Okay, he’s not as bad to paint as the Black 13th or, I suspect, Kara Sloan, but wow did he take some patience.  4 layers of detail and the usual Cygnaran love of packs, buckles and rivets.

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

Up next, maybe some “low-hanging-fruit” to try and get a fully painted army ready for a tourney in March. Reinholdt and a Defender, I think.

It’s but a dalliance, I assure you.  A little sumptin’ sumptin’ on the side to whet the appetite.  A sorbet as it were.  My heart will always belong to the Cygnus and her sexy technology, but sometimes a man needs something a little more… rough.

Ashlynn, you move me so!

And you tend to move other people around, too.  This was my first shot at running the list that I posted below on the actual tabletop.  It was the first time I’d run an entirely unpainted force as well.  Hey, it’s been too cold to prime anything lately, so back off!

Anyway, I finally got a chance to play Jamie’s Trollbloods in MKII, which I think, looked like this:

James Tubbs

a) It was a Blitzer and a Mauler. The big one is the Mauler
b) Don’t forget the Krielstone Elder
c) I only needed average to pop Ashlynn at the end

• Have a delightful dinner at the Keg mansion with the wife Saturday night.  (Great success!)
• Get Kara and the last Stormlance assembled (Success!)
• Spray the above, the cyclone, Harlan Versh, Ashlynn, the vanguard and the Dude (although, I fear it may be too cold this weekend). (Failure: it was far too cold)
• Keep on painting Kraye (Utter failure)
• Get in a game each with my Highborn Covenant and Sloan lists on Sunday. (Failure: see below for explanation)
• Maybe play a game of WM over Vassal (Success: see below)
• Watch the 6th season premiere of Lost (Failure)
• Sleep in (Ahahahhahahhhhahaa… yeah right)
• Write more stuff for our Eberron campaign. (Failure: not on paper, just in my head)

Babby’s first Vassal game

Technically it wasn’t my first, but it was the first one I actually finished.  I ran this Ashlynn list against a Kara Sloan army at 35 points:

Last night was Malifaux / Warmahordes at the DG.  Unfortunately, due to a minor health care incident, I wasn’t able to field Lady J and pals.  I did, however, get to play a 35 point Warmahordes game against David’s Circle.  An excellent match where much blood was shed on both sides and each army proved to be a good counter for the other.  Things I learned: Baldur has great mobility, so be careful where you move your ‘caster; warpwolves aren’t that tough and even with high RAT, don’t try to shoot into melee just because you can.

Things I love: eCaine, ATGMs + UA + cyclone (hell, even all of these separately) and precursors in front of ATGMs + UA + cyclone.  Oh, and the new Cygnar force book and Kara Sloan

So other than chores (of which there are many), I hope to get the following accomplished:

• Have a delightful dinner at the Keg mansion with the wife Saturday night.
• Get Kara and the last Stormlance assembled.
• Spray the above, the cyclone, Harlan Versh, Ashlynn, the vanguard and the Dude (although, I fear it may be too cold this weekend).
• Keep on painting Kraye.
• Get in a game each with my Highborn Covenant and Sloan lists on Sunday.
• Maybe play a game of WM over Vassal.
• Watch the 6th season premiere of Lost.
• Sleep in.
• Write more stuff for our Eberron campaign.

Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be able to accomplish anywhere close to all of the above.

Mass Effect 2 is truly a cross-genre product.  It is as much a third person shooter (ie. “ammo” clips) as RPG, but it does away with pesky, immersion-spoiling things like inventory screens, weapon loadouts and mid-mission levelling.  I’ve read a few complaints about this online (isn’t that what the internet was invented for?), but truth be told, it doesn’t really bother me.  It didn’t 2 years ago in it’s “beta” form and it doesn’t now.

Why?  Well, if I want to carefully kit out and skill-up a character, I’ll play Dragon Age or a PnP game.  If I want a strong narrative, interesting characters and truly stellar voice performances without many distractions, then I’ll play Mass Effect 2.  One may ask why I don’t just watch a movie or TV show: I reply by stating I don’t really know.  Maybe it’s the spirit of self-directed exploration.  Perhaps it’s the fact I like shooting things in order to solve my virtual problems.  Who knows.

