الخميس، 23 مايو 2019
15 Highest Paying URL Shortener to Earn Money Online 2019
Cut-win
Cut-win is a new URL shortener website.It is paying at the time and you can trust it.You just have to sign up for an account and then you can shorten your URL and put that URL anywhere.You can paste it into your site, blog or even social media networking sites.It pays high CPM rate.
You can earn $10 for 1000 views.You can earn 22% commission through the referral system.The most important thing is that you can withdraw your amount when it reaches $1.- The payout for 1000 views-$10
- Minimum payout-$1
- Referral commission-22%
- Payment methods-PayPal, Payza, Bitcoin, Skrill, Western Union and Moneygram etc.
- Payment time-daily
BIT-URL
It is a new URL shortener website.Its CPM rate is good.You can sign up for free and shorten your URL and that shortener URL can be paste on your websites, blogs or social media networking sites.bit-url.com pays $8.10 for 1000 views.
You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $3.bit-url.com offers 20% commission for your referral link.Payment methods are PayPal, Payza, Payeer, and Flexy etc.- The payout for 1000 views-$8.10
- Minimum payout-$3
- Referral commission-20%
- Payment methods- Paypal, Payza, and Payeer
- Payment time-daily
Adf.ly
Adf.ly is the oldest and one of the most trusted URL Shortener Service for making money by shrinking your links. Adf.ly provides you an opportunity to earn up to $5 per 1000 views. However, the earnings depend upon the demographics of users who go on to click the shortened link by Adf.ly.
It offers a very comprehensive reporting system for tracking the performance of your each shortened URL. The minimum payout is kept low, and it is $5. It pays on 10th of every month. You can receive your earnings via PayPal, Payza, or AlertPay. Adf.ly also runs a referral program wherein you can earn a flat 20% commission for each referral for a lifetime.Linkrex.net
Linkrex.net is one of the new URL shortener sites.You can trust it.It is paying and is a legit site.It offers high CPM rate.You can earn money by sing up to linkrex and shorten your URL link and paste it anywhere.You can paste it in your website or blog.You can paste it into social media networking sites like facebook, twitter or google plus etc.
You will be paid whenever anyone will click on that shorten a link.You can earn more than $15 for 1000 views.You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $5.Another way of earning from this site is to refer other people.You can earn 25% as a referral commission.- The payout for 1000 views-$14
- Minimum payout-$5
- Referral commission-25%
- Payment Options-Paypal,Bitcoin,Skrill and Paytm,etc
- Payment time-daily
Short.am
Short.am provides a big opportunity for earning money by shortening links. It is a rapidly growing URL Shortening Service. You simply need to sign up and start shrinking links. You can share the shortened links across the web, on your webpage, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Short.am provides detailed statistics and easy-to-use API.
It even provides add-ons and plugins so that you can monetize your WordPress site. The minimum payout is $5 before you will be paid. It pays users via PayPal or Payoneer. It has the best market payout rates, offering unparalleled revenue. Short.am also run a referral program wherein you can earn 20% extra commission for life.CPMlink
CPMlink is one of the most legit URL shortener sites.You can sign up for free.It works like other shortener sites.You just have to shorten your link and paste that link into the internet.When someone will click on your link.
You will get some amount of that click.It pays around $5 for every 1000 views.They offer 10% commission as the referral program.You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $5.The payment is then sent to your PayPal, Payza or Skrill account daily after requesting it.- The payout for 1000 views-$5
- Minimum payout-$5
- Referral commission-10%
- Payment methods-Paypal, Payza, and Skrill
- Payment time-daily
Linkbucks
Linkbucks is another best and one of the most popular sites for shortening URLs and earning money. It boasts of high Google Page Rank as well as very high Alexa rankings. Linkbucks is paying $0.5 to $7 per 1000 views, and it depends on country to country.
The minimum payout is $10, and payment method is PayPal. It also provides the opportunity of referral earnings wherein you can earn 20% commission for a lifetime. Linkbucks runs advertising programs as well.- The payout for 1000 views-$3-9
- Minimum payout-$10
- Referral commission-20%
- Payment options-PayPal,Payza,and Payoneer
- Payment-on the daily basis
Oke.io
Oke.io provides you an opportunity to earn money online by shortening URLs. Oke.io is a very friendly URL Shortener Service as it enables you to earn money by shortening and sharing URLs easily.
Oke.io can pay you anywhere from $5 to $10 for your US, UK, and Canada visitors, whereas for the rest of the world the CPM will not be less than $2. You can sign up by using your email. The minimum payout is $5, and the payment is made via PayPal.- The payout for 1000 views-$7
- Minimum payout-$5
- Referral commission-20%
- Payout options-PayPal, Payza, Bitcoin and Skrill
- Payment time-daily
Bc.vc
Bc.vc is another great URL Shortener Site. It provides you an opportunity to earn $4 to $10 per 1000 visits on your Shortened URL. The minimum withdrawal is $10, and the payment method used PayPal or Payoneer.
Payments are made automatically on every seven days for earnings higher than $10.00. It also runs a referral system wherein the rate of referral earning is 10%.- The payout for 1000 views-$10
- Minimum payout -$10
- Referral commission-10%
- Payment method -Paypal
- Payment time-daily
Wi.cr
Wi.cr is also one of the 30 highest paying URL sites.You can earn through shortening links.When someone will click on your link.You will be paid.They offer $7 for 1000 views.Minimum payout is $5.
You can earn through its referral program.When someone will open the account through your link you will get 10% commission.Payment option is PayPal.- Payout for 1000 views-$7
- Minimum payout-$5
- Referral commission-10%
- Payout method-Paypal
- Payout time-daily
LINK.TL
LINK.TL is one of the best and highest URL shortener website.It pays up to $16 for every 1000 views.You just have to sign up for free.You can earn by shortening your long URL into short and you can paste that URL into your website, blogs or social media networking sites, like facebook, twitter, and google plus etc.
One of the best thing about this site is its referral system.They offer 10% referral commission.You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $5.- Payout for 1000 views-$16
- Minimum payout-$5
- Referral commission-10%
- Payout methods-Paypal, Payza, and Skrill
- Payment time-daily basis
Clk.sh
Clk.sh is a newly launched trusted link shortener network, it is a sister site of shrinkearn.com. I like ClkSh because it accepts multiple views from same visitors. If any one searching for Top and best url shortener service then i recommend this url shortener to our users. Clk.sh accepts advertisers and publishers from all over the world. It offers an opportunity to all its publishers to earn money and advertisers will get their targeted audience for cheapest rate. While writing ClkSh was offering up to $8 per 1000 visits and its minimum cpm rate is $1.4. Like Shrinkearn, Shorte.st url shorteners Clk.sh also offers some best features to all its users, including Good customer support, multiple views counting, decent cpm rates, good referral rate, multiple tools, quick payments etc. ClkSh offers 30% referral commission to its publishers. It uses 6 payment methods to all its users.- Payout for 1000 Views: Upto $8
- Minimum Withdrawal: $5
- Referral Commission: 30%
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Payza, Skrill etc.
- Payment Time: Daily
Short.pe
Short.pe is one of the most trusted sites from our top 30 highest paying URL shorteners.It pays on time.intrusting thing is that same visitor can click on your shorten link multiple times.You can earn by sign up and shorten your long URL.You just have to paste that URL to somewhere.
You can paste it into your website, blog, or social media networking sites.They offer $5 for every 1000 views.You can also earn 20% referral commission from this site.Their minimum payout amount is only $1.You can withdraw from Paypal, Payza, and Payoneer.- The payout for 1000 views-$5
- Minimum payout-$1
- Referral commission-20% for lifetime
- Payment methods-Paypal, Payza, and Payoneer
- Payment time-on daily basis
Ouo.io
Ouo.io is one of the fastest growing URL Shortener Service. Its pretty domain name is helpful in generating more clicks than other URL Shortener Services, and so you get a good opportunity for earning more money out of your shortened link. Ouo.io comes with several advanced features as well as customization options.
