So, as previously stated I was originally going to take my Circle models to the Schism event this past Saturday, but the closer the date got, and the more I began to read the Mark II Cygnar rules, the more I wanted to field the boys in blue again. Any ambitions of playing the tree huggers quickly vanished. I spent Friday night and Saturday morning finalizing the three lists I’d need to take, but this time refitting them for Cygnar. The warcasters I was most comfortable with using were Stryker, Haley, and Siege, and I tried to plan my lists accordingly.
Round One:
I showed up to the FLGS right on time and four people were already there and paired up. Lesson to me: show up a little early! Being the odd person (you may indeed interpret that however you wish), I was waiting either the end of one of the games so that I could cycle in, or wait for a sixth opponent to show up and begin our first round late. An odd number of players is not impossible to accomodate given that in the cycle of defending and attacking, people are constantly switching tables anyway.
As it happened, a sixth participant did show up and I got to play against a Vlad-led Khador list (not again!) and my designated first “A” list was my Siege list. The last time I used Siege I had beaten Airport’s Vlad army, and I knew once again I would have to strike during a time when Vlad was low on focus and did not have Wind Wall up.
Here’s my list…
Markus Siege Brisbane
Defender
Lancer
Squire
Reinholdt
Journeyman WC
Hunter
Stormsmith (1)
Black 13th
Precursor Knights (7) w/ UA
Trenchers (6) w/ UA
I really like this list as it has a smaller model count and only comes in at 24 VPs. As it would turn out, VPs would not be as important in this event though.
Here's a picture of Siege, the Squire, an inert Hunter (JWC had been taken out) surrounded by the Great Bears and MoW. Not a pretty end-game scenario...My Precursors got into the thick of it as fast as I could get them, but were initially picked off by Widowmakers and then got engaged with the Kodiak. The Black 13th in turn picked off the Widowmakers but then got charged by the Great Bears, and, well, that was that. In the meantime I was able to get Siege, Reinholdt, and Squire close to center where Vlad was in my control range, popped off Higher Ground to elevate Vlad into my LOS, and gave him a double shot of rockets. It’s only now that I realize what went wrong. I forgot to use Siege’s feat (now I'm slapping my head in V-8 fashion). Of course Vlad lived through the barrage, and next turn Siege was besieged from the rear by the Great Bears…
This was my first tournament with timed rounds, however, and 10 minutes is hardly any time to move 750 points about on the table (I believe hardcore is 7 minutes and Steamroller either 12 or 14, right?). It was fast and furious and a boat-load of fun. I don’t feel too bad about missing Siege’s feat. My brain was a blur. The rationale, I believe, for having only 10 minutes is because the games themselves were not timed. Each of us played to completion, so timing the rounds kept things moving quickly.
Next, we broke for lunch while the judges examined the candidates for the painting contest. The only model I had to submit was Carvolo, and I don’t even have him detailed. Although he is based, he is still pretty roughly painted. If I had won the contest I would have cried foul because there was better painting there. But I felt I had to submit something just to say I did it, you know? In the end Tyler’s Gorman di Wulfe won best painted model.
Left to right, the painting competition entries... Brun, Molik Karn, Gorman, Piper, and Midwinter. (please ignore the looming fleshy bits in the corner)Next post, round two (the last round I would play).
Red