Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thoughts on the Archangel


So for those who don't know yet, the Archangel is spoiled in the newest No Quarter, and I have to say I'm impressed. I think PP designed a gargantuan that screams Legion - whether or not its good will have to wait until we can get it to the table. I thought I'd put up some thoughts in advance of getting any actual playtesting with it.

First off the good. The Archangel is about as destructive as they come. He has the same attacks as a Carnivean with an additional point of POW, making him the hardest hitting beast in Legion. Throw on reach and the standard flight and eyeless sight and this guy threatens like a Scythean while hitting much harder. On top of that, he has a Ravagore's RAT and a gun thats better in some ways, worse in others. Thanks to ride by attack he effectively has +3" range, and though its one less POW than the Ravagore's shot the fact that you get 2-4 of them definitely makes up for it. He's another reason why Legion will probably never get Snipe. This guy is the ultimate glass cannon, a monster in melee and range.

Unfortunately, that leaves us with the bad. He has the lowest health of any colossal/gargantuan, with 2 less than the Mountain King, and the same DEF/ARM as a Carnivean. Not only is he easy to kill in one round, he doesn't even have something like whelp shedding to heal back up if you fail. And with only the same range as the Seraph on his gun, its a big risk for him not to use ride by attack to move away after shooting. On top of all that he's the same price as the MK, making him one of the most expensive huge jacks/beasts despite how fragile he is. The animus is also mediocre; sure, its nice to punish something that gets close, but they don't suffer until next turn, meaning its not going to help his survivability any. Still, I can see casting this if he has spare fury after killing something and is near the front.

I have a lot of jumbled thoughts about him, but I think for now I'll just put up some lists that I'm thinking of trying out with him:

Kallus
-Archangel
-Shredder
-Succubus
Full Hex Hunters
Full Warmongers

35 points is tough to fit a Gargantuan into, but as our premier infantry caster Kallus seems like the monstrosity for the job. The hope is by flooding the board with infantry my opponent won't be able to get to the Archangel, allowing him to sit back and shoot before coming up later for cleanup. Kallus is also a nice option since even if I lose the Archangel, he can regenerate some of the damage he takes if he cuts for fury.

Primal Thagrosh
-Archangel
-Carnivean
Full Hex Hunters
Spell Martyr

I originally built a list like this for Epic Thagrosh, but found the point cost too restrictive, especially since the epic version really wants Shredders when what I need is more bodies. This seems like a nice compromise, particularly since between the Archangel's strafe and arc'd obliterations I should be able to thin hordes nicely, and I don't need to worry about sending my Carnivean on a suicide mission to take out a heavy.

Well thats enough at 35; lets look at 50!

Epic Thagrosh
-Archangel
-Carnivean
-Shredder
-Shredder
-Shredder
-Shredder
-Succubus
Full Hex Hunters
2 Spell Martyrs

I mentioned eThagrosh above, and this is what the list eventually evolved into. I debated switching the Hex Hunters and Succubus for Striders with the UA and a Spell Martyr, but I was worried about not having enough bodies on the field. I'll probably end up testing out both to see whether that's an issue.

Kallus
-Archangel
-Ravagore
-Shredder
-Succubus
Full Hex Hunters
Full Warmongers
3 Spell Martyrs
The Forsaken

AOEs AOEs AOEs! The goal here is to throw out Archangel shots, Ravagore shots, and arc'd Eruptions to tear the enemy apart as they approach, allowing my infantry to clean up and saving the Archangel for the finish.

I think that should be enough for now; I'll probably end up proxying Absylonia as well just to see how effective her feat is when the AA is so easy to finish in one round.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Battle Report: Epic Thagrosh vs. Epic Baldur

Hey guys, once again my local PG included me in a battle report he did for our store's blog. You can find it at http://www.thediceabide.com/2012/10/hordes-battle-report-ebaldur-vs-ethagrosh-35-pts/. It was a really tight match, and though I'm going to try to avoid spoiling the ending, let me just say that Ghetorix is really tough under Epic Baldur!

Friday, October 12, 2012

New Addition?

I've been working on a project for the last week or so, and I'm excited to finally unveil it. Please meet the newest member of my Legion, the Ravagore!


You may have noticed from the pose or the pictures, but this guy is actually converted from my Carnivean: I removed the head and added a magnet so I could swap between the two heavies. Here's a closeup of the head portion, as well as a view when its detached:

Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out: because the head is mostly hollow, its pretty tough to see the magnets when this guy is on the table. I'll probably add a little green stuff to help conceal it more. The only downside is the Carnivean head isn't hollow, and the magnets can be seen pretty clearly. I'm of two minds as to what to do about it. The first thought I had was to create an indent in the Carnivean head, but I'm not sure what tool I'd use for that. My second though was to get a pinning set and put a pin into the neck, but leave it open on the other side to attach whichever head I want. The upside is I know how I would do it, but I'm not sure there is enough of the Ravagore head to drill into. For now I'm going to wait and ask some of the guys at my LGS; hopefully they'll have some suggestions.

In the meantime, I'm really excited to get the Ravagore on the table. I've got a few list ideas that I want to try out, so look for a battle report next week including my "new" heavy!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

How not to play


I played a few games today at my LGS, and I wanted to write up an aftermath for one of them because I felt like it was really challenging, and while I did a lot of things well I also screwed up royally at points. I may end up putting together a full battle report later, but I just wanted to get my ideas down since I think it'll help me learn from the experience  The list I was playing was my typical Saeryn list with one exception: I was proxying my Carnivean as Proteus. I really want to like this guy since he's a character version of my favorite beast, and I thought he might do well in my Saeryn list since I have the Blackfrost Shard to help with the normal complaint that he's pillow fisted. For reference, here's the list:

Saeryn
-Proteus
-Scythean
-Shredder
-Shredder
Striders + UA
Blackfrost Shard
2 Spell Martyrs

My opponent was playing Cryx, and I'm starting to understand why everyone hates playing against them. While they don't have anything crazy powerful, each caster seems to be able to layer buffs in a way that makes fighting against them truly painful. This game against Epic Goreshade was no exception:

Goreshade the Cursed
-Leviathan
-Skarlock Thrall
Full Bane Knights
Min Bane Thralls
Min Bane Thralls
Min Bane Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus

Hordes of infantry, my worst match up  Worse still, I know from the get-go I'm not going to be able to test out Proteus against heavies as there's only one. The Blackfrost Shard is also going to struggle to pull their weight since Ice Cage and Kiss of Lyliss  aren't going to be effective on single-wound infantry. Still, at least I have Blightbringer and Saeryn's feat, and it seems like a good chance to try to figure this match up out.

To the right side directly in front of my deployment zone is a hill with a forest on it, so I decide to do try a refused flank strategy by setting up my entire force in the right corner, causing his army to come at me piecemeal as the units directly across from me show up before the ones on the opposite side of the board. The forest should also help me block charges while I pick off a few guys from range. Or at least that was the plan until he put Occulation on the Bane Knights so everything but Goreshade, the Leviathan, and the Skarlock Thrall had Stealth. So much for my Striders making their points back... All told about 25 points of my army is functioning at half strength or less off the bat. Really wishing I had my Carnivean right about now!