With Ouo.io you can earn up to $8 per 1000 views. It also counts multiple views from same IP or person. With Ouo.io is becomes easy to earn money using its URL Shortener Service. The minimum payout is $5. Your earnings are automatically credited to your PayPal or Payoneer account on 1st or 15th of the month.- Payout for every 1000 views-$5
- Minimum payout-$5
- Referral commission-20%
- Payout time-1st and 15th date of the month
- Payout options-PayPal and Payza
Shrinkearn.com
Shrinkearn.com is one of the best and most trusted sites from our 30 highest paying URL shortener list.It is also one of the old URL shortener sites.You just have to sign up in the shrinkearn.com website. Then you can shorten your URL and can put that URL to your website, blog or any other social networking sites.
Whenever any visitor will click your shortener URL link you will get some amount for that click.The payout rates from Shrinkearn.com is very high.You can earn $20 for 1000 views.Visitor has to stay only for 5 seconds on the publisher site and then can click on skip button to go to the requesting site.- The payout for 1000 views- up to $20
- Minimum payout-$1
- Referral commission-25%
- Payment methods-PayPal
- Payment date-10th day of every month
People Behind The Meeples - Episode 167: Matt Yen
Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers. Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before. If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!
| Name: | Matt Yen |
|---|---|
| Email: | Matthew.V.Yen@gmail.com |
| Location: | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Day Job: | Starting a job as an administrative assistant. |
| Designing: | Less than six months. |
| Find my games at: |
Matt Yen
Interviewed on: 1/11/2019 12:40:09
Let me introduce you to Matt Yen, a new designer with big aspirations. Matt is currently working on several games, including a war game that can be played over great distances or time through email correspondence. He also has a number of other projects and ideas in the works, so keep your eye on Matt to see what he has coming up!
Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.
How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Less than six months.
Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I've always wanted to. After a lot of encouragement from people in the industry that I met at conventions, as well as family and friends, I realized that there was no reason to keep delaying. I've had several good playtests and had great feedback from those, so I definitely plan on continuing.
What game or games are you currently working on?
I'm in playtest and revision stage for my second game, my first unfortunately needed to be put on hold. I definitely want to revisit it, though. The game I'm currently working on is a strategy-based, hidden movement game, with a slight military theme. I'm working on expanding it to multiple players, as well as adding a little more depth to it.
Have you designed any games that have been published?
Not yet, but here's hoping!
What is your day job?
Starting a job as an administrative assistant.
Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.
Where do you prefer to play games?
With friends at someone's house / apartment. Game libraries are also great, and of course conventions too.
Who do you normally game with?
Friends who are more into board games than video games.
If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Dominion is one of the big hits with my current group. Cards Against Humanity with an earlier group. There's quite a few that make the rounds. Party games are also popular. Tokaido was a lovely new find. Mahjong is usually pretty popular.
And what snacks would you eat?
Pizza was pretty common.
Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
I personally don't care, but if others wanted to then great.
What's your favorite FLGS?
Currently don't have one :(
What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
Hmmm. It's a toss up between a few: Dominion-Prosperity, Settlers of Catan, Iron Dragon, and Century: Spice Road. Honorable mention goes to Dark Souls, both the board game and card game. CAH is something I played to death in college so I really have to be in the mood for it, which isn't often. Usually I play something else with others who don't like it. Worst game I ever played is hard to say, nothing really stands out. Anything where the rules are obtuse, contradictory, or otherwise unclear is not something I'm liable to enjoy.
What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Not really a mechanic but I love games that have a high replay value. Anything where the initial mechanics and strategy are simple but the game itself can be vastly different depending on who you play with. I'm not a fan of artificially inflating that with RNG, however. I definitely don't like games that break the 4th wall and ask personal information, make you do things, etc. This can vary, of course.
What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
Iron Dragon. I don't have it, for one, but even if I did, not everyone is keen on a train game that takes an hour to learn and 3 hours to play.
What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, Video Games, Other Games?
Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games, Card Games
OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
Not if I can avoid it. Reasoning in prior answers.
You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.
When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it for me. Sometimes I'm thinking about an idea for a mechanic and I develop it, add new ones. All of a sudden I realize I have two games, or even three. That can also happen when trying to add theme to mechanic. On the flip side, I'll be going about my day, not thinking about games at all, when I'll notice or hear or think about something and all of a sudden it's a light bulb moment.
Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
No to both, but I'd like to change that!
Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
I think a lot of design lessons in general can be learned from bad games or from good video games. So Hidetaka Miyazaki, if I had to pick.
Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
See three questions ago. I actually got the idea I'm currently working on from a dream. It looks very different now, but still.
How do you go about playtesting your games?
Until I have something presentable, I playtest by myself or with family / friends. Once I do, I bring a functional prototype to my local playtest group. I do want to learn Tabletop Simulator, which can be really useful I hear.
Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I mostly work alone for the bulk of the design. I step back for a bit and come back to polish it when I have a fresher perspective.
What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
That first publish. I'm going to go with a publisher, and not self-publish. I haven't finished polishing my game yet so it's not quite ready for a pitch, but almost there!
If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
Legend of Korra or Dark Souls. The current Dark Souls games (by Gearbox I believe) are fantastic. There are a few great Korra games out there, but there's so much more that could be done.
What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
JUST DO IT. You'll never make a game if you don't sit down and make one.
What advice would you like to share about designing games?
See above. Also don't be afraid of failure or criticism. That's what will make you a better designer. Don't ignore it, but don't let it bring you down.
Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Games that I'm playtesting are: Turn-based, hidden-movement strategy game. Vague military theme. As mentioned above, looking to add more features and players. This can be played one turn at a time over any length of time, or played by players who live far away from one another.
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are: A city-building game where you have an effective time limit (# of rounds) to accomplish your character's quest.
And games that are still in the very early idea phase are: A lot. No really, like 15.
Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker's Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
Protospiel, and some local game development meetups.
And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!
Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Star Wars, Sprite, and Laserdisc.
What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Video games and Ninja Warrior.
What is something you learned in the last week?
How addicted I am to ice cream. I think I was going through withdrawal.
Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
Not big on music, but fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction are usually a good bet. Anything by Neil Gaiman, and almost anything my Michael Crichton and Jim Butcher. Movies--Contracorriente, Ip Man, El Laberinto del Fauno, Primer. First three are not in English, fyi. Last one might as well not be. Honorable mention to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I was absolutely blown away.
What was the last book you read?
Sphere by Michael Crichton.
Do you play any musical instruments?
Not a one.
Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I'm faceblind. Not severely, but much more than "oh, haha I'm ALSO bad with faces."
What would you do if you had a time machine?
Not get student loan debt.
Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Introvert. Like, a lot.
If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Is the Avatar a superhero? I think so.
Have any pets?
With cats, you ARE the pet. And I love it.
Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?
Go make some games, even if you've never done it before!
Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html
Did you like this interview? Please show your support: Support me on Patreon! Or click the heart at Board Game Links
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. And be sure to check out my games on Tabletop Generation.[Three Hexes] The World Clock
Campaign: The White Elves have unleashed a Chaos Golem to destroy the World Clock! The Magi of Time have slowed it down with their most powerful magical artifacts, but those are being consumed in the action. The Magi are desperate to find more artifacts or a permanent solution towards to destroying the dragon-golem and defeating the elves.
