Sunday, December 19, 2010

Thagrosh Partially Painted

As promised, I have a pic of the work I've done on Thagrosh so far:
Boy, this guy is a real pain - his arms are covered in straps, so I had to paint the blue around them before going over them in brown. I've got most of his upper half finished, and just started some work below his waist. Sadly I probably won't be able to finish this month - I'm out of town for Christmas next week. Don't worry though - I've been playing several games and am working on writing up the battle reports, and I'll post them while I'm away.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Lylyth Painted

I would like to present my first painted Warlock: Lylyth, Herald of Everblight!

 Since in the fluff she's the leader of the Striders, I thought I would give her a similar paint scheme with the gold cloak (which unfortunately isn't coming out in the pictures). I've actually had her mostly done for about 2 weeks now, but I finally got around to doing her bow. I'm pretty happy with how she came out - when I first started, I was concerned about painting Warlocks, since they are such central models and you can't hide imperfections in the group. She turned out pretty well, and I'm glad I could try out the scheme on the Striders before using it on her.

Sorry for the lack of posting in the last week, work has been a bit busy. However, I do have a bit of a teaser: I'm currently working on painting Epic Thagrosh! He's not really in state where I feel comfortable posting a picture, but I'll try to get in a little more work and post a pic of how its going this weekend!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Battle Report: Rhyas vs. Borka

Seeing how I've been having some success with Lylyth lately, I decided it's a good time to try out my other 5-fury caster: Rhyas. I've read a lot about her being the weakest legion caster and though my current models don't support her well at all, she's a ninja, an thus too cool for me not to buy. This was my list:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
Carnivean
Seraph
3 Shredders
Max Warmongers
Striders
Forsaken

My opponent was actually the store's press ganger, trying out a new list with his trolls:

Borka Kegslayer
Earthborn Dire Troll
Dire Troll Mauler
Max Trollkin Champions w/ Skaldi Bonehammer
Trollkin Champion Hero
Fell Caller Hero
Trollkin Skinner

Immediately I knew this would be trouble - the one synergy I have is the Carnivean throwing a beast at the warlock on feat turn, teleporting in, and chomping the caster. One problem: Borka can't be knocked down while his keg bearer is alive! Still, facing so few models, I'm feeling good about my chances. My opponent wins the roll off and decides to go second.

Legion Deployment
The terrain is an odd mirror, with forests to both our rights and hills to both our lefts, just out of the deployment zones. In the center is a large hill with a battered mausoleum, which we decided was difficult terrain and cover. I deployed my Warmongers in the middle, with my beasts. The Forsaken, and Rhyas to their right. One shredder was deployed to the left of the Warmongers; the other two to the right of my heavies.

Troll Deployment
His formation mirrored mine, with the Champions in the middle and the Dire Trolls and Borka to their right.

Legion Advance Deployment
My striders deploy up the far right edge of the board - I'm hoping to outflank the champions and get a few shots at them.

Troll Advance Deploy
Once again he mirrors me, putting the Skinner as far up as he can on the left of my army. I assume he's going to try to get around to my beasts when they move to engage.

Legion Turn 1
My Carnivean runs full out into the forest. Rhyas casts Occultation on the Seraph, then move up into the edge of the forest to put Rapport on the Carnivean (at this point I discover my opponent has no ranged attacks, but it's not that important). The Seraph runs towards the center of the board, and the Warmongers run up to get between the Skinner and the Seraph, staying at the base of the center hill. The Forsaken runs up behind the Seraph, and two of the Shredders run up while one walks up into the space between the forest and the hill. The Striders run as far as they can down the right flank, hoping to get into good position.

Trolls Turn 1
The beasts and champions all run up, 4 champions forming a shield wall in front protecting Skaldi (shieldwalling with the last champion) and the fell caller. The dire trolls end behind the ruins, and are soon joined by the skinner. Borka moves up and drops iron flesh on himself, and the keg bearer follows to give him stumbling drunk.

Legion Turn 2
Deciding I'm tired of dealing with ridiculous units with ability granting UA's AND solos, I move my Rapport'd Carnivean and spray, catching one champion, Skaldi, and the hero. Boosting attack and damage rolls on the two specials allows me to put some damage on them, and my Seraph follows up by strafing at Skaldi through a small gap between the mauler and the front line of champions. Though I only get 1 extra shot, I allocate it to the hero and, boosting both attack and range rolls once again, I take them out! The Warmongers then charge in, two moving up to engage the champions (killing one) and the others once moving between my Seraph and the skinner. I almost underestimate reach, but I check and catch the skinner with one warmonger! Though I roll well enough to kill him, he passes his tough check. The striders get atop the hill next to the champions and take a few shots at them, and the Forsaken takes the fury off the seraph while the shredders walk into the gap between the forest and hill. Rhyas moves deeper into the forest, getting just enough range to put Spiny Growth on the Carnivean.

Trolls Turn 2
Shrugging off most of his wounds, my opponent decides its time to go on the offense. The champions charge in first, two going after the striders while the remaining two are engaged with the Warmongers. While only 1 strider goes down, both Warmongers are killed, opening up a charge lane to both my heavies. Borka then moves up and puts Iron Flesh on the remaining Champions, then casts Mosh Pit. The Mauler goes for the Seraph, but despite burning all his fury, leaves the beast with 1 hit point left. The Carnivean doesn't fare so well against the Earthborn however, falling to its onslaught (but not before getting several points in due to Spiny Growth). , and the Fell Caller takes swings at one of the Ogrun, but fails to kill it. The Skinner fail his ledership check against Abomination, but can't go anywhere due to being knocked down.

Legion Turn 3
Though one of my heavies is out and the other is barely standing, I've still got another ace up my sleave. I move my Forsaken up and Blight Shroud both his heavies, doing a whopping 8 + 7d6 to the Mauler and 8 + 6d6 to the Earthborn. Rhyas then steps up and puts Rapport on the Seraph before using her feat. The Warmongers and Seraph then gang up to finish off the Mauler (and the Skinner due to one not being able to get in range), and the Shredders all run Rabid and tear the Earthborn apart. Meanwhile, the three unengaged Striders move around the back of his army and kill the keg bearer - I'm going to need stumbling drunk down if I want even a chance at Borka.

Trolls Turn 3
The trade hasn't gone well for my opponent - out of beasts, he now has to conserve his fury, and his already low model count has diminished greatly. He uses the vengeance move to finish off the Seraph, then activates the Champions. The two engaged with the Striders take their swings, and manage to kill one of the Nyss, but are still engaged by the other 2. Realizing he needs to get rid of my fury generation, the remaining champions go after one of the Shredders, killing the beast. Borka then charges the remaining two Shredders, and, deciding to cast Iron Flesh first, doesn't have enough fury to kill either of them (though one is seriously injured). The Fell Caller takes a shot at one of the Warmongers, but doesn't manage to kill it. Its pretty clear its going to come down to Warlock vs. Warlock, and looks like I'll finally get to use Rhyas's famed assassination skills!

Legion Turn 4
The Shredders take a few bites out of Borka, but then Rhyas charges into the fray. She boosts all her attack rolls (she really need to to hit DEF 17), but sadly, one attack still misses and of the other two, only one criticals. Borka is left at 4 hit points, but no fury - I think I can still pull this off! The rest of my army takes a few pot shots, killing the fell caller, but at this point all that matters is no one can get into range of the Warlock melee.

Trolls Turn 4
The remaining unengaged Champions go for Rhyas, but both miss and are dispatched by Riposte. Borka cuts himself for 3, leaving him at 1, then makes 2 swings, boosting both the attack rolls. The first hits, dealing 11 points - another blow and Rhyas bites the dust! He rolls the attack...and fails with a 7! Unfortunately, there is a bit of gravel on the board, and he questions whether the die is cocked. We call over several other people, but no one is willing to make a ruling on such a tight game. We decide on the following: if he rerolls and manages to kill Rhyas, we call a draw; if he fails to kill her, I win. He rerolls (the die is a 2, so its exactly a 50/50 chance!), and manages to score with a 4, so we rule the game a draw due to questionably cocked dice.

Aftermath
Tight match! So many of the final die rolls were pivotal - had Rhyas critted both attacks instead of just one, or if she had managed to hit with all her attacks, I would've carried it. Never the less, I learned a lot - for one, Rhyas is completely unsuited for the models I have. With her low control radius, really the only infantry unit shes supporting is the Warmongers, since the Striders are too far up. And since she's primarily an infantry supporter, the beasts are getting short-changed on their benefits. Even the Shredders, who did pretty well with the extra attack due to her feat and rabid, would have done just as well with Epic Thagrosh's feat. The one combination I wanted to try with her - using the Rapport'd Carnivean to throw a heavy beast at the enemy caster on feat turn, then teleporting in and eating the knocked-down caster - didn't work against Borka since he couldn't be knocked down.