Despite how horrendous the match up looks the Refused Flank worked pretty well. I Blightbringer the units that clump up near the right edge of the board to get around the forest, and keep my Striders up front so I can take shots and Reform back if he wanders too close. His Leviathan shoots out one of my Shredders, and though Tartarus wanders close to Proteus I can't punish him thanks to Sudden Death, an upkeep that grants him Countercharge. Since it triggers from 6" away, getting close enough to shoot him means eating a 4 dice blow, definitely not worth it. Have I mentioned I miss my Carnivean yet? I'm so flustered about what to do with Proteus now that he can't kill Tartarus that I forget to rile him when he ends his movement, leaving me short on fury and forcing me to cut.

Overall though things aren't that bad. He uses Vengence and walks a few Bane Knights through the forest to attack my Striders, but struggles to hit their high DEF. Meanwhile the forces from the far side of the board are reaching me by running, but they are close enough to Proteus that he can take several of them out. On the upside, my opponent moves Goreshade up to take advantage of his Elite Cadre ability, bringing him close enough for me to trample or charge the Scythean into him. To make things safer I feat first, but despite using Blightbringer and charging Saeryn in I can't quite clear a charge lane. Here's where I make my massive blunder. Rather than settling for a trample and using my feat to protect me, I try to Hellfire the last enemy out of the way, which fails to hit on snake eyes, leaving me with no fury. I end up trampling my Scythean, and he manages to seriously injure Goreshade with one fully boosted hit. I'm actually in great shape here: I'm all but immune to his army and his badly injured Warcaster is in melee with one of my heavies. Or at least I would be, except his Leviathan as Phantom Hunter and can see me through the forest. Though he boosts and rolls well I should be able to take the damage from the first shot - if I hadn't had to cut for 4 because I forgot to rile Proteus.

The loss doesn't feel any better in hindsight. Yes, it was a bad matchup, but the refused flank and my opponent's attempts to break it by playing aggressively gave me a great opportunity to win, and thanks to my mistakes I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Ah well, there's always next time...

Monday, September 24, 2012

Hex Hunters Painted

What, 2 posts in 1 day!? Normally I try to space these out, but I'm really excited to finally show off my most recent painting project: the Hex Hunters!




I've been working on these guys for almost a month now - I'd forgotten how tough it was to paint an entire unit. I started out by batch painting the skin blue and the leather areas brown before breaking down and finishing each one individually, which ended up being a lot more fun. On the upside next on my plate is my Succubus, so I'm excited to move on to that, especially since its one of the few models I have left. Anyway, I've rambled enough for today consider the earlier post, so I'll just leave you with a picture of the Hex Hunters with the next Warlock I'm using for another site's battle report.
Enjoy, because they hopefully won't be this close again - I've already failed that abomination check once!

Learning from Losing

This past weekend Gamescape in San Francisco was hosting a tournament. This is the third one I've gone to there, and both the previous times had similar trends: I went 2-2, and got assassinated on turn 2 in game 2. My goal for this tournament was to win at least 3 games, while avoid getting assassinated. Spoiler alert: neither of these happened. Still, I think I learned a lot from the experiance, and thought I'd write up a quick summary to organize my thoughts.

Since I was really trying to win, I decided to go with my two best casters, Saeryn and Epic Thagrosh. I know I'm supposed to be sworn off them for the next few months, but I really don't feel comfortable enough with any of my other Warlocks to take them to a tournament and expect to win. I played my standard lists:

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
* Carnivean
* Scythean
* Shredder
* Shredder
Blackfrost Shard
Blighted Nyss Striders
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician
2 Spell Martyrs

Reinforcements:
Nephilim Soldier
The Forsaken

Thagrosh, the Messiah
* Carnivean
* Scythean
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Shredder
Full Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters
2 Spell Martyrs

Reinforcements:
Nephilim Soldier
The Forsaken

My first match was against Alex, the player who assassinated me last tournament with Rahn's feat. This time though, he was bringing Skorne. As it was a control zone scenario (SR 2012 #9, Outflank, Outfight, Outlast), I went with Saeryn, as her feat is pretty mean for controlling zones. He went with Master Ascetic Naaresh:

Master Ascetic Naaresh
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Archidon
Full Nihilators
Min Paingiver Beast Handlers
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer

Reinforcements:
Min Venator Reivers & UA

I'm really annoyed with myself for this game, since I was hungover and made numerous misplays which cost me the game. I was doing well early on since his Archidon failed a charge against my Carnivean by less than half an inch, allowing me to retaliate by killing it with my Scythean before moving him into the right zone and feating while the Striders held off the Iron Fleshed Nihilators and Venator Reivers on the left. However, that turn I forgot to activate my Carnivean, whose spray would really have helped next turn. He responded by feating as well for the armor, and had Molik Karn go after the Blackfrost Shard, but he rolled terribly to hit and end up stuck out front. My Scythean then dropped the Bronzeback to 13 hp - if only I had just a little more damage, say from the Carnivean's spray, I'd be ok taking hits from it since Spiny Growth would have a pretty good shot of knocking out an aspect if he tried to kill me. To make matters worse, I also forgot about my reinforcements, and the Nephilim Soldier definitely could have crippled out the BB even with +3 ARM. As it stood I had my Carnivean move up to finish it off, but ended up leaving Molik Karn unscathed - a costly mistake, as he then trampled up to Saeryn and finished her off. So much for not getting assassinated...

My next match was against the Blindwater Congretation, played by Ben, the guy whose won all the other tournaments I've been to at Gamescape. Though he won the first round and I lost, he was paired down and I was paired up, giving me hope that if I did well I could still place. He decided to go with Caliban the Gravewalker's Theme Force, Bad Religion:

Calaban, the Gravewalker
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Bull Snapper
Full Gatormen Posse
Min Gatormen Posse
Min Farrow Bone Grinders
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Feralgeist

After losing because I was unfocused last game, I tried to put my all into this game. Unfortunately, my dice disagreed. Going with Epic Thagrosh, I had my Carnivean charge behind an obstacle to spray Snapjaw while under Spiny Growth and Dragon's Blood. He tried to respond by charging past it and attacking me with his reach tail, but POW 14 meant he just ended up leaving himself exposed while doing very little damage to me. This is where things went wrong. Despite only needing 6's, my Scythean missed 3 of his 6 attacks. Not a big deal, I sent two Shredders up to finish the badly wounded Snapjaw. Even with boosted damage at dice-9, all 4 attacks failed to do a single point of damage. I had Thagrosh spray into the melee, reducing SJ to 2 HP and setting him on fire. Thinking I had him, I then had my Carnivean walk over and throw the beast at Wrong Eye. To make sure I finished him, I boosted the damage roll...and only managed an 8 when I needed a 9 for the kill. He responded by putting Parasite on my Carnivean and killing it with Snapjaw, as well as damaging my Scythean badly. Realizing I needed to go for the assassination, I ran my Shredders and Scythean up into Calaban under Manifest Destiny and my feat - and failed to do even a single point of damage across all 4 beasts. So much for MD helping out bad rolls. I almost had another shot when he poured almost everything he had into my Scythean. He was finally forced to sacrifice a gator to his Witch Doctor, and even then only managed the kill since Parasite was up. While I'm really annoyed at my dice for betraying me so badly, it was nice to play a solid game against a really good opponent.