Of course, nothing is perfect, and for some of the gaming press to start talking game of the year is a little presumptuous.  However, it is an excellent, AAA title truly deserving of the hype.  Some random observations / opinions:

• Planetary exploration is streamlined and much more fun than in the first game.  Yes, you’re just scanning every inch of a planet for useful resources and/or anomalies, but it beats fending off ubiquitous sandworm thingies and getting stuck in culverts.  But why do highly developed systems still contain unexplored or unexploited planets?  “Sorry, Illium citizens, I just sucked every mineral out of your neighbouring worlds and forged them into a decorative pot rack for our galley.  You snooze (for thousands of years), you lose!”
• Adding team members just doesn’t happen in Mass Effect 2, you are directed to them based on the Illusive Man’s vast information resources.  Each character has a very clear motivation for joining up and more importantly, a compelling enough narrative hook to make you actually care about helping them.  Helping them also makes them loyal to you, which has the mechanical benefit of unlocking new / better abilities.
• I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter who you add to your team for each mission.  Even on veteran difficulty, you can never really cripple yourself due to a less than optimal line-up.

I’ve still got Tali to go and convince (a 2nd time) to join up, and I’ve only helped Miranda with her side quest.  These, plus the main story and more exploration, will take me a bit to complete.  Then I’ll go back to Dragon Age, which in comparison, feels like a bit of a grind.

We had our Resurgence event yesterday. 8 players in total, with only Khador and Cygnar having to actually compete for their faction coins. Nothing like default coins for everyone else… no, not bitter at all.

First match up (25 points) was against Karchev and his ‘jacks. Leasson learned: Karchev can fling his ‘jacks almost all the way into your deployment zone on turn 2. Fastest end to a game I’ve ever lost. Ugh.

From Warmachine

Round 2 at 35 points: the other Khador player running the Butcher. This one was a real meatgrinder. On Siege’s feat turn, all of his ‘jacks had either been wrecked or lost systems. Except for the berzerker closest to his mechanics. Yep, Siege took an ice axe to the face in the next turn. I was now down 2 games with 0(!) VPs. Ugh x2. The coin was now out of reach baring some miracle.

From Warmachine

After the break, my 3rd opponent was running a Severius list. Tons of infantry (at 50 points it looked like the entire Menoth army turned up) and only one heavy ‘jack plus a couple of arc nodes. He moved up aggressively into the middle control zone. Severius ended up just within Siege’s threat range, so the classic Siege ‘caster kill scenario was set:

1. Siege feats, catching almost all of the Menoth force except for the flanks.
2. Siege Ground Pounder’s a unit of flamethrowers right in from of him, killing all but one under the AoE. Now line of sight is only blocked to Severius by some choir plus heavy.
3. Siege casts Fox Hole, dropping the heavy and the choir members out of the way.
4. Reinholt grants bonus ranged shot.
5. Siege boosts to hit with his cannon amd hits for boosted damage +7(!), taking Severius down to one HP.
6. Defender aims, busts a boosted round in Severius’ ass.

From Warmachine

It’s not the fastest that I’ve pulled off this tactic, but I couldn’t believe (for all the luck I’ve been having with the dice lately) that it went off like clockwork.

Ah, well.  Onward and upward.

In the face of impending bonus windfall (the private sector has it’s perks) my spending has been a tad liberal, to say the least.  Future purchases will now include new stuff for Cygnar over the next few months but it won’t be the gluttony I’ve been indulging in lately.  My painting backlog has grown immensely, so I need to put in some more time with my brushes.  My neglected terrain building got a little boost as I just picked up some foamcore, a hot wire cutter and new knife blades.

Of course, I also have to write up our next D&D adventure.  And finish Dragon Age.  And play some Vassal.  And… and… and…

Sigh.

Yes, the puns (Malipuns, as it were) do get out of hand at times, but at our first “official” Malifaux get together last Thursday night, they were coming thick and fast.  Luckily no one committed any serious Malifaux pas…

Okay, enough of that.