Homebase (Hex 0) (0100): Watch Tower of Kynze - The dwarf town of Kynze houses a Watch Tower - a small outpost of the Magi that connects to the dungeons of the World Clock. It has also become the default headquarters for the forces aligned against the White Elves, leading to an explosion of commerce and opportunity for those willing to engage in it. The surrounding farming towns and lands are filling with the tents of armies and forces, as well as attracting raids from the elves intent on disrupting the allies.
Three Hexes
(Hex scale is 24 miles)
Location 1 (0000): The World Clock - The world-shaping magics of the World Clock have transformed it's location into a maze of mysterious dungeons, tunnels and caverns, filled with creatures, artifacts and odd pockets of reality that provide weal and woe to those who enter the clock. The Magi allow any and all to enter the clock in order to learn from their experiences and to help guide the realities and power to a balanced effect that preserves the order of the world. Their need for Lawful artifacts to counter the White Elves has resulted in a huge increase of dungeon-delvers, many of whom have perished fighting among each other in the depths.
Location 2 (0002): The Twelve Knights - The reclusive Twelve Knights are training a natural Resonator, a very rare human mutant who can enhance the effects of magics cast around him. The Magi are wanting to put the boy next to the dragon as a way of destroying the golem, but their plans are frustrated by how unpredictable he becomes around any sort of magics - whether good or evil. The Knights believe that the boy must witness the suffering of the lands destroyed by the Elves, in order to shape him towards their cause, and are close to sending him on a dangerous trip near the dragon.
Location 3 (0202): Dragon of Chaos - Desolation and destruction surrounds the golem and the White Elven army as they battle the attacking wedges of the Magi and humans who bear magical artifacts to wound the dragon. The weird tools, weapons and armors of the elves are highly sought after by rich nobles, but dangerous to obtain as each elven clan is protected by war wagons and strange creatures. Magi recruiters seek adventurers willing to make forays against the dragon or the elves to further slow down the creature.
MY APOLOGIES at missing the past couple of weeks! Work and conventions (Hello CincyCon!) filled up my time and I wasn't able to create these as I wanted. We return this week and will continue pushing on for my goal of 52 campaign starters!
"Three Hexes" are simple campaign starters to show that you don't need to do a lot to have interesting settings for people to play in. Feel free to use these in your game, campaign or as ways to spur on your own creativity and imagination!
I've purposefully left a lot of detail out because these are supposed to spur on your imagination! The scale is what I would use in my own world, but if something else suits you better, then go for it. I may have the features moved about on the hexes for clarity, if they don't suit you, move them!
Homebase (Hex 0) (0100): Watch Tower of Kynze - The dwarf town of Kynze houses a Watch Tower - a small outpost of the Magi that connects to the dungeons of the World Clock. It has also become the default headquarters for the forces aligned against the White Elves, leading to an explosion of commerce and opportunity for those willing to engage in it. The surrounding farming towns and lands are filling with the tents of armies and forces, as well as attracting raids from the elves intent on disrupting the allies.
(Hex scale is 24 miles)
Location 1 (0000): The World Clock - The world-shaping magics of the World Clock have transformed it's location into a maze of mysterious dungeons, tunnels and caverns, filled with creatures, artifacts and odd pockets of reality that provide weal and woe to those who enter the clock. The Magi allow any and all to enter the clock in order to learn from their experiences and to help guide the realities and power to a balanced effect that preserves the order of the world. Their need for Lawful artifacts to counter the White Elves has resulted in a huge increase of dungeon-delvers, many of whom have perished fighting among each other in the depths.
Location 2 (0002): The Twelve Knights - The reclusive Twelve Knights are training a natural Resonator, a very rare human mutant who can enhance the effects of magics cast around him. The Magi are wanting to put the boy next to the dragon as a way of destroying the golem, but their plans are frustrated by how unpredictable he becomes around any sort of magics - whether good or evil. The Knights believe that the boy must witness the suffering of the lands destroyed by the Elves, in order to shape him towards their cause, and are close to sending him on a dangerous trip near the dragon.
Location 3 (0202): Dragon of Chaos - Desolation and destruction surrounds the golem and the White Elven army as they battle the attacking wedges of the Magi and humans who bear magical artifacts to wound the dragon. The weird tools, weapons and armors of the elves are highly sought after by rich nobles, but dangerous to obtain as each elven clan is protected by war wagons and strange creatures. Magi recruiters seek adventurers willing to make forays against the dragon or the elves to further slow down the creature.
MY APOLOGIES at missing the past couple of weeks! Work and conventions (Hello CincyCon!) filled up my time and I wasn't able to create these as I wanted. We return this week and will continue pushing on for my goal of 52 campaign starters!
"Three Hexes" are simple campaign starters to show that you don't need to do a lot to have interesting settings for people to play in. Feel free to use these in your game, campaign or as ways to spur on your own creativity and imagination!
I've purposefully left a lot of detail out because these are supposed to spur on your imagination! The scale is what I would use in my own world, but if something else suits you better, then go for it. I may have the features moved about on the hexes for clarity, if they don't suit you, move them!
Three Hexes by Michael "Chgowiz" Shorten (chgowiz@gmail.com) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
July Scrum Rnd2 - Madrak2 Vs. Baldur1
Last night I got my round two of the July Scrum league in vs. Jordan and he was kind enough to allow me to pause the clock between rounds to take a picture to write a detailed report. I am extremely excited to be writing this match up because it was one of the best kinds of game: it swung wildly back and forth, with the game ending on Turn 7 with me at 40 seconds and Jordan at 30 seconds. I'm very grateful to Jordan for the match and look forward to other matches in the future.
Jordan's Lists
Baldur1 Bones of Orboros
-Megalith
-Wold Guardian
-Woldwarden
-Woldwatcher
-Woldwyrd
-Woldwyrd
Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikin
Shifting Stones
Celestial Fulcrum
Kaya2 - No Theme
-Laris
-Feral
-Gnarlhorn
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Argus
-Druid Wilder
Feralgeist
Lord fo the Feast
Reeves of Orboros (min)
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravagers (min) + Chieftain
Matchup Analysis
So it's a Bones list and Kaya2 out of theme, my initial thoughts are "look at the stones on this guy!". Trolls have always been a bit of a bad matchup for Circle in the game and it seems immediately obvious my drop is going to be Madrak2 and Jordan will be forced into Baldur1. Simply put both of my lists can run over Kaya's list without breaking a sweat, particularly Grim2. Conversely out of the two I'm probably better off with Madrak into Baldur. This is exactly what happened, Jordan didn't even bring his Kaya list with him when he arrived to play our game.
For reference my Madrak2 list is:
Trollblood - Madrak2 Toughallo
Theme: Band of Heroes
3 / 3 Free Cards 74 / 75 Army
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender - WB: +28
- Trollkin Runebearer - PC: 0
- Dire Troll Mauler - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 15)
- Dire Troll Bomber - PC: 19 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist - PC: 5
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Stone Scribe Elder - PC: 3
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Kriel Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 11
Our Scenario was The Pit 2.
Deployment
I wont the roll off to go first and Jordan picked his table side. Since we both had an extra 2" of deployment we were starting off really close to each other.
My Turn 1
I respected the output of the Woldwyrds to murder Longriders with Blood Fury on them, so I simply dump all my Fury onto the stone and run forward, keeping everything except one Long Rider under the aura and sing for no continuous effects.
Jordan Turn 1
Since I had zero chill, Jordan was forced to feat turn 1. This sees him kill a Longrider from my left flank with a Woldwyrd, Fulcrum, and Woldwatcher finally finishing it off and creating a forest out of its corpse. On the right flank Jordan takes some Geomancy shots at my Longriders doing minimal damage, but he makes a mistake by running the Manikins to jam before taking his shots with the Woldwyrd. He misses my Longrider and kills his Manikin furthest to my right.