My third game was against Cryx, led by Lich Lord Terminus:

Lich Lord Terminus
* Harrower
Full Bane Thralls
Full Revenant Crew
Min Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
Bane Lord Tartarus
Captain Rengrave

While this was a reinforcements match, he forgot to bring his in, so I don't remember what they were. I ended up playing Epic Thagrosh, meaning the battle featured two large based casters, both the highest-ranking individuals available to their armies. This battle was tricky because he had two units that could revive themselves. I managed to snipe out Blackbane and Tartarus early, but unfortunately my Carnivean missed a crucial shot on the Revenant Crew leader, meaning a large portion of the unit would come back next turn and worse, my Carnivean was pretty far ahead of the rest of my army. Fortunately, my opponent misjudged how fragile he was and sent Terminus in, who barely managed to scratch him thanks to Dragon's Blood and Spiny Growth. In return, the Carnivean ate his face. I'm really starting to love the DB/SG combo - I can't wait to try it on the Archangel, even if thats going to be 30+points!

My final game was against a Retribution player with possibly my worst matchup: lots and lots of infantry:

Lord Arcanist Ossyan
* Chimera
Full Dawnguard Sentinels
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard
Full Houseguard Halberdiers
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard
Full Mage Hunter Strikeforce
* Mage Hunter Commander
Ghost Sniper
Ghost Sniper
Arcanist

3 full units, complete with UAs. Man I wish I had Kallus right about now. Lacking that, I used Saeryn, hoping some well-placed Blightbringers would help turn the tide, particularly if I would get rid of his Sentinels, his best way of dealing with my heavies. This was a bloody matchup: I managed to deal some pretty serious damage as he moved his force up the board, but Quicken helped them arrive mostly intact, and he did pretty decent damage to my Scythean with the few remaining Sentinels and some Halberdier CMAs when I forgot to feat. Still it allowed me to drop a massive Blightbringer that killed ~8 models. The Blackfrost Shard ended up doing pretty well, as without any heavy targets to Ice Cage/Kiss of Lyliss, they ran around picking off annoying models with Weaponmaster and Ice Bolt, including both Ghost Snipers and the Arcanist. Eventually it was down to my Carnivean, half a unit of Striders, and my Spell Martyrs against the Chimera and Mage Hunters. Unfortunately he was able to use his feat and all the firepower he had left to finish off my heavy, which pretty much sealed my fate as I was out of beasts. Looking back I really should have run my Shredders into his force for Blightbringer as they advanced, as not only would I have done decent damage, but I also would have prevented him from charging my Scythean with so many models at once. Its been a while since I've played Saeryn, and not using her for so long taught me a few things. Of the casters I play, she is by far the worst once her beasts are gone. Thagrosh, Kallus, and even Lylyth can fight pretty well on their own, but Saeryn has terrible combat stats, and can no longer use Blightbringer without a beast to target.

So I ended up going 1-3, my worst record yet. On the upside, I learned a lot about my force and what to focus on; I'll definitely remember to practice, particularly with bringing in reserves, before next time. I'm also realizing that while Saeryn used to by my #1 caster, I think that title has been passed to Epic Thagrosh. The +4 ARM combo is so potent that often, my opponents will just ignore the beast that has it. In the meantime, I'm probably going to set both these casters aside until the next tournament. After all, if avoiding Saeryn helped me figure out Epic Thagrosh, maybe setting them both aside will help me figure out my other Warlocks!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Return to PAX

Hope everyone's enjoying their labor day weekend - at least those of you in the U.S. anyway. I'm taking a bit of breather after coming back from PAX. It was kind of a double header for me, since I used to live up in the Seattle area and got to see a bunch of my old friends and gaming buddies.

Friday evening I went to Gamma Ray Games and had a pretty solid match against one of the Cygnar players I used to battle frequently. I'm particularly proud of the match since I've been having a lot of trouble with Cygnar lately. My guys just get shot up before I have a chance to engage, and I've been starting to think about picking up some Ravagores or one of the shootier casters like Epic Lylyth or Epic Vayl to help, but I decided to try another tack first: driving my army forward to win on scenario. I actually managed to pull it off  this game; he realized near the end of one of his turns that the only model he had in the zone was out of command (and thus not contesting), so he tried to send Epic Caine at me for the assassination even though I had 6 fury on Epic Thagrosh. He realized he couldn't even use the last of his focus to teleport out since otherwise I would just end my turn immediately and take scenario. This was after he decimated my Hex Hunters on the first few turns. Gun Mages are brutal when they can see through Stealth.

I also managed to pick up some new additions. First up is a model I've been planning on getting for a while, the Succubus:
I'm really excited to have her since she should really help with my lower fury Warlocks like Kallus and Rhyas, who often don't have enough fury to upkeep, cast spells, and save some for transfers. She not only helps with upkeeps, but also lets me put Tenacity on my casters for a little more survivablility, which is something I've always struggled with.

The other thing I picked up isn't directly related to my army, but still kind of cool:
 Its a really good book, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Iron Kingdoms. The combat system feels really familiar, since its basically the same as Warmachine/Hordes. While I'm probably going to end up as a player in a game, I kind of want to run my own. While the enemies section is a bit thin, I'm thinking that almost any model from WM/H can be used since the stat line is almost the same. It'd be cool for my Legion to have some more heroic adversaries to consume!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Tournament Report


Yesterday my FLGS hosted a tournament, and I went in without either Saeryn or my Striders, something that made me a little nervious to say the least! Still, it forced me to try something different, so I decided to go with Kallus and Epic Thagrosh:

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight
-Scythean
-Seraph
-Shredder
Blackfrost Shard
Full Hex Hunters
Full Warmongers

Thagrosh the Messiah
-Carnivean
-Scythean
-4 Shredders
Full Hex Hunters
2 Spell Martyrs

My first game was against another Everblight player, which oddly enough is one of the armies I don't see very often. He had a pair of Thrones of Everblight, though there was only one in the list I played against:

Epic Thagrosh
-Typhon
-8 Shredders
Throne of Everblight
Shepherd

I used my Kallus list, and tried to get ahead early by ambushing Typhon with my Seraph. Unfortunately the Blackfrost Shard missed both Ice Cage and Kiss of Lyliss since Typhon was hiding in a forest, and I had Ignite on my Warmongers instead of the Seraph. I did manage to do some damage thanks Dark Guidance helping me get critical poison, but not nearly enough to kill the beast. The game got pretty close near the end when I trampled my Scythean up to Thagrosh who had been hit by 2 Ice Cages and Kiss of Lyliss, but he managed to live with 5 hp after using his last transfer, and I'd brought Kallus too far out and died to his Shredders. Overall a really good game, and it stings to think about all the mistakes I made. Definitely a learning experience! Oddly, we almost forgot about the Throne, since my Scythean killed it early on, after it had only managed to take out two Hex Hunters. Thats similar to what I've seen from it - while it seems like a solid infantry hunter that can also block line of sight and charges or hold an objective, it never seems to do as well as a unit of Striders or Hex Hunters would.

