Ides 2014 - Making the Wraith Engine Legit (Day 1).

Ides of March, the preeminent event on the Auckland Warmachine calendar. Expertly run by all round nice guy Dave Stent, Ides is one of the "Big 3" not-to-be-missed events as far as Warmachine/Hordes is concerned (The others being Rallypoint in Hamilton and Call to Arms/Lords of Ruin in Wellington).

My lists consisted of one old faithful and a return to a favoured caster, with a new flavour.

List 1:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
* Deathripper
* Deathripper
Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard
Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Machine Wraith
Saxon Orrik

Basically the usual eGaspy nonsense, nothing too innovative here.

 List 2:

Pirate Queen Skarre
* Ripjaw
* Ripjaw
* Skarlock Thrall
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts)
General Gerlak Slaughterborn
Bloodgorgers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls
Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Satyxis Blood Hag
Wraith Engine

This list threw a few people. I had given the incorporeal spam a try at Battlecry @ 35 points and found it susceptible to magical AOE spells (Hellfire, Obliteration et al), hence the addition of the Wraith Engine. Its ability to give incorporeal models immunity to blast damage as well as its ability to throw out 3 fully boosted P+S 22 reach attacks on feat turn as well as dishing out clouds to protect a caster if needed suggested to me that it may be better than the Internets would have us believe.

So braving the "horrors" of Cyclone Lusi, 40 of us lined up for Round 1.

Round 1: Dan Conlon (Cygnar)

Sweet! I had never played Dan before so this was going to be great. Then I looked at his lists and damn near scooped on the spot.Striker with a bunch of Gun Mages and eHaley with a bunch of Gun Mages and Stormwall.
 Being a complete scrub, I panicked and confused eHaley for pHaley, immediately thinking "that both lists shoot my Skarre list to death and Haley completely shuts down  Gaspy with TB and oh god I'm screwed right from the start, this is terrible and wait...what was that Dan? I have my Haleys mixed up?? Oh, that's completely different then."

So Dan dropped Haley (obviously) and I chose Gaspy (obviously). A misplaced Mage Storm from Dan in turn 2 cost him 90% of his Gun Mages and 2/3rds of the Black 13th as my Bile Thralls just walked between it and a wall and proceeded to purge all over his very squishy dudes. Shooting from the Stormwall cut down swathes of Banes of both varieties, before Gaspys Feat deleted the Stormwall and some support staff (Squire, Junior). After a brief scare from Horsemages trying to shoot Gaspy in the back, I managed to win on scenario 5-0.

Round 2: Tony the Unpronounceable (Retribution)

Battlemages and the like spelt instant doom for the Skarre list, so I dropped Gaspy again. Tony dropped Rahn. I had never played against Rahn before. Bottom of turn two, I learnt what Rahn does.

Oh well, gave me plenty of time to eat my lunch and have a look around at some other games.

Round 3: Greg Fitchew (Legion)

Neither of Gregs list contained a Naga or Hex Hunters, so I dropped the Skarre list. He dropped Saeryn. We met in the middle and he popped her Feat, while I just tried to pin down his beasts. I popped my Feat defensively, while the Blackbanes deleted some of his support staff. Then sat back and waited to see what I would have left after his next turn. Turns out my sheer numbers made it difficult for him to place his beasts in the best positions. His Carnivean charged the ARM 23 Wraith Engine and failed to kill it, while an Angelius tried an assassination run on Skarre (at ARM 28) only to eat a free strike from a Blackbane (still under my feat) which proceeded to remove its body completely and set it on fire. Next turn, I manage to remove his Angels and Raek (1-shotted the Raek with a Ripjaw), while the witches also managed to put some hurt on Saeryn and kill some pot handlers, fuelling the Wraith Engine. Bloodgorgers softened up the Carnivean, before the Wraith Engine finished it off and then proceeded to suck Saeryns soul out through the space where the top of her head used to be.

Round 4: Nick Garden (Trolls)

Nick dropped Borka and I dropped Gaspy again, knowing full well the trouble the Krielstone would cause my Skarre list.
My first wave of Banes deleted the Fennblades and dinged up the Warders then got smashed off the table in return. Feated Banes then removed the Warders and Mulg. Borka tried to kill Gaspy by charging the Biles next to him, but couldn't connect with him over the wall he was (heroically) hiding behind. Gaspy poked Borka in the chest in return, doing decent damage and forcing him to drunkenly stumble away, before Gorman black oiled him and the bile thralls proceed to spray him to death.

So the end of day one saw me at 3-1, probably my best first day at an event in the 2 years I've been playing the game and had me feeling pretty good about my prospects for day 2.