Of note - I forgot to deploy Eilish and Jordan was kind enough to allow me to put him at the back of my lines, so I had him hide in a trench.
My Turn 2
After some careful measurements, I am able to get one Longrider over the wall and into the Woldwyrd on my right flank and one Longrider can engage it over the wall - all without entering Baldur's control area. Madrak puts Bloodfury on the right most Longriders and then fills the stone, sitting on 1 after a Harmonious Exaltation. I was careful to stay more than 2" from the forest, respecting Baldur's assassination.
The Fellcaller gets puppet master from Eilish and then activates (after the stone!) and sprays off one of the Manikins to clear my charge lane, and then sings Pathfinder on the Longriders (they were out of Baldurs feat). Luckily I do no damage to my Longrider.
I'm able to kill the right Woldwyrd with the Long Riders and while I am able to get a single rider to the Sentry stone, it leaves it on one box.
On the left flank I call pathfinder to allow the Longriders to shift left and I'm able to just toe my Bomber into Baldur's forest to see through to the other side to kill a Shifting stone. Jordan shield guards the first shot, but the second shot is able to kill a stone and take teleportation off the table.
Jordan's Turn 2
Jordan decided that murdering Trolls was his fucking job and it was time to go to work. The left Woldwyrd shifts right and shoots two Longriders off the table thanks to them having an upkeep on them. The Blackclad gets hunters mark on the unit and then Megalith and a Woldwarden decide to kill the other riders, with more than enough fury to Earth Spikes and knock down the right Fell Caller, then kill my Runbearer, with his crit knocking down Madrak, my left Fell Caller, and a Kriel Warrior.
Jordan uses his still alive Sentry Stone to make a Manikin who then sprays down part of my Krielstone. He then runs and Jams up my stuff with shifting stones and the Woldguardian has the +2STR/ARM spell on it (which I forget about).
To top it off he's also able to kill two more Longriders from my left flank with his Fulcrum and the Watcher, scoring 1 point.
Overall, I'm astonished I'm still able to sit comfortably as I write this after the ass beating Jordan laid down here. Suffice it to say I didn't at all expect to lose nearly that much. On the plus side, Jordan was not able to kill my objective and score more than 1 VP.
My Turn 3
My initial plan was to have the Longriders and Fell Caller kill the Woldwarden, the Mauler kills Megalith, and then the Bomber kills the Woldguardian. Simple, right? Turns out this was less simple and more of a "I'll try to do too much and as a result accomplish nothing for $500, Alex."
Since my Runebearer was dead, I should have noticed my plan was utterly doomed to failure since I couldn't upkeep Blood Fury and so would need to cast it and then two Rage's to properly achieve my goals. I similarly couldn't actually charge the Woldguardian and so would need Madrak's feat to et into him, burning 1 attack off the Bomber. I also forgot the Guardian had the +2 ARM spell.
Madrak stupidly goes first, sacrificed movement to stand, feats, then throws his axe to kill the Manikin in the Longriders way. I put Bloodfury on the riders, and then Rage on the Bomber.
My left Fell Caller sacrificed action to stand and then walks 5" and calls to stand up the other Fell Caller. Eilish gives that Fell Caller puppet master (another mistake, it should have gone on the Mauler). The Stone activates for +1 STR, and then the right Fell Caller charges into the Warden, doing decent damage and not even needing the Puppet Master.
The Longriders charge and impact attack and I kill it between two impact attacks and one charge attack, they Reposition out of the Maulers way.
The Mauler is dice off 2 from Megalith since he didn't have Rage and I decide the extra attacks are better. I charge in, missing my second initial and losing the chain attack. I proceed to roll a bunch of 5's for damage and leave all of Megaliths systems up. The Bomber similarly fails to do too much to the Woldguardian, though he kills two Stones for my trouble due to Feat.
On the bright side my Kriel Warriors with near zero buffs on them decide to charge in and utterly annihilate the Woldwatcher.
If I wasn't hell bent on making mistakes I would have Jammed up the Woldguardian with 2-3 Kriel Warriors and used the Bomber to possibly kill the objective and if I had enough Kriel Warriors left maybe I score a point by killing the Woldwatcher anyway. Rage and Puppet Master goes on the Mauler who would then murder Megalith and then I'm way ahead on the piece trade and at least tying scenario.
Jordan Turn 3
If you remember Turn 2, you'll know that Fucking Murdering Trolls is Jordan's job description. Megalith gets +2 STR from a Stonekeeper and walks to be able to kill the Mauler and hopefully kill the Objective. Luckily for me he has to focus everything on killing the Mauler and isn't able to kill the Objective. I pulled the 5 Fury off the Mauler when it dies.
The Sentry Stone spawns a new Manikin who then kills my right Fell Caller. The Woldguardian gets an additional +2 STR from another Stonekeeper and trivially murders my Bomber.
The Woldwyrd starts gunning down Longriders, but isn't able to kill them all. In fact he's only able to force a Tough on one rider, who gets charged and killed by a Blackclad who then Battle Wizards to kill some more of my Kriel Stone.
The only area where Jordan didn't completely meet his Troll Murder Quota was with the Fulcrum who only killed a few Kriel Warriors. The other bit of good news is that no one scores anything on Scenario this turn, so I'm only down 0-1.
My Turn 4
This turn I finally decided that Sticks and Stones have broken enough of my bones and the best way to make them never hurt me again is to annihilate them.
Madrak upkeeps Bloodfury on the single Longrider. The Fell Caller activates and puts +2 MAT on the Krielstone unit. The Stone spends a fury for +1 STR and then declares a Charge/Run to kill the goddamn Blackclad who sprayed them down.
The Longrider has similarly had enough of the shit out of the Woldwyrd and Sentry Stone. I charge the Woldwyrd and am able to get impact attacks on both the Woldwyrd and the Sentry Stone. The Sentry Stone dies and I miss the Woldwyrd with my impact. I roll like goddamn FIRE on the charge attack and leave it on like two boxes. Madrak activates, casts Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors.
The Kriel Warriors decide to continue to be bosses, two charge the Stonkeeper and CMA to get a hit and kill him. The others charge into the Woldguardian, and then rip it to shreds. I'm able to redirect a charge attack into the Woldwyrd, I hit, and then take the last points off. As such I score the center zone. Score is now tied, 1-1.
Jordan's Turn 4
Here is where things start going bad for Jordan. He's only able to kill a few of the Kriel Warriors, notably failing to clear the left zone and score due to dice keeping one contesting Warrior alive.
He is able to kill my objective and clear the right zone, scoring two VP's here. He also sacrifices a Stonekeeper to prevent me from scoring the center. Score is now 3-1 for Jordan.
My Turn 5
Madrak gets his two free Fury from the dead beasts and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors. The Stone activates and sings for +1 STR and I move the one model to contest the left zone. He misses the Stone Shaper.
Eilish gives Madrak Puppet Master. Madrak activates, aims, and boosts to hit the Shaper, killing him and clearing the center zone. The Kriel Warriors charge into the Fulcrum and carve off damage. The Fell Caller charges in, and fails to kill. The Long Rider has to charge in and is finally able to kill the Fulcrum. I made a mistake in forgetting to reposition the Long Rider and turn him to face Jordan's models coming into the center zone.
Clock is getting low. Score is now 3-2, sill in favor of Jordan.
Jordan Turn 5
I forgot to take a picture here, though what occurred should be apparent in the next picture.