My second game was against the Retribution, using Adeptis Rahn's theme force:

Adeptis Rahn
-Phoenix
-Manticore
Battle Mages
Battle Mages
Battle Mages
Magister
Magister
Magister
Arcanist
Arcanist
Arcanist

Wow, even reading it feels like a lot of Battle Mages! I went with Kallus, though the game ended up being painfully short. He ran his Phoenix up and used Rahn's feat to arc telekinesis at Kallus, sliding him out of cover and then opening up with all his Battle Mages, dragging me closer to get more in range. Its a little annoying to lose another tournament match to an assassination I didn't know about - last time it was to Pyg Burrowers, this time the Battle Mages. Goal for next tournament: don't get assassinated on turn 2!

I'm 0-2 now, so while I have no chance of making the top 3 I'm trying to at least break even. My next game was against a Protectorate player, wielding their newest Warcaster, Thyra:

Thyra, Flame of Sorrow
-Blood of Martyrs
-Repenter
-Hierophant
Min Choir of Menoth
Daughters of the Flame
Full Holy Zealots
-Monolith Bearer
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Saxon Orrik
The Covenant of Menoth
The Wrack
Vassal of Menoth

Reinforcements:
Min Exemplar Vengers

Kallus hasn't been working for me so far, so I decided to go with Thagrosh for this game, adding a Nephilim Soldier and a Forsaken as my reinforcements. I don't know how to describe this game other than weird. There was a giant forest in the middle of the board, though my opponent used Saxxon Orrick and the Daughters of the Flame to move through it quickly. They battled my Hex Hunters, with both sides getting mostly killed off while he moved around/through the forest. His Vengers came in from the side on the top of turn 2, but I countered with my feat and used my Shredders to eat them before they could do much damage. Meanwhile, I had my reinforcements (backed up by spell support thanks to the Spell Martyrs) attack his Zealots and Allegiants on the other side of the board. I managed to clear out enough models to score a control point the first turn I was able, mostly because my opponent made the mistake of moving his Allegiants out of the control zone after they dodged my attacks. The next turn he tried to get to Thagrosh with Silence of Death, but had trouble thanks to a cloud created by killing off an Allegiant who wandered too close. He moved his Zealots in to battle the Nephilim, but was a bit too cautious and the beast and Forsaken were able to clear them out and score a second control point. Overally I think my opponent played too cautiously - he didn't really try to clear out my control zone to score a point, commit enough models to defend his control zone, or get close enough to Thagrosh with anything that could have gotten the kill. I guess thats the kind of play scenarios are built to punish, and that certainly happened this game.

My final match was against Lord Carver and his bacon brigade:

Lord Carver
-War Hog
-War Hog
-Road Hog
-Targ
Full Brigands
Slaughterhousers

I went with Thagrosh again, and ran my Hex Hunters forward early to threaten a charge if he moved up. Sure enough he was forced into charge range to contest the objectives, and I managed to take out half the unit and deal some damage to one of the War Hogs. I piled a little more on with the Carnivean's spray, and protected myself from retribution with both Spiny Growth and Dragon's Blood, along with putting a pair of Shredders in the beast's path. He responded by killing off a handful of my Hex Hunters, and though he trampled my Shredders and dealt some damage to my Carnivean, ARM 22 proved too much to crack. He also brought his other Warhog in too close, counting on the Slaughterhousers to provide a speedbump, but I used my Shredders and Hex Hunters to clear a path (even having one Shredder eat a Hex Hunter who was poorly positioned after his attack!). After my Carnivean finished off the weakened War Hog he gave my Scythean Spiny Growth, while Thagrosh followed up with Dragon's Blood and Manifest Destiny to allow the beast to charge in and KO the War Hog from full HP. He underestimated my beast's toughnesss and didn't feat, expected the Slaughterhousers to take it down, but even with help from the Road Hog it wasn't enough. Carver eventually moved in and used his feat to finish it off, but by then things were already going against him. I used my Hex Hunters and Shredders to open a path and my Carnivean devoured his caster. I felt like my opponent was spent after playing so many games in a row, but I still figured out a cool trick with Thagrosh - with Dragon's Blood and Spiny Growth, and ARM 22 beast can be really tough to kill, especially when its dealing damage back to you. I can't wait to try that combo out with the Archangel...

Despite going 2-2, it was a really fun event. While I had some trouble with Kallus, I think I'm finally getting the hang of Epic Thagrosh in lists that don't rely on Shredder Spam. It was also fun playing without Saeryn since I was free to use the Blackfrost Shard in other lists. While I'm going to keep her off the field for the rest of the year, I think I'm going to bring in my Striders to try using them with Epic Thagrosh instead of Hex Hunters. I'm going to try to figure him out by the end of August, and if all goes well retire him for a while to practice with Kallus, Primal Lylyth, and by far my worst caster, Rhyas.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I'm featured in another blog's battle report!

So as I've mentioned previously, I participated in a battle report at my store. I just noticed it was posted yesterday, but I wanted to hold off on reposting it until I had a chance to write up some of my afterthoughts. So without further ado, you can find it at the dice abide.

Though it was kind of a pain to reiterate everything I did after the turn and wait for pictures to get taken, its really cool to have pictures of the battle. I think I'll try to do that sometime, at very least to see how hard it is. One of the big things I noticed both during the battle and now looking back at the pictures is how badly outnumbered I was. My opponent had the same number of heavies as I did, a light for each of my lessers, and almost as many Nihilators as I had infantry models, including Spell Martyrs. As mentioned in the report, the major turning point was I caught my opponent's Bronzeback  in charge range but one thing they don't mention is how hard I was trying to bait it - literally after every Strider moved, I asked if he wanted to use Admonition or Countercharge. To my opponent's credit he waited until he thought the charge path was blocked, but didn't account for me killing my own models to make room. The other part of the battle I was particularly excited about was Saeryn, a Shredder, and a Spell Martyr taking on the entire Nihilator unit on the bottom. Overall I'm happy with how the battle went despite not feating at the right time. As I mentioned a few posts back, I'm now going to put Saeryn and my Striders aside for a little while, as I'm getting a bit too dependent on them. This is going to be particularly challenging since I have a tournament coming up in a week and a half. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Kallus Painted

Hey guys,

Man, that battle report was a nail biter! I was up against Primal Morghul, played by one of the better players in the store. There were some tight moments and great tactical moves, but I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'll hold off until its posted. In the meantime, I decided to get a little more painting done in advance of a tournament coming up in two weeks, and decided to start off with Kallus, Wrath of Everblight.