Looking back, my opponent's list was pretty sub-optimal as well. While Iron Flesh was useful, Mosh Pit was pretty much a waste since the Seraph couldn't be knocked down, and the Warmongers and Carnivean have such low defense they would've been hit anyway, not to mention they died the same turn as being knocked down. He also never got a chance to use his feat. One one hand, I do credit some of this to my tactics - I got Skaldi and the Hero out before they could do anything. Still, I'm convinced if either of us had been playing a better list, it would've been a very one-sided match up, so perhaps this was a good way to test out some strange lists!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Blighted Ogrun Tactica

Over at the PP Forums there's a tactics thread to help new players with the faction. With all the practice I've been getting in with my Ogrun, I figured I could write a rundown on them. You can check it out here.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Warmachine in comics

One cool thing about starting Warmachine when I did was shortly after, the guys at Penny Arcade did as well. They've done a few strips about it, and the most recent one is pretty hilarious. You should check it out (as well as the blog post corresponding to it).

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Battle Report: vs Cryx

Hey guys, another battle report, ready to go! This game was a battle box match against Cryx. The Cryx player is my friend who normally plays Cygnar. She's a big fan of Haley, so decided to give her twin sister a go. I won the roll and opted to go first.

Legion Deployment
The terrain was several buildings scattered around the table, with a large aisle in the center. I figured most of the fighting would take place there, so I put my Carnivean in the center, with 2 Shredders on each side and Lylyth right behind him.

Cryx Deployment
My opponent puts Deneghra, the Slayer, and one Deathripper in the middle, and put the other Deathripper and the Defiler a bit to the left, on the other side of a house. I imagine she was hoping to flank me with them and use their arc nodes to get at my Warlock.

Legion Turn 1
The Carnivean walks forward, and Lylyth follows close behind after casting Spiny Growth on 2 Shredders. All the Shredders then run forward. They're at the middle of the board, so should be in charge range of pretty much anything if my opponent moves up.

Cryx Turn 1
The Slayer runs straight forward, but the center Deathripper is a bit more cautious, staying back a little. As I predicted, the two bonejacks on the right move around the house, looking at my left flank. Deneghra moves up a bit, but stays far enough back that going for her is out of the question.

Legion Turn 2
With so much in range, its party time! Lylyth moves around the Carnivean to the right, lining up a shot through the Shredders. She then pops her feat and shoots at the Slayer, boosting to hit just to be sure. The arrow lands, and through it I channel Parasite. The Carnivean then walks up, carefully positioning himself to block line of sight from the flanking bonejacks to Lylyth, and uses his breath on the Slayer, boosting to hit. The damage softens it up, and two of my Shredders go rabid and walk up for the kill. The other two Shredders also go rabid and charge the Deathripper in the center, taking out half its boxes but not managing to kill it.

Cryx Turn 2
The crazy thing about battle box games is how quickly things can swing. Seeing half her points taken out, my opponent brings Deneghra up and pops her feat before taking a swing at one of the unengaged Shredders, wounding it but failing to kill. She then tries to use persuasion to get the other Shredder to finish off its ally, but with the beast fails to hit. The flanking bonejacks both get 3 focus, and the Deathripper charges in, killing the unwounded Shredder in a bloody barrage of attacks. The Defiler moves up and spews acid over the Carnivean, doing a few points of damage. The wounded Deathripper takes a swing at one of the Shredders, but with its head damaged, it fails to hit.

Legion Turn 3
I feel like I'm in great position, but I don't want to get too cocky - Deneghra's feat is active, and one wrong move and Lylyth is toast. Unfortunately, only one of the Shredders fighting the injured Deathripper frenzies, and rolls too low to do any damage with Deneghra's feat up. The other Shredder tries to make an attack, but misses, not surprising considering its abysmal MAT of 3 under the feat. The other Shredder turns around and does a bit of damage to the other Deathripper, and the Carnivean walks up to the Defiler and reduces it to scrap. Lylyth moves to the Carnivean is between her and Deneghra, then puts Spiny Growth on herself and the heavy beast.

Cryx Turn 3
The endless melee between the two Shredders and the Deathripper continues, with the Deathripper unable to hit the warbeasts now that Deneghra's feat is over. Its companion has a bit more luck and manages to destroy the Shredder engaged with Deneghra. The Cryxian witch then falls back, wanting to avoid the wrath of the Carnivean.

Legion Turn 4
Thankfully the Shredder that didn't frenzy last turn does so this turn, doing a bit more damage to the Deathripper. The Carnivean engages the other one and tears it apart, and Lylyth moves closer to the remaining Shredders, bringing them into control range and allowing the one that didn't frenzy this turn to go rabid, finishing off the last Cryxian jack.

My opponent tried running a bit with Denny, but when it became clear I was just going to run her down with rabid Shredders until the Carnivean could catch up, she forfeited.

Aftermath
Overall a pretty relaxing game. Its been a while since I've had all 4 Shredders on the board, but theres nothing like seeing a few of them take out a Parasited Heavy. Once again, Lylyth small control radius is a massive pain, as the Shredders fighting the Deathripper took way too long since I accidentally moved her too far away from them. Once I took out the Slayer though my opponent had no way to deal with the Carnivean, allowing me to scrap jack after jack pretty much for free, and leading to her defeat.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Battle Report: vs Khador

Another harrowing battle report, this time against an infantry heavy Khador army! I'm still feeling out Lylyth, but this time I brought along the Forsaken instead of a Shredder for better Fury management:

pLylyth
Carnivean
Seraph
Shredder
Max Warspears
Striders + UA
Forsaken
Spell Martyr

My opponent was playing the infamous Winter Guard Death Star:

eScorsha
Beast-09
War Dog
Full Winter Guard + UA + 3 Rocketeers
Widowmakers
Greylord Ternion
Aiyanna & Holt
Kovnik Joe
2 Manhunters

Once again, I'm impressively outnumbered, but it wouldn't be Legion if I wasn't! He won the roll off and opted to go first.

Khador Deployment
There is a small hill centered directly in front of his deployment zone, a large forest to the right a little bit up, and a small obsticle on the left. He puts Beast-09 in the middle, and Scorsha and her puppy behind him. The winterguard go to the left in tight formation (I'm hoping they stay that way so my Carnivean can spray them to death!) along with the Kovnik. The Greylords are scattered behind the front line.

Legion Deployment
I have a large hill to my right, and a small forest a few inches in front of my deployment. The Carnivean and Seraph go directly between the two, with Lylyth and the Forsaken behind them. The Shredder goes to their left and the Warspears and Spell Martyr to their right.

Khador Advance Deployment
One manhunter deploys as far as possible on each side of the armies.

Legion Advance Deployment
The Striders set up just on the edge of the hill to my left.

Khador Turn 1
Pretty much everyone runs forward. The winterguard spread out a bit, and the Greylords scatter, one team going left and one going right. Beast-09 moves straight forward. The Manhunters run forward, the left one getting cover from the obsticle and the right hiding behind the forest close to me. Scorsha gives the winterguard desperate pace and iron flesh, and they bob and weave forward for an impressive defense of 17!

Legion Turn 1
The Striders move atop the hill and using hunter take out the left Manhunter, while the Seraph slipstreams the Carnivean forward while moving right and taking out the right one. First blood to Legion! The Warspears run up and form a line between the hill and the forest, and the rest of my army advances up behind it. Lylyth puts Spiny Growth on herself and the Seraph, and the Carnivean puts it on himself.

Khador Turn 2
Theres a distinct no-man's-land between the two armies, but my opponent feels confident in his Winterguard and has them once again bob and weave forward into it. They take a few shots, but can't get through the Strider's stealth or the Warmonger's armor. Beast-09 walks forward into their midst, providing a decent deterrent for anyone engaging them. Everyone else moves up a bit, staying behind the winterguard line, with Kovnik Joe giving them tough.

Legion Turn 2
With most of his army in range, its time for some mayhem! The Spell Martyr activates first,  running through the forest to get sight on the Winterguard. Lylyth then activates, using her feat and arcing Eruption of Spines onto the winterguard (boosting to hit of course). She manages to hit and get 5 extra targets, 4 more winterguard and Beast. 4 of the 5 total winterguard fail their tough checks and bite the dust, while beast in unharmed. The Seraph moves to the side and strafes at Beast, but only gets 2 shots. One goes to the knocked down winterguard, who bites the dust, and I boost the damage roll on the other to put a few points on the 'jack. The Warspears then activate, assaulting Beast. Though only 3 can fit in melee range, they do some serious damage, but sadly only manage to out his left arm (the open fist, not the axe). The Striders move up and CRA into the Winterguard, but only take 2 more down thanks to some good tough checks and poor rolling on my part. The Carnivean moves up in front of Lylyth and uses Spiny Growth, while the Shredder moves forward and the Forsaken hangs behind the Seraph.

