Convergence of Cyriss is not very common across the table. I think I have only seen them once or twice. They are a bit odd compared to both Warmachine and Hordes factions. The do Focus in a strange way where they can spend one and then pass it on. The army in front of me is a whole lot of smaller floating robots and one huge one. I am opting for Vlad and his trusted Winter Guards (list is described here). This is post-Oblivion, which only changes the WGK list by adding an extra Artillery Kapitan.
| Convergence [Theme] Clockwork Legions [Orion 1] Eminent Configurator Orion [+28] - Corollary [0(6)] - Diffuser [0(6)] - Modulator [10] - Modulator [10] - Modulator [10] - Modulator [10] - Modulator [10] - Modulator [10] - Prime Conflux [33] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2] Hermit of Henge Hold [5] J.A.I.M.s [0(5)] | Khador [Theme] Winter Guard Kommand [Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince [+28] - Marauder [11] - Marauder [11] - Marauder [11] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [0(4)] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4] Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8] - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8] - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17] Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17] |
Initial Thoughts
The Eminent Configurator Orion is completely new to me, as is the Clockwork Legions theme. To begin with the theme. It is a bit unclear why this theme as it doesn't seem to add any benefits to this particular army.
The warcaster in this army, Orion brings a standard MAT 6 and RAT 7 to all of his 'jacks (weird system where the 'caster defines the MAT and RAT of all 'jacks). He also give Reposition 3" to all 'jacks in his battle group.
Orion is a 7 focus caste who brings five spells to the table. The first one is Avenging Force, which allows a kind of Vengeance move in the Maintenance Phase if either Orin, Optifex, Hermit, or J.A.I.M.s are damaged. Mage Sight allows Orion to drop an AOE 5" on an enemy and Orion's army can ignore forest, clouds and stealth when attacking. Magic Bullet allows to make a POW 12 damage roll against a model within 4" of whatever the targeting model is shooting at. Spellpiercer is an upkeep that gives Blessed weapons within Orion's control area. Finally, Forced Induction gives a 'jack 1 focus and gives a POW 10 damage roll (per focus on the 'jack) against the 'jack and everybody within 1". None of theses spells are game breaking in any sense agains Vlad and his Winter Guards.
The feat is quite dangerous. It gives an addition dice on attack against models that don't have focus on them, and an additional dice damage against models that do have focus on them. So, under feat everything should trivially hit Vlad's stuff. If the Marauders, and in particular Vlad are left with focus, it can potentially be painful.
Orion brings a huge monster of a Prime Conflux, a Corollary, a Diffuser, and six Modulators! The Prime Conflux is almost as robust as our own Conquest. Doing the classic huge-base Marauder counting, it is a two-Marauder job to finish one off. One Marauder will be 14 points of damage short of killing it (when charging with all the bells and whistles). The Conflux is equipped with standard colossal fists, which also does some electrical damage. It has 3 cannons. The main cannon, which can shoot twice, it a range 15" POW 13 gun, which can also damage models between the Conflux and the target (POW 10). This only has consequences for the Winter Guards. The two smaller guns can shoot a Beacon, giving charging models basically a Boundless Charge agains the target hit. It is also a POW 11. In general, I think this colossal is kind of underwhelming.
The Corollary is basically a focus battery. It gains one automatically when near the 'caster, and it doesn't loose unspent focus. It also extends Orion's control area by two inches. The Diffuser is a small 'jack that more or less only brings the same Beacon ability as the Prime Conflux.
Finally, there is a whole swarm of Modulators. Six to be precise. These will eat infantry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They can shoot twice at range 11" POW 10, and do the same thing of hitting model between it and the target. It also has two P+S 14 melee attacks. Finally, if it is hit in melee it will give POW 10 electric damage back. Under Orion's feat it will shoot all Winter Guard to death, and do potential serious damage to the 'jacks and Vlad. Luckily, they are a very poor matchup to the Gun Carriages.
Orion is also brining four solos: two Algorithmic Dispersion Optifexes, Jaims, and the Hermit. The Optifexes are just very cheap Arc Nodes, Jaims is a super Eliminator, and Hermit is there to skew dice (and score flags).