I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. I'm starting to realize I really enjoy painting Warlocks, since I can spend a lot of time paying attention to detail without realizing there another 6 models in the unit to paint! Speaking of which, next on my painting table are my Hex Hunters. I have them primed, and plan to put some time in on them over the weekend, but we'll see how that turns out!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Holy Crap, I Painted!

The pressganger at the store I've been going to these days asked me to participate in a battle report, so I've been working on getting some painting done. The bad news is I wasn't able to find Privateer Paints, so the colors are a little off, but still, they're painted! First up, I finished my remaining two Spell Martyrs:


For comparison, I've included a picture with the Spell Martyr I did in Privateer colors - its a little different, though for these guys, I think it works. I'm even considering repainting the third one to match.

The other models I worked on were the Blackfrost Shard. I'm not as happy with these guys - the color feels wrong, particularly compared to the other Nyss models I've painted. While the paint job will do for now, I probably want to repaint them once I get a little bit better. After all, they are characters! In the meantime, here's what they look like:




In any case, I've got my 35 point army all set up - wish me luck on my battle!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Epic Thagrosh vs. Rasheth Tier 4, 50 points

It's been a while since I've done a battle report, so I thought I'd jump back in with a big one - fifty points, and two large based Warlocks! It's been a while since I've played a 50 point game, and I felt a little bit weird with so many models on the board, but it gave me a chance to see how a lot of the models worked together. Since I'm currently leaving Saeryn on the sidelines, I went with the caster that got me into Everblight in the first place, Thagrosh the Messiah:

Thagrosh, the Messiah (+3pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
Shredder (2pts)
Shredder (2pts)
Shredder (2pts)
Shredder (2pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician (3pts)
3 Spell Martyrs (3pts)

I know I'm not supposed to be using Striders, but I was curious to see what it would be like to have this many infantry models on the board. I also decided to avoid playing too many Shredders, since while it can be a viable strategy with Thagrosh I wanted to try something different, so I went with my two heavy hitters, the Carnivean and Scythean.

My opponent brought Dominar Rasheth's theme force, running all the way up to tier 4:

Dominar Rasheth (+5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (9pts)
* Titan Gladiator (7pts)
Titan Gladiator (7pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Venators Reivers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Venators Reiver Officer & Standard (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Paingiver Task Master (2pts)

Interestingly, this is one of the few games I've played where I have more models than my opponent, and where I have fewer heavy warbeasts. My goal off the bat is to use my infantry to soften up his warbeasts and screen for my own. If I can take out the Titans, I should be able to finish off Rasheth without too much trouble.

Terrain:

We decided the fence would provide concealment and block charges like a linear obstacle, the wall was a standard linear obstacle, and the houses were impassible and blocked line of sight. The lack of quantity and variety of terrain concerned me a bit, but I was glad there were 2 large obstacles to help block line of sight to Thagrosh. I won the roll and opted to go first.


Deployment:
Thagrosh and his warbeasts deployed on the far left, behind the house, hoping to use it for cover. The Hex Hunters deployed in the middle of the board, with the Blackfrost Shard on the right, hoping to hide behind the other house until late game, when they could help my infantry weaken the enemy warbeasts. I split the Spell Martyrs up, leaving one near Thagrosh, one behind the Hex Hunters, and one between the Hex Hunters and the Blackfrost Shard. Since I didn't know my opponent's placement it seemed prudent to be able to arc spells on as much of the board as possible.

My opponent's deployment was pretty similar to mine. Rasheth and his beasts deployed directly across from Thagrosh as his beasts, with the beast masters and Agonizers directly behind them. The Gatormen and task master lined up directly to their right, while the Venators formed a block in the middle of the board.

I placed my Striders on the right ahead of the Blackfrost Shard, as far as Advance Deployment would allow them. I hoped they would be able to whittle down the Reivers quickly enough before sweeping around the back of my opponent's force to remove the Paingivers.

Thagrosh Hellbourne let out a low growl in annoyance. So far the journey south had been uneventful, but from his vantage point he could not see a way past the small contingent of Skorne now blocking their path. His draconic blood surged, and he made up his mind - these pathetic creatures would not live long enough to curse the day they crossed paths with the Messiah.

Everblight, Turn 1:
Like most turn 1's everyone runs. My Carnivean and Scythean run up so they can get protection from the house and fence, while Thagrosh puts Dragon's Blood on the Hex Hunters before moving up to join them, giving himself Spiny Growth and both beasts Tenacity. The Hex Hunters ran forward and spread out in the middle, hopefully forcing my opponent to make some hard choices as he advances into their charge range. Some quick math tells me they won't be in range of the Venators (16" Advance Deploy + 7" Move + 12" Range + 10" Opposing Deployment = 45", less than the 48" board), so I run them forward, trying to stay far enough back to make sure I'm safe with stealth. I start running into a bit of a trouble keeping them spaced apart to avoid AOEs, and two end up being interspersed with the Hex Hunters. The Spell Martyrs all run forward, making sure to stay far enough back to avoid getting shot, and the Blackfrost Shard walks towards the house on their side of the field before giving themselves stealth, since I was wary of the Venators.

Skorne, Turn 1:
My opponent's turn is similarly uneventful. Most of his forces run forward, though the Krea and Rasheth walk so they can use the Krea's animus, and Rasheth places Carnivore on the Gatormen before casting Breath of Corruption at the Hex Hunters. It scatters into one of the Striders, killing her and leaving a cloud thats turns out to be a problem for my Hex Hunters' charge lanes. The Reivers move up and use their minifeat so they can perform a massive CRA on the Scythean, rolling box cars for 9 damage - ouch! I'm thankful that Thagrosh didn't run and was out of range, since that would've taken a painful chunk out of his life. The Gatormen run up in front of the Titans while the Task Master gives them tough.

Dominar Rasheth's first warning of the enemy was a bloodcurling roar that echoed over the fields. Even as the Agonizers carrying his dais struggled to turn so he could face the threat, the corpulent warlock began barking orders to the paingivers, who in turn urged their charges forward. As the enemy drew close, he caught the glint of metal hurtling through the air as the Venators unleashed a volley towards one of the malformed beasts, which let out an unnatural cry in reponse - whether in anger of pain, Rasheth could not tell. He followed suit by unleashing a poison cloud into the swarm of elves closing into their position, causing one to collapse to the ground twitching before going still.