Khador Turn 3
I've managed to pull the teeth out of the winterguard, but its time for retaliation. Beast uses his link with Scorsha to freeze the Warspears engaged with him, but it doesn't end up mattering as he moves up and Threshers, taking out 4 of them and leaving one with only 1 box! The winterguard moves up and bring some revenge to the Striders, taking down 4 of them with some help from a Greylord, though they pass their command check. The Widowmakers move up the kill the poor Shredder, along with some help from Holt.

Legion Turn 3
I've lost my units so I'm even more outnumbered now, but I've managed to seriously injure the main hitters in his army. The Seraph moves first and reduces Beast-09 to scrap with shooting, and the Striders move up and kill they Greylord as well as another 2 Winterguard. Lylyth moves partially behind the Seraph and takes out a pair of Widowmakers. The Forsaken behind the Seraph and pulls the fury off the beast, and the Carnivean assaults Kovnik Joe, falling short but spraying the Kovnik, Scorsha, and her dog! Unforuntately he gets counter-charged by the dog, which costs him his breath attack. He drops Spiny Growth on himself and hopes to weather the the counter-attack, but I'm feeling confident since my opponents main hitters are down.

Khador Turn 4
Deciding its now or never, my opponent sets up and assassination run for Scorsha. The winterguard first clear out the remaining striders, then the Greylords Ice Cage the Carnivean, making him stationary (there was an error here - my opponent mistook Joe for another greylord, and would not have been able to make the Carnivean stationary). Aiyanna and Holt move up, and though she needs an 8 to harm Lylyth, she manages to get it. Scorsha then uses Cyclone to jump next to the Carnivean, and charges Lylyth, just getting into reach range. Pops feat, then boosts attacks and though the first hit misses, the second critical hits, making me stationary! Thankfully the damage is low enough for Lylyth to survive, but I'm forced to transfer off the next hit. I'm out of fury now though, and one of the widowmakers just makes line of sight to Lylyth and finishes her.

Aftermath
What a crazy game! I almost got around to tearing into Scorsha, but then my opponent remembered the extra damage from Harm on the Widowmaker's shot, which was enough to finish me. Normally I complain about Lylyth, but this time I was definitely the one at fault. She was the best caster for the fight, helping get around the DEF 17 Winterguard. I really should've moved the Forsaken in front of Lylyth instead of behind the Seraph - blocking LOS to your caster is always a good idea. Even had my opponent not gone for the assassination I was in great shape, with both my heavies against a field of infantry not really equipped to deal with them. I also didn't know my opponent's army that well, which led to a few errors. The most obvious was not knowing Scorsha's assassination range, but I also didn't realize Beast-09 had reach and thresher. Had I, I probably would've just used the Warspears to make ranged attacks and had the Shredder run up to tie up the jack for another turn. Still, it took some model confusion as well as 2 40% rolls (Aiyanna hitting with harm, Scorsha critical freezing) for me to lose, so I'm feeling better about my play!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Striders complete!

At long last, my Striders are complete!
Whew, getting through those guys was pretty tough! I'm really happy my next unit is Ogrun - they're bigger, so hopefully a bit easier to do, and there are only 5 of them as opposed to 8.

I've also picked up a few new models - first off, Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight:

I'm a big fan of Rhyas, as she brings a strong "ninja" vibe to the table. Sadly, she's also apparently the weakest of Everblight's warlocks and one of the weakest in the game, and to make matters worse, she is best at supporting infantry (which I only have a few of) in particular Swordsmen (which I don't have any of). It still seems like she could be an interesting by trying an assassination using her feat though - rabid Shredders will fully boost the extra attack, Seraph helps move things into range, and the Carnivean has a nice little trick where he can two-handed throw a model at the enemy caster, teleport into base-to-base with it (and the caster hopefully), then start wailing on the knocked down caster. Rhyas herself is no slouch, with Critical Decapitation and Acrobatics to help move straight through enemy models to take the kill. While not the traditional Rhyas army, I look foward to trying her out in a few games.

The other models I picked up aren't actually Warmachine/Hordes; they come from Soda Pop Miniatures, and their new game, Relic Knights. Here's Suicide Queen and her familiar, Rollo:
I bought them because in the fluff, Rollo brings luck. I'm hoping that placing him on the table when I make critical die rolls will help them come out in my favor! While I didn't plan on using Suicide Queen, she seems like she'll be a helpful stand-in for Strider Deathstalkers, or possible the Blackfrost Shard. I've been itching to try the latter out, but the only models I can use for them are Lylyth, Rhyas, and Saeryn, meaning I'd have to use them with Thagrosh. Suicide Queen can now sub in for whichever caster I'm using!
Soda Pop seems like an interesting new group - apparently, they've got some really talented people and have even gotten attention from Penny Arcade. You should check them out.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Battle Report: vs Cygnar

I've been doing a bunch of painting lately, but I finally got a game in this Wednesday, against my Cygnarian opponent no less. Since I have the Warspears together, I decided to take them, and also thought it would be a good chance to bring out Lylyth, considering she hasn't seen much play lately. This was my list:

pLylyth
-Carnivean
-Seraph
-2 Shredders
Max Warspears
Striders + UA
1 Spell Martyr

This was my opponent's first 35 point game, so she was bringing everything she had to the table, which looked like this:

pStryker
-Lancer
-Ironclad
Min Long Gunners
Min Stormguard
The Black 13th
Katherine Laddermore
Journeyman Warcaster
-Charger

Ugh, Stryker. Last time I played him I was also using Lylyth, and it ended pretty poorly. This time I decided to play it a bit safer, and especially watch for the assassination attempts. I won the die roll and opted to go first.

Legion Deployment
There was a narrow forest right in front of my deployment area, a really big forest to the left in the center of the board, a large hill to my right in the middle, and another medium hill a little outside my opponent's deployment area in the middle. I placed my heavies in the center, with the Shredders on the left side and the Warspears and Spell Martyr on the right. Lylyth hung behind the Carnivean.

Cygnar Deployment
My opponent pretty much matched my deployment, putting her Ironclad and Lancer across from the Carnivean and Seraph, with Stryker behind them. The Long Gunners went to their left, then the Jouneyman Warcaster and Charger, with the Stormguard on the far left.

Legion Advance Deployment
The Striders go behind the hill on my right, spread out.

Legion Turn 1
Pretty boring - my beasts and Warspears all run forward, the Spell Martyr runs into the large forest on the right for some cover, and Lylyth walks up and puts Spiny Growth on the Carnivean and the Seraph. The Striders run on top of the hill.

Cygnar Turn 1
My opponent moves similar to me, running everyone forward. Stryker gives the Black 13th and Long Gunners Blur, and the Journeyman puts Arcane Shield on himself.

Legion Turn 2
With so many things in range, its time for the mayhem to begin! The Spell Martyr activates first, leaving the forest to get line of sight to the Stormguard who have so thoughtfully come forward. Lylyth actives, using her feat and arcing Eruption of Spines through the Martyr and onto the Stormguard. It gets 4 extra targets, and I manage to kill all 5 of them, leaving just the leader, who fails his morale. 3 Warspears then assault the Charger, and while only 2 get into melee range, they reduce it to 2 boxes of movement. The other 2 Warspears run over the screen Lylyth. The Seraph slipstreams the Carnivean up, then takes a few shots at the Ironclad, doing a bit of damage. The Carnivean then charges, the Ironclad and Lancer, his assault hitting 4 Long Gunners. Unfortunately, he's now out of control range, so he doesn't get the boosted rolls. He still manages to take out one Long Gunner and damage the Ironclad a bit, but then misses his bite and one claw. On the upside, the other claw takes out the Ironclad's hammer, saving him from retaliation. The Striders move up and CRA Laddermore, but roll low for damage and she remains mounted. The Shredders run rabid and charge the Ironclad and Lancer respectively, mostly just to tie them up but also doing a few points of damage.

Cygnar Turn 2
Though I've bloodied her nose, my opponent is still in pretty good position. Upkeeping only Blur on the Black 13th and Arcane Shield on the Jounreyman, she starts by having the Long Gunners stand and shoot, giving them 2 5 man CRA's on the Seraph. Thankfully, they roll low on the first one, dealing only 3 points of damage, and manage to miss the second shot entirely! The Charger moves up and feebly misses one of the Warspears, while the Journeyman moves up since he realizes his jack is out of control radius. The remaining Stormguard stands still and passes his command check. Laddermore charges into the Striders, taking out 4 of them and forcing a command check, which they fail. The leader, musician, and one other retreat back, but another is trapped in melee with her and opts to hold. Stryker then walks up, activates his feat, and Earthquakes the Carnivean, knocking over it, the Ironclad, the Lancer, and both Shredders. My opponent realizes she should have activated her jacks first, but is consoled a bit when the Black 13th take advantage of the situation by killing a Shredder and doing a few points to the Carnivean.

