Insider 08-11-2016


It’s time for another installment in the Insider series about armies that we, the staff, are playing in the new editions of WARMACHINE & HORDES. Last time I wrote one of these, I discussed my Helga + Swamp Gobber River Raider crazy combo list. Not exactly the most competitive thing out there, but who cares—it’s a TON of fun to play! This time, though, I’m completely switching…gears (nailed it!) and want to show you a Convergence of Cyriss list I have been playing competitively as of late.

I call this little number, “Gunline meta? More like funline meta! Am I right?”

Iron Mother Directrix & Exponent Servitors +27 WJ pts
– Prime Axiom 38 pts
– Assimilator 16 pts
– Assimilator 16 pts
– Assimilator 16 pts
– Corollary 6 pts
Elimination Servitors 3 pts
Elimination Servitors 3 pts
Optifex Directive 4 pts

Now, looking at this list, it’s pretty obvious what it does: it shoots the heck out of everything on the board. The Prime Axiom is my primary way of dealing with enemy heavies, the Assimilators wipe out infantry and low-ARM targets (even Stealth ones) with ease, the Corollary is there because….well, it’s Convergence, so why aren’t you playing a Corollary? And the Elimination Servitors add some extra anti-infantry padding to allow my Prime Axiom to focus on creating other servitors as needed throughout the game.

The list is pretty straightforward, plays well into a variety of matchups, and allows me to make lots of “pew-pew” noises each turn. However, I’ve built this list specifically to address another aspect of competitive play that can crop up from time to time, especially at conventions: the dreaded “Tourney Burny.”

Some people call it “tournament fatigue.” Whatever. I like Tourney Burny better.

Ever play in a 5-round competitive event? How about a 6-round event with another event the next morning? Don’t get me wrong—it’s fun, but if you don’t plan properly, it can sometimes be exhausting. There are plenty of things you can do to ensure you avoid Tourney Burny, obvious things like sleeping well, eating well, not staying up until 4 a.m. drinking birthday cake shots, etc.

As a staffer, when I travel to conventions, I typically work a full day shift, go grab some food, and then go right back to the convention hall to play games until way past my bedtime.

What can I say? I make bad decisions when I’m having fun.

So, a mindset I’ve recently adopted is that the lists I intend to play marathon style, which are typically either tournament lists or the lists I bring to conventions, need to be built with Tourney Burny as a consideration. For me (and note, this is just what works for me), I have found that bringing competitive-effective tournament lists with a very low model count helps fight off the fatigue. I like playing swarm armies—heck, I don’t know that I could even play my Cephalyx without bringing at least 30 Drudge bros—but I tend to play those style armies once or twice a day at most either during playtest, at the LGS, or at my house. When I’m at a convention and going to play something like 5–6 games a day, I want to physically move and mentally evaluate the minimum number of models possible and still have a great game.

That’s why I love the increased effectiveness of warjacks in the new edition so much. I can bring a ’jack-heavy list and do really well with it against a greater variety of opponents than I could in the past. Even though Convergence warjacks don’t Power Up, the new Induction rules are amazing and allow me to flow focus points through my battlegroup like a circuit board. With this Iron Mother gunline list, I can use three focus (from my Corollary) and have a fully charged battlegroup bustin’ holes in my opponent’s army each and every turn. It’s a ton of fun, and best of all, I activate and evaluate less models in my entire army than most armies will for just a unit or two.

Right, then. Time to grab my paintbrush and move on to the next army project with Tourney Burny in mind. I’ve got this cool idea in my head that involves Karchev the Terrible and four Spriggans….

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