Megalith moves up and kills the contesting Stone model in melee, then Geomancies and kills my Stone Scribe Elder and the last grunt in the Stone unit, leaving only the Bearer itself. Jordan puts a forest up to block LOS to Megalith who is now contesting the center zone. Jordan scores my left zone and the score is now 4-2 in favor of Jordan.
My Turn 6
Madrak gets his two fury and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors. The Warriors and Fell Caller charge the objective and kill it, with the two Kriel Warriors who couldn't get in taking position to contest the center zone. Madrak and the Stone run to the right zone and I make a critical error, I leave Madrak within 2" of the forest, forgetting about Baldur's threat.
I position the Fell Caller just outside of Megalith's 9" threat.
Eilish decides to sacrifice himself for the cause and contests the left zone.
I score two points, tying the game 4-4.
Jordan's Turn 6
Jordan decides to go for the assassination I dutifully gave him. Megalith moves up and then misses Madrak with his Geomancy. Baldur doesn't upkeep the forest, casts it on himself, then teleports to within 2" of Madrak. He's got 4 Fury.
He boosts to hit Madrak (3 Fury left) and hits, but I sacrifice it to the Stone, who suffers the Weight of Stone effect, and then decides to pass his Tough check. Baldur buy's the attack on the stone and kills it (2 Fury left). He buys on Madrak again (1 Fury left), misses, and then he decides to camp his last Fury.
I score on Jordan's turn, bringing the game 5-4 in favor of me.
My Turn 7
Given that I'm under two minutes on clock, I decided to avoid the assassination and just play it safe. Fell Caller gives +2 MAT to the Kriel Warriors who charge into Baldur, one hits doing 8 damage. More importantly they get within 3" of Madrak who runs away from Baldur, taking the free strike and then killing the Kriel Warrior because Grim Salvation lets you sacrifice even free strikes. I run to the other corner of the zone thinking there's no way Baldur can get to me and that's game.
What I should have realized was that he could teleport to me again and that to cement the game I could just surround Madrak with Kriel Warriors to really make sure I can't die, but I just try to put them in the way.
Still, I score yet another VP for the left zone and bring the score to 6-4, thinking I've won the game. I clock back to Jordan with only 40 seconds left on my clock. I didn't even activate the Longrider.
Jordan's Turn 7
Jordan decides to pull yet another Surprise Motherfucker! He teleports Baldur to Madrak and I think I've lost the game. Baldur is down to 4 Fury for this assassination run.
He boosts to hit Madrak and hits (3 Fury left). He rolls a 5 for damage, Madrak takes 2. Jordan proceeds to buy his next three attacks and after everything is said and done his damage rolls are so poor that Madrak is left with 10 health when Baldur is out of fury and only 30 seconds left on his clock. Jordan does run to contest, leaving the score 6-4 and I win by scenario at the end of turn 7.
Conclusions
This game was insane! I managed to survive two assassination runs, and while that's normally not very surprising with Madrak2, in these situations it is very surprising. Dice saved my ass when I made two mistakes that gave Jordan two assassination runs I didn't have to give him. I also was able to recover from a critical set of mistakes on Turn 3 on my part and the late game idea of weapon master Kriel Warriors really came through.
Clock was extremely tight and was definitely forcing us to move very quickly so that's definitely a factor towards the end of the game where possibly better decisions could have been made. Still, I won this game through a series of critical dice rolls: Jordan failing to kill a contesting Kriel Warrior on Turn 4 was massive, and then my passing the tough check on my Stonebearer on his Turn 6 assassination run ate through enough of his fury to keep me alive.
Overall it was an incredible game, the kind that really makes you appreciate Warmachine. I look forward to playing Jordan again.
My conclusions going forward is to take notice of exactly how fucking good higher model count lists are in scenario. I remember that from the last Scrum in 2017 and it seems just as true today. Looking forward and knowing that I want to play Convergence, primarily in Destruction Initiative, I'm going to start having the kinds of large attrition swings in my games if I can't mitigate my opponents. The model count and unit buff on the late game Kriel Warriors really saved me here. I'm going to need to keep that in mind as I move forward.
Movie And TV Reviews: Lady Bird, The Post, Molly's Game, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Westworld, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
See all of my movie reviews.
Lady Bird: Greta Gerwig's first outing as a director is a smashing success. I have complicated feelings about Greta, in that I admire her intentions in writing and playing in quirky comedies, such as Frances Ha. However, I felt that her movies were not quite there yet, not quite jelled. The characters were too unrelatable, and the plots too chaotic and off-putting. This is the first one she really gets right.
Christine is a teenager who calls herself "Lady Bird" for no discernible reason. The movie is basically an arc in the life of Christine and her relationship with her mother as she navigates the last year of high school in Sacramento. She makes and loses friends, fights, makes up, and fights with her mother, and tries to get into a college on the East Coast that will get her far away from her family.
I have been a big fan of Saoirse Ronan, from Atonement to Hanna to Brooklyn. She and Laurie Metcalf, as well as the rest of the cast, give perfect performances. If there is any flaw to the movie it is that it could have been more: more sweeping, maybe have another deep relationship arc in addition to the main one. But that's hardly a flaw. Worth watching.
The Post: Hanks, Streep, and Spielberg give us another newspaper drama, this one about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers that broke the story about how a series of US presidents and higher ups were all lying about the Vietnam War, pretending that the US was fighting to liberate South Vietnam when they knew all along that the war could not be won and the real aim was to broadly fight China.
It's a good movie, if not a great one. Roughly on par with other newspaper movies I've seen, including Spotlight and All the President's Men., but with a narrower aim. The main conflicts are a) publish or not? and b) can Streep's female character assert authority at the paper without making a major blunder? Streep plays the owner of the Washington Post, a position she inherited from her late husband, and a woman bullied by her all male board. She is seemingly willing to let them bully her until she finally takes a stand. Hanks plays the chief editor who is pushing to report a story while the government wants to sue them for espionage.
If you happen to draw a parallel between the historic ideals of freedom of press versus a tyrannical, corrupt president and anything happening today it's because we once trumpeted these ideals very clearly. Reality has a bias toward the truth, which any amount of modern obfuscation cannot truly suppress. And it is good not to lose sight of the ideals for which we stand.
Molly's Game: If it's been a while since you've seen a Sorkin picture, you'll find it is like riding a bicycle. You will immediately be expecting to see Josh Lyman or Sam Seaborne walk in from some corner of the screen.
This is the story of a woman who uses some incredible insight, people skills, and brass balls to end up running a high stakes poker game for important celebrities and executives, first on the West Coast and then on the East. The enterprise lasts until the feds and the mafia move in on her. The story is told from a series of flashbacks interspersed with her finding a lawyer and navigating her legal case. It is based on a true story.
Jessica Chastain does a fine job in the lead role. Everyone else does fine, except Kevin Costner who seems out of place as her often distant but high pressuring father. Regardless, it is a Sorkin story, which means witty, clever, entertaining dialog and characters who are ten times brighter and more accomplished than most people you will ever meet. Well crafted with great cinematography.
Goodbye Christopher Robin: The story of A.A. Milne, his wife, and his son Christopher Robin, how the Winnie the Pooh books came to be, and the effect they had on their lives. Spoiler: on the one hand the books are the most successful children's books of all time. On the other hand, they destroyed the life of Christopher Robin and his relationship with his parents. The movie actually gives us a slightly happier ending than the real life events.
Milne's wife is shown to be a bit of a shrew, with just enough redeeming moments to make her two-dimensional, but not really likable. Alan Milne is more sympathetic, although he blatantly and blindly uses his son poorly without much thought. It's all pretty tragic.
It's a decent movie for what it aims to be, somewhere on the same level as Becoming Jane or Miss Potter. It is well acted and lovingly directed and filmed. It tells its story well enough. But it's not a very important story or movie, for all that, and only the falsified, slightly happier ending gives the viewer any kind of comfort.