Legion Turn 3
I'm doing ok, but I've got to rely on a bit of luck - my Shredder and Carnivean are both out of control, so I can't reave their fury, and while I'd like the Shredder to frenzy, it'd be a lot easier if my Carnivean doesn't. Sadly the both go crazy, and manage to do a decent amount to the Ironclad. The Seraph then moves up and opens fire on Laddermore, dismounting her but failing to kill the dismounted form, who is still in reach of one strider. One Warspear takes out the last Stormguard, while another goes after the Charger but misses his attack. The pair screening Lylyth move up and continue to do so, while the last chargers the Journeyman, failing to hurt him but tying him and 4 Long Gunners up. Lylyth falls back behind the forest, dropping Spiny Growth on herself.

Cygnar Turn 3
The Ironclad and Lancer stand up, continuing their melee and hurting the Carnivean a bit. The Black 13th moves up and shoots the Seraph, seriously injuring it. One of the unengaged Long Gunners shoots at the Warspear who just killed the Stormguard, but can't do anything. The other one, however, rolls really well and finishes off the Seraph. Laddermore finishes the Strider shes engaging, and Styker just moves up a bit blasts the remaining Shredder, leaving it without Spirit or Mind.

Legion Turn 4
Finally with my Carnivean at full efficiency, I move Lylyth up, refresh Spiny Growth, and heal the Shredder to fully effectiveness. The little beast deals a few points to the Ironclad, but then the Carnivean opens up a can of whoopass on it, tearing it to pieces with a few more attacks left over to wound the Lancer! The Warspear fighting the Charger finally manages to kill it, while the other ones not guarding Lylyth move up to engage the Long Gunners. They kill 1, and the Warspear fighting the Journeyman brings him down to 1 life - cursed Arcane Shield! The Striders shoot at Laddermore, but she somehow manages to survive.

Cygnar Turn 4
Sensing she needs to do something to turn the tide of the battle, my opponent takes her swings in melee, then runs Stryker up to the center! Sadly he's low on focus, but still manages to take out the Shredder. The Black 13th fire a few shots into the Carnivean-Lancer melee, doing a bit of damage to both the beast and the jack, while everyone else just takes ineffective swings in melee.

Legion Turn 5
With the caster in the open, I decide to take my shot. Lylyth boosts a shot against Stryker, but misses, and is unable to drop Parasite on him. The unengaged Warspears assault him, but all of them miss! At this point, the store is closing, so I charge my Carnivean at Stryker. Sadly, he is killed by the Lancer, and the game ends in a draw due to the store closing.

Aftermath
I'm really sad we didn't get to finish, since with more time, I'm pretty sure I would've won. The Carnivean could've finished off the Lancer, and then my entire army would be bearing down on Stryker. Still, it was a lot of fun! The Warspears were interesting to try out - they were really effective, pretty much holding the left flank completely on their own. Reach and their toughness were really the game winners, though assault was kind of nice since it helped wreck the Charger. I think it'll be more interesting to use Warmongers, who would've probably been more effective against the Long Gunners with Berserk. Lylyth once again proved to be disappointing. After a great initial Eruption of Spines, she basically did nothing. Her small control mean not only did I have trouble taking advantage of her feat, I also couldn't keep my Carnivean from Frenzying, seriously slowing me down. She would have been more effective if I had been closer up, but I was really concerned about another assassination from Stryker. I guess next time I'll have to pull the Ogrun back a bit so they can keep her safe while she's still out front.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Warmonger Conversion

I've been working on finishing up the Striders lately, but got a bit tired an decided to spend some time on my other unit: the Warmongers. These guys have been a long time in coming, so I'm really excited to get started on them so I can see how they do on the table. Since I'm not a huge fan of the Warmonger sculpts, I ordered the Warspear box and Warmonger weapon arms, and decided to convert them. However, I was in for a surprise when I opened the Warspear box - they're snap together! Each model comes in a few parts, and they can be snapped on/off. Here's one of them, laid out with the different pieces:
The arms each slide on, like so:
The best part about this is its really easy for me to make these guys modular - by switching arms, they can be Warmongers or Warspears, depending on what I feel like playing. All it'll take is drilling a hole in the center of the Warmonger arms, and they'll slide on:
  
For now, I'm going to leave the spear quivers unattached - I'm not sure how to make them removable at the moment, and Warspears are still pretty recognizable without them. I got so excited I decided to finish putting them together, so I'll leave you with my Blighted Ogrun unit, currently using their Warspear arms. Hopefully they'll show up in a report later this week!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Yet another shameless plug

So we've got yet another new player in our group, this one an old veteran from the Mk I days who is getting back into the hobby. Though he initially started off with Cryx, he quickly switched to Menoth, trading his battlebox to my normal Cygnarian opponent (who looks like she's going for a twins theme with Haley and Deneghra!). He's also blogging about his experiences, and you can get to his site through the link on the right.

Battle Report: vs. Gators

Hey guys,

Played another game yesterday, this time against the Blindwater Congregation, the newest Minion Pact. We played at 35 points, so I decided once again to bring out Epic Thagrosh. Here was my list:

Epic Thagrosh
Carnivean
Seraph
3 Shredders
Striders + UA
2 Spell Martyrs
The Forsaken

He was playing a fairly standard Barnabas list:

Bloody Barnabas
2 Blackhide Wrastlers
Full Gatormen Posse
2 Croak Hunters
Wrong-Eye and Snapjaw

Interestingly enough, this was the same opponent whose Skorne I played against 2 weeks back, making him the only player I've faced using Hordes! He won the starting roll and opted to go first.

Blindwater Deployment
He put pretty much everything in the middle, with the Gatormen to the left, the Wrastlers in the center, and Wrong-Eye and Snapjaw to the right.

Legion Deployment
I did a similar placement, putting the Carnivean and Seraph in the middle, Thagrosh behind them, the Shredders to their left and the Spell Martyrs and Forsaken to their right.

Advance Deployment
One Croak deployed on each side, and the Striders placed themselves on the right, partially on a hill.

Blindwater Turn 1
Wrong-Eye and Snapjaw each cast Submerge and charged forward, then Barnabas dropped 3 swamp pits and everthing ran into them.

Legion Turn 1
Sensing my Striders weren't going to be that useful, I ran them up and into the center, forming a line. Though the Wrastlers could get through it, at least the Gatormen would be stopped. Thagrosh cast Dragon's Blood on the Carnivean, and everthing moved up, just behind the Strider line. The Seraph riled for 4 and the Forsaken took all the fury.

Blindwater Turn 2
Outside of Swamp Pit (which he showed off last turn), he proceeded to demonstrate all the shenanigans of the Crocs this turn. First the Feralgeist ran forward, allowing Snapjaw to toss a Wrastler at it. Then the other Wrastler moved up and threw the first one at Thagrosh, though bad deviation meant he was stuck behind the Strider line. Barnabas then activated, charging the Feralgeist, killling it and activating his feat before Rising the thrown Wrastler and casting Warpath. The Gatormen charged the now-helpless Striders, killing 3 and allowing the Wrastler to reposition. He then trampled the Striders and a Shredder to get into melee with Thagrosh, who took a few blows but transferred to the injured Shredder to keep the damage from getting too severe. Finally, Wrong-Eye moved up and cast vodoo doll on the Carnivean, taking out his Spirit.

Legion Turn 2
Ouch, I'm seriously hamstringed, but I feel like I can still pull this off. In my control I stand up Thagrosh all the beasts (except the Seraph who can't be knocked down). The Striders activate first, standing up and moving out of the way. Thagrosh then activates, casting Manifest Destiny and smacking the Wrastler next to him pretty hard, taking out both Mind and Spirit before activating his feat. The Forsaken then stands up and uses Blightstorm, rolling POW 8 + 6d6 on the Wrastler fighting Thagrosh....and rolling 3 1's for a total of 22. This would be the first in my storm of bad luck, and I noticed average rolls would have killed the beast. Not feeling down, I had my crippled Carnivean move up and spray the other Wrastler and Barnabas behind him, but failing to hit either. The Seraph then charged up and with poison, kills the beast. The Shredders Rabid and one goes after Barnabas, rolling terribly on the 3 dice and not doing any damage. The other Shredder goes after the Wrastler fighting Thagrosh, and deals 1 point. I move the Spell Martyrs and then end, moving to my feat. All or nothing time! The Seraph moves up and hits Barnabas, through a slew of 1's mean I only deal 3 points of damage. The Carnivean then tries his luck, but rolls a 3 to hit. Finally a Shredder heads over in a last ditch attempt, but still only manages to put 2 points on the Gatorlock. At this point, I conceded, as the Wraster in combat with Thagrosh was about to finish him.

