Thursday 29 June 2017

Dawnlord Vyros vs Xerxis Fury of Hallack

Cheeky game into Skorne. Ended too fast to really try out the list though. But it did succeed on the intended assassination vector.

I don't know if I will keep the list, as a Shadows of the Retribution theme seems to be giving me better options. To be fair this list is just supposed to havea decent melee and ranged assassination threat and I think good players will avoid it. 
Still with Moros leading in with either a Paralysis melee or gun attack Imperitus should finish anything off, especially under Feat. That being said you could still follow up with Manticore and Imperitus gun fire if reaching the target in melee is out of the question. 

Dawnlord Vyros - WJ: +28
-    Fane Knight Guardian - PC: 4
-    Imperatus - PC: 22 
-    Manticore - PC: 14
-    Manticore - PC: 14
-    Moros - PC: 11
Arcanist Mechanik - PC: 2
Arcanist Mechanik - PC: 2
House Shyeel Artificer - PC: 5
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios - PC: 6
Nayl - PC: 3
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 19
-    Soulless Escort - PC: 1

--VS--

Xerxis, Fury of Halaak - WB: +28
-    Agonizer - PC: 6
-    Archidon - PC: 10
-    Basilisk Krea - PC: 7
-    Cyclops Brute - PC: 8 
-    Tiberion - PC: 22
-    Titan Gladiator - PC: 15
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 5
Praetorian Ferox - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5


Sorry about the pictures, this game mat is terrible for photos.


The plan

He goes first as I chose the side.
Knowing the cats would tear apart my Nyss, I deployed them on the far side of the forest, with the hope of maybe killing his beast support.
I would need my feat to kill Tiberion. But ignite on the Ferox made them pretty scary.


So I advance somewhat cautiously. The good stuff in the middle. Imperitus takes a slightly more aggressive stance and gets Covered by Covering Fire. I figured the Ferox could still leap past them, but at least it blunts a charge.


First blood.

He positions up very aggressively. Unnecessarily so. Tiberion gets a Rush and charges in to kill 2 Nyss while one Ferox lands a decent 12 damage on Moros knocking off his generator. The other does some minor damage to Imperitus. 


So yea. Xerxis is on one transfer, Paralytic Aura is up but the Agonizer is not Wailing. He sits right inside Moros and Imperitus' threat ranges.
Now I thought he had more fury or did use his aura. Its probably worth pointing out that huge bases can often make us think they are more resilient than the model actually is.


The assassination

First Hallowed Avenger triggers, Moros advances slightly and misses the Ferox, oh well. Vyros advances, with flank and kills the Ferox engaging Moros, then feats.
The Artificer tries to Magno Bolt a Ferox to pull the other out of Imperitus' charge lane but misses.
So the Manticores fire up. The white one with one focus gets 2 shots and kills the nearest Ferox. (Which should have been engaged unless it re-positioned away, I'm not sure here…) anyway it dies.
The green Manticore gets 3 shots on the other Ferox.
Narn runs in from the back of the table to give flank against Xerxis and Moros charges. Mat 9 with flank is 4s to hit. He hits, paralyses and does 18 damage, which Xerxis transfers to the Krea. Moros stikes 3 more times leaving Xerxis on 10 boxes, then Imperitus charged and finished him off.

The Story
Unusually for Xerxis, his force was suffering from a lack of coordinated communication. For whatever reason the Ferox squad had been roaming much further ahead of the main force than would otherwise be advised. Perhaps it was Xerxis own mobility that gave them confidence, but they began to encounter and engage the main body of the Retribution force.
Vyros, who had a birds eye view was well aware of the disorganization in his opponents battle line.
"Why do they tread so readily into such an obvious trap?" Narn whispered to Vyros.
"The first step in avoiding the trap is knowing of its existence." came his reply
"Armor is a warriors confidence, but a fools assurance it seems."
"And confidence is no defense against ignorance. Lets see how they choose to dress this day, in ignorance or doubt."

A wooded area was playing a central role to Vyros' plans. The only way for the Warlock to threaten him, was to expose himself. In all honesty Vyros would rather not force the encounter, but had hoped his opponent would simply withdraw.  The retribution forces were, after all over extended and Vyros did not want to lead them into an extended fight with no reinforcements.
Still Imperitus stamped a ready foot and Moros shifted weight continually. Vyros ordered the Nyss to set up in the opposing thicket and be prepared. Probably an angry titan or two would come charging through, possibly an angry rhino with an even angrier Skorne atop.
That's what they were expecting anyway.


What Xerxis was un aware of was the Ferox striking into the Retribution force.
Confident with his weapon ablaze that his Warlock will be right behind him, the Ferox commander lead the fierce cats into combat with the Retribution myrmidons. Just as they were ready to strike the Manticores laid down a blanket of covering fire and the Ferox had to jump out of the way. Still one connected with Moros, tearing into its generator and shutting down power for its shield generated attack. One other connected with Imperitus and its force was absorbed into his shield. Then with the charge blunted and their warlock nowhere in sight the Ferox reformed back wondering where their support was.
A lone Archidon glided down to join them. Suddenly Xerxis' great rhino came crashing through the wood. Ahead of it Tiberion rushed charging into a few Nyss and demolished them. Coming slowly up behind the rest of Xerxis' support looked flustered and un prepared.

