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July 2018 Scrum - Wrap Up

So, another scrum has come and gone.  My final record in this one was 2-3.  Mike Ireland was the overall winner after winning a Retribution civil war against James Lesko.  Our complete final standings are here:  Final Standings - July 2018 Scrum.

This event was the first time I ever put nine slayers on the table.  While I generally enjoy playing that type of list, I don't like how the game almost feels decided before you start playing.  If your opponent hasn't played into it before or if they don't have the tools to handle it, you just run over them.  If they do know what's coming and they have the tools, it can be a rough matchup.  The matchup gets even worse if your opponent is prepared for nine slayers and you don't have experience with the list.  That said, I don't really plan on buying that many slayers, I just wanted to put it on the table and see what it was like.

As for my other list, Venethrax continues to frustrate me.  I truly believe he has a great kit and that his spell list is amazing.  The problem is, at seven focus he just doesn't seem to be able to do enough each turn.  He's either casting mortality or terminal velocity and then allocating one or two focus.  The dream is when you can somehow get a couple souls on him so he can cast both spells and allocate a couple focus.  I think this is why I am ultimately saying that black industries is really the theme for him.  The problem with that is Lich3 just does it so much better, even without nine slayers.  Mortality solves one problem for the bloodgorgers (tough), but there is no way to mitigate terrain.  As such, my next iteration of this list will likely swap out Venethrax for Denehgra3.  She brings mortality and ghost walk to the party, and can fully fuel her jacks.  I am still playing around with possibilities, but eventually that's what I plan on playing around with.

My performance in this scrum was ok.  I think I did alright with a couple of lists I didn't really have practice time with beforehand.  I am getting to the point where I generally know the rules for my own models, though I do occasionally forget a rule now and then.  I think my focus needs to start being on what my opponent's armies can do.  That feels like a very daunting task, given how many factions there are in the game.  Add on to that all the themes within the factions and it feels downright impossible.  That said, I do believe that is a key part of the next steps in my Warmachine journey.  That said, I am going to start with trying to learn the common lists in my meta.  The other piece is finding a couple lists that I can truly master.

As much as I feel like I am learning (and remembering) the rules for my models, I am not consistently playing the same lists.  Early in the year, I wanted to make a commitment to play and master a couple lists.  I took a little time to search for what those lists might be, and have settled on my Denehgra2 dark host and Skarre3 slaughter fleet lists as the two that I intend to really focus on.  I plan on running these two lists in the September scrum and even beyond that.  I feel these are two very strong lists, even though they don't make up the sweeper / pivot archetype.  They don't ask hard questions, but each list asks multiple smaller questions and comes with many answers.  I really feel comfortable playing into almost anything with this pair.  With enough practice, I think these two lists can carry me pretty far.

Beyond the September scrum, I have been recruited onto a team for the Bokur Brawl team event in October.  I am both nervous and excited for this.  I have never played in a team event before.  I have also never played in an event this big before.  I used to get out to local steamrollers once a month, but that was years ago when the meta I was playing in was much smaller.  I am looking forward to getting out to this type of an event and will likely be bringing my Denehgra2 / Skarre3 pairing.  If nothing else, I expect it to be a great experience where I get to meet and play against new people.  I have no idea how my opponents will feel about me taking pictures to try and write up battle reports later, but it won't hurt to ask.

I think that wraps up the July scrum.  Since playing my last game for the July scrum, I have already gotten in three more games (all with Skarre3).  I do have pictures for them all, but I don't know if I will get around to writing them all up.  It sometimes feels daunting trying to make sure I get one battle report written up each week, and now I have a backlog.  That said, I'm going to see what I can do, since I want to have the record out there so I can review my games.  As always, thanks for reading!

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