Aftermath
So I've heard a lot of things about how powerful Gators are, but nothing alone struck me as terribly powerful alone. It really was the combination of Barnabas's feat, Vodoo Doll, Swamp Pit, and the Wrastler throws that put me in a really weak position, and without any one of those, I would have been fine against the other 3. Even then my die rolls were abysmal, and average rolls would've let me take Barnabas out. Once again, I wish I had Ogrun, as they could not be trampled, which would have kept Thagrosh safe for another turn (also putting Dragon's Blood on them would've made them really tough to crack!). In hindsight, I probably should have run the Striders to the side, keeping them out of Barnabas's feat range so they could swoop in for the flank. They didn't provide much help as a defensive line and they really lose a lot from being knocked down. In my defense I forgot about his feat, and figured DEF 15 would have allowed them to do something. Of all my losses though, this one has left the most bitter taste taste in my mouth, as I went up against a pretty crazy army, felt like I did pretty much everything right, and then got completely shafted by the dice. Such is Warmachine though.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

First half of striders painted

My Tuesday and Wednesday groups were both painting this week, so I took the opportunity to get going on my Striders. Here are the first 4 that I've finished:




Also some closeups of the actual unit leader, who I'm particularly proud of since half painted yesterday I was certain he was going to come out terribly:


In particular you can see the radiant platinum on his cape with the back view.

Though they aren't the best minis in the world, I'm pretty pleased with how the color scheme turned out. I initially tried dark grey for the skin, but there wasn't enough contrast so I changed it to the same ice blue as my beasts. I then used the grey for the feather cloaks, which worked much better than dark black since it let some of the detail show. As I mentioned earlier, the capes were done in radiant platinum, which I think came out really nicely. One reason I'm glad I switched from 40k is I can actually take the time to paint each individual model in great detail - these guys took me around an hour each, which is feasible when the army is ~25 models, but not when it's 75+!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pirates, yar!

So I put together some Talion Charter lists, and I have to say, I really like how they're coming together. Shae's tier list seems really effective, and I'm thinking of doing 35 points tier 4 like this:

Shae +6
-Buccaneer 3
-Freebooter 6
-Mule 8
-Commodore Cannon 4
Max Press Gangers 6
Max Sea Dogs 8
-Mr. Walls 2
Grogspar 1
Doc Killingsworth 1
Hawk 1
Rockbottom 1

There are two main parts I like about this list. First, with all the infantry, it should play very differently from my Legion army, which relies mostly on beasts. Second, I can replace Shae with another Warcaster and battlegroup to create a different but still effective army. Broadsides Bart is the most obvious option, and taking him with a Mariner and Master Gunner MacNaile instead of the Freebooter and Buccaneer gives me a very shooty force. Drake McBain and a pair of Nomads are another alternative, and since they'll have to be Four Star Syndicate or Highborn Covenant instead of Talion, I can also start looking into cool solos like Gorman Di Wulfe.

So then, looks like I've got my next army chosen. I probably won't get a chance to start them until January at the earliest, as I'd like to get my Legion together first, though I may proxy them for a game or two sooner!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Another order placed, another set of ruminations

With most of my current models primed I decided it was a good time to order the next batch (mainly because last time I ended up waiting quite a while for the next batch). I decided to pick up the following:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
Nephilim Soldier
Warmongers (Full Unit)

With these guys I should be able to round my army out to 50 points, and also have several options for 35 points. I'm not a huge fan of the Warmonger models, so I opted to buy Warspears instead, and also ordered the Warmonger weapons from Privateer. I'm going to try my hand at converting (and hey, if I'm feeling ambitious, maybe I'll magnetize them so I can choose between the two), and I'll be sure to post how that goes. The only other guys I really want at the moment are the Blackfrost Shard, but as they aren't released yet, this will probably cap my Legion purchases for the time being - I feel like I have plenty options to build, paint, and play with for the time being. Of course, this leads me to thinking about the Warmachine army I've been wanting to start up! Though I started off looking at Retribution and Magnus, Talion Charter has started to pull my attention (Pirates!). I'll post when I hammer out more details.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Battle Summaries

I'm traveling for work this week, so no time to game. However, I did get several more games in last week that I'll summarize. All 3 were against people who had played a while, so it was nice to test my skills against people who weren't making as many mistakes.

vs. Skorne
My first game against a Hordes army. He was playing a tier 4 Epic Morghul list, with 2 units of blood runners and a bunch of warbeasts. Overall, I was severely outnumbered, and using advance deployment a lot of his stuff moved up the field really quickly. He managed to get the charge on my guys and pretty much took me apart on turn 2. My Carnivean died to Morghul, and with his feat Thagrosh was unable to take him down. As an army thats used to getting the charge, it was pretty rough to be charged, and I definitely understand why people call Legion a glass cannon - if you don't get the first hit, you're in a lot of trouble.

vs. Retribution
This game was part of the Blighted Shadows wrap-up, and turned into a pretty brutal match. Though Blight Bringer helped me clear out several solos an cripple his units, I was once again badly outnumbered. This time I put all my guys on the far right to defend a flank, and manage to fair pretty well. Respawn kept my Carnivean in the game till the end, and he managed to kill Garreth at the last moment, when only Saeryn, the Carnivean, Garreth and Eurydae were left.

vs. Cygnar
This Cyngarian opponent was much better than my normal one - he was running Kara Sloan, and ended up taking my army apart piece by piece. Looking back, I should have rushed everyone forward, since my sending them in one at a time, I let my opponent focus all his fire on each one. Sadly this was also part of the Blighted Shadows finale, so I had to take Saeryn again. I would have preferred using Thagrosh, as Rabid Shredders could run forward, then activate again for a total of 24" range, enough to catch Sloan.

The main thing that came up in all the games was how small my army is in comparison. Fixing that will be difficult - I may invest in some Legionnaires or the new Grotesques, since they are about 1/2 a point per model if you buy the maximum. At this point, playing refused flank (putting all my forces together to face one part of the enemy army) seems viable, especially if I get some Ogrun, as once my beasts take a unit or two apart, they can move in to take hits. Also, getting to know enemy armies should help me better prepare for them.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Striders complete, next set ordered

So I've been using the Striders all week, but finally got around to finishing them today. Here they are, in all their infantry killing glory:

The one in the center is the main unit commander, and the one in the back is the musician. The one in the bottom left is technically the unit attachment officer, but I think I'm going to designate the lower right one my officer - his dynamic pose and sword make him stand out more.

In other exciting news, I ordered a full batch of Warmongers, Rhyas and a Nephilim Soldier today. They should help round out my army to 50 points for now, though I'm still waiting on the Blackfrost Shard!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Plug for a friend's blog

Another guy in my gaming group is starting up a blog, focused mainly on painting and modeling. I highly advice you check it out - he used to work for Privateer sculpting, and currently makes his own bases. The link is in the new gadget on the right: paintamini.blogspot.com.

Game 6: vs Khador

One of the awesome things about going to multiple game stores is how many games I'm getting in - I'm planning to try another one today, so maybe 3 games this week! Interestingly enough, this one was also against Khador, against another jack-heavy list:

Zerkova
Kodiak
Kodiak
Devestator
Full Man-o-War Shock Troopers
Min Winterguard w/ 2 Rocketeers

While technically he has one less jack, the Man-o-Wars have armor 21 in shield wall, making it just as tough a nut to crack. I went with my same list as before:

Epic Thagrosh
Carnivean
Seraph
3 Shredders
Striders + UA
Forsaken

I won the roll and opted to go first.

Legion Deployment
Once again, I placed all my guys in the center with Thagrosh behind them. It seems like deployment doesn't really matter that much, at least at this point level - no one gets attacked the first turn, so you'll always have a round of maneuvering before you engage.

Khador Deployment
Similarly, he places his jacks in the center, leaving the Winter Guard to the right and the Man-o-Wars in between them. Zerkova goes behind the jacks.

Legion Advanced Deployment
The Striders deploy to up on the right, hoping to take out the Winter Guard and then take back shots at the Man-o-Wars, getting around that 21 ARM.

Legion Turn 1
Everything runs forward, and I slipstream Thagrosh and the Carnivean up for extra range. Thagrosh also casts Dragon Blood on the Carnivean - I figure the extra armor will come in handy trying to plow through this many jacks. The Striders keep their run short so they still benefit from stealth, but I waste the reform move sliding them towards the center and leaving them in a close formation.

