I played in a 25pt Warmachine/Hordes Journeyman tournament yesterday and I had a blast! It was run as part of Leprecon, hosted by the TCD Gamers and run by Stu and Ciaran (who did an excellent job). I lost three of the four games and it was still fun. Here’s a quick review of the games –

Game 1

I faced Aaron and his eFeora list. I brought my Irusk list, but I played very poorly. Of the four games I played this was the one I enjoyed the least. Aaron was a sloppy player – he took liberties when measuring and called incorrect dice scores more than once. Warmachine is a thoroughly competitive game, but those felt like 40k shenanigans. That said, I would have lost either way. The list he used was very tough (eFeora, three heavies, choir, vassal, book) and he played it well. He won the game on scenario.

Game 2

This game was a lot more fun, though I nearly lost it at the top of Round 2! John, my opponent, had the Coven, Deathjack, a Defiler, Gorman and a load of Satyxis. I’ve never played the Coven before and naively decided to put Occultation onto the Great Bears. When he nearly assassinated Strakhov through the arc node I realised my mistake! I managed to claw my way back a little by taking out Deathjack and the bonejack, but the Satyxis managed to get some feedback hits onto Beast-09 and that was game over.

Game 3

This game was a blast! I played David’s eHaley list and we had some fun. To start off my Great Bears wrecked his Lancer and I held Beast-09 back at what I thought was a safe distance. I was amazed at the speed of his when it charged my character ‘jack and totalled him. My IFP ran to engage the Black 13th and the Great Bears began to mow through the Stormblades. I used Overrun to position the Marauder for a slam on the Stormclad. I needed 6 on 3D6. I rolled 5… Doh! This left David with a vector on Strakhov. He used Telekinesis to move the Marauder out of the way and again to move the Stormclad a little closer. He charged Strakhov and one shotted him. Ouch! It was a great game though.

Game 4

I was up against Cygnar again. Ivan, my opponent, described the army as the “dregs of David’s army”. He hadn’t brought his army as he thought there was a fully painted requirement, so he borrowed some of my previous opponents models. As a second choice army, though, it wasn’t bad. His army comprised pStryker, a Cyclone, a Hunter, Journeyman, Long Gunners and Precursor Knights. This game was drawn out because of the scenario (Destruction). I managed to take out one of the objectives with Beast-09 after it whiffed a charge attack on the Hunter. The second attack was enough to take out its gun, so that was good enough. I took out most of the Knights and Gunners, but it cost me the Great Bears. I had a chance to finish the game, but Strakhov missed a charge attack against a Long Gunner and failed to activate Overrun. If he had Beast-09 would have been into the second objective and fully loaded with focus. As it was time was called and as I had destroyed an objective I got my one win of the day. It’s a daft scenario and it’s a stupid way to win a game!

I might put in a bit of practice before my next tournament, but with losing being so much fun maybe I won’t.

Owen