In general, this list will probably chew through infantry like there is no tomorrow. The Marauders are more safe, as it is more or less only the Prime Conflux that can really hurt them. Vlad could wasily be shot to death. However, the Gun Carriages should be pretty safe.
The warcaster in this army, Orion brings a standard MAT 6 and RAT 7 to all of his 'jacks (weird system where the 'caster defines the MAT and RAT of all 'jacks). He also give Reposition 3" to all 'jacks in his battle group.
Orion is a 7 focus caste who brings five spells to the table. The first one is Avenging Force, which allows a kind of Vengeance move in the Maintenance Phase if either Orin, Optifex, Hermit, or J.A.I.M.s are damaged. Mage Sight allows Orion to drop an AOE 5" on an enemy and Orion's army can ignore forest, clouds and stealth when attacking. Magic Bullet allows to make a POW 12 damage roll against a model within 4" of whatever the targeting model is shooting at. Spellpiercer is an upkeep that gives Blessed weapons within Orion's control area. Finally, Forced Induction gives a 'jack 1 focus and gives a POW 10 damage roll (per focus on the 'jack) against the 'jack and everybody within 1". None of theses spells are game breaking in any sense agains Vlad and his Winter Guards.
The feat is quite dangerous. It gives an addition dice on attack against models that don't have focus on them, and an additional dice damage against models that do have focus on them. So, under feat everything should trivially hit Vlad's stuff. If the Marauders, and in particular Vlad are left with focus, it can potentially be painful.
Orion brings a huge monster of a Prime Conflux, a Corollary, a Diffuser, and six Modulators! The Prime Conflux is almost as robust as our own Conquest. Doing the classic huge-base Marauder counting, it is a two-Marauder job to finish one off. One Marauder will be 14 points of damage short of killing it (when charging with all the bells and whistles). The Conflux is equipped with standard colossal fists, which also does some electrical damage. It has 3 cannons. The main cannon, which can shoot twice, it a range 15" POW 13 gun, which can also damage models between the Conflux and the target (POW 10). This only has consequences for the Winter Guards. The two smaller guns can shoot a Beacon, giving charging models basically a Boundless Charge agains the target hit. It is also a POW 11. In general, I think this colossal is kind of underwhelming.
The Corollary is basically a focus battery. It gains one automatically when near the 'caster, and it doesn't loose unspent focus. It also extends Orion's control area by two inches. The Diffuser is a small 'jack that more or less only brings the same Beacon ability as the Prime Conflux.
Finally, there is a whole swarm of Modulators. Six to be precise. These will eat infantry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They can shoot twice at range 11" POW 10, and do the same thing of hitting model between it and the target. It also has two P+S 14 melee attacks. Finally, if it is hit in melee it will give POW 10 electric damage back. Under Orion's feat it will shoot all Winter Guard to death, and do potential serious damage to the 'jacks and Vlad. Luckily, they are a very poor matchup to the Gun Carriages.
Orion is also brining four solos: two Algorithmic Dispersion Optifexes, Jaims, and the Hermit. The Optifexes are just very cheap Arc Nodes, Jaims is a super Eliminator, and Hermit is there to skew dice (and score flags).
In general, this list will probably chew through infantry like there is no tomorrow. The Marauders are more safe, as it is more or less only the Prime Conflux that can really hurt them. Vlad could wasily be shot to death. However, the Gun Carriages should be pretty safe.
Deployment
We are playing Steamroller 2019 Recon II. We both picked the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4"). Orion won the roll-off and opted to go first. Vlad thinks it is a good place to be able to stand in rough terrain, so he choses that side. As a first, there are three burning clouds terrain on the table.
Sorry for the blurry pictures throughout this report. I think that there must have been some sort of digital inference from the Convergence models; which is unfortunate, as the Convergence army is completely painted and quite pretty.
Orion deploys in the middel with his Corollary and the Conflux. Four Modulators go on the left flank with an Arc Node. The two remaining goes on the right flank with the Diffuser and the second Arc Node. Jaims hides somewhere on the left flank.