Surprised Vyros considered the options. If he didn't act now the Warlock could swiftly crush his force, yet Imperitus was still engaging with Ferox and too far away to deal with Tiberion.
With no more hesitation Vyros lunged forward, deftly he struck at a Ferox while it was engaging with Moros and slew it. The Manticores focused on removing other Intervening Ferox. Moros now free charged into the mounted rhino riding behemoth of a Skorne. Narn swiftly followed, leading a distraction. Xerxis parried and countered while Narn with only elven deftness ran the length of the rhino slashing and stabbing at Xerxis. As he spun upon its horn in a mocking display of acrobatics Moros landed a devastating blow into Xerxis flank, which he had to psychically send into the Krea, severely crippling it. With a paralysing energy flowing into Xerxia Moros followed up with a flury of blows. Thankfully Xerxis could shoulder most of it into his armor.
Just as he was ready to retaliate Imperitus struck deep, his blade melting armor and sinew. Unable to withstand the execution of practiced maneuvers Xerxis sounded the retreat and Vyros held his myrmidons back, content to watch the withdrawal from above the battlefield. Not needing to commit further.



Tuesday 27 June 2017

Keeping it together, the four sicknesses.

This may be the last of the philosophical posts. As my personal development in this area is reaching its current limit.

In this post I will address the four sicknesses of the mind in kendo known as shikai and a state of mind I had omitted previously called Heijoshin. Again I will relate how the four sicknesses can be applied to the tabletop. Most of these have been gone over in some way so I expect this post to hopefully be a bit shorter.

To preface a little I talked about Mushin and may not have been giving a clear impression. While Mushin is a calm mind, it is also a void. Meanwhile Heijoshin is a calm mind but a present one.

The four sicknesses are what we should be striving to avoid, or cleanse or even purify our mind from. Its not expected that you could ever really fully achieve these without becoming some kind of zen master demigod. But its supposed to be the pursuit of them that is virtuous.

Kyo
Surprise


Ku
Fear


Gi
Doubt


Waku
Hesitation / Confusion


These emotions as concepts of weakness are not uniquely Japanese.  I am sure we all know how these can affect our performance from the table top to pickup lines. In Kendo this is particularly focused on and overcome in ways that I have covered about zanshin, mushin, shoshin, fudoshin.
What I think would be beneficial here is to extrapolate how these can be used to your advantage over your opponent on the table. While Kendo practitioners seek to master these emotions within themselves, it helps to be able to recognize them in your opponent too.


Surprise, the dark horse effect.

Surprise can come a few ways across the table. It might be seeing Garryth in your competitive list pairing (I actually think Garryth is completely legit) or it might be your opponent not realizing that you can decimate his infantry in a single turn. Generally what happens after this surprise is the tilt, that's what sends your opponent into damage control and when their judgement becomes clouded.
Ways to avoid this yourself is not to rely on one piece or one interaction as your victory condition. You should always try to have at least 2 victory conditions in mind at all times.
Surprise can come from not reading rules or not being aware of interactions. A great example for me was when I arranged a game with last years champion who came up from Fukuoka.
We both had a week of list prep and had sent them to each other before the game. I had Vyros1 and Issyria. He was playing CoC and while I cant recall the casters, if I mentioned the lists you might know. Double battle engine list, and a list with the female backlash caster.
I mention backlash because this was the crux of the problem. I know what backlash does, I have won games with it. I locked in Vyros with a Banshee and 3 Manticores because I wanted to break the armor he was bringing. I also felt like they had enough armor or attacks to get through all of those servitors he was bringing in the other list. I also knew they had puncture. I just didn't put the two together.
So after turn 2 Vyros was on about 3 hit boxes. I had to completely change my game plan. He caught me by surprise even though it was all right in front of me. Domination, Backlash, Puncture.
The immediate threat of Backlash assassination made me forget that I could spend focus to negate the damage. I ended up spending focus to heal, which was counter productive as then I was not able to commit to reliably killing his servitors.
Because of the surprise inflicted on me I could no longer make accurate threat assessments and couldn't decide what my target priority was.
I tried to position for assassination. But because of the advantage he had in the first couple rounds I couldn't regain my footing and eventually over 4 turns was Backlashed to death.


Fear, The flavor of the month theme list.

Dropping what you know people are scared of. Building lists that people are genuinely afraid of. Just to force them into unfavorable match ups. Its that triple colossal or griffon spam list that exists just to play the dupe.
Or just having a reputation for being that guy, or the top dog.


Doubt, the Mage Hunter Assassin

Fear is closely related to doubt. Putting your opponent into positions where they don't know if they need to commit or not. They don't know if they can be assassinated or not. Some models are great for this, like Nayl for example. Can I just ignore Nayl? Should I throw him? Is it worth using this warjack or warbeasts activation just to do that? Meanwhile Vyros2 feat can have similar effects. Doubt works great with dice swings, Issyria, Strike Force against jacks, Mage Hunter Assassins. Odds are the Assassin does 4 damage, but there is a chance it could one shot his Stalker. So because of doubt he plays cagey.


Hesitation, analysis paralysis.