Khador Turn 1
His Kodiaks run forward, while the Devestator advances more cautiously behind along side the Man-o-Wars, who walk to preserve their shield wall. The Winter Guard move onto the hill between them and the Striders, and the two rocketeers fire. The first shot deviates really well, catching 5 Striders in the blast, but he only manages to kill 1 despite needing just a 6 or better! The second shot catches one other Strider and takes him out. Zerkova casts Typhoon at them but is well out of range, and the deviation puts the cloud on the forest. She then casts Watcher to give herself a little protection.

Legion Turn 2
This is where I threw everything away last time, so I'm gonna play it by the book and see how it turns out. I upkeep Dragon Blood and activate Thagrosh, casting Manifest Destiny and the Spiny Growth on the Carnivean before popping his feat. I then start activating my Shredders, making them Rabid and charging them into the left Kodiak and managing to do a decent amount of damage. The Seraph then moves up in front of Thagrosh, slipstreaming the Carnivean forward before unleashing a barrage of shots against the right Kodiak. Between boosting the damage rolls and Manifest Destiny, I seriously damage it, though its systems are all still intact. I Rabid the last Shredder and charge it at him before charging my Carnivean into the left Kodiak (it was in better shape than the other one), and I buy attacks until nothing is left but a smoldering wreck. The Forsaken moves up to pull the fury off the Seraph, and the Spell Martyrs run up in case they are needed. The Striders move on top of the hill and open fire on the Winter Guard, bringing them down to just 3 members. I end my main turn and move on to my feat, sending the Carnivean and one Shredder at the remaining Kodiak and taking out the legs and one arm. No more Smash & Grab! The last Shredder goes after the Devestator, hoping to slow it down. Mostly the Shredders are positioned to keep anything from getting to my Carnivean.

Khador Turn 2
Seeing his army in ruins, my opponent first moves Zerkova up and uses her feat, then casts Force Bubble to move the Shredders away from the Devestator, who moves into base-to-base with the Carnivean and two Shredders and uses Rain of Death, seriously hurting the Shredders but not even denting the Carnivean. The Man-o-Wars then move in and clean up the Shredders. They try to hurt the Carnivean, but with the Kodiak parked in the way, only one manages to hit him. The Winter Guard charge the Striders, but are unable to hit Defense 15.

Legion Turn 3
Thagrosh moves up and casts Manifest Destiny, then the Seraph casts slipstream and charges the Kodiak, pulling the Carnivean out of combat in the process. My opponent then realizes hes in walking distance of Zerkova, though for good measure I fully force the Seraph so it takes out the Kodiak first. The Carnivean then walks over to Zerkova and eats her with a few boosted attack rolls.

Aftermath
After the thrashing I received yesterday against a very similar list, winning this one felt good - it means I'm learning from my mistakes, and my list can do better if I just play better. As always, the Carnivean is an absolute beast, shredding one Kodiak and seriously injuring another. Manifest Destiny is also pretty excellent, helping even out bad die rolls and making sure random luck goes your way more often. I'm a bit sad that a monstrous warlock like Thagrosh ends up leading from the back, but I guess its comforting to know if the Carnivean ever bites the dust I have another heavy hitter who can finish the job. I'm still trying to figure the Striders out. I definitely want to keep them more spread out to keep blasts from wrecking them, and I think the easiest way to do that is using their reform movement.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Game 5: vs Khador

One cool thing I've noticed about the new store I go to is how easy it is to get games in. Maybe its just the crowd is more experienced, but while at Dragon's Lair I struggle to get one game in 3 hours, at Gamma Ray Games I've been able to get them in under an hour. One of them happened yesterday, against a Khador player who is also the guy running Blighted Shadows at the store. I finally have 35 points, so thats what we played at. Here's what he brought:

Prime Butcher of Khardov
Kodiak
Juggernaught
Devestator
Behemoth
Battle Mechaniks
Koldun Lord

Wow, thats a ton of jacks! I think my best shot here is to go for assassination, since while my Carnivean can take down maybe 2 of them, once he's gone I'm pretty much out of options. I decided to try out Thagrosh this time, so here is the list I played:

Epic Thagrosh
Carnivean
Seraph
3 Shredders
Striders + UA
Forsaken
2 Spell Martyrs

I won the roll to go first, and opted to do so.

Legion Deployment
Pretty much everything went in the middle, with the Heavy Warbeasts taking the center, Thagrosh behind them, and the smaller guys around them. The Striders advanced deployed far up the right side.

Khador Deployment
He basically built a wall with his jacks, putting his Mechaniks and Butcher behind them. Times like these I with I had a Ragavore!

Legion Turn 1
The Striders run up the right side hoping to get a shot on the Mechaniks next turn. Thagrosh casts Dragon's Blood on the Carnivean and Unnatural Aggression on one of the Shredders, then moves up. Everything else runs forward.

Khador Turn 1
Almost everything runs forward, sticking to the brick formation. The Butcher moves around to the left to avoid getting shot at by the Striders and casts Iron Flesh on himself. The Behemoth tries to take a shot at the Striders, but due to deviation only hits 1.

Legion Turn 2
Deciding to try for the assassination, I run one of the Spell Martyrs towards the Butcher and try to arc Scourge through it. Sadly I was a little overcautious in running him forward, so when it misses it deviates so he's out of range. The Seraph takes a few shots at the Juggernaught, then a Shredder charges in to deal a bit more damage, sadly failing to cripple any systems. The Carnivean then charges the Kodiak, tearing it to pieces. The Striders move up and manage to kill 2 of the Mechaniks, and the rest of my force repositions.

Khador Turn 2
My opponent activates Full Throttle and his Feat, and pretty much ends the game. The Butcher carves up the Carnivean, the Behemoth lands a blast on the Striders taking almost all of them out, the Juggernaught tramples the Shredder hes engaged with, killing it and moving on to another one, and the Devestator tears the Seraph apart. At this point with pretty much just my Warlock vs 3 heavies I surrender.

Aftermath
Ouch, by far my worst game. Looking back, I played Thagrosh incredibly poorly. I should have just activated Manifest Destiny and my feat, using the Carnivean and Shredders to try to take down 2 of the Heavies, the held up the rest with Shredders. Since Thagrosh himself has P+S 18 and reach, I'm pretty sure he could have cleared the other two using my beasts to guard him, and the Striders and Forsaken could have mopped up the Butcher. Still, not a great list to play against given my Seraph and Striders aren't very effective against heavies. Makes me wish for Warmongers, since they have the power to take on heavies, and with cleave they are still a threat to infantry.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Hot elf chick stripping

One slight downside to buying my initial models used is the previous owner had assembled and started painting them. While this wasn't a problem for most as they were just primed, Saeryn was actually fully painted, in a color scheme I wasn't particularly fond of. Here's a picture of her:
While the armor is ok, I really disliked the flesh skin tone. On the bright side, it gave me an opportunity to try something else I've never done: stripping the paint off a model. I looked online and found several suggestions, but the easiest seemed to be Pine-Sol. I first tried the recommended half Pine-Sol half water mix, but didn't find that effective enough, so I switched it up to pure Pine-Sol. I'm pretty happy with the results:
I used a soft bristle toothbrush to help scrub the paint off after the Pine-Sol soak, and managed to get nearly all of it, barring a few hard to reach crevasses. It was really interesting to watch - the primer layer seemed to just peel off, kind of an eerie effect. While there is a little bit I couldn't remove, I plan to press forward and try priming her along with Thagrosh and the Striders, once they are all assembled.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Painting Spell Martyrs and new model assembled

While waiting for a game this week, I started painting my Spell Martyrs. Unfortunately, I'm not very happy with how they came out, but here are the pics anyway:



I don't really like how the skin turned out - I'm going to try to pick up a grey and match that with white hair on my last one. On the bright side, I did learn a few cool things. Radiant Platinum came out much better than I had expected. It seems really watery when painting, but put enough layers on and it comes out really nice when it dries. It also looks great on areas that are supposed to be cloth - its a bit small in the pictures but if you look between the legs of the 2nd Martyr you can see some of it. I think I'll use that for the cloaks on my Striders. Finally, if you put a light layer of Radiant Platinum over Thamar Black, it picks up the reflective flecks, making it seem like a very dark silver. It looks really evil, and I can't wait to try it out on some weapons!