Vlad deploys in the standard manner. A Gun Carriage on each flank. A Rifle Corps on the inside on each Gun Carriage. All artillery in the middle with Vlad, and Marauders, and solos in the back. The picture above shows the end of deployment.
Sorry for the blurry pictures throughout this report. I think that there must have been some sort of digital inference from the Convergence models; which is unfortunate, as the Convergence army is completely painted and quite pretty.
Orion deploys in the middel with his Corollary and the Conflux. Four Modulators go on the left flank with an Arc Node. The two remaining goes on the right flank with the Diffuser and the second Arc Node. Jaims hides somewhere on the left flank.
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| End of deployment |
Vlad deploys in the standard manner. A Gun Carriage on each flank. A Rifle Corps on the inside on each Gun Carriage. All artillery in the middle with Vlad, and Marauders, and solos in the back. The picture above shows the end of deployment.
Round 1
First round is probably as always uneventful.
Everything advances. On the left flank, all four Modulators advance as a floating wall of steel. The Arc Node tags along. The Hermit shuffles towards the flag. On the right flank, the Diffuser-Modulator trio also advances. In the middle, the Conflux walks through the burning cloud and catches fire. It also ejects an Ionization Servitator just next to the house in the middle. The picture above depicts the end of the first turn.
Vlad is a bit worried about all the Modulators, and their potential ability to shoot a lot. He advances all of his army and makes sure to stay outside of the threat range of the Modulator. He himself ends up in the rubble in the middle escorted the Mortar and one of the Field Guns. The picture above depicts the end of round 1.
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| End of turn 1 |
Everything advances. On the left flank, all four Modulators advance as a floating wall of steel. The Arc Node tags along. The Hermit shuffles towards the flag. On the right flank, the Diffuser-Modulator trio also advances. In the middle, the Conflux walks through the burning cloud and catches fire. It also ejects an Ionization Servitator just next to the house in the middle. The picture above depicts the end of the first turn.
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| End of round 1 |
Vlad is a bit worried about all the Modulators, and their potential ability to shoot a lot. He advances all of his army and makes sure to stay outside of the threat range of the Modulator. He himself ends up in the rubble in the middle escorted the Mortar and one of the Field Guns. The picture above depicts the end of round 1.
Round 2
Round two could potentially also be a staring contest. Who will blink first, Vlad or Orion? I wonder if Orion actually have blinking-devices?
On the left flank, the wall of Modulators advance into the forest. Jaims and the Arc Node tags along. The Hermit places himself next to the flag ready to score. On the right flank, the two Modulators also moves a bit forward. The Conflux moves forward, and I discover I forgot it could shoot further. It drops three Winter Guards, all of them Rocketeers! It also ejects another Servitator near the Winter guards. That was it. The picture above shows the end of Convergence's turn.
It is time to get into action. Vlad starts by moving a bit forward, yet staying in the rubble. He then casts S&P. On the right flank, the Gun Carriage moves forward, avoiding the burning cloud, and starts shooting the Diffuser who has positioned itself next to the Arc Node. The Carriage gets a bit of help from the Rifle Corps and removes both hostile models.
On the left flank the other Carriage moves forward and puts everything into the rightmost Modulator. Based on the same approach as the Convergence models that moves one focus from one end of the army to the other; I though I could kill the models from one end to the other. The Rifle Corps also assist on this flank (after Joe tells them to be tough), and together they manage to take out the first Modulator and blast the Hermit to kingdom come. The rest basically just moves forward and the artillery take potshots at whatever it can. Finally, one of the Kapitans moves to the flank to score. Vlad scores one for the flag, Convergence scores nothing. The scenario score is now 1-0 i Vlad's favour. The picture above depicts the end of round two.
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| End of turn 1, round 2 |
On the left flank, the wall of Modulators advance into the forest. Jaims and the Arc Node tags along. The Hermit places himself next to the flag ready to score. On the right flank, the two Modulators also moves a bit forward. The Conflux moves forward, and I discover I forgot it could shoot further. It drops three Winter Guards, all of them Rocketeers! It also ejects another Servitator near the Winter guards. That was it. The picture above shows the end of Convergence's turn.