Westworld (season one): I saw a few episodes of Humans and couldn't get into it. I was a little concerned about the level of violence I heard about in this series (I won't watch Game of Thrones). Somehow, the fact that the violence happens to robots makes it easier to take, although the question remains exactly whether the robots are or are not conscious, so you have to decide that for yourself if the violence is watchable or not.
I am a huge fan of Evan Rachel Wood; she and everyone else do fine jobs. Unlike Humans, the stories are quite captivating, with a number of whodunits and what's going to happen nexts that got me hooked. The stories take place in the facility that creates and maintains the robots, as well as in the play world of Westworld, and they include scenes that occur as flashbacks from the robots' perspective, despite the fact that the robots are not supposed to have memories.
There is nudity, but respectfully done and never gratuitous. The sex scenes are all pretty unsexy.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season one): The next series from Amy Sherman Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Bunheads), this one succeeds better than Bunheads did. Bunheads had a few great scenes, but it was too unrestrained in ridiculous plot and ridiculous dialog, which made it hard to relate to. This series only has one Bunheads-style conversation that set my teeth on edge in episode two. Thankfully that was the only one.
Midge is a perfect 1950s Jewish housewife who is supported by her husband and who in turn supports his occasional forays into standup comedy. He's not good at it, and one day he decides that she is not supportive enough of him and he leaves her. She then discovers, albeit reluctantly, that SHE is good at comedy. Cue a lot of denial, drinking binges, and attempts to make a go at standup comedy, all the while continuing to navigate her 1950s Jewish family, neighbors, friends, children, and still husband, all of whom remain blissfully unaware of her secret life as a comedienne.
It's not as good as Gilmore Girls, which had the great triple relationships between the three women, as well as their suitors, husbands, and the funky Connecticut town Stars Hollow as color. The supporting characters here are not as fun, there is no funky community background. But we have a few great scenes with a young Lenny Bruce. The best scenes are the ones where she does her Lenny Bruce style-standup, something which could not really have happened in the time period of the show, and so represents a kind of wish fulfillment on the part of Amy and for the viewers.
Amy's dialog is distinctive, and it's fun to hear. I just wish the show also had a teenage daughter.
Lady Bird: Greta Gerwig's first outing as a director is a smashing success. I have complicated feelings about Greta, in that I admire her intentions in writing and playing in quirky comedies, such as Frances Ha. However, I felt that her movies were not quite there yet, not quite jelled. The characters were too unrelatable, and the plots too chaotic and off-putting. This is the first one she really gets right.
Christine is a teenager who calls herself "Lady Bird" for no discernible reason. The movie is basically an arc in the life of Christine and her relationship with her mother as she navigates the last year of high school in Sacramento. She makes and loses friends, fights, makes up, and fights with her mother, and tries to get into a college on the East Coast that will get her far away from her family.
I have been a big fan of Saoirse Ronan, from Atonement to Hanna to Brooklyn. She and Laurie Metcalf, as well as the rest of the cast, give perfect performances. If there is any flaw to the movie it is that it could have been more: more sweeping, maybe have another deep relationship arc in addition to the main one. But that's hardly a flaw. Worth watching.
The Post: Hanks, Streep, and Spielberg give us another newspaper drama, this one about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers that broke the story about how a series of US presidents and higher ups were all lying about the Vietnam War, pretending that the US was fighting to liberate South Vietnam when they knew all along that the war could not be won and the real aim was to broadly fight China.
It's a good movie, if not a great one. Roughly on par with other newspaper movies I've seen, including Spotlight and All the President's Men., but with a narrower aim. The main conflicts are a) publish or not? and b) can Streep's female character assert authority at the paper without making a major blunder? Streep plays the owner of the Washington Post, a position she inherited from her late husband, and a woman bullied by her all male board. She is seemingly willing to let them bully her until she finally takes a stand. Hanks plays the chief editor who is pushing to report a story while the government wants to sue them for espionage.
If you happen to draw a parallel between the historic ideals of freedom of press versus a tyrannical, corrupt president and anything happening today it's because we once trumpeted these ideals very clearly. Reality has a bias toward the truth, which any amount of modern obfuscation cannot truly suppress. And it is good not to lose sight of the ideals for which we stand.
Molly's Game: If it's been a while since you've seen a Sorkin picture, you'll find it is like riding a bicycle. You will immediately be expecting to see Josh Lyman or Sam Seaborne walk in from some corner of the screen.
This is the story of a woman who uses some incredible insight, people skills, and brass balls to end up running a high stakes poker game for important celebrities and executives, first on the West Coast and then on the East. The enterprise lasts until the feds and the mafia move in on her. The story is told from a series of flashbacks interspersed with her finding a lawyer and navigating her legal case. It is based on a true story.
Jessica Chastain does a fine job in the lead role. Everyone else does fine, except Kevin Costner who seems out of place as her often distant but high pressuring father. Regardless, it is a Sorkin story, which means witty, clever, entertaining dialog and characters who are ten times brighter and more accomplished than most people you will ever meet. Well crafted with great cinematography.
Goodbye Christopher Robin: The story of A.A. Milne, his wife, and his son Christopher Robin, how the Winnie the Pooh books came to be, and the effect they had on their lives. Spoiler: on the one hand the books are the most successful children's books of all time. On the other hand, they destroyed the life of Christopher Robin and his relationship with his parents. The movie actually gives us a slightly happier ending than the real life events.
Milne's wife is shown to be a bit of a shrew, with just enough redeeming moments to make her two-dimensional, but not really likable. Alan Milne is more sympathetic, although he blatantly and blindly uses his son poorly without much thought. It's all pretty tragic.
It's a decent movie for what it aims to be, somewhere on the same level as Becoming Jane or Miss Potter. It is well acted and lovingly directed and filmed. It tells its story well enough. But it's not a very important story or movie, for all that, and only the falsified, slightly happier ending gives the viewer any kind of comfort.
Westworld (season one): I saw a few episodes of Humans and couldn't get into it. I was a little concerned about the level of violence I heard about in this series (I won't watch Game of Thrones). Somehow, the fact that the violence happens to robots makes it easier to take, although the question remains exactly whether the robots are or are not conscious, so you have to decide that for yourself if the violence is watchable or not.
I am a huge fan of Evan Rachel Wood; she and everyone else do fine jobs. Unlike Humans, the stories are quite captivating, with a number of whodunits and what's going to happen nexts that got me hooked. The stories take place in the facility that creates and maintains the robots, as well as in the play world of Westworld, and they include scenes that occur as flashbacks from the robots' perspective, despite the fact that the robots are not supposed to have memories.
There is nudity, but respectfully done and never gratuitous. The sex scenes are all pretty unsexy.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season one): The next series from Amy Sherman Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Bunheads), this one succeeds better than Bunheads did. Bunheads had a few great scenes, but it was too unrestrained in ridiculous plot and ridiculous dialog, which made it hard to relate to. This series only has one Bunheads-style conversation that set my teeth on edge in episode two. Thankfully that was the only one.
Midge is a perfect 1950s Jewish housewife who is supported by her husband and who in turn supports his occasional forays into standup comedy. He's not good at it, and one day he decides that she is not supportive enough of him and he leaves her. She then discovers, albeit reluctantly, that SHE is good at comedy. Cue a lot of denial, drinking binges, and attempts to make a go at standup comedy, all the while continuing to navigate her 1950s Jewish family, neighbors, friends, children, and still husband, all of whom remain blissfully unaware of her secret life as a comedienne.
