How to lose at Warmachine - Part one - Cygnar vs Cygnar

I'm the red guy

Well, I thought about a tactical guide to Cygnar, or a post about how to play Warmachine in general but the simple fact is this.

I'm getting my ass kicked every time I play

So far it hasn't really been close even.

I've played three games  35-50 points and each one has involved me getting crushed in an amusing and horrid way.

Don't misunderstand me I am really enjoying the game and losing teaches you a lot more than winning. I'm enjoying playing against some very experienced players..... they've all be very nice to play against as well. No dick moves so far.

So while I played a small amount under MKI, I'm really starting from scratch.... if anything, my previous handful of games under MKI have taught me bad habits.  


Game One - Cygnar Vs Cygnar

Game one, 35 points vs Cygnar, my rough list was as follows. I had no idea who I would play so I chucked together 35 points of what I had painted. My plan was to sit and shoot a bit, use the trenchers as a screen and counter attack using the Centurion and Sword Knights

• Siege (Looks like Mr T, fights like Charles Upham)
• Centurion  (Very big warjack with a massive spear and shield)
• Defender (A heavy gun jack)
• Hunter (A light gun jack)
• Sword Knights (6) (Cheap melee infantry, good when fighting by a jack with a spear)
• Long Gunners (6) (Riflemen, stand and shoot)
• Trenchers (6) (WWI soldiers, dig in, smoke and bayonet charges)

Little did I know that I would be playing Thomas C, that he also played Cygnar and that his army could shoot the stuffing out of me

This is how outgunned I felt

Yep, Thomas turned up with Kara, the sniper warcaster, 2 Defender Heavy gun jacks, 2 Hunter light gun jacks, Some gun mages and a special character called Arlan Strangeways (Who's a very handy technician sort who can powerup warjacks)

How the battle went

So, I slowly realized that I couldn't stand and shoot my way out of this. Sadly, half my army was stand and shoot and the rest was charge. His guys were faster than mine and he could out shoot me. So my tactics were as follows.

Fumble around aimlessly forgetting what my guys do and get crushed.

Seriously, I barely scratched his army and he blasted me back into the stone age. I couldn't match his firepower and was too hesitant to send my melee guys up the guts into his formation. A charge up the middle could have foced him to split his forces slightly and allowed me to capitalize. But I dug in, failed to inflict any real damage and siege ended up being gunned down by half his army.

Thomas put on a clinic and it was really good to learn from him. As a veteran Cygnar player he gave me plenty of feedback and explained a bunch of rules I misunderstood.

Lessons learned

1. Don't hesitate, if your plan A is blown come up with Plan B pretty damm quickly
2. A mixed force can work really well at time, but standing still against superior fire power is really dumb
3. A 2" range advantage makes a bigger difference than you would initially think. When comparing similiar units and one has a 2" advantage it can be huge.
4. Units don't have to be 3" apart anymore, coherency works way differently in MKII to 40k or MKI
5. Smoke isn't as good as it was in MKI, it doesn't block line of sight to the trencher using it, just gives them camouflage.
6. Gun Mages have Defence 15, that makes them rather hard to hit at range
7. Siege is still a baddass, but the "Tower of power" tactic I used in MKI is gone