What follows is an account of, to the best of my recollection, the first of two 25ss  games I got in:

Rob fielded his Viktorias, with Johan, a Ronin proxy and Bishop, caching 2 soulstones.  His scenario was Reconnoitre (have models in all for quarters of the board) and his schemes were Thwart (ensure your opponent doesn’t achieve their objectives) and Bodyguard (make sure your master doesn’t die)  :

From Malifaux

I ran Lady Justice, Judge, 2 Death Marshalls and the Executioner, caching 7 soulstones.  My scenario was Assassination (kill the opposing master) and my schemes were Raid (have more minions in play than your opponent by the end of the game) and.. damn I don’t remember:

From Malifaux

The location was Ghost Town and the special effect was Torrential Rains (no charging on turns when this is in effect.)

From Malifaux

First turn, everyone ran up (exciting!).  The Executioner acted as bullet and sword bait.

From Malifaux

Second turn, and not pictured (it would have been to right of the frame), Bishop beat the living snot out of the flanking Marshall.  The Executioner attracted a lot of attention from the shooty Viktoria and Johan but they were unable to land any hits.  This particular game had an unusually high number of black and red jokers turning up, often in the same hit and damage sequence on several attacks.  It was nuts.  The Executioner charged Johan and tore him apart.

Alas, he wasn’t much longer for the world as the sword mistress Viktoria sliced him to bits.  His Slow to Die attack failed miserably.  The Ronin lunged forward to attack the Marshal, doing respectable damage, and then pushed back out of combat.

From Malifaux

Next turn, the rains came down and no charging was possible.  At some point Bishop went down (I can’t remember how), taking pressure of my right flank.  The Ronin dodged away to the right, putting a shot into Lady J for weak damage.  Unable to charge, Lady J advanced right into the sword mistress Viktoria, cast her 0 action Sword Style to add an additional damage flip, but was only able to land one hit, leaving the Viktoria with 1 health.  This wasn’t looking good as her twin moved up.

From Malifaux

Rob burned through his soulstones trying to hit and I was burning mine trying NOT to get hit.  Ultimately, it was a bit of a stalemate.  That was until the Judge moved in to support.  With cries of “here come da’ Judge”, I moved him into melee range and he ended the shooty Viktoria’s existence (mostly due to lucky draws and the fact that we had no cards left in our hands).

From Malifaux

Next turn I was able to burn a soulstone to get initiative and Lady J went nuts on the remaining Viktoria.  Even with Sword Style: Onslaught up (every time she damaged with a greatsword attack she gets another immediate attack) it took all of my remaining soulstones to actually hit and damage Viktoria enough to take her down.

From Malifaux

The VP score ended up 8-0, as there was no way for Rob to complete his scenario or schemes.

At least in this game the Executioner did something other than attract damage and die almost immediately, but he never got a chance to shine.  You wouldn’t know he had the Terrifying trait the way people seem to beat the willpower duel every freaking time.

Next up, the same list goes up against Brian’s Arcanists.  They beat the tar out of me once, can they do it again?

Yes, I am melodramatic.

Anyway, as I outlined in my previous Theorymachining post, there was much to take into consideration while preparing for this format, chief of all which ‘caster to field.  After considering Stryker and Haley, I settled on Siege.  He’s neither subtle nor nuanced: he simply removes things from an enemy army in the most efficient manner possible.

25

Oh, and I had fun.

Back in the day when I avidly collected Shadowfist, I reached a stage where I had a complete set of “tools”.  As is the nature of collectible games, a new player goes through an “age of scarcity”: you don’t have enough specific cards, either due to rarity or sheer quantity, to truly optimize your deck.  At some point (and many expended shekels later) you reach a kind of critical mass with your collection.  With all of your “tools” at your disposal, you can design a very tight strategy that plays to the strengths of your faction while better mitigating threats from competing forces.  I admit, with Shadowfist, I was Mr. Suitcase, primarily because I adored the setting.  But it wasn’t just for me: Mel had designed some killer Guiding Hand and Jammer decks back then to counter my Ascended.

With my recent purchases I think I’m approaching that state with Cygnar.  I now have all of the (as of a week away from the new Cyclone model) ‘jacks, solos and ‘casters (save the upcoming Kara Sloan).  Now it’s down to the 7-8 missing units, none of which I consider absolutely necessary.  Sure there’s lots of merc solos / units I don’t have, but they’re not strictly necessary anyway.

Well, I thought that was the case until I realized this:

With very little effort (say, the purchase of a couple ‘