Everblight, Turn 2:
Three of my Striders are in range of the Venators, and forfeit their movement to aim while the res shift up to get in range and draw line of sight. Despite needing 6's to hit (4's for the aiming ones) and 4's to kill, only two Reivers fall to 7 shots. I'm forced to walk my Hex Hunter's into melee since the Breath of Corruption cloud is blocking a lot of charge lanes, but their high speed means I still get 4 in melee, who thanks to battle wizard bring down 5 more Reivers. The rest try to Hex Bolt the Gatormen, softening them up so the Carnivean and Thagrosh's sprays force tough checks on 3 of them, though only one dies. Thagrosh also arcs Scourge onto the Krea, dealing a bit of damage to it and an Agonizer thats a little too close, as well as killing off a Beast Handler. Three Shredders mill around the back and cast Tenacity on Thagrosh and the heavies, while the last one goes Rabid and moves around the house to attack a Gatorman, but only deals 4 damage across 2 attacks. ARM 18 is a pain!

Skorne, Turn 2:
My opponent's Bronzeback steps up to crush the Shredder attack the Gatorman, allowing the remainder of the Posse to charge my Hex Hunters. They bring down 4 Hex Hunters, though Dragon's Blood manages to take one of the 1 HP gators with them. An Agonizer runs forward to allow Rasheth to cast Blood Mark on Thagrosh before popping his feat and the remaining Reivers CRA Thagrosh, dealing 2 damage. I think he was going for an assassination, but -4 armor didn't help much when 2 are in range.  His Gladiators hang back, not wanting to feel the wrath of my Carnivean and Scythean.

A twisted smile crossed Thagrosh's face as his Nyss tore into the Skorne ranks before they were snapped up by the powerful jaws of the Gatormen. Several of the feral minions came a bit to close, and he relished the smell of frostbitten flesh as he unleashed a torrent of draconic flame at them, prompting the Carnivean to do the same. Though several seemed on the verge of death, the crack of a Skorne whip brought two of his victims back to their feet. He momentarily lost focus as the remaining pistol wielders hit him with a barrage of needles. He was momentarily caught off balance as they dug deeper than the should have, though a slight signal from Everblight directed him towards the Warlock. His draconic vision allowed him see the magic flow around the enemies torso and down through the base of his platform, wrapping itself like a translucent black cloth over his warriors. Call upon the dragon's power he reached out to the Skorne's mind, and while it was not as receptive as those of his elf servants he was able to break his enemies concentration and halt the flow of ribbons from the sorcerer.

Everblight, Turn 3:
The Striders advance and finish off the unengaged Reivers, while the Hex Hunters wrap up the engaged ones and start launching Hex Bolts at the Gatormen and Agonizers. Even with support from Thagrosh and the Carnivean, all 3 gators survive thanks to tough checks, and because of the Task Master aren't even knocked down! Annoyed I run a Spell Martyr forward to arc Flesh Eater onto the Task Master to make the Gatormen a bit easier to finish off! The Shredders also stay back - I want to clear the Gatormen before sending them out for the kill.

Skorne, Turn 3:
Each Gatorman claims a Hex Hunter, but my opponent is starting to get concerned. His units are all but dead while I still have my full unit of Striders to peck at him as long as he keeps his Titans back. He decides to charge one of the Gladiators across the field to kill a Strider, hoping to put some pressure on me to commit my heavies. Rasheth sends an Agonizer to the right to arc Breath of Corruption into my Striders, and manages to kill the leader and a grunt with a lucky scatter and some boosted damage rolls.

Dominar Rasheth scowled as his magic faded. Normally the ritual would have lasted longer, but the draconic magic was providing too much interference. Though his Reivers had fallen, along with the Task Master, his prized beasts were still standing, as well as some of the Gatormen slaves. With a wave of his hand he sent another poison cloud over their heads as they tore into the Nyss Sorcerers battling them, further reducing the enemy's numbers. Once enough of them were down, he would be able to march forth with his beasts, and bring down the warlock leading them. He couldn't help but smile at the prospect - apparently Lord Arbiter Hexeris had managed to catch one, but it had managed to escape before he could study it. Another specimen would surely fetch a high price.

Everblight, Turn 4:
My opponent's gladiator is too sweet a target to pass up, so I bring the Blackfrost Shard out from hiding to help my Scythean devour it. Thagrosh feats and casts Manifest Destiny, then sprays to take out 2 of the Gatormen. The Carnivean, now with the feat move to retreat back, steps up and kills both Agonizers and the last Gatorman. The Striders move up and perform a large CRA on the Krea, and the Hex Hunters try to pile more damage on with their Hex Bolts. The Shredders run up to the Bronzeback and Gladiator, blocking charge lanes while taking a few boxes off the warbeasts. I use my feat move to pull back the Carnivean, but the Scythean can't make it to the cover of the building. I opt to leave it close, since I'm hoping to survive if one of the Titans has to trample the Shredders to get to him. Worst case, it dies to a heavy, and Thagrosh and my Carnivean should be more than enough to avenge it and deal with the other one.

Skorne, Turn 4:
The Bronzeback tramples the Shredders near him, but is unable to kill the one engaging the Gladiator, so Rasheth uses Breath of Corruption to free it up. Hilariously, he's forced to spend a FURY to heal the Gladiator after some high damage rolls finish its last dot of mind, but the beast is certainly healthy enough to charge and dismember my Scythean with its full complement of attacks.

As the Nyss mopped up the last of the enemy infantry, Thagrosh turned his focus to the Titans. One managed to crush a Strider under its massive bulk, but barely had time to savor the victory before his Scythean tore it limb from limb. Feeling the battle reach its zenith, Thagrosh unleashed an earth rending roar, which was echoed by his beasts as they felt his power flow through them. His Shredders viciously attacked the enemy warbeasts, tearing chunks of flesh from them even as they were trampled in retaliation. Despite his efforts, Thagrosh lost himself in the symphony of blood and wrath.

Everblight, Turn 5:
I send my Striders after the enemy Beast Handlers, realizing its what I should have done in the first place, but one manages to survive. Nonetheless I send my Carnivean after the Gladiator, and thanks to Manifest Destiny and support from the Blackfrost Shard it has enough fury remaining to put Spiny Growth on itself.

Skorne, Turn 5:
My opponent is forced to send both his Bronzeback and Krea kill the Carnivean, though the Bronzeback takes a decent amount of damage from Spiny Growth in the process. The remaining Beast Handler moves forward so Rasheth can arc Breath of Corruption and catch two members of the Blackfrost Shard as well as a Strider I accidentally left between them because I forgot I lost reform. Interestingly, Rasheth is now in charge range of Thagrosh.

With most of the warbeasts down, Rasheth gestured his personal Agonizers forward, wanting to be close to enough to collect the enemy personally. As he got in sight, his breath caught in his throat. Rather than the elf he had expected, he faced what could only be described as an abomination. Muscle and bone wove into unnatural shapes, and if not for the insight granted by his mystic powers he would have thought it was a new type of dragonspawn. His confusion soon gave way to pleasure as he considered how much more valuable this trophy would be, and pulled on his remaining warbeasts to focus on the target.