It's not as good as Gilmore Girls, which had the great triple relationships between the three women, as well as their suitors, husbands, and the funky Connecticut town Stars Hollow as color. The supporting characters here are not as fun, there is no funky community background. But we have a few great scenes with a young Lenny Bruce. The best scenes are the ones where she does her Lenny Bruce style-standup, something which could not really have happened in the time period of the show, and so represents a kind of wish fulfillment on the part of Amy and for the viewers.
Amy's dialog is distinctive, and it's fun to hear. I just wish the show also had a teenage daughter.
TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2018
2018 is over, and it was quite an eventful year. Cinematically speaking it was probably one of the best years for big budget movies, with only a small number of them being terrible (even though their box office was all over the place). Television gave theatres a run for their money too, with many productions besting anything on the silver screen. But this post is about movies, specifically my TOP 10. Read on to see my highly subjective list...
Read more »
Veins Of The Heartland
What's going on everyone!?
Today for the #2019gameaday challenge dear ol' dad and I played a game of Ticket to Ride on our tablets.
Luckily for dad, I played an honest game and didn't cut him off on a route or two of his that he got on me which ended up winning him the game!
All in all, it was a great time and I can't wait to play again.
As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)
-Tim
July Scrum Rnd2 - Madrak2 Vs. Baldur1
Last night I got my round two of the July Scrum league in vs. Jordan and he was kind enough to allow me to pause the clock between rounds to take a picture to write a detailed report. I am extremely excited to be writing this match up because it was one of the best kinds of game: it swung wildly back and forth, with the game ending on Turn 7 with me at 40 seconds and Jordan at 30 seconds. I'm very grateful to Jordan for the match and look forward to other matches in the future.
Jordan's Lists
Baldur1 Bones of Orboros
-Megalith
-Wold Guardian
-Woldwarden
-Woldwatcher
-Woldwyrd
-Woldwyrd
Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikin
Shifting Stones
Celestial Fulcrum
Kaya2 - No Theme
-Laris
-Feral
-Gnarlhorn
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Argus
-Druid Wilder
Feralgeist
Lord fo the Feast
Reeves of Orboros (min)
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravagers (min) + Chieftain
Matchup Analysis
So it's a Bones list and Kaya2 out of theme, my initial thoughts are "look at the stones on this guy!". Trolls have always been a bit of a bad matchup for Circle in the game and it seems immediately obvious my drop is going to be Madrak2 and Jordan will be forced into Baldur1. Simply put both of my lists can run over Kaya's list without breaking a sweat, particularly Grim2. Conversely out of the two I'm probably better off with Madrak into Baldur. This is exactly what happened, Jordan didn't even bring his Kaya list with him when he arrived to play our game.
For reference my Madrak2 list is:
Trollblood - Madrak2 Toughallo
Theme: Band of Heroes
3 / 3 Free Cards 74 / 75 Army
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender - WB: +28
- Trollkin Runebearer - PC: 0
- Dire Troll Mauler - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 15)
- Dire Troll Bomber - PC: 19 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist - PC: 5
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Stone Scribe Elder - PC: 3
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Kriel Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 11
Our Scenario was The Pit 2.
Deployment
I wont the roll off to go first and Jordan picked his table side. Since we both had an extra 2" of deployment we were starting off really close to each other.
My Turn 1
I respected the output of the Woldwyrds to murder Longriders with Blood Fury on them, so I simply dump all my Fury onto the stone and run forward, keeping everything except one Long Rider under the aura and sing for no continuous effects.
Jordan Turn 1
Since I had zero chill, Jordan was forced to feat turn 1. This sees him kill a Longrider from my left flank with a Woldwyrd, Fulcrum, and Woldwatcher finally finishing it off and creating a forest out of its corpse. On the right flank Jordan takes some Geomancy shots at my Longriders doing minimal damage, but he makes a mistake by running the Manikins to jam before taking his shots with the Woldwyrd. He misses my Longrider and kills his Manikin furthest to my right.
Of note - I forgot to deploy Eilish and Jordan was kind enough to allow me to put him at the back of my lines, so I had him hide in a trench.
My Turn 2
After some careful measurements, I am able to get one Longrider over the wall and into the Woldwyrd on my right flank and one Longrider can engage it over the wall - all without entering Baldur's control area. Madrak puts Bloodfury on the right most Longriders and then fills the stone, sitting on 1 after a Harmonious Exaltation. I was careful to stay more than 2" from the forest, respecting Baldur's assassination.
The Fellcaller gets puppet master from Eilish and then activates (after the stone!) and sprays off one of the Manikins to clear my charge lane, and then sings Pathfinder on the Longriders (they were out of Baldurs feat). Luckily I do no damage to my Longrider.
I'm able to kill the right Woldwyrd with the Long Riders and while I am able to get a single rider to the Sentry stone, it leaves it on one box.
On the left flank I call pathfinder to allow the Longriders to shift left and I'm able to just toe my Bomber into Baldur's forest to see through to the other side to kill a Shifting stone. Jordan shield guards the first shot, but the second shot is able to kill a stone and take teleportation off the table.
Jordan's Turn 2
Jordan decided that murdering Trolls was his fucking job and it was time to go to work. The left Woldwyrd shifts right and shoots two Longriders off the table thanks to them having an upkeep on them. The Blackclad gets hunters mark on the unit and then Megalith and a Woldwarden decide to kill the other riders, with more than enough fury to Earth Spikes and knock down the right Fell Caller, then kill my Runbearer, with his crit knocking down Madrak, my left Fell Caller, and a Kriel Warrior.
Jordan uses his still alive Sentry Stone to make a Manikin who then sprays down part of my Krielstone. He then runs and Jams up my stuff with shifting stones and the Woldguardian has the +2STR/ARM spell on it (which I forget about).
To top it off he's also able to kill two more Longriders from my left flank with his Fulcrum and the Watcher, scoring 1 point.
Overall, I'm astonished I'm still able to sit comfortably as I write this after the ass beating Jordan laid down here. Suffice it to say I didn't at all expect to lose nearly that much. On the plus side, Jordan was not able to kill my objective and score more than 1 VP.
My Turn 3
My initial plan was to have the Longriders and Fell Caller kill the Woldwarden, the Mauler kills Megalith, and then the Bomber kills the Woldguardian. Simple, right? Turns out this was less simple and more of a "I'll try to do too much and as a result accomplish nothing for $500, Alex."
Since my Runebearer was dead, I should have noticed my plan was utterly doomed to failure since I couldn't upkeep Blood Fury and so would need to cast it and then two Rage's to properly achieve my goals. I similarly couldn't actually charge the Woldguardian and so would need Madrak's feat to et into him, burning 1 attack off the Bomber. I also forgot the Guardian had the +2 ARM spell.
Madrak stupidly goes first, sacrificed movement to stand, feats, then throws his axe to kill the Manikin in the Longriders way. I put Bloodfury on the riders, and then Rage on the Bomber.
My left Fell Caller sacrificed action to stand and then walks 5" and calls to stand up the other Fell Caller. Eilish gives that Fell Caller puppet master (another mistake, it should have gone on the Mauler). The Stone activates for +1 STR, and then the right Fell Caller charges into the Warden, doing decent damage and not even needing the Puppet Master.
The Longriders charge and impact attack and I kill it between two impact attacks and one charge attack, they Reposition out of the Maulers way.
The Mauler is dice off 2 from Megalith since he didn't have Rage and I decide the extra attacks are better. I charge in, missing my second initial and losing the chain attack. I proceed to roll a bunch of 5's for damage and leave all of Megaliths systems up. The Bomber similarly fails to do too much to the Woldguardian, though he kills two Stones for my trouble due to Feat.