This is the result of doubt. But hesitation comes in when its eating your opponents clock. In Kendo this is your opening to strike. On the tabletop its not as obvious. It betrays confidence to have hesitation. Basically when you see your opponent hesitating to commit to a play you know you are forcing him into an unfavorable position. Of course the other side of this is he may just have too many good options. Either way however, they are losing clock time. But it also comes in to timing, activation and when to feat.
A good example of this was an opponent who pushed me into a Snipe Feat Go assassination with Ravyn. I knew that my odds of pulling off the assassination were pretty low. He had good armor and I couldn't deliver all of the Strike Force. He kill boxed himself to avoid the assassination, but I knew if I gave him the time to reduce my unit further my odds would become even less. So I feated early and didn't kill him. This left him feeling safe and he didn't predict my Artificer using Magno blast to push his Shield Guard away the next turn so a Sniped Force Generator could finish him off.
If I had hesitated to feat, I never would have put the earlier damage on him.
Another simple example is holding your feat for an assassination play, which you are never given an opening for.


There we have it.
I should probably point out that I don't consider myself a fantastic player. Since I have not been playing as much as I would like, I feel my skill has slipped a lot. So I have moved to trying to keep a better record of my games and experiences. Using these concepts helps me analyse what is happening in my games and between them.
More often than not I find myself at sea with new releases and new rules. Just the other day I had an idea for a way to use Nayl, but then completely failed to put it into practice on the table. I hear a lot about people getting frustrated with the game, people who feel like the new version of the game is unbalanced and that is the reason why they are less successful or are loosing worse.
I think its more the fact that All New War has new challenges that every player needs to overcome, and its not necessarily a game imbalance but just the player needing to learn how to navigate his way around a new game.








Sunday 25 June 2017

Battle report. Thyron Sword of Truth vs Exulon Thexus

Thyron vs Thexus

A lesson on reading your opponents spell list.

 I have been testing out strategies with the Dawnguard units and the Scyir.
The idea is to provide a kind of rolling fire base with the Invictors behind the Sentinels. With Assault the Invictors out threat the Sentinels, so anything that sits outside of Sentinel threat is inside Invictor threat.
The module would run well with most any caster but I tried it with Vyros2 and Thyron because they could give the most support while also having a personal impact. Vyros gave a bit more support but Thyron had more personal threat and spell piercer.

Thyron, Sword of Truth - WJ: +27
-    Fane Knight Guardian - PC: 4
-    Griffon - PC: 8
-    Griffon - PC: 8
-    Discordia - PC: 18 (Discordia was a last minute drop instead of a Banshee to skew armor a bit more and be Discordia)
Arcanist Mechanik - PC: 2
Arcanist Mechanik - PC: 2
Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir - PC: 4
Lys Healer - PC: 3
House Shyeel Artificer - PC: 5
House Shyeel Magister - PC: 4
Dawnguard Invictors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
-    Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
-    Soulless Escort - PC: 1
Dawnguard Sentinels - Leader & 9 Grunts: 18
-    Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
-    Soulless Escort - PC: 1

--- VS ---

(Thexus 1) Exulon Thexus [+29]
 - Subduer [11]
 - Subduer [11]
 - Wrecker [14]
Cephalyx Agitator [3]
Cephalyx Agitator [3]
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [10]
 - Cephalyx Dominator [1]
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max) [11]
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max) [11]
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (min) [8]
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12]
Cephalyx Overlords [0(8)]
Cephalyx Overlords [0(8)]
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]
 - Cephalyx Dominator [1]

Yes it was a SR2016 scenario.


I put Storm Rager on Thyron and advance. The Sentinels and Invictors needlessly bunch up around Discordia. (I have played so many games against a Khador opponent who always always took 2 mortars so the run into form a blast immune clump, is just a habit I can't break easily)


As you can see he holds off the Ambush and advances. We don't trade any shots yet.

Round 2

Here the Invictors assault forward through the sentinels with mini feat and clear the front line of drudges and some risen. I forget to use spell piercer but it would not have helped the missed attack rolls.
Sentinels run forward and Iron Zeal.


 He avoids the sentinels. His ambush comes on the right and hits pretty hard. Sprays clear off the Magister and he kills a Griffon. He uses a TK on Disco and his Subduer to pull disco in with the Subduers drag shot and after 3 focus leaves disco on 6 boxes. But he uses psychic assault to finish her off.
He crafts a thrall which goes after the Artificer but only does 3 damage.

Round 3



On the left the Invictors Assault through to clean up space for the sentinels who then go and put 5 damage on the objective, kill the Subduer with 5 Sentinels and 3 more leave the Wrecker on 5 boxes. The Fane Knight Guardian charges and kills the risen champion but I forget it has reposition. The now free Artificer advances through the forest and combo smites the Wrecker knocking Alexia down.

It's all peachy for Ret up to this point but Thyron feats and charges the Drudges to clear them out. It would have been better to use a ground zero but instead I spend focus and try to cut through all the tough checks. Assuming, even with 0 camp he can't assassinate me.
The Griffon with a focus from the Arcanist which Thyron had just unengaged advances through the forest finishes off the Wrecker and kills a handful of risen.
I know Thyron is vulnerable but I assume Storm Rager will keep him from being killed.

