Been Around the Block
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Little background. I've been trying out Nemo No. 3 an awful lot lately. I love him, especially since he likes what I like, model-wise, but I've noticed that, like his Prime incarnation, he has a little trouble with Hordes. Warmachine caster-kills are EASY, Hordes makes you WORK for it.
Anyway, my opponent is a ridiculously experienced Skorne player who's been doing his thing since before anyone but him and his buddy even played Warmahordes at our shop. So, there's that. I think I've beaten him maybe once besides this, and I've known him for years.
So,
Terrain: A couple walls, some woods on either end of the board, and a farmhouse with a walled-off yard. I mention the latter, because my half of the board, on which much of the game took place, was roughly divided into thirds by woods and the farmhouse.
Lists:
Me:
Nemo and Sidekick +3
- Stormclad - 10 7
- Hammersmith - 8 15
Storm Strider - 9 24
Rineholdt - 1 25
Stormsmiths X 3 - 3 28
Alton Ashley - 2 30
Journeyman Warcaster - 3 33
Gorman DiWulfe - 2 35
Alton was NOT list tailoring, I just have him in this list. I've been playing it against Warmachine AND Hordes, though I'm still learning how to use him
Him:
Master Aesthetic Naaresh (I think, all names tenative)
- Bronzeback
- Tiberion
- Gladiator? (The one with Rush for an animus)
Paingivers (Max unit, I think, possibly more than one)
Dude with Spear and Standard Bearer With Battle Plan Thing
We rolled off, and I won, letting him go first. I THINK I've had worse ideas. Forgot to pre-deploy the Strider, but I'd left it almost where it was going to be anyway, and he generously let me shift it a little. I put one Stormsmith on either flank, on the other side of the terrain features, positioned Ashley in the woods and the Strider behind him, ready to run into them on turn one. The rest of my army went between the two terrain features.
Turn One:
The reason I can't remember where most of his army was deployed is that it all ran on turn one, and everything that didn't have Pathfinder got it from somewhere. He stopped about a third of the way across the board. Naaresh put up Lamentation, which would be a pain in my butt during the last few turns of the game.
I ran the Stormcallers up either flank, and the Storm Strider into the woods (where, for the rest of the game, it will gain the aiming bonus), but kept the rest of my army's advance more circumspect. In hindsight, giving out some of Nemo's focus (he had it to spare) to the 'jacks would have been wise, though I don't know how much it would have changed anything if they HAD been able to run. The Stormclad got Failsafe, the Hammersmith Lightning Shroud. Nemo himself got Jr.'s Arcane Shield, on top of which I camped. Heh. You know you've been playing too much Legion when...
Side note: Ashley ran out of the woods, and I, not having his card yet (it came with the Mk. I one when I bought him, and I've been working from memory) had him shoot the Bronzeback. Didn't even scratch him with Bucking Jenny, but Monster Hunter took a chunk out of its Spirit. Then, I found out that Swift Hunter is only good for kills, and the Bronzeback is like Beast-09, and should only be shot if your opponent's stupid enough to move it into range.
Turn 2:
Alton was messily devoured. As the Bronzeback charged butt-first, this was somewhat ominous and doesn't bear thinking about. The rest of his army moved up, various anti-melee animi were applied (hence my tentative belief that running wouldn't have affected much) and Naaresh feated, healing the whipping he'd gotten from his Paingivers and giving out tons of armor to all his beasts. Also, a Paingiver whipped away the damage that Ashley had left on the Bronzeback. Pain-worshipping jerk. Most of his army paused around mid-field, ready to tank.
I got a little too eager, dropped Failsafe, had Rineholdt reload the old man, and popped Nemo's feat. Naaresh took a little damage from lightning bounces, some of which he transferred, while the other heavy-hitters were fairly undamaged. The Storm Strider vaporized a couple Paingivers with lightning bounces, which was nice, since I hate those guys but can never quite get to them. I also had three Stormsmiths in position to perform the first Triangulation I have ever done, but learned the hard way that, just as those 2'' of Reach are a lot further than you'd think, so the 20'' of Triangulation are a lot shorter than you'd think. I could have brought the thunder by running one and triangulating with the other two, but as it was I only made a single stormcall, against Nagash... which I failed. In hindsight, just frying him would have been the better idea, as his feat had made his beasts redonkulously tough. Long story short, I failed to hurt much of anything, but nailed Tiberion with Black Oil, and screened Nemo with the entire rest of my army, including the 'jacks.