On the bright side my Kriel Warriors with near zero buffs on them decide to charge in and utterly annihilate the Woldwatcher.
If I wasn't hell bent on making mistakes I would have Jammed up the Woldguardian with 2-3 Kriel Warriors and used the Bomber to possibly kill the objective and if I had enough Kriel Warriors left maybe I score a point by killing the Woldwatcher anyway. Rage and Puppet Master goes on the Mauler who would then murder Megalith and then I'm way ahead on the piece trade and at least tying scenario.
Jordan Turn 3
If you remember Turn 2, you'll know that Fucking Murdering Trolls is Jordan's job description. Megalith gets +2 STR from a Stonekeeper and walks to be able to kill the Mauler and hopefully kill the Objective. Luckily for me he has to focus everything on killing the Mauler and isn't able to kill the Objective. I pulled the 5 Fury off the Mauler when it dies.
The Sentry Stone spawns a new Manikin who then kills my right Fell Caller. The Woldguardian gets an additional +2 STR from another Stonekeeper and trivially murders my Bomber.
The Woldwyrd starts gunning down Longriders, but isn't able to kill them all. In fact he's only able to force a Tough on one rider, who gets charged and killed by a Blackclad who then Battle Wizards to kill some more of my Kriel Stone.
The only area where Jordan didn't completely meet his Troll Murder Quota was with the Fulcrum who only killed a few Kriel Warriors. The other bit of good news is that no one scores anything on Scenario this turn, so I'm only down 0-1.
My Turn 4
This turn I finally decided that Sticks and Stones have broken enough of my bones and the best way to make them never hurt me again is to annihilate them.
Madrak upkeeps Bloodfury on the single Longrider. The Fell Caller activates and puts +2 MAT on the Krielstone unit. The Stone spends a fury for +1 STR and then declares a Charge/Run to kill the goddamn Blackclad who sprayed them down.
The Longrider has similarly had enough of the shit out of the Woldwyrd and Sentry Stone. I charge the Woldwyrd and am able to get impact attacks on both the Woldwyrd and the Sentry Stone. The Sentry Stone dies and I miss the Woldwyrd with my impact. I roll like goddamn FIRE on the charge attack and leave it on like two boxes. Madrak activates, casts Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors.
The Kriel Warriors decide to continue to be bosses, two charge the Stonkeeper and CMA to get a hit and kill him. The others charge into the Woldguardian, and then rip it to shreds. I'm able to redirect a charge attack into the Woldwyrd, I hit, and then take the last points off. As such I score the center zone. Score is now tied, 1-1.
Jordan's Turn 4
Here is where things start going bad for Jordan. He's only able to kill a few of the Kriel Warriors, notably failing to clear the left zone and score due to dice keeping one contesting Warrior alive.
He is able to kill my objective and clear the right zone, scoring two VP's here. He also sacrifices a Stonekeeper to prevent me from scoring the center. Score is now 3-1 for Jordan.
My Turn 5
Madrak gets his two free Fury from the dead beasts and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors. The Stone activates and sings for +1 STR and I move the one model to contest the left zone. He misses the Stone Shaper.
Eilish gives Madrak Puppet Master. Madrak activates, aims, and boosts to hit the Shaper, killing him and clearing the center zone. The Kriel Warriors charge into the Fulcrum and carve off damage. The Fell Caller charges in, and fails to kill. The Long Rider has to charge in and is finally able to kill the Fulcrum. I made a mistake in forgetting to reposition the Long Rider and turn him to face Jordan's models coming into the center zone.
Clock is getting low. Score is now 3-2, sill in favor of Jordan.
Jordan Turn 5
I forgot to take a picture here, though what occurred should be apparent in the next picture.
Megalith moves up and kills the contesting Stone model in melee, then Geomancies and kills my Stone Scribe Elder and the last grunt in the Stone unit, leaving only the Bearer itself. Jordan puts a forest up to block LOS to Megalith who is now contesting the center zone. Jordan scores my left zone and the score is now 4-2 in favor of Jordan.
My Turn 6
Madrak gets his two fury and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors. The Warriors and Fell Caller charge the objective and kill it, with the two Kriel Warriors who couldn't get in taking position to contest the center zone. Madrak and the Stone run to the right zone and I make a critical error, I leave Madrak within 2" of the forest, forgetting about Baldur's threat.
I position the Fell Caller just outside of Megalith's 9" threat.
Eilish decides to sacrifice himself for the cause and contests the left zone.
I score two points, tying the game 4-4.
Jordan's Turn 6
Jordan decides to go for the assassination I dutifully gave him. Megalith moves up and then misses Madrak with his Geomancy. Baldur doesn't upkeep the forest, casts it on himself, then teleports to within 2" of Madrak. He's got 4 Fury.
He boosts to hit Madrak (3 Fury left) and hits, but I sacrifice it to the Stone, who suffers the Weight of Stone effect, and then decides to pass his Tough check. Baldur buy's the attack on the stone and kills it (2 Fury left). He buys on Madrak again (1 Fury left), misses, and then he decides to camp his last Fury.
I score on Jordan's turn, bringing the game 5-4 in favor of me.
My Turn 7
Given that I'm under two minutes on clock, I decided to avoid the assassination and just play it safe. Fell Caller gives +2 MAT to the Kriel Warriors who charge into Baldur, one hits doing 8 damage. More importantly they get within 3" of Madrak who runs away from Baldur, taking the free strike and then killing the Kriel Warrior because Grim Salvation lets you sacrifice even free strikes. I run to the other corner of the zone thinking there's no way Baldur can get to me and that's game.
What I should have realized was that he could teleport to me again and that to cement the game I could just surround Madrak with Kriel Warriors to really make sure I can't die, but I just try to put them in the way.
Still, I score yet another VP for the left zone and bring the score to 6-4, thinking I've won the game. I clock back to Jordan with only 40 seconds left on my clock. I didn't even activate the Longrider.
Jordan's Turn 7
Jordan decides to pull yet another Surprise Motherfucker! He teleports Baldur to Madrak and I think I've lost the game. Baldur is down to 4 Fury for this assassination run.
He boosts to hit Madrak and hits (3 Fury left). He rolls a 5 for damage, Madrak takes 2. Jordan proceeds to buy his next three attacks and after everything is said and done his damage rolls are so poor that Madrak is left with 10 health when Baldur is out of fury and only 30 seconds left on his clock. Jordan does run to contest, leaving the score 6-4 and I win by scenario at the end of turn 7.
Conclusions
This game was insane! I managed to survive two assassination runs, and while that's normally not very surprising with Madrak2, in these situations it is very surprising. Dice saved my ass when I made two mistakes that gave Jordan two assassination runs I didn't have to give him. I also was able to recover from a critical set of mistakes on Turn 3 on my part and the late game idea of weapon master Kriel Warriors really came through.
Clock was extremely tight and was definitely forcing us to move very quickly so that's definitely a factor towards the end of the game where possibly better decisions could have been made. Still, I won this game through a series of critical dice rolls: Jordan failing to kill a contesting Kriel Warrior on Turn 4 was massive, and then my passing the tough check on my Stonebearer on his Turn 6 assassination run ate through enough of his fury to keep me alive.
Overall it was an incredible game, the kind that really makes you appreciate Warmachine. I look forward to playing Jordan again.
My conclusions going forward is to take notice of exactly how fucking good higher model count lists are in scenario. I remember that from the last Scrum in 2017 and it seems just as true today. Looking forward and knowing that I want to play Convergence, primarily in Destruction Initiative, I'm going to start having the kinds of large attrition swings in my games if I can't mitigate my opponents. The model count and unit buff on the late game Kriel Warriors really saved me here. I'm going to need to keep that in mind as I move forward.
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