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| End of round 2 |
It is time to get into action. Vlad starts by moving a bit forward, yet staying in the rubble. He then casts S&P. On the right flank, the Gun Carriage moves forward, avoiding the burning cloud, and starts shooting the Diffuser who has positioned itself next to the Arc Node. The Carriage gets a bit of help from the Rifle Corps and removes both hostile models.
On the left flank the other Carriage moves forward and puts everything into the rightmost Modulator. Based on the same approach as the Convergence models that moves one focus from one end of the army to the other; I though I could kill the models from one end to the other. The Rifle Corps also assist on this flank (after Joe tells them to be tough), and together they manage to take out the first Modulator and blast the Hermit to kingdom come. The rest basically just moves forward and the artillery take potshots at whatever it can. Finally, one of the Kapitans moves to the flank to score. Vlad scores one for the flag, Convergence scores nothing. The scenario score is now 1-0 i Vlad's favour. The picture above depicts the end of round two.
Round 3
Now the match is heating up. I think the second round was pretty good for Vlad. Lets see how bad Orion hits back?
Orion seems to be a bit annoyed. On the right flank, one of the Modulators in conjunction with with Conflux shoot a lot on the Carriage. Orion spend a tremendous amount of time making sure that the Conflux is outside the charge lane of the middle Marauder. To finish of the Marauder, the last Modulator moves in and brings the killing shoot. Somewhere in all the shooting, the Kapitan and two Winter Guards are also killed.
On the left flank, two of the three remaining Modulators charge the Gun Carriage. They do some damage, but they basically haven't got a chance to kill it. The last Modulator shoots at the Winter Guards. But thanks to Joe's inspiring speech they do manage to roll a few tough rolls. Jaims charges in and takes out two Winter Guards. I think Orion did cast Magic Bullet at some point. He also upkeeps Avenging Force as a general rule. Finally, the Arc Node moves up to the flag to score.
At the end of the first turn, Orion manages to score a single point for the flag. Unfortunately, Vlad doesn't score. This leaves the scenario score at 1-1. The picture above shows the end of turn 1.
Hey Ho, here we go. Vlad smells a feat turn. It would seem like two Boundless Charge and/or a lot of allocation is required. One for the middle Marauder to take out the objective and the Corollary, and one for the left 'jack to take out the Prime. That is more focus that Vlad can spare. But if he can kill something he can do Blood Boon and cast Boundless Charge. Jaims is the only available target. Vlad starts by allocating two focus to the rightmost Marauder, and one to the middle Marauder. To get to Jaims, the Field Gun needs to move out of the way. The two Field Gun grunts moves out of the way and the Field Gun Fires at the Prime to do a bit of damage. Vlad can then activate. He cast S&P, feats and charges Jaims, whom he proceeds to kill and, using Blood Boon he casts Boundless Charge on the middle Marauder.
The rightmost Marauder charges the Prime and does around its expected amount of damage. It is not enough to take it down. The second Field Gun takes aim and fires. The Mortar has to chip in. It is still not down. So, the remaining Rocketeers have to move right and lob rockets at it. It is still alive with one box. It seems that it is all down to Joe. So Joe activates, moves towards the flag, pulls out his Hand Cannon, tighten up his uniform, shouts Courage of the Forefathers to the Rifle Corps, and fires at the Prime Conflux. It finally goes down. The rest of the Rifle Corps shoots and kills the last Arc Node.
The remaining Rifle Corps on the right flank moves in to intercept the Modulator. The remaining Carriage charges the Modulator in front of it, does impact to knock the two Modulators down, and shoots the two Modulators in front of it. The leftmost Marauder walks through the fire cloud, catches fire and slams the Modulator away.
Finally, the middle Marauder charges the objective, kills it, and proceeds to kill the Corollary. That was it. A pretty good round. Vlad scores one point for the objective, leaving the scenario score at 2-1 in Vlad's favour. The picture above shows the result of the Empress' finest doing their job.
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| End of turn 1, round 3 |
Orion seems to be a bit annoyed. On the right flank, one of the Modulators in conjunction with with Conflux shoot a lot on the Carriage. Orion spend a tremendous amount of time making sure that the Conflux is outside the charge lane of the middle Marauder. To finish of the Marauder, the last Modulator moves in and brings the killing shoot. Somewhere in all the shooting, the Kapitan and two Winter Guards are also killed.