Turn 3:
Naaresh activates and tears through every living model in the center of the field but Nemo and Rineholdt with his Lifedrinker weapons, healing himself up nicely but also leaving him low on stat-boosting Blood Tokens and Fury. This includes Jr., so no more Arcane Shield. Gladiator slams the Stormclad but falls short of Nemo, instead wrecking it with tons upon tons of attacks, leaving it with no systems but the buckler and fist. Bronzeback puts up his animus and shows the Hammersmith how the big boys Beat Back. Also, since I reminded him that the Bronzeback DOES have a Chain Attack, he got another inch and a knockdown out of it, leaving the Bronzeback in melee with Nemo but maxed out on Fury and unable to buy more attacks, and the Hammersmith on the floor an inch away with one hand gone and the legs crippled. Yay me. I need to stop helping my opponents... Tiberion gave up his action to run up right next to Naaresh, plopping Bumper onto the Bronzeback.
I am (obviously) in a very tight spot, and I can't even Force Hammer my way out of it (Lamentation would have forced me to cast MORE FOCUS THAN I ACTUALLY HAD), but I manage to get VERY lucky. First, I drop the last upkeep so Nemo can start with all seven focus, then, after a moment's thought, hit upon the Best Idea Ever. First, after confirming that Bumper MUST go off after a melee attack damages the beast, I stand up the Hammersmith and give it all the Focus I can. Then, I first activate the Storm Strider, and make the mistake of shooting Naaresh. Fortunately, I get lucky and roll very high to hit, so he takes it on Tiberion with Shield Guard. The lightning bounce hurts him. Realizing that a POW 10 in the hand is worth two POW 15s in the bush, I target Tiberion with the second and nail him, hitting Naaresh with another POW 10 bounce, and this one burns his last transfer.
Here comes The Idea. The Hammersmith, not in melee with the Bronzeback but very close to it, walks around behind it, its arc arranged so its arc is a straight line, and hits it in the back with its good hammer. The Bumper pushes it, smooth as an ice-cream sundae, right into base-to-base with Naaresh. I buy a boosted attack and cream him.
Now, the two remaining Stormsmiths, off on the flanks, close in and shock him. One deals two damage, the other flubs, at least in part because I'm giving him Blood Tokens, but the damage is done.
Finally, with Naaresh almost but not quite dead, comes the risk. Rineholdt Reloads Nemo (Lucky Charm might have been better, but screw it, I was on a roll!) and Nemo takes a Free Strike from a Bronzeback. Those last eight words are generally not words you want to hear, but with twenty total ARM from his extra Focus he lived. Woulda lost anyway if I hadn't, ya know? At first, I was worried about actually hitting Naaresh whilst he was in melee. Even Tiberion's DEF was nothing to sneeze at. But then! I said those magical words... "Doesn't my Hammersmith have crippled Movement?" I shot my own 'jack, and fried Naaresh with boosted bounce damage.
Final Thoughts:
That was a CRAAAAZY game, and I loved it. My opponent admitted he hadn't seen the Bumper shenanigan coming, but that it had been a clever idea.
Still learning a lot of the models in this list, mostly Nemo and Ashley. Ashley keeps getting killed when I let him go after beasts, so I think I'll try to keep him Solo hunting, the way he did when I played Warmachine or mass-Stealth lists.
Nemo himself... wow. I was always dropping the worst possible upkeep at the worst time, amirite? Still, I guess I DID win, in the end. I'm not sold on the New Old Man's ability to deal with Hordes armies that can so easily deny him the caster kills or mass infantry frying I find he lives on, but I'll probably figure it out eventually.
Still can't ever see the use of Force Hammer. Four focus for a spell THAT situational? Really?
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