Highborn vs Circle. Finally a game is played.

Well, one game. A 25 point Warmachine vs Hordes battle at my New Local Gaming store (NLGS) (also on facebook here). I have been planning to go along here as it's just a couple of streets from where I live, which means I can theoretically wander over once the girls are in bed. Yesterday evening, the stars aligned to allow this to happen. There,s a small group of players who frequent the Tuesday Warmahordes sessions, and a lot of them are fairly new to the game. I know of at least one veteran player (and good friend) who goes, but he wasn't there last night. I watched a 15 point game where a new player was taught the ropes of her legion force, then I stepped in to play against her opponent.

At his request, I didn't use my Khador army. There are apparently a couple of Khador players in the store, one of whom is no fun to play against, and I think there is a feeling that Khador are too strong an army to play against. I do feel this can be the case sometimes amongst beginner players, as Khador is certainly the most straight forward of factions, and can be the easiest to rack up the wins with early on. That's not to say that there cannot be some subtlety to the faction, they certainly have a depth to them when required, just that it can be harder to figure out the winning strategies for the other factions when you're just setting out.

So, with that in  mind, I pulled out my Highborn Covenant army. I think it was the first time the players there had played against this particular army (like I said, small group of keen beginners), so there was some excitement to see what they could do.

My opponent played Circle, and went with Moshar the Desertwalker. Not the best choice in a face off against Warmachine as it would turn out, as I was told his feat is primarily anti-Hordes. Also, not a Warlock I had ever faced off against, as his release came during my 'hiatus' from gaming, so some unknowns for both players. All good.

In the end, my opponent was far too cautious which was to be his undoing. He threw forward his Reeves, I presumed as a screen for his beasts and caster. I ran forward the Devil Dogs, with tough from the piper. First blood to my opponent, as he took down one of my Dogs, but he failed to follow up with his beasts. In the next turn I pretty much took care of the Reeves, and brought up the rest of the army behind my screen of Devil Dogs.  He was shaken by the loss of the Reeves, and pulled back the Warlock and beasts. I followed up, managing to pull a critical hit from the Mule on his Warpwolf Stalker, knocking him down, and at the same time the blast brought him closer to my Devil Dogs, who charged and did what they do best, turned him into dog-meat.  This really scared him, and he tried to block me out with his remaining beasts (A warpwolf and a Gorax, but next turn Ashlynn popped her feat shot the caster in the face and cast one of her new MKII spells, Gallows, and drew the 'Lock into charge range for the D-Dogs, who finished off the Gorax and the 'Lock.

In the last turn my opponent had pretty much given up the ghost, and said as much, but I think we both had fun, which is the only reason for playing, The starts of the show for me were the Devil Dogs, but only because my opponent didn't take care of them faster. In reality, they shouldn't get so much use out of their Slug Guns with a RNG of 4 inches. The Mule knocking stuff donw and them finishing it off was a very nice combo, if not a little unreliable as the Mule's deviation could throw stuff the wrong way.

Some of the onlookers expressed an interest in my return, if only so they had a new faction to test themselves against. Win-win!

I think Sam McHorne's unit is now deserving of a completed paint job. They're back up the list, after I finish off this month's Colore ton Monde challenge, although, they are more than half way done.