Everblight, Turn 6:
I've got a conundrum: Rasheth is within charge range of Thagrosh, but he has Blood Mark on me, and I don't have anywhere to transfer the damage, so I could end up killing myself with the charge if I roll a 14 or better on 3 dice. I decide its not worth the risk, so Thagrosh charges the Bronzeback, hoping to finish it off quickly enough to also get the Krea, but thanks to bad to hit rolls the light warbeast survives. However, I am now out of Rasheth's line of sight thanks to eruption of ash, so I run two Striders up to him so I can get free strikes if he tries to get me, using the remaining Striders to block off the Krea. My Hex Hunters try to finish it off, but to no avail, and I realize too late I've blocked the charge lanes for Rhyliss, the last member of the Blackfrost Shard.

Skorne, Turn 6:
The Krea kills off 2 Striders, but they keep her from getting to Thagrosh. Rasheth is forced to use Breath of Corruption to free himself from my Striders, and then shifts to get line of sight to Thagrosh and use the Breath again on Thagrosh. Fortunately he only manages 6 points of damage on me, enough for me to spawn a Shredder, but leaving me alive at 12 health.

Thagrosh

Everblight, Turn 7:
I move my Striders so Rhyliss can get a charge and he combines with the remaining Hex Hunters to finish of the Krea. All my opponent has left now is Rasheth. Thagrosh cuts himself for 6 fury and walks up to the fat man, and though I roll a 5-6 for damage and he transfers to me, I am able to send the damage to the Shredder, killing it and taking 2 points off Thagrosh. Two more blows from Rapture later and the game is finally over.

Rasheth desperately tried to pull himself away from the demonic beast that has just carved through his palanquin, though he found his head spinning from blood loss. Oddly, his opponent seemed to have paused, surveying the carnage rather than finishing the Dominar. His gaze particularly lingered on the remnants of the Nyss, where the handful of survivors where picking through the fallen, helping those they could and collecting the corpses of those they couldn't. Despite his injuries, he couldn't help but be intrigued. While his people valued the finely trained warbeasts over any individual grunt, the corrupted Nyss seemed to do the opposite. Rasheth was shaken back to reality as a rough claw dragged him off the ground. The beast's voice was like a noxious cloud, sending spasms through Rasheth's body. "Let this serve as a warning to your masters. We are the children of Everblight, and those who do not bow will be reaped." Rasheth's vision swam, and he was unconscious before hitting the ground.

Aftermath:
Wow, that game took a while! I've never had an attrition match drag out like that, though it ended up being in my favor since I had more combat units. The Gatormen helped keep my opponent in the game, especially with all the tough rolls they made. Gotta remember to make the Task Master a priority in the future. I did learn a few things:
-Dragon's Blood isn't nearly as good on the Hex Hunters as I'd hoped. ARM 14 is pretty much the same as ARM 12 when the vast majority of attacks are at least POW 10, and while the damage did take down a Gatorman, its not reliable enough to count as a plus. I think in future games I'm just going to drop it on one of my heavies - combined with Spiny Growth it can bring them up to ARM 22, which pretty much demands dedicating a heavy + support to killing it, and even then bad rolls mean he could survive.
-The Carnivean's spray is actually really good. Sure his RAT is only 4, but if he boosts to hit on key targets he hits DEF 14 on average, 16 if he can stand and shoot like he could this game. Still, his primary purpose is melee, so while he can provide some nice utility with the spray and Spiny Growth, I wouldn't hesitate to throw him at another heavy.
-I'm still trying to figure out Epic Thagrosh. This game he arced some spells and helped out with Manifest Destiny and his feat, but otherwise was a backline caster most of the game. I actually think this was the right way to play him - despite his stature he's not tough enough to take blows in the front, though his excellent hitting power makes him good for cleanup. In the future I'd like to get a little more out of him - I think I can probably run a little lighter on fury since I'm keeping him back, and my target selection could use work.
Overall it was a pretty fun game, and I'm excited to try out more at 50 points!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Big New Releases

Hey guys, sorry for the long hiatus - there are several posts I've been working on that are taking a bit longer than I'd hoped thanks to real life getting in the way (grrr, real life), but since there are several new releases revealed at Lock & Load last weekend I thought I'd post my thoughts on them.

First up, we have the preview of the Legion of Everblight Gargantuan, the Archangel.
Here's some more pictures, as well as a video interview with the sculptor as he's builds it. I'm going to echo the comments I've seen everywhere else and say HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS INCREDIBLE. As someone who got into Legion because of the dragon theme, I cannot wait to get my hands on this guy. I can honestly say this is the first model I've seen in any system that I knew I wanted to buy it before seeing anything about the rules. Very, very psyched for this.

Speaking of the rules, the Mountain King was released at Lock & Load, giving us a chance to see what the Gargantuan cards will looks like.
There's a complete unboxing rundown here. Off the bat, I'm a little bit disappointed. The Collosals are walking armories, most with at least 3 enormous guns and so many special rules you could confuse the card back with a warcaster. This guy has one gun (still enormous), a solid but not unique animus, Battle Wizard except with his gun instead of magic, and Whelp Shedding. In addition, his stats are pretty mediocre - his offensive power is less than Mulg, not even adding more FURY, and while ARM 19 is pretty solid, 48 boxes is a lot less than you'd get from 2 heavies that cost the same amount of points. While I'm not terribly excited about him, I'll leave that discussion for all the Trollblood players. What I'd really like to focus on is what we can guess about the Archangel given this guy's stats.

On offense, I'm really optimistic about the Archangel. The Legion doesn't have anything that hits like Mulg, with most of our heavies striking at POW 17. If the Archangel has POW 19, or even 18 with reach, it'll be a great way to add some more punch to higher point armies. In addition, it has wings, making me think it'll be at least speed 6, if not 7. And of all the hordes armies, we tend to have the best guns on our heavies, so I'm looking forward to what he gets. On the downside, I don't think its going to have a FURY higher than 4. The Mountain King may be an exception since dire trolls naturally have FURY 5, but if that monstrosity doesn't get an extra point I doubt the Archangel will.

Everblight has never been known for defense, but I think the Archangel may become the exception. So far our heavies with wings have had solid DEF scores, particularly since we can buff it with Tenacity in nearly every army. While I don't think it'll happen, DEF 13 would be ideal, since with a 14 after tenacity most heavies will need an 8 to hit, forcing them to boost and depriving them of the attacks needed to chew through all the boxes. Even a DEF 12 would be amazing, though if its any lower, we're probably going to be better off focusing on ARM with Spiny Growth. Still, it's going to be exciting for the glass cannon faction to finally have something that isn't guaranteed to die to a charge from a heavy.