The assassination. 

Thexus feats pushes things around Telekinesis Thyron and Hex Blasts Storm rager off him. It does 8 damage.
Then a psychic assault double 6's to put him down to 2 boxes, one more hits and kills him before the three adrenal flooded  dredges behind him even activate.

Conclusion

My play to clear the Zone with Thyron was greedy and unnecessary. It got Thyron killed because I didn't know my opponent had Hex Blast. If I had just played safer it was looking pretty good as my Dawnguard module was intact.

The story

The Sword of Truth was poised. They had backed the Cephalyx contingent into a clearing beyond some near impenetrable wood. The great spider like Exulon would have to fight now. What Thyron could not have known was the tactical withdrawal of the Cephalyx forces has bought time to gather reinforcements.

Through thickets drudges began to shamble forward. With eagerness Vlysn commanded his unit to extend their fire and pick off the front wave. Knowing full well that the Cephalyx would soon turn the tide in combat if they were allowed to get so close.
Shots rang out and only a handful found thier targets. Despite the Cephalyx decelerating the impact of the Invictor sword-cannon rounds, the caliber had no issue with the targets it hit.

The Scyir commanded the Seninel unit forward with uncanny tactical precision, they seemed to flow like water around and in front of the Invictors as they simultaneously advanced and fired, yet were imbued with a particular zeal by their commander.
Discordia loomed nearby, thrumming with a kinetic force which the Dawngurd knew was protecting them.
On the far side of Discordias sense Thyron was enhanced with a stormy rage and advanced confidently forward, bringing his entourage of Griffons into a strategic zone. Reports of early kills came through the Iosan communication system and confidence swelled.

Yet in the distance a monstrosity came bounding forward, it seemed well out of position. Easy pickings Thyron thought to himself and considered felling the beast alone. When suddenly Discordia lurched forward as if pushed by an invisible hand. It was then the Iosans had realized the first target of the Cephalyx attack.
In the distance drudges cleared away and the woman whom the Retribution had come for rode in on her horse. Alexia summoned strength into a risen and better equipped it to kill the Artificer which was relaying orders and information.
Without hesitation her psychic commands were obeyed. Her champion charged in and landed a heavy blow. However the Artificer managed to deflect the worst of it with his shoulder armor.
Then suddenly unnervingly another monstrosity was advancing in such a way that it seemed to flow as Thexus pushed it forward with his mind. Discordia, disoriented by the Cephalyx magic was an easy target for the Subduers harpoon.
"If it were only the Subduer she may still survive!" Thyron hoped, yet it was lost hope as other assailants tore into her. Crumpling her frame into a wreck.
Overwhelemed with the speed and reach of the precision attack Thyron almost didn't notice a contingent of Drudges ambush his flank.
His Magister and a Griffon were overwhelmed and Thyron had to counter quickly to recover the initiative.
The Dawnguard continued to prove that they were the best Ios has to offer as the Invictors cleared spaces for the Sentinels to charge in to. With the tactical leadership of the Scyir they slashed the Subduer apart and severely damaged the Wrecker.
Seeing an opportunity to finish off what the Sentinels had started the Artifier called for assistance. Thyron engaged with recovering his own responsibility didn't want to lend unnecessary help to the Dawnguard so dispatched his Fane Knight Guardian to help the Artificer. The Guardian reluctantly charged into the risen champion and sent shattered bones scattering across the battlefield. Free to assist the Sentinels the Artificer hovers above the forest floor and focuses a combined strike into the engaged wrecker, sending it reeling backward and crashing into Alexia. Alexia feeling the weight of the monstrosity upon her draws strength from a risen soldier to keep from being crushed.
Emboldened by the success of his army and enraged by the loss of his myrmidons Thyron charges into the ambush, cleaving and stepping in a storm of bladed vengeance. Maddeningly each blow he lands clean leads into a blow which the drudges unbelievably shrug off. He focuses completely on his task as rescuing the mechanic Arthyr Tyndyll is his priority. That mechanic can empower my remaining Griffon enough, to kill that human witch! He thinks.
And so it does, the Griffon now focused on vengeance uses its blade to cleave and step through a swathe of risen to reach Alexia and the Wrecker. But in a moment of impudent hubris Thyron guides the Griffons Halberd down upon the Monstrosity providing the killing blow.
See, I am still a useful member of this battle. He thinks to himself, as Alexia, free from the attention of the Griffon slips away.

When the Griffon turns to levy more blows upon Alexia, Thyron realizes his mistake and a sudden tide of telekintic force seizes the army. A distant monstrosity lopes up and Thexuses mind reaches out to grab Thyron. Unable to resist Thyron is blasted with a curse and his inner storm subsides as he realizes he has lost this battle.

"Recover the cortex and save yourselves" his message is relayed.

Thyron suffers an onslaught of Psychic attacks as the Dawnguard withdraw with Discordias cortex, retrieved by Arthyr. Yet the Fane Guardian sworn to protect his Warcaster rushes to assistance as adrenaline floods the veins of nerby drudges.
 …
"Was that the last blow you saw the Sword of Truth sustain Vlysn?"
"Yes m'lord."
"I thank you for recovering Discordias cortex."
"It was his final order"
Rahns brow furrowed angrily.
"He best offer me a good excuse for using my myrmidon so recklessly."
"When he recovers, perhaps a lesson on the virtues of telekinetic powers would be  appropriate"
"My thoughts exactly Vlysn… commend that Fane Knight on recovering Thyron for me, or damn him as either would be appropriate."

