50pt SR2014 in Omaha, NE

  One of our local PGs put together an end-of-the-year tournament for 50pt lists using the new SR2014 rules.  Spoiler alert, little has changed.  Control Points are still the name of the game.  There's a few minor differences.  A caster can dominate an objective/flag at 4'' instead of 2''.  There was a scenario or two where dominating a flag didn't necessarily add CPs for you, but instead, removed CPs for the other guy.  Somewhat interesting, but if you're worried about your current lists becoming invalid in January, don't stress out too much.  What worked in 2013 is going to work in early 2014 at least.  It'll be Vengeance before we see any major changes.

  The two major things I wanted to see was LESS scenarios and/or more priority on Army Points Destroyed, or something at least to change up the scenario world.  The fewer Scenarios was more important though.  12 scenarios that are minorly different from one another gets old really quick and I think they could cut it down to six, easily.  But no dice.

  I had 3 options for lists, eCaine, eStryker and Kraye.  Originally, I wanted eCaine and eStryker, but neither really answered different questions.  eCaine answered most of what Stryker could, and Stryker didn't really add a whole lot except a much stronger melee threat than Caine is.  Kraye, on the other hand, is completely different, and for kicks and giggles, I ran a jack heavy list with min Nyss, max Blazers, and some support.

eCaine
*Sylys
*Ol' Rowdy
Reinholdt
ATGM w/ UA
*Avenger
Boomhowlers (max)
Rangers
Aiyana + Holt
Blazers (min)
Taryn

  eCaine's list was pretty straightforward.  Avenger is the only thing I don't see in most lists, and I'm the only guy in my meta that ever brings it.  That should be a hint, but I love me some 18'' KD threats.

Kraye
*Minuteman
*Hunter
*Hunter
*Hammersmith
*Centurion
*Squire
Blazers (Max)
Nyss (Min)
eEiryss

  Kraye was my Anti-Warmachine list.  There was a 4 Devastor Harkevich list running around that I really wanted to tangle with for kicks and giggles, but didn't get the chance.  The Minuteman would flak up any infanty, the Hunters would work on a Heavy, the Hammersmith would hopefully get the Alpha (not hard on Kraye), for some piece trading and let the Cent finish up.  Blazers were there for support, Nyss for tarpitting and eEiryss because she's amazing.

  We ended up with four rounds, and I landed the bye for Round 1.  Round two put me up against the PG not running the tournament, and he dropped Jarl against eCaine.  Jarl's a decent matchup for eCaine, I think.  I'd rather face him than eMadrak (Darn you, Grim Salvation), but he's still an interesting matchup.  His feat makes life kinda difficult for eCaine for a turn.  Unfortunately for me, Turn 2 had me taking the Alpha from his mini-feating Fennblades, which forced 4 CMD checks.  My ATGM and Boomies both failed, and my Rangers failed shortly thereafter.  My turn on Round 2 left me A+H, Blazers, 2 jacks, and Caine + support.  Wasn't a lot I could do.  Went for the assassination.  Everything went pretty well, considering.  The Avenger even rolled the 14 I needed to KD a few targets, which let Caine charge in to get the distance he needed, shoot the downed Kithkar with his initial, and shoot everything else at Jarl.  I hit him three times, had three more shots, and missed the last two.  He had two transfers, so I needed everything to hit, and with the Rangers fleeing, couldn't get them in there to help at all.  It was a rough game, but wasn't one I felt bad about losing.  3 CMD checks was 26 models in a 50pt game failing to be of any use to me on the next turn.  It sucked.

  Game 3 was against eBaldur's skew list.  Megalith, Guardian, Warden, Druids w/UA, LotF, and the Celestial Fulcrum.  The Battle Engine was kind of a wierd choice, and pretty detrimental in this case.  I won the rolloff, chose second and picked the open side of the table.  With as much terrain on his side as there was, he had a really difficult time moving in and around the battle engine.  Turn 1 had a full-tilted Minuteman in his face to deal with the Lord of the Feast, but some lousy terrible rolls managed to keep the guy alive.  However, next turn, I sealed it with a Hammersmith, and since the battle engine was blocking the way to the jack for all of the Wolds to charge him, eBaldur stepped in to do it himself. Turn 3, my Hunters shot the Fulcrum to pieces, and a full-tilted, feat-turn Centurion wrecked face and killed Baldur with his initials.  I had 3 more attacks, and 2 more (possibly 3) from the Hammersmith.  Pretty sealed deal.  I didn't want to drop Kraye against Hordes, but I didn't feel like eCaine had anything like what he needed to handle that much Hi-Arm.  And I needed to drop my Kraye list at some point.

  Game 4 was against pDenny, Bane Thralls, 2 Pistol Wraiths, 2 Bonejacks and a Kraken.  Pretty standard.  You better believe eCaine came out for that one.  He pushed Denny pretty far forward on turn 2, feated and caught most of my army except the Avenger, 2 rangers, the blazers and eCaine.  Caine walked up, feated, murdered Denny.  No sweat.

  Overall, I landed 6th in the tournament, missing 5th by Strength of Schedule.  I, as usual, scored 0 CPs, because that's how I roll.  Out of 21 people playing though, I'll take 6th, definitely.  5th actually got a prize, so I would have rather had 5th, but I'm pretty happy with 6th.

  I like my eCaine list, and Idk that there will be a lot of tweaking there until I've played it quite a bit more.  I think I've only played with 20% of the list, really.  A+H will come out though.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the 4pts, maybe fill out the Blazers, but Aiyana and Holt don't necessarily need to be in a Gunmage list.  I'd rather have them dropping armor for Kraye.  Granted, against the Trolls they theoretically were ok, but I still think I'd rather have them with Kraye.

  Kraye's list was fun, but will change.  I'm tired of Hunters.  They barely pulled their weight and only because of the Celestial Fulcrum.  They got their chance to shoot ARM21 and I wasn't impressed, at all.  Instead, I'd rather have a second Minuteman, fill out the Nyss, run A+H and/or maybe a Journeyman.  I'd rather have the Ironclad than the Hammersmith, but I don't own an Ironclad right now (Converted it to Rowdy), so it'll have to wait.  Had a lot of fun with the list though.

  Overall, had a lot of fun.  Interesting points of the tournament involved watching 1) eHaley forget to feat on the front lines and getting smashed by a primaled Ghetorix.  2)  Lylyth2 Assassination against Vindictus surrounded by Holy Zealots on feat turn (Impossible.  I'd feel kinda bad, except that Legion has pVayl, so I don't want to hear about ''impossible to kill'') 3) 4 Demolishers on Harkevich just being a pain.  4) Lylyth2 vs. Lylyth 2.  5)  Seeing Convergence, period.  Had a lot of fun.  The PG and I shot some pictures with my camera, and I've posted the highlights here.