Every army list that I see online for Speedmachine is pretty much the same - practically mangled metal with a few solos, or some other variant of low model count armies. If you don't have much time, have fewer models to move to conserve the time you do have. It makes sense, but it also sets up for people like me to play a list like I did.
Adeptus Rahn
Chimera
House Shyeel Battle Mages x2
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (min) with Eiryss3
House Shyeel Magister x2
Mage Hunter Assassin
Arcanist
The basic idea is to use the Chimera with free focus from the Arcanist to get up deep, TK with Rahn to make a hole and them the Mittens do their thing. Infiltrators are in to jam if needed, E3 to strip focus/fury if they're camping, and the Mage Hunter Assassin is for the finisher if needed. If my opponent has just a few models, that's Rahn's dream come true.
I tried to take what photo's I could, but with the rounds being played very fast, and this being day 4 of the convention, I was just too tired to get pictures most rounds. I'm lucky I got 4/5 of my opponent's army lists photographed to remember what they were playing.
Round 1 Bryan's Legion
Abby2
Carnivean
Zuriel
Scythean
Bryan had a good idea - he cast Fortify on Zuriel and then moved up with both his Scythean and Abby base to base with him and Abby behind both so I couldn't see her. This would have worked great to stop the Mittens pull shenanigans, if Rahn didn't have the Chimera run over and arc a couple of TK's into the front pair to make an opening. This is where Bryan learns "immune to being moved" does not cover place effects.
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| Abby's about to take a ride on the Mitten Express |
Needless to say, not even half of my army had to activate before Abby was shown the error of putting her faith in a dragon. (Non blighted elves ftw!)
Round 2 Justice's Circle
Krueger2
Warpwolf Stalker x2
Bloodtrackers (max) w/UA
I don't recall too many of the specifics of this game. His first turn he TK's both of his Warpwolves up and then moves on with activations, completely forgetting to move Krueger up. Krueger ends up charging or running turn 2 to get back into the game. The Bloodtrackers and Infiltrators mixed it up in the middle of the field, and the Bloodtrackers did better than I thought they would. (Conversations with Justice after the game talked me into looking at Bloodtrackers rather than Wolves as my first small based infantry unit for my slowly growing Circle force.)
After our jamming units both spent most of their lives against each other, he uses Krueger's feat to push back a handful of models and maybe score a CP or two. However, if I'm within range of Krueger's feat, he's in range of me walking 3" and tossing a 12" range Force Bolt (and for my models not in his 14, even easier with the 6" walk). Rahn counter feats and Krueger gets grounded.
A definite shout out to Justice for taking time after our match to discuss Circle model options with me. Due to the limited meta I play in, I don't really have anybody that plays Circle a lot that I could talk with to learn more about how different options play (and the forums can only get you so far). We talked about multiple infantry units, different beast options, how Standing Stones fare after the nerf, etc. It was really nice to find somebody willing to share their experiences on a one to one basis taking into account how my play style could work with Circle tactics.
Round 3 Josh's Skorne
Morghul1
Tiberion
Molik Karn
Gladiator
Beast Handlers (min)
Morghul on a hill, with Tiberion in front of him. Sigh. After a turn or two I finally get my Chimera in a position I can just barely get LoS to TK Morghul to the side of Tiberian. I then use the Mittens (needing 13's to hit I think? Stupid hill...) to pull Morghul up and to start beating on him. I sadly don't hit with enough shots and I only drop him down to 1 or 2 boxes left failing to kill him. Morghul goes ginsu on a lot of my Mittens and Infiltrators killing a good number, Molik Karn knocks enough out of the Chimera that the jack is pretty much worthless and his titans move up into jamming positions (though with a lot of buffs Tiberion is about 3/4 of an inch shy of catching Rahn.
On my next turn the few Mittens I have left manage to roll the crit on 2d6 to knock Morghul down and then it's just a matter of time before the last couple shots finish him off. Record up to 3-0
Round 4 Jeremy's Minions (Thornfall)
(not 100% on the list, for some reason I don't have a pic of his sheet)
Dr Arkadius (Tier 4 I think?)