Monday 19 June 2017

Zen and the art of rolling dice.

The four states of mind

In this philosophical post I will introduce the four states of mind as known in Kendo or Zen, try to briefly describe them in English and relate them to the table top.

How often do you tilt? What makes you angry at the table? Are there any play style habits that get under your skin when you watch your opponents do them?
Warmachine is a game, its a nerd game. Nerds are passionate people. We get passionate about fiction, thats why we are nerds and not your average sportsball dude or dudette.
So when things get a bit heated, you can be excused for your behavior. Most people would excuse you, possibly in Warmachine even more so than some other games.

Between strangers, there is generally a stronger code of ethical behavior governing their games than say, between you and your friend with whom you have played Warmachine with on every Thursday night for the last 3 years.

Because of this in competition it seems that as a general community there is less calling eachother out on dodgy play, as you would get in some other games. We owe this in part to the nice tight rule set and un ambiguous sentences created by Privateer Press. But sometimes I wonder if its not a good thing.

When I picked up Skorne, the game had just changed from mk2 to mk3. I was playing against a very excited opponent who could net deck like a boss. I was dropping Makeda3 into his mk2 style arm spam lists in Khador and Menoth. The thing is I was playing her feat much like Vyros1s feat used to be. So I would have ball busting turns when Makeda would charge in, eliminator for 3, kill 3 guys, get 3 fury back, move 6 inches, ground zero, get all her fury back, Eliminator again.

I mean it was a mistake. A terrible one. If I knew at the time, I would have forfeit the game/s immediately. But I didn't realize until weeks later when I went back to Retribution that I had been cheating terribly with Makeda3.

My opponent has moved towns. So I don`t see him much these days. Did he know what I was doing? If so why didn't he call me out on it? I think we don`t call people out as much as we should, maybe for fear of being wrong, but its a good way to get rules right. In general the house rule sometimes goes. "He never read my cards, so I technically was allowed to get away with it."

This is half true. Its an open information game. This is one of the best things about Warmachine and really helps stop a lot of conflict before it happens. But it means that the responsibility is on both players to know whats happening. The downside of this open rule system is we tend to take the other persons word for it. This is bad and I encourage everyone to read the rules yourself. 

If I would be called to a table and told that player Y was misreading his card and playing wrong. My first question would be "Did player X read the card too? Did player Y read the rules of the card out to player X?" Technically if player X did read the rules out, it is a courtesy. Also technically if player Y says, "uh no" or "I didn't pay attention" Then I would say, ok either you both lose or nothing changes, using not being able to go back in time and change the table state as an excuse. I would warn player X not to do it again and I would warn player Y pay attention and read the rules.



Because what we think we know is actually very fluid and not fixed, the first lesson is in awareness.


Zanshin, the prepared mind, the perceptive mind.

 残心

In Kendo, Zanshin is generally what my sensei says to me after I have made a strike and charged through. Usually while holding his shinai out in the extended guard position to demonstrate it. Zanshin translates a little to both Awareness and Preparedness. If you are as aware as possible then you are also as a consequence prepared. What it means for me practically is; Keep your guard up.

What I interpret my sensei as saying is,

"Always be ready to receive or make your next attack"

This is even if your attack scored a point, and the game resets. Zanshin in this respect is one of the essential components on which your strike is judged. On one hand you need to behave like your strike is a perfect hit and on the other, you need to be prepared as if it were not. This duality enforces the nature of zanshin in that you see your action through to completion, successful or not, while constantly being aware and prepared for the necessity of the following action.

One of my favorite examples of zanshin is when removing your shoes at the door, you place the heels towards the house with the toes facing the door. This way its easier to put them on again when you leave. Or as I would have you believe, you can get out faster when the building is on fire after an earthquake. (Like I give a damn about putting my shoes on if I am fleeing a burning building, yet somehow it seems very sensible.)

Over the table top, this means paying attention to the game. Knowing which models are being activated and which ones they are engaging with. Make it clear every time which model you are pointing out. Develop a style of doing things and stick to it.


When you started playing Warmachine did you forget to feat? Forget to reposition? Forget aiming bonuses? Things get forgotten, so when your opponent is shooting unit X at unit C or charging. It helps to go over all of the active and passive effects on the unit again.


Gotcha moments, while they can be enforced are not inducive to good experiences. I certainly feel better if my opponent remembers my caster has Arcane Vortex and doesn't over commit their caster to an impossible Scourge assassination run. In a friendly or practice game I would allow a take back but in a competitive match it stands. In a friendly game I would not hesitate to remind my opponent of Arcane Vortex for example, but in a competitive game perhaps I would be more subtle.

In any case I would not position myself to ever try to take advantage of my opponents lack of awareness of rules interactions.

Eventually taking the time to pragmatically remember these passive effects and abilities as they come up means you will start to play faster smoother games. Over time these routines commit habits to muscle memory and you are less likely to forget things.