I also got the first of my new models assembled. Time to meet my newest warlock, Thagrosh the Messiah:
This guy really is a beast! Here he is next to my Carnivean so you can get a sense of just how titanic he is:
Thagrosh was a real pain to assemble - trying to get all 3 limbs to touch the ground was really tough, and several times I thought I had it, but ended up having to pull them off and start over. I'm really glad he's done though. Next up, Striders!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Another unfinished battle

Yesterday I was back at my normal store, though this time, we had several new players. One was an old hand with a circle army, and another was a Khador newbie. The guy who taught us to play wanted to try out a tournament list of his, so he played against the Circle player, while another regular joined forces with the Khador newbie to battle against myself and the Cygnar player whose normally my opponent! Sadly we weren't only about halfway in when the store closed, so once again, I'll post highlights:

-We were playing Saeryn and Haley vs. pVlad and Zerkova. We won the first turn, and promptly slid to the right, trying to bring both our armies to bear against Zerkova while avoiding Vlad. Since I started on the right side, this mean Haley and Zerkova found themselves in the middle, dishing out and taking the worst of it!
-After so many games against Cygnar, it was crazy to play on a team with them! The Charger was just a devastating as I remember, and with a Journeyman Warcaster marshalling it, it had the full 3 focus every turn. It almost managed to take out Zerkova in one activation, and would have on average rolls
-Zerkova is a casting beast, able to target any units within her control and boosting the range of spells. Haley tried to move up so Temporal Barrier would get Zerkova and the 2 Kodiaks next to her, but this put her in range of Zerkova, who nearly took her out with a barrage of spells.
-The Seraph takes MVP, since after the Charger failed to take Zerkova down, it moved up and blew her to firey little bits. I'm still trying to get used to how powerful it is - its shooting has always been top notch, and the animus is incredible, but it can also mix it up well in melee.

We called the game a draw since Haley was about to get stomped and Zerkova had just been wrecked, while my army and the new Khador player's army untouched. Still I'm confident we would've gotten another turn out of Haley, which would have probably sealed the game in our favor!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Warmachine Army Musings

One book I have been looking for lately was Hordes Primal MkII, partially so that I had a reference for all the game rules, but also so I could read some of the stories. By a stroke of luck, my regular gaming store got a copy in, so I spent some time today reading through it. The main thing that gripped my attention was the history - it was written by Magnus, and portrayed him in a very different light than I expected. He seemed more like a jaded old warrior who understood his country's survival required leaders to make difficult, damning choices rather than a mindless supporter of a tyrannical despot. He seems a lot more like a caster I would want to play, except I just discovered another player that plays him (see the battle report from yesterday). I flipped through his list and found it to be pretty shallow - I would most likely be running the same Warjacks as my friend, as well as similar solos. The infantry would be a little different, but close enough that it would feel like I was playing the same army, which is not something I want.

On the upside, reading through Mercenary lists gave me an idea for another army: a sort of travelling circus, stuffing in as many different characters as I could. The only problem with this idea is who to lead it? The options quickly whittled down to Magnus, Drake McBain, and Ashlynn, as the Dwarves seemed limited to Searforge jacks and units, and the Pirates work best with Sea Dogs and Press Gangers. I've got some Retribution lists from last time I thought about playing a WM army, so I'll try to put a circus list and see how it looks. Who knows, maybe if I start mercs a Magnus army will be an alternative option.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

4th Game: vs Magnus

Hey guys,

So I went to the new gaming store today, and found pretty much everyone playing instead of painting! There was another new player who had finished his first game, so we ended up playing a match. He was running Magnus the Traitor, and I have to admit I was a bit nervous about facing a new opponent - last time I did that, I got demolished by Stryker! On the other hand my opponent knew nothing about Legion, so we were pretty even. I went with my Saeryn list:

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
Carnivean
Seraph
3 Shredders
3 Spell Martyrs
Forsaken

His list consisted of:

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
2 Renegades
Full unit of Long Gunner Infantry
Kell Bailoch

Seeing a unit across the table made my army seem really small by comparison - I really hope my Striders arrive soon so I can have at least a few more bodies out there! For the first time, I won the deployment roll, so I elected to go first.

Legion Deployment
My side of the board had a tiny forest about 6" outside the center of my deployment zone, a bigger one immediately in front of the left side and a broken wall at about the middle of the board on my right. I put pretty much everything together in a block, with the Carnivean and the Seraph in the middle with a Shredder between the two. The other two Shredders went on the outside of the two heavies and the Spell Martyrs next to them. The Forsaken was right behind the Seraph and Saeryn was behind the Carnivean.

Mercenary Deployment
He had a large wall right in front of his troops, and then a small patch of terrain a little bit up on the left. He put his Long Gunners in a line in the middle, with the Mangler behind them and Mangus behind them. The Renegades were on either side of the Long Gunners, and Kell Bailoch advanced deployed into the small terrain forward on the left.

Legion Turn 1
I ran my Seraph left to hopefully take out Keil and lock down one of the Renegades, and sent a Spell Martyr after her in case I needed magical support there. My Carnivean ran straight forward, with Saeryn following closely behind, casting Rebirth on the beast. One Shredder and the Forsaken accompanied them, while the other two and the remaining Spell Martyrs ran to the forward right cover.

Mercenary Turn 1
Magnus activated first, casting Snipe on the Long Gunners before moving up. The Long Gunners then stepped forward and tried to take a few shots at the Spell Martyrs, but missed due to cover. The 'jacks all walked forward, and Kell sat in his cover.

Legion Turn 2
Deciding to seize the initiative, I forced one of the Shredders in cover to go rabid, then ran him to the center of the Long Gunner line. A Spell Martyr ran close behind them, the Saeryn used it to cast Blight Bringer on the Shredder, taking out 4 Long Gunners in the middle, including the leader. This would prove important since now, no matter who my opponent promoted to leader, half the unit would be out of command range. My Seraph then moved up and tried to shoot the Renegade on his side (since I found out Kell had Stealth in cover), but Strafe only gave me one additional attack and I rolled terribly on damage, even though I boosted. The Carnivean moved up a bit, wanting to make sure he got the charge, and Saeryn moved in close behind. The other two Shredders moved towards the middle, but the Spell Martyrs stayed where they were. As I ended my turn, I realized I realized I had forgotten to rile my beasts, so I would be very low on Fury next turn.

Mercenaries Turn 2
As expected, the Long Gunners fell back, opting not to run so they weren't slaughtered by the blight bringer poison. Magnus and the 'jacks all ran up, then the Traitor used his feat. All the jacks ran into melee range with Saeryn, while Magnus opted to fall back and avoid the wrath of my Carnivean. My opponent forgot about Kell so again, he did nothing.

Legion Turn 3
I realized later my response should have been "I activate Saeryn's feat". Immunity to melee attacks would have left his jacks sitting ducks in the middle of my line, and I have no doubt once they were gone I could easily finish off Magnus. Unfortunately, I forgot about this, and decided to try to destroy the jacks before they got a chance to hit Saeryn, especially since she was only sitting on 4 Fury. First off, the Shredder who had run up to my opponents line frenzied since he was out of control range, and managed to devour another Long Gunner. The Carnivean the turned and started wailing on the Manger, but again my damage rolls were sub-par, and the jack survived. Thankfully I did take out its Wrecking ball arm, and since it was out of control range, he was unable to get focus to remedy the situation. A Shredder then went rabid and charged in, but couldn't do much damage. The Seraph then turned and charged at one Renegade, gaining a back strike bonus and managing to wreck the jack by forcing for more attacks! The last Shredder went rabid and attacked the other Renegade (he was too close to charge), but even forcing for another attack failed to do much damage. I then opted to do nothing with Saeryn, deciding to use her fury to ride out the attacks. Lastly I charged my Spell Martyrs in hoping they could at least block the Mangler from moving close enough to Saeryn to use his first.

Mercenary Turn 3
My opponent realized his back was against the wall, and that if Saeryn lived through the turn his jacks (and hopes of winning) certainly wouldn't! The Mangler tried to attack Saeryn with its chain but missed due to the Carnivean's damage. It then threw the Spell Martyr at her, killing the Martyr but failing to wound Saeryn. At this point he realized if he had thrown first his chain would have hit, and decided to try one last gambit. First he moved the remainingRenegade (staying in melee with the Shredder) so it was in Saeryn's back arc and took a swing at the Shredder, dealing 5 points to it. He then moved Magnus up and arced obliteration through the Renegade, boosting the damage, and blasting Saeryn for a whopping 16 points of damage! Thankfully I was able to transfer it to the Shredder, killing the poor little guy but allowing me to reave its fury. At this point, out of options, my opponent conceded.

Aftermath
I completely did not expect my opponent to use his feat to bring all his Warjacks into melee with Saeryn. Thankfully it seemed like more of a gimmick than anything else, as once I brought my force to bear on them they quickly crumpled, even under below-average damage rolls. Knowing my feat would have saved me also made me feel a bit better about the match. Once again, I need more units to screen my caster. Having some Ogrun or Legionnaires would have been great to keep my opponent's jacks away from Saeryn. I think in future games I'm going to replace two of the Spell Martyrs with another Shredder. While the Martyrs are really useful, I desperately need more fighting models on the board, and I haven't really found myself needing to arc that many spells. All in all, it was a lot of fun playing against a new army!

