with upkeep removing abilities.  Some units specialise in ignoring tough and others will prevent you from healing, spotting these threats and picking your fights is a skill of the game.

Summary

In summary I hope this article has highlighted the strengths/weaknesses of the Errants, stressed the importance of the UA’s abilities and will inspire you to use Errants wisely.  I have touched on the intricacies of Self Sacrifice and using this ability to great effect is the key, but if you’re a beginner or just not that confident read and re-read the sections on how it works (pages of relevance are quoted in the main body of the text above) as you’ll need to explain it to your opponent no doubt!  Look out for a ‘live the dream’ round with Quickwork, I managed it once facing a full Winterguard ‘Deathstar’ and fully Kayazy, knocked them all down with Kreoss’ feat and each Errant killed two infantrymen each, effectively ending the game!

Thanks for reading :-)