Gorax x2
War hog
Razorboar x3
Gunboar x2
Tarq
Bonegrinders (min)
Arkadius hides behind a wall with his two Goraxes flanking him. We both jockey for position, he feats to pretty much kill Eiryss3 and my infiltrators. I then follow that up by running the Chimera in to range of arcing TKs at Arkadius and Rahn trys to spin him around (hopefully moving him in front of the wall as well). At first I'm not 100% sure I want to go for this, as he's defense 19 behind the wall. I TK, boost to hit needing an 11, and miss. Buy another TK with boost, miss again. Grr. Now I'm just mad that I'm missing 3d6 shots at an 11. Screw this noise, we're doing it this turn or we're not doing it. I feat, toss one last TK, again missing. Shit.
Well, I already tossed my feat out there, so might as well see if we can get lucky. I have the Mage Hunter Assassin just about 13 inches away from Arkadius if I need him but Def 17 behind that wall to a melee strike doesn't look good. Let's try the Mitten units. First unit walks up, first Force Bolt rolls 5-5-4. Crit knockdown. Can't pull him up in front of the wall, but it doesn't matter. Unless I roll triple 1's, all of my mittens now get to hit him. And all Mittens are within 18" so they're all throwing shots. I grind through all 5 or 6 of the fury he had on him and drop him with 2 or 3 Mittens and the Assassin still to go.
This match puts me 4-0 and now there's only two of us left that are undefeated. On to my first final table at a national level convention! (Even if it was for a funsy event with only 20 or so players, let me have my moment.)
Round 5 Sam's Khador
Butcher3
Juggernaut
War Dog
Greylord Ternion
Ironfang Pikemen (max) with Black Dragon UA
Eiryss2
Widowmakers
Well crap. Somebody else had a similar idea to me. If everybody is playing small model count armies, play something that does well against those. The problem here is his Ternions can make it so I can't see Butcher to pull my plan off, and the Ironfangs can mess up my Mittens pretty good.
He wins the rolloff and takes the side with the trench right in the middle of his backfield, in a perfect location to hide Butcher. The Juggernaut and his two Argus Hounds that come with Butcher are screening him, with the Ternion cloud effects on those 3 in front hiding the Ternion and Butcher completely from my view. I try to jam out the IFP to get some control points and force Butcher to move up, but by time I do I've lost too many models to take a go at it.
I know I played wrong in a few places here... I should have feated and used the Mittens to kill as many IFP as I could after sacrificing my Infiltrators to jam during their mini feat turn. If I had taken them out, I should have been able to use Eiryss to strip his camp off and then throw what Rahn and the Assassin could do in after. Instead when I took my shot Butcher was on a bit of a camp - enough that the Mittens only did 1 or 2 damage total to him, Eiryss was out of range due to Pikemen being in the way and their reach pushing her just out of 12 inches, and it all came down to a single attack by the Assassin. With the health he had left at this point, I needed to roll a 19 for damage on the charge attack (dice minus 9 for his base armor, double damage for Decapitation on the Assassin). Needing a 19 or higher on 4d6 is a 9.72% chance. I roll something like a 12 and do 6 or so damage. As that's all I have, Butcher gets to go, and applies Lola to Rahn's face.
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| Ending of the game, the tourament, and of Adepticon for me. |
Overall I think I had a good plan for the event. I probably should have swapped one of my Magisters for a second Mage Hunter Assassin, and played the final match a bit differently, but for this being my first convention that I played 4 events on back to back days, I can't complain too much. As Jeremy went 4-1, Sam was obviously 5-0, and my earlier opponents got a few more wins as well, I easily took 2nd on SoS and took my second plaque for the weekend.
My ending record from the 19 matches I played over all four events puts me at 14-5 on the weekend. Not a bad showing for the angry elves (and druids) that I took with this year. Now to wait for Reckoning to come out, and see what I want to take to next year's Con.
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