Strong Gaming

Note: This started as something Kat wrote up for some of us locally. She has graciously allowed me to reformat it into more of an interview and share it here. (I will note, it's weird writing an interview where you are asking the questions after getting the answers, I hope this came out ok.). Kevin Strong : Thanks for taking the time to do this. I am going to jump right in and ask, when you win the roll for initiative, what do you consider when deciding whether to go first or second? Kat Royer : It is hella amazing when you win the roll, but you must understand that there are strengths to either situation. When you go first, you often are given the opportunity to travel further up the board than your opponent, but it all depends on you and your opponent's threat ranges. The absolute best case scenario, regardless of your own threat ranges, is fighting a list with static, inflexible threat. If their entire list can only charge at range 12, then you are able to dictat...

Round 6:  vs Jordan Bollin Scenario:  Spread the Net This is the final round of our July 2019 scrum.  This is a bit of an odd place because Oblivion dropped when we had two rounds left in the scrum.  Everyone wanted to play the new stuff, so everyone's lists changed.  I already had three losses on my record, so I even requested to be allowed to switch factions back to Cryx since my record was not going to have a large impact on the standings (I am just coming off a stint playing Circle because we didn't have any locals running Iona / bird and everyone wanted practice into it).  Due to this, I am only going to put down the lists that we actually played instead of our pairings, as the whole pairing thing became a weird exercise to go through. Me [Asphyxious 3] Asphyxious the Hellbringer [+24] - Scourge of the Broken Coast  - Barathrum [15]  - Cankerworm [9]  - Kharybdis [17]  - Nightwretch [7] Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)] General...

Last year I started this blog with the intent of maximizing the value I get out of the games I play.  I generally only get a single game a week in and due to family life, I am generally unable to make it out for steamroller events where I could get multiple games in a day.  By taking the time to write up a battle report for each game I played, I was able to learn lessons quickly and apply them to future games.  However, writing up a battle report every week ended up getting difficult to keep up with.  When I finally hit a week where I just didn't get it done, I ended up deciding to take a short break.  That break has lasted for close to a year now. During that year, I noticed that I was becoming less sharp and starting to make the same mistakes I did before starting the blog.  My scenario awareness has gone down drastically and I am generally making mistakes with placement, order of activation, etc.  I have been thinking about starting to write up ba...

Round 1:  vs Christopher Michael Scenario:  Spread the Net The next Scrum begins with me paired up against Chris, who brings Grymkin to the party.  I spent a large portion of my work day studying up on Grymkin, and specifically his pairing.  Here are the lists we brought: Me: [Deneghra 2] Wraith Witch Deneghra [+28] -Dark Host  - Deathripper [6]  - Deathripper [6]  - Stalker [8]  - Stalker [8]  - Skarlock Thrall [0(4)] Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)] Darragh Wrathe [9] Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5] Soul Trapper [1] Bane Knights (max) [15] Bane Riders (max) [20] Bane Warriors (min) [10]  - Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [0(5)] Wraith Engine [15] [Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Slaughter Fleet Raiders  - Kraken [36]  - Satyxis Blood Priestess [0(4)] Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)] General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)] Ragman [4] Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6] Blighted Trollkin Marauders ...

Vs:  John Lopilato ( John's Blog: The Gooma Gamer ) Scenario:  Mirage John is started his gaming blog late last year and that was really the inspiration for me to post my battle reports on a blog of my own.  For a few months now we have been trying to line up a game for the battle of the blogs and we finally found our chance.  John has been a long time trolls player, but recently started playing convergence.  I really didn't know what to expect from him, as he usually doesn't play the established meta lists.  We talked it over a little and he had a list he wanted to try out, while I was playing my Skarre3 / Denny2 pair.  The list he wanted to try out used the foundries for recursion, so I agreed to play Skarre3 as playing Denny2 would mean hellmouth hurts his central game plan pretty badly.  Here are our lists: Me : [Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Slaughter Fleet Raiders  - Kraken [36]  - Satyxis Blood Prie...

Vs:  Mark Howard Scenario:  Recon II Mark and I got in a pickup game.  He is practicing with his new Convergence pairing and I am going back to my main pairing of Denny2 in dark host and Skarre3 in slaughter fleet.  I am still not sure which list I really want to drop into Convergence, especially if I see the Iron Mother list.  I know that Iron Mother is the drop into most Warmachine matchups, but I also know that Skarre3 is one of the few casters in the game that Iron Mother cannot casually backlash to death.  I decided to play my Skarre3 list to see how the matchup would go, especially with the concern that Denny2 could be assassination via backlash if I messed up positioning on any of my jacks.  Here are the lists we brought. Me: [Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Slaughter Fleet Raiders  - Kraken [36]  - Satyxis Blood Priestess [0(4)] Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)] General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)] Ragman [4] B...