 Cultivate a habit of keeping track of all of your active and passive effects. Tokens should be out for Polarity Shield or Shield Wall, but there is no harm in reminding yourself of Set Defense, Stealth, Force Barrier or Counter Charge.

Its not only passive and active effects, but threat ranges, movement distances, other non linear movements. Also things like getting your tokens out, pre writing your spell effects on the tokens, thinking about focus allocation before the end of your opponents round and target priority. If we intentionally keep these things in mind while we go through our games it will keep us prepared.

On the table top, Zanshin encompases placement and positioning too. 

Tim Bankey had given advice on moving large model count armies, unpacking them as it was called. He said to try to imagine where they will be 3 turns from now. This is zanshin in practice. Every move you are making at turn 1 is with the fore site in mind of where you want the models to be by turn 2 and 3.
This can be applied to selecting table edges too and even deployment. Can you see where the opponents IFP are going to be in 3 turns? Is that where you want your MHSF to be?
Of course awareness of scenario and threat ranges come into this too. But threat ranges will be in another post.

Basically when it comes to the flow of the game its about keeping a step ahead. Paying attention and taking the time to commit rules and interactions to memory.
This comes into tactics too. Awareness due to practice, of the potency or limitations of your units will allow you to make more successful decisions more easily. I know I can expect a unit of MHSF to drop an arm 18 jack with a round of shooting but not an arm 20 jack confidently. I know I boost 7s. I know to camp 3 fury or focus as I know 3 boosted pow12s can kill most casters. I know my Artificer can swing defense enough to make whatever is thinking of  shooting at whatever it is that he is protecting, consider other targets. I know people underestimate Issyria because she has no offensive abilities and I know I need the alpha strike with her to get the game under control.

These are just conclusions that I have come to in my own experience. But they supply me with confidence, expectations and an awareness of possibilities. I came to these conclusions due to practicing zanshin during my games. 


Following through on these habits is what essentially cultivates...





Mushin, the clear mind, the unfettered mind.

  無心

Mushin as I had touched on before involved thinking clearly. In sports its much more easily identified but even in competitive electronic gaming its visible. On the table top the flow of the game is much slower so its not as easy to be aware of.
It does come down to executing practiced maneuvers without having to think about them, because you have developed confidence in your awareness of all of the rules interactions possible in this match up. How this effects the game is mostly on your clock, but to a lesser degree it also effects your confidence.

As I have said before about Kendo if any part of the motion of the body of the attacker betrays doubt in their mind, then the strike is not true. So to strike true, you must be confident.

Mushin isn't something somebody can tell me to do. I suppose I get told to relax my shoulders a lot. Which may mean that I am carrying tension in my shoulders, which would be symptomatic of stress. Having stress would mean that my mind is not calm. Meditation is a great way to get used to this feeling. But also just doing something that you know and love will unlock the flow. Cooking, gardening, moba with your faceroll character or best friends. There are good habits and dangerous ones, just make sure you are reaching your flow point through a constructive activity and not by  shooting crack into your genitals, for example.

To quote Sun Tzu, (not a Japanese guy) "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win"

Winning first basically just means being in the right frame of mind. Which is facilitated by practice, experience and confidence. It still applies in Warmachine that if you do not approach the table in a confident way, doubt will cloud your mind and disable you from making game winning decisions or seeing plays and options.

However something can be said about the merit of keeping your expectations low. If for example you know you are not the best player and accept that winning is most likely unlikely. Its good for morale to keep your expectations in check.


So this brings us to...





Shoshin, the beginners mind. 

  初心

Shoshin is something that we should never abandon. It is always good to have this point of view. Shoshin embodies the eagerness and willingness of learning for the first time. Specifically learning to do something we really want to do, like learning to kiss, or ride a bike.

For most players Shoshin is at its highest when you are learning to play Warmachine or Kendo. But it can be quickly blunted when you hit a wall of some kind. After this, keeping enthusiastic about it can be a chore.


In Kendo for me it was learning that Kendo really isn't sword fighting. All those H.E.M.A videos and articles I read didn't apply at all to Kendo. I had to look at other kinds of development to get me through. I am still interested in more practical martial arts for example, but I sought a deeper understanding of Kendo to get me past this phase. Thankfully my sensei had anticipated this and they gave me books on the way of Kendo.


I wont go ahead and say that there is a deeper way to Warmachine that we all need to unlock through spiritual development. But I do think that there can be development as a person by playing Warmachine for example Social skills, mental acuity, focus and analytical skills.

Anticipating the wall is the first step in overcoming it. I suspect there are a few walls in Warmachine and Chain Attack Episode 49 deals with some of these points in what they call dealing with burnout. About 20 minutes in.


Often players may plateau in skill. They get to a level where they don`t win tournaments but also don`t feel themselves getting better. Maybe they also lack a challenge in their local groups.You have a couple of ways to deal with this. 

One would be to keep challenging yourself, either with small goals: I want to win this game by assassination only, or I can only win by using a power attack throw, or by changing your lists. Or by going out of your way to play with different people.

It is at these times that reminding yourself that you should be seeking to learn something from every interaction. This can make you a better player and keep you enjoying the game until the next challenge comes around.


