Sunday, July 26, 2015

Initiation Trials - Stage 1

Finally got to play some non-BB games with CoC. Thanks to Dr.D.D and Gospod Jaksic for exposing me to more Legion & Cryx - exactly what I need in life #refuelingthehatetank

As any veteran player knows, being a noob in Warmachine is borderline hazing as you get metaphorically dumped on, crushed, punched, beaten, dessicated and humiliated (usually by some very friendly and forgiving opponents) in your first few games.

I can say that after not playing any WM at all for many months, playing a game with arguably the most complicated and rigid faction in the game made me feel like a massive noob again. Small amounts of alcohol and mild sleep deprivation probably didn't help things either.

But I learned a lot. Here is a summary of things I learned for your present entertainment and my future shame:
  • Magnetic Hold RNG:8 makes the ADO essential. It's a great spell but you gotta get it out there, and doing so is basically the only thing Syntherion will do that turn so you don't want to leave him exposed.
  • CoC is really slow off the mark, which hurts in scenario play. This is why you play Axis tier!
  • Induction makes everything super efficient (Corrolary basically runs any number of jacks by himself, giving out up to 4 focus a turn which in turn multiplies itself), but also order of activations make PoM look easy.
  • If you float above the ground, you usually have pathfinder. Funny that.
  • Convergence have no reach warjacks (except Inverter and Axiom). You don't really think about this too much when looking at the faction, but it's a real kick in the balls on the table.
    I am a strong supporter of adding 1" melee range to large and huge bases, and having reach be only 1" for small-based models. That single change would have a huge impact on the jack vs infantry inefficiencies #mk3
  • Repair is a surprisingly good ability when paired with Syntherion's Field Marshall and when tacked on as an ability to models you usually take for other stuff (Galvanizers, Optifex Directive). It almost feels like playing Hordes - almost.
  • Pro-tip with the Modulator: Target larger bases behind what you actually want to kill. Wish I had thought of that....
  • Hot Shot Ciphers can do a surprisingly amount of work with 2x 4" AoEs.

I would write battle reports but they wouldn't be entertaining in the least (basically get rushed jammed out of scenario by worthless infantry I can't kill, and fail potential assassination runs by misevaluating resources/activation order).

All 3 games were 25pts (which hurt my brain enough) with the same list:

Syntherion - The Great Machine
Tiers: 4
Forge Master Syntherion (*6pts)
* Corollary (3pts)
* Galvanizer (0pts)
* Galvanizer (3pts)
* Cipher (9pts)
* Modulator (6pts)
* Monitor (8pts)
Optifex Directive (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)

I think the list is neat but the Modulator isn't great at low points levels since the number of infantry is much lower, and he isn't that good at taking clumps.

If I were to make changes, I would probably change the list up for:

Faction: Syntherion - The Great Machine
Tiers: 4
Forge Master Syntherion (*6pts)
* Corollary (3pts)
* Galvanizer (0pts)
* Mitigator (4pts)
* Mitigator (4pts)
* Assimilator (8pts)
* Cipher (9pts)
Optifex Directive (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex (1pts)

The ADO is vital for Magnetic Hold, the Assimilator provides good AoE damage and still some anti-stealth capability, and the Mitigators help in controlling other heavies or taking out infantry. You lose a little bit of heavy hitting power, but should still be more than enough to handle a "normal" sized battlegroup thanks to Synergy.
Alternatively you can trade the Mitigators for an Inverter or Monitor depending on the meta of your journeyman league, or one Mitigator for a Diffuser and play a point down (probably worth it) :)


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