Tier list thoughts

So with Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight releasing tomorrow, pretty much all the new info has been spoiled, and I've started taking a closer look at the tier lists, particularly for the warlocks I have/play to get. Some just seem bad - Epic Thagrosh has to take a 4 point solo with very low utility for his army just to get higher tiers - and some like Prime Lylyth I'll never have the figures for (I have no interest in archers). Saeryn's definitely seems workable though - I've always been a fan of Nephilim Soldiers, and hers sets them up pretty well. This was the list I mocked up:

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
Seraph
Seraph
Nephilim Soldier
Nephilim Soldier
Nephilim Soldier
Nephilim Protector
Blackfrost Shard
Nyss Sorceress

The goal is to get into range, then pop Saeryn's feat and have the Soldiers fly over any defenders and cut the caster to ribbons. P+S 14 is respectable, and Reach helps them avoid getting in each others way. The Sorceress gives them a free charge letting them save their fury for more attacks, and the Blackfrost Shard can use Ice Cage and Kiss of Lyliss to make the enemy caster easier to finish off. The Protector is free and helps keep Saeryn safe during the set-up, and the Seraphs can slipstream to give the soldiers extra range while also providing ranged support. Its very beast heavy, but when I run hot I plan to end the game. This probably won't come to fruition for a while since I don't have most of the models, but it seems like it would be fun to proxy up sometime.

The other tier list that seems interesting is Rhyas. While I don't have her yet, shes definitely on the top of my list of casters to get, and I'll probably pick her up when I buy the models to bring me up to 50 points. Her tier 4 requires a pair of angelius that I'm not a huge fan of, but up to tier 3 it definitely seems like a solid list. Here what I was thinking:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
Carnivean
Seraph
Min Swordsmen + UA
Min Swordsmen + UA
Blackfrost Shard

This list seems a little more likely for me to build, especially if I take the swordsmen and blackfrost shard to get to 50. Its also got a lot of hard-hitting power with the swordsmen, and on feat turn I could see them tearing through most of the opponent's army. Once again the Blackfrost Shard provides debuffing support and the Seraph adds slipstreaming shenanigans. I read a strategy with the Carnivean I want to try: on Rhyas's feat turn, if the Carnivean throws an enemy model at the caster, he will teleport next to that unit and, by extension, the caster. Though he gives up his initial attacks, with the bonus attack from the feat and most of his fury, he should be able to take the enemy warlock out. Something to try when I place another order!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

New stores and new army ideas

I mentioned in my last battle report that I was planning on trying out a new gaming store, but one of the things holding me back is I don't really have all the equipment needed to play a game. To remedy this, last week I went to another store a bit closer to my house, Gamma Ray Games, in an effort to find templates and a measuring tape (been borrowing both from the more experienced players). It turned out to be a really great store, and I'm going to try to go back Tuesday to meet some of the players - apparently they get together to paint then. Sadly they play on Fridays, which is normally pretty busy for me, but I may try to get in there once a month or so, depending on how Tuesday goes.

As I'm really amped up about Warmachine/Hordes right now, I've been giving some thought to starting a Warmachine army in addition to my Legion. It would be cool to experience both focus mechanic and see what the differences are between the games, as well as have some more stuff to paint! The trouble is picking an army. I actually like pretty much all the Hordes armies - I empathize with the trolls struggles to find peace, I like the werewolves of the Circle and the elephantine Titans of the Skorne, plus humanoid war pigs and crocodiles make Minions a fun choice.Warmachine, on the other hand, doesn't attract me as much. I'm not a fan of primarily ranged armies, so Cygnar is out. I can't really see myself enjoying playing the religious fanatics of Protectorate, and Cryx seems to similar to Legion. I really like Khador, and actually planned to play them as my first army, but I found out that a lot of people at my store play them, and I can't stand copying another person (which is also why I can't see myself playing melee-centric Cygnar). That leaves Mercenaries and Retribution. I don't really like any of the mercenary casters in particular; the closest one is Ashlynn, but shes anti-Khador, which is currently my favorite of the Iron Kingdoms. I guess that leaves Retribution. Flipping through the book, Kaelessa looks pretty cool, as do the Mage Hunters, so maybe I'll mock up a list based on them. I'll post as my thoughts on it develop.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Forsaken Painted

So its been a while since I've posted about my painting, mainly because with my beasts done theres not much on my queue! I had originally wanted to go back over the details of my Forsaken, but after playing her on the table, I realized she looks fine. So without further ado, I present my Forsaken:



I had a hard time deciding what color I wanted the body to be, since its supposed to be a snow elf that is mutating into a beast. Eventually I went with a more beast-like color scheme, using white for the flesh and coal black for the scales. For my elves though I think I may want to go with a Drow color scheme - ash black skin with white hair. The trouble is I'm not sure if I can get a different enough black for clothes/weapons/scales on the mutants. Maybe grey skin instead? Can't wait for my striders to get here so I can try it out!

Friday, October 15, 2010

New purchases, new releases, and new ideas!

Great news - I finally found a place that has Striders in stock, so they, along with Epic Thagrosh, should arrive soon! On top of that, with the new Legion rulebook coming out in a week, most of the new models have been spoiled. There are several cool ones I'm eying: the Blackfrost Shard, a trio of character sorcerers, similar to the Black 13th I've been facing off with; Hex Hunters, swordsmen with powerful magic attacks; and Bethanye, Voice of Everblight, a new Warlock who can merge with her beast. I've always wanted my Carnivean to be my warlock, and it seems like this is a great chance to try out something similar!

With the new releases and new models on the way, I've started thinking about how I want to expand my list out to 50 points. The last few games I've played I really needed someone to help shield my caster, and I'm thinking Ogrun might be a good fit for this role. With high armor and lots of health, they can definitely take a beating. The two types are Warmongers and Warspears. The Warmongers seem a bit more offensive focused, since they have slightly higher power on their attacks, and when they kill an enemy they can strike again, great against mobs of weak units. Warspears on the other hand have +2 DEF vs. charge attacks, making them better at holding the line. The other option I've been considering is Legionnaires. Though they have similar armor and defense, they lack the many health boxes. On the other hand, for 2 points less I'm getting twice as many models, so that may help compensate a bit. Still weighing the choices there.

Now that I'm this close to 50, I really want to round out my army. I'd like to be able to play in tournaments and avoid getting squashed, so I want to know what I have a hard time handling. So far the Carnivean can handle large threats, and when the Striders get here they should help with mobs of weak units (as do Saeryn and Thagrosh when he arrives). This leaves 2 major openings I see: heavy infantry, and safe from everything except magic. I'm also not feeling great about my anti-infantry, so anything that helps with those is a plus. Based on the current options and new releases, my main choices are Swordsmen, Raptors, Hex Hunters, and the Blackfrost Shard. Here are my thoughts on each:

-Swordsmen are nice because they come in large numbers and deal an incredible amount of damage. Averaging power 25 blows on the charge will tear apart even the toughest enemies. The downside is they're very one-dimensional; they lack the speed of Raptors and the versatility of the casters.
-Raptors hit with all the power of Swordsmen but are also tied for fastest unit in the game, basically ensuring they will get the charge off. Unfortunately, they are really expensive, coming in at the same cost as a Shredder each. If I go with them I'll definitely need to take Legionnaires instead of Ogrun.
 NOTE: The next two are not released, so my thoughts are based on the information provided in the spoilers, which may not be entirely accurate.
-Hex Hunters bring great magic attacks to the table, as well as built in defense in the form of Stealth. They also match Swordsmen for numbers. I can easily see these guys carving through mobs of infantry with their attack-then-cast ability, but I would probably have to take Warmongers to take on heavy infantry.
-The Blackfrost Shard has the numbers problem of Raptors, but at least they don't cost the same arm and a leg. While they don't pack much hitting power, their utility is through the roof, providing ice bolts (which helps get around immunity to fire, something I hear complained about in tournaments), countermagic (again, useful for tournaments to get around opponents that curse you), and armor debuffs (nice for dealing with heavy infantry). The best part though might be Ice Prison - I can use it to lockdown a heavy Warjack/beast until my Carnivean can get around to dismantling it. If only they hit harder...

So while I'm not making a decision until I can see the actual rules, here are the layouts I'm thinking:
Warspears + Hex Hunters
Warmongers + Hex Hunters
Warmongers + Blackfrost Shard
Swordsmen + Legionnaires + Hex Hunters
Raptors + Legionnaires + Blackfrost Shard

Wow, thats a lot of options...Can't wait for the new models to be released!