On the other hand consistently losing is the best environment for learning. But it may be bad for your motivation, thus keep reminding yourself that you are learning and improving to keep your spirits up.


I have been playing Warmachine for over 7 years and I have won a maybe a third of the 
tournaments I had attended and countless other social games so I tend to enter competitions with an expectation of winning or doing well. I have however only been to 2 Kendo tournaments over 3 years, and both times I was soundly and swiftly defeated. What I took away from that is that I was beaten exactly the same way twice, so I have a weakness I need to work on. Rather than focusing on how much I suck, its better  to try to learn why my opponents find that the weak spot in my defense and learn ways to mitigate that.

In order to do that in the best way, I need to be enthusiastic about it. I need to be open minded to the instruction I get from my sensei and the feedback from my peers. I cant just throw it off and say, "oh but its just the way I naturally move, or its because of my size." 

We tend to make excuses for our failures when we are doing something we think we should be good at. The way to avoid this is never to assume we are really good at it, but in stead are always learning. Then we don`t excuse our mistakes but rather have the state of mind to learn from them.

In Warmachine we could be learning from our mistakes, or it could be our preconceptions of the strength of factions and models within the factions too.

Particularly with shoshin its important to consider where you are getting your instruction or inspiration from. Some sources will not be as helpful or constructive as others. 
I am not saying nothing is bad, some things certainly are. But its also well accepted that lots of things are considered to be bad without being fully discovered. 
If you approach new things or old things in your faction without pre conceptions but rather like you did when you first picked up the rule book, you may be able to work out combinations and tactics through trial and error that other people have not allowed themselves to see. 
Of course I`m not saying this is going to make you the next Will Pagani but even local meta issues could be solved by approaching the problem with a fresh perspective, which a mind entrenched in old ways and misplaced confidence would not consider.

When I started Warmachine it was with a group of friends and we were all on the same level. But I went out to find a second group of players who had already been playing for 3 or 4 years before me. I was excited and eager and saw their experience so made a request. First of all I wanted them to never hold back on me. Hit me with your best shot was my theme song, and I got soundly crushed, defeated, assassinated and humiliated time and time again. I also asked that they play through all of the casters they can play and with all of the tricks that they would usually bring. "Drop your most OP list against me, tell me what it does or how it works and let me figure it out. 

I wanted to see it all, I firsthand felt the lash of the learning whip as they crushed me with mk2 Haley, Siege, Amon, Vindictus, Kaya1, Baldur1, Denny, Makeda2, lillith, Vayl... I took Molik missles to the face, combined sniped long gunners, pop and drop Repenters, Stone Skinned Blood Trackers. I soaked it all up and asked for more, because when I went back to my first group of friends, I took those lessons and quickly became the dominant player. Losing is good for you, losing teachers you the most when you accept shoshin and you are willing to learn.

However suffering through all of those defeats can be pretty harrowing. Putting your models out on the table and knowing that you are going to get annihilated somehow is sometimes daunting.


Keeping calm in the face of insurmountable odds brings me to the final lesson...



Fudoshin, the resolute mind, the immovable mind.

不動心


Being the calm center of the storm is what this is all about. When we imagine Zen masters, this embodies what we think about them.

The biggest advantage of fudoshin is mitigating stress.




I stress out big time going into Kendo competitions. Usually only me, no friends. With a language barrier, generally being the only foreigner around hundreds of spectators and other practitioners in a culture that generally stigmatizes differences, or different people.

I am certain I cause a lot of stress for my opponents too. This is my best weapon, because in reality most of these people have been doing Kendo since they were 12 years old. I know that and that probably hinders my performance more, because I expect to get beaten.
In any case, I am going through a lot of different stresses.

However going into a Warmachine competition is completely different for me.

For starters I am almost always going with friends, and I am involved with groups of people who I can relate with. Language barriers are more friendly and the general atmosphere is less formal. I have also been going to Warmachine tournaments a lot longer than Kendo ones.

Warmachine should be your happy place, even in tournaments.
The best piece of advice I have about stress is don`t worry about it.



This lovely lady has told us the best mechanism for coping with stress. It turns out its not stress that is bad, but worrying about stress. Its worry that`s bad.

Worry is by its nature is in direct opposition to Zanshin and Mushin.

So its worth recognizing that fudoshin is not simply not being stressed, but its also being able to use your stress positively. It prepares your mind and body for anticipated challenges. And no matter how relaxed and focused and prepared you are, stressful things do happen and will happen. Accepting stress and keeping it under control is the key.



Therefore...


Things that help me mitigate stress are related to the other 4 states of mind. Mushin, not over thinking things and keeping a relaxed mind. Zanshin, being prepared, having lots of experiences and memories to draw from and knowing what to expect. Shoshin, approaching it with an enthusiasm which reminds me that even if I go 0-4 I will take away some valuable lessons.


Well done if you made it this far. I don`t really expect anyone to read all this. But if you do feel free to leave a comment. Tell me I`m wrong, or right or just tell me what you think and thanks.




Sunday 11 June 2017

Issyria, reps for Osaka Tournament

Issyria 75 point reps for Boundless Charge


Today I got to try out a couple list variants for what is essentially the Japanese master's next month. 
I had spent a week deep in the tank trying to dojo up a list that would deal with Ghost Fleet and Bones of or Orboros while my second is teched to deal with specific meta issues. 

