Union's gonna get ya! (Guild Ball)

Welcome back! 

A little something before we begin - 

The Brewer's by Steve (@furryjamhats)

Well hello!

It’s been a hectic week and this is the first chance I’ve gotten to actually put some thoughts down on a page!

I’ve played my second game (Round Three) of the Phoenix Games Guild Ball Big League against a very tough opponent – Jimmy (@jimmygstar). Some may know Jimmy from his exploits in Warmachine and Hordes where he was consistently a ranked player and this game is right up his street!

I often think that players of Warmachine sometimes have an edge when they pick up the game as the precise nature of both games (AoE, Melee Ranges, etc) lean towards a style which I don’t particularly have much experience of! In fact, a lot of my gaming experience is ‘Oh, you’re an inch short – don’t worry, just have it.’ So it’s a definite gap which I know I need to really hone in on.

Anyway, I’ve laid down my excuses for the remainder of the article…so bear that in mind!

Jimmy is an incredibly good player and after bouncing around a few teams, he’s finally found his style – The Union!

I must admit, his team selection composed of models I’d never experienced before and it was a steep learning curve but they did incredibly well!

Let’s have a look at the team line ups:

 The Union:
Gutter (proxy), Snakeskin, Blackheart [C], Rage, Mist and Coin [M]

The Archangels (Morticians Division)
Obulus [C], Silence, Tater (Loanee), Dirge [M], Ghast and Cosset

Well, a seemingly strong line up for both teams. I thought that when the teams were revealed that I could take a slight edge with capturing Mist under Obulus' Pupper Master as I knew that he would be bearing down the board with him on goal.
In my amazing fantasy vision in my head I dreamed of Tater going in a smashing the shiz out of stuff.

My amazing plan was only amazing in my head... In fact, it may be amazing in reality but my playing ability doesn't match my thought process so therefore ends up falling quite flat on its face.

On to the Plot Cards - My inital 7.

  My chosen 5.

Don't Touch the Hair - well, why not! With Rage in the opposition, I will be charged and attacked at some point so, worthwhile in taking. I'm sure players will be out on the sideline so Second Wind needed!
Statement of Intent is a must when using Obulus - it's just a CP generator.
Damage Sponge for additional defence, particularly on Obulus for additional protection.
Finally, Make a Game of It! Just because... well, let's be fair - my track record of winning games in 1 out of maybe 8 games. So it's a fair assumption that I'll be conceeding first!

Onto the game!

- I win the roll off and elect to recieve.
- I didn't take a photo of set up but Mist was deployed on the far left of Jimmy's flank, so I set my team up to counter that on the right hand side with Ghast on the left in order to block shooting lanes. Big mistake! I shouldn't have clumped my team together so much!
- Mist's kick falls in front of Ghast and away from the rest of my team. Not even Dirge can reach it!
- Obulus, Tater, Silence, Dirge and Cosset make their way up the side of the board and run in to Blackheart, Gutter and Snakeskin.
- Gutter pulls Tater into her melee range.
- Blackheart charges into Tater, gets Commanding Aura off for Snakeskin to smash!

- Cosset charges into the shit storm that is Blackheart, Snakeskin and Gutter - minimal damage caused but maximum damage taken! 2-0.
- Mist recovers the ball in front of Ghast and scores! 6-0!
- Tater manages to 'Scything Blow' Gutter, Snakeskin and Blackheart.
- Blackheart, Snakeskin and Gutter gently care for Tater by repeatedly punching him in the face... numerous times.
- The ball bounces to Ghast who collects and goes side by side with Dirge.

- Rage comes in and tackles Ghast, taking the ball.
- Obulus joins the fight to try and rescue Tater... to limited success. How limited... see below..

This limited! Obulus gets pounded on! 8-0!
- Tater gets the treatment from Gutter and Blackheart. 10-0!
- Cosset comes on in order to defend the goal.

- Ghast gets pulled away by Gutter, leaving a channel free for Rage to pass the ball... If he really wanted!
- Rage and Mist advance towards an oncoming Tater and Obulus.
- Jimmy has a choice to make - score or take one more out for the win... He's a Warmachine player remember...

- Cosset gets hit on by Mist! Giggity! Taken out! 12-0.

And that's the game, folks!


Lessons Learnt
- Look into things which can be bought with favours - not just players!
- Gutter is a bitch - deal with it!
-  I was too eager to rush Cosset and Tater in when actually, I should have used them as defensive pieces in order to manipulate the board and channel players in. Not saying I would have won but I would have made a better fight of it!
Essentially, I lost the game in deployment. Putting the majority of my force over on the right hand side of the board and giving Rage and Mist the entire run of my left flank wasn't really a clever idea! I need to look very carefully at how I deploy and what I want from those models I put on the table.
My next game is against Archie who is playing Brewers, so I will have to be very astute about how I set up, particularly if we are looking to get into brawls!


And a bit of something else...
In addition to the Big League, I've also started to aquire a few more teams to try a few things. I've got my hands on an Engineers Guild team which I will talk through in another blog post at some point but, here we go...

Even had a go at making my own bases which will end up being rusted cogs and metals!

Well,that's all from me!
Onwards and Upwards in the coming weeks!

Thanks for reading.

I'll see you soon!

@geekphotoguy.