On the left flank, two of the three remaining Modulators charge the Gun Carriage. They do some damage, but they basically haven't got a chance to kill it. The last Modulator shoots at the Winter Guards. But thanks to Joe's inspiring speech they do manage to roll a few tough rolls. Jaims charges in and takes out two Winter Guards. I think Orion did cast Magic Bullet at some point. He also upkeeps Avenging Force as a general rule. Finally, the Arc Node moves up to the flag to score.
At the end of the first turn, Orion manages to score a single point for the flag. Unfortunately, Vlad doesn't score. This leaves the scenario score at 1-1. The picture above shows the end of turn 1.
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| End of round 3 |
Hey Ho, here we go. Vlad smells a feat turn. It would seem like two Boundless Charge and/or a lot of allocation is required. One for the middle Marauder to take out the objective and the Corollary, and one for the left 'jack to take out the Prime. That is more focus that Vlad can spare. But if he can kill something he can do Blood Boon and cast Boundless Charge. Jaims is the only available target. Vlad starts by allocating two focus to the rightmost Marauder, and one to the middle Marauder. To get to Jaims, the Field Gun needs to move out of the way. The two Field Gun grunts moves out of the way and the Field Gun Fires at the Prime to do a bit of damage. Vlad can then activate. He cast S&P, feats and charges Jaims, whom he proceeds to kill and, using Blood Boon he casts Boundless Charge on the middle Marauder.
The rightmost Marauder charges the Prime and does around its expected amount of damage. It is not enough to take it down. The second Field Gun takes aim and fires. The Mortar has to chip in. It is still not down. So, the remaining Rocketeers have to move right and lob rockets at it. It is still alive with one box. It seems that it is all down to Joe. So Joe activates, moves towards the flag, pulls out his Hand Cannon, tighten up his uniform, shouts Courage of the Forefathers to the Rifle Corps, and fires at the Prime Conflux. It finally goes down. The rest of the Rifle Corps shoots and kills the last Arc Node.
The remaining Rifle Corps on the right flank moves in to intercept the Modulator. The remaining Carriage charges the Modulator in front of it, does impact to knock the two Modulators down, and shoots the two Modulators in front of it. The leftmost Marauder walks through the fire cloud, catches fire and slams the Modulator away.
Finally, the middle Marauder charges the objective, kills it, and proceeds to kill the Corollary. That was it. A pretty good round. Vlad scores one point for the objective, leaving the scenario score at 2-1 in Vlad's favour. The picture above shows the result of the Empress' finest doing their job.
Round 4
So far Vlad is on top og this. He has put himself a bit forward. But he is currently quite confident. Let us hope that Orion can't pull a Hail Mary.
Orion is formulating a plan involving his feat and the remaining Modulators shooting Vlad to death. It sounds convincing and I'm getting a bit worried. Luckily, the two knocked down Modulators on the left flank is now outside Orion's control area.
Orion activates (he might have allocated something, it is bit confusing). He feast and charges the Marauder at his doorstep. He does manage to knock it down and do some damage. He might have casted Magic Bullet on on of the Modulators. One of the Modulators in the right flak charges the Marauder to try and take it out. It is really no serious match. Khador steel agains Convergence flying bucket. The other Modulator tries to shoot as many Winter Guards as possible near Vlad to deny him the Sacrificial Pawn.
Kind of the same pattern occurs on the left flank. The two knocked down Modulators take out the Carriage, and the last one shoots Winter Guards. Luckily, the Modulators run out of shoots before the Motherland runs out of Winter Guards. That was it. No scoring, leaving the scenario score at 2-1 in Vlad's favour. The picture above shows the end of the Convergence turn.
Vlad is happy. He is on top of this. There is plenty of time left on the clock. There is actually time to think. There is probably no chance of clearing the left zone. Even though the Modulators are pretty beat up. There might be more important thing to do for the left Marauder. The right zone can probably be cleared. The middle Marauder is pretty beat up, so it needs help - just to be sure. So here goes.