Ironically neither of the lists I played are what I ended up making in tank time. But I decided they both felt pretty good.
The list with Helios was especially fun. Using the Dawnguard Scyir to give tactician, tied in with Vengeance made for a deceptively easy to deliver and coordinated unit of Sentinels. Whereas using Ancillary attack on Discordia was very helpful too.
I'm a big fan of Hypnos with Issyria as the gun ignores literally all defensive tech (except spell buffs so not literally all) during feat. It's a sturdy arc node which is a huge headache to deal with when it has Admonition on it and Shadow binding fists is just gravy.

 

 

Because the Osaka tournament is SR 2016 due to the CiD SR2017 not being official yet, we played the old 2016 scenarios. But we set up terrain the new way with the LOS blocking terrain in the middle. 
When I first put this list down I didn't check it and I thought I was still running an Artificer. You can see by the third image that it was swapped out for a Lyss  Healer. 

First game wasn't too good to be honest. He gave me a vengeance move at the cost of one sentinel and parked everything close enough for me to kill.

Here the Blood Runners kill one Sentinel. Allowing the Scyir and the unit to clear enough space and cover enough ground with Vengeance to charge the Mammoth. 

This picture halfway through my turn shows Helios pulling in his Gladiator.  Issyria could feat, ancillary attack Helios. Which was necessary as Helios missed one of his 3 shots so the Ancillary attack one meant I could pull the Gladiator close enough.

So the Gladiator goes down to Helios, Skarath can Paralyze and kill the Archidon.  With feat, Crusaders Call and Tactician the Invictors Assault through the Sentinels to clear off the remaining Blood Runners then the Sentinels Charge through the Invictors on to the Mammoth. 
I forget about the Agoniser giving -2STR but Issyrias feat swings the dice hard enough. 

Laugh
Learn
Re rack.

Now unfortunately I don't play enough Mammoth in Skorne to know how lucky I really got this game. I feel like he may have had a few opportunities that he didn't see.

Ret turn 1
Skorne turn 1
Ret turn 2
I feat this turn. It was a bit pre emptive.  I used it to kill his Archidon and to take out most of his Blood Runners with 2 Discordia sprays. I also hit the Gladiator causing it Brain Damage. This feels like a good ability.

Ret turn 2
Skorne turn 2
My army is pretty well split, so when Morghoul comes in to feat the forest and Discordia block a lot of his LOS. He only gets Discordia and 4 Invictors with Blind. He casts a Mortality on Discordia and gives the Gladiator Rush.
His Blood Runners step in and kill the Scyir but Discordia can use this to trigger Admonition and step out of LOS of his Gladiator.

Skorne turn 2
Ret turn 3
Discordia  shakes and turns to face the Blood Runners which are threatening Issyria. Boosting both times she kills them with a spray. Then Issyria activates and Ancillary attacks Disco putting some damage on the Gladiator and killing both Paingivers behind it. Next the Stormfall Archers light it up and finally 4 charging non blind Invictors finish it off.
On the other flank the Sentinels mini feat and with Inviolable Resolve up kill the Objective the Agoniser and put some damage on the Shaman.
Skorne turn 3
Ret turn 3, 1 control point
The Mammoth takes pains to step away from the Sentinels while putting 3 shots into the Invictors, killing 4.
Morghoul being front and center Apparitions in amongst the Invictors who killed the Gladiator, with a Flashing Blade kills them all. Then charges forward killing another and leaving only the Standard the Souless and the newly promoted unit leader.
The Shaman, engaged,  steps out of the forest.

Skorne turn 3
Ret turn 4, 1 control point
Discordia gets all the focus and a concentrated power. Issyria Ancillary attacks Discordia who misses the Mammoth but kills a Paingiver behind it with her spray, then Velocities away to be in the zone and near Hypnos.
Discordia walks up and starts swinging at the Mammoth. After the Storm fall archers and Hypnos took shots and the dust settles the Mammoth still has 3 boxes.
The sentinels clear the zone.
Skorne turn 4
Ret turn 4, 3 control points
The Mammoth bulldozed Discordia back and wrecks her while his Puppet Master guy contests the zone. Morghoul sets to work with Flashing blade killing more Invictors the Mechanik and the last Storm fall Archer.
Because Issyria ran away he may not have had an assassination. However I wonder if the Mammoth could have just Bulldozed Discordia away and charged her or shot her in the face a few times.

Skorne turn 4
Ret turn 5, 3 control points.
There was no point playing past this turn. Killing the Mammoth would be trivial. As would killing the puppet master guy, which would give me a scenario win. Issyria could also just fall back to the flag and Jam, eventually winning on scenario. So we did the only sensible thing and I went all in on Assassination.

Hypnos took all the focus and Issyria went up and cast a Blinding Light on Morghoul and missed! So did it again and hit. Then Ancillary attacked Hypnos shooting Morghoul for 7 damage forcing a transfer, but he couldn't as the Mammoth was full. Then Hypnos activated stepped up to Morghoul, missed the first attack but landed the second inflicting Shadow Bind. This made the 3rd attack bought with focus land much easier and Morghoul went down.