The last new release I want to mention is the Extreme Carnivean.
This is without a doubt my least favorite model in the Warmachine/Hordes range. It looks like the regular Carnivean bulked up, but his skin didn't stretch so its just torn over Incubi-like muscle. The claws look like oven mitts, too bloated to be used as open firsts, and the pose is just bizarre - maybe it would make sense as part of a diorama where the Carnivean is dodging an enemy attack, but on the table this guy can't dodge anything, an really shouldn't be trying. Why not a more aggressive stance like the Warpwolf Extreme or Dire Troll Mauler Extreme, or at least neutral like the Gladiator Extreme? Perhaps my least favorite part is the spines. Whats up with the fleshy rubberbands around them? Not only do they look terrible, they don't make any sense - how or why would those straps grow? Why are spines wrapped with muscle tissue? I'm really sad because the Carnivean is one of my favorite beasts, and I really feel like he gets bashed more than he deserves from the community, but this sculpt is just terrible.

So a rundown: Archangel yay, Extreme Carnivean boo. I should have another post up in a week or so with some actual progress on my army!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Recruits and Resolutions

So I finally found a good way to use the gift certificate I "won" from the tournament I was at. Please welcome the newest addition to my Legion, Hex Hunters!
I'm particularly excited about these guys since I've noticed that I'm using my Striders in almost every list I make, and these guys will hopefully give me some more options. That leads my to the second part of my post. I've noticed that while I'm doing ok with Saeryn, I've gotten a lot worse with all my other Warlocks. In an effort to get better with everyone else, I've decided not to use Saeryn for the next two months, and actually thinking about it I'm going to avoid Striders as well. Just one exception: I've been asked to do a battle report at my new store, and as we're taking pictures, my list needs to be fully painted. I'm going to go with my Saeryn list as its the closest to being complete (and the one I'm least likely to embarrass myself with) for the report. Otherwise, I'm saying goodbye to Saeryn and the Striders for a while. Wish me luck!

Monday, April 16, 2012

And we're back


Hey guys, its been a while! Moving has been pretty hectic, but I finally managed to get out and play a few games of Warmachine this weekend at Gamescape in San Francisco. They were actually hosting a tournament, and it seemed like a good way to meet the local Warmachine/Hordes community. I completely forgot how draining they are though. A friend of mine randomly wandered into the store between the third and fourth rounds, and I'm pretty sure I sounded drunk! I managed to go 2-2, which I was pretty happy with, especially since my losses were to the only guy who went undefeated and a combo I'd never seen that got me on turn 2. The format was 2 list, 35 points, using 2012 Steamroller scenarios. These were the lists I brought:

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight (+5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician (3pts)
2 Spell Martyrs (2pts)

Thagrosh, the Messiah (+3pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
* Seraph (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician (3pts)
2 Spell Martyrs (2pts)

The Saeryn list should look familiar to anyone whose read this blog before, and it was a nice way to ease back into the game with a list I have a lot of practice with. The Epic Thagrosh list was an attempt to combine all the best things I've done with him, including an assassination with Scourge and a Carnivean's spray, as well as mobs of Shredders under Manifest Destiny and his feat, Dragon Storm. Anyway, without further ado, here are recaps of my matches:

Game 1: Saeryn vs. Epic Vlad
Scenario 2 - Gauntlet
Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion (+5pts)
* Drago (8pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Iron Fang Uhlans (Leader and 2 Grunts) (7pts)

This was the guy who ended up going undefeated. His other list was Karchev, who I knew I probably wasn't going to assassinate, so I chose Saeryn. I managed to down the Ulhans early with Striders and a Shredder, and seriously injure the Great Bears with a Blightbringer, but forgot to feat on the second turn and lost my Carnivean. I almost managed to get the win anyway by clearing a path for my Scythean to get to Vlad, but after he took 10 damage from the first blow his defenses got too high for me to finish him off thanks to Might of Kings. 24 Iron Fangs was ridiculously hard to deal with, mainly because of the numbers, high ARM, and the fact that they are strong enough to threaten heavies. Still need to figure out an answer to that...

Game 2: Saeryn vs. Naaresh
Scenario 15 - Restoration
Master Ascetic Naaresh (+6pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Cyclops Brute (5pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* Molik Karn (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)

Both his lists had a Cyclops brute to provide Safeguard to prevent the caster from being knocked down, so I opted for Saeryn since Thagrosh would lose one of his best assassination vectors. On turns 1 and 2, I arc'ed Breathstealer on Molik Karn to keep him at bay, then used my feat on turn 2 to force my Carnivean and Scythean into his lines, killing Molik Karn and injuring Naaresh. In response he cycloned out and put himself next to Saeryn to go for the assassination next turn, and unfortunately most of my beasts frenzied, and the Scythean alone couldn't penetrate Naaresh's DEF 18 ARM 20 thanks to Iron Flesh and Pain Monger. My beasts frenzied, and I had to focus on killing him cyclopses rather than going after Naaresh, but thankfully none of the paingivers could get to him that turn so he wasn't able to bring down Saeryn, giving me another turn to finish him off.

Game 3: Epic Thagrosh vs. Calandra
Scenario 7 - Incursion
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (+5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter (2pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)

At last, a chance to try out Epic Thagrosh! Well, not really. On turn 2, he used his feat and unborrowed his Pyg Burrowers to assassinate Thagrosh. While I've heard of them before, I've never seen them in action - those POW 14 guns really hurt! I almost managed to weather it by using the spawned Shredder to prevent 2 of them from firing, but the last one still managed to finish me off. I was kicking myself because I brought Thagrosh out of cover for no good reason, and the DEF bonus would probably have saved him. Also, I had excess fury and used it to cast tenacity twice instead of Spiny Growth, which would have saved him.

Game 4: Saeryn vs. The Witch Coven
Scenario 8 - Process of Elimination
The Witch Coven of Garlghast (+5pts)
* Defiler (5pts)
* Defiler (5pts)
* Helldiver (3pts)
* Deathjack (12pts)
* Seether (9pts)
Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)

I really wanted to use Thagrosh here, but the scenario seemed too good for Saeryn's feat. On turn 2 I ran both my heavies into the middle of the control zones and popped feat, essentially daring him to try to take them. He had no choice but to move up to keep me from scoring, and I was able to charge and finish off both his heavies while using Striders and Blightbringer to carve up the Bane Knights. As a last-ditch attempt he tried to assassinate Saeryn with the Helldiver, but it wasn't strong enough, and I cleared out the last of his units to get the second control point.

While I didn't place, I did randomly win a gift certificate as part of the raffle, which I'll probably put towards some Hex Hunters. I feel like I'm using Striders too much and they seem like a good alternative. I'll leave you guys with some pics from my third game, the only one I remembered to photograph. Thanks for reading - its good to be back on the field!

Final view of the battle.

Pyg Burrowers shoot up Thagrosh. To his left you can see the cover I was hiding behind until I thought it was a good idea to move out and Slipstream my Seraph, who was fine where it was. I still don't know what I was doing.

The rest of my opponent's army. The Fennblade unit lost 6 members to the Striders on the first turn, and I really feel like I could have won this game had I not foolishly left my caster out. 

If you can't be good, be lucky. Woo free moneys!