Vlad activates, casts S&P and lean back. In hindsight, he should perhaps have contributed to clearing out the left zone. On the right flank, Joe moves up and shouts Bear's Strength to the remaining Winter Guards. He then parks at the flag. The Rifle Corps charge the rightmost Modulator and does a reasonable amount of damage (Orion did not find i reasonable). The combined fire of the Field Gun and Mortar takes out the second Modulator. Finally, the Marauder walks backwards and pounds the Modulator to the ground. Unfortunately, the last Servitator is still contesting.
The leftmost Marauder charges Orion, takes a few free strikes on the way. It arrives and Orion dies. That was it. End of game. Vlad did not manage to clear the left zone, he did, however unintentional clear the left one. Not of enemy models, but of his own. This means that Vlad scores one point for the flag, and Orion scores one for the zone. This leaves scenario score at 3-2 in Vlad's favour. The picture above depicts the glorious victory be the Empress and her loyal subjects.
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| End of turn 1, round 4 |
Orion is formulating a plan involving his feat and the remaining Modulators shooting Vlad to death. It sounds convincing and I'm getting a bit worried. Luckily, the two knocked down Modulators on the left flank is now outside Orion's control area.
Orion activates (he might have allocated something, it is bit confusing). He feast and charges the Marauder at his doorstep. He does manage to knock it down and do some damage. He might have casted Magic Bullet on on of the Modulators. One of the Modulators in the right flak charges the Marauder to try and take it out. It is really no serious match. Khador steel agains Convergence flying bucket. The other Modulator tries to shoot as many Winter Guards as possible near Vlad to deny him the Sacrificial Pawn.
Kind of the same pattern occurs on the left flank. The two knocked down Modulators take out the Carriage, and the last one shoots Winter Guards. Luckily, the Modulators run out of shoots before the Motherland runs out of Winter Guards. That was it. No scoring, leaving the scenario score at 2-1 in Vlad's favour. The picture above shows the end of the Convergence turn.
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| End of round 4, end of game |
Vlad is happy. He is on top of this. There is plenty of time left on the clock. There is actually time to think. There is probably no chance of clearing the left zone. Even though the Modulators are pretty beat up. There might be more important thing to do for the left Marauder. The right zone can probably be cleared. The middle Marauder is pretty beat up, so it needs help - just to be sure. So here goes.
Vlad activates, casts S&P and lean back. In hindsight, he should perhaps have contributed to clearing out the left zone. On the right flank, Joe moves up and shouts Bear's Strength to the remaining Winter Guards. He then parks at the flag. The Rifle Corps charge the rightmost Modulator and does a reasonable amount of damage (Orion did not find i reasonable). The combined fire of the Field Gun and Mortar takes out the second Modulator. Finally, the Marauder walks backwards and pounds the Modulator to the ground. Unfortunately, the last Servitator is still contesting.
The leftmost Marauder charges Orion, takes a few free strikes on the way. It arrives and Orion dies. That was it. End of game. Vlad did not manage to clear the left zone, he did, however unintentional clear the left one. Not of enemy models, but of his own. This means that Vlad scores one point for the flag, and Orion scores one for the zone. This leaves scenario score at 3-2 in Vlad's favour. The picture above depicts the glorious victory be the Empress and her loyal subjects.
Final thoughts
This was a surprisingly easy match. Convergence turns out to be far less of a threat that I had expected. The whole feat plus Boundless Charge is still a game winner. Also with all the huge-bases out there Marauders are just marvellous. Finally, S&P solves so many problems for everybody. Vlad is clearly a bit focus starved. So perhaps it is time to think about bringing his ex-girlfriend onboard. We will see.
Primary thing to remember is to check scenario score. There was really no reason to give up a scenario point. Also activation order might be worth thinking about. I can't remember why the middle Marauder just did not kill Orion. It might have been too damaged, or I might have worried that it couldn't.
Until next time.
For the Motherland!
Primary thing to remember is to check scenario score. There was really no reason to give up a scenario point. Also activation order might be worth thinking about. I can't remember why the middle Marauder just did not kill Orion. It might have been too damaged, or I might have worried that it couldn't.
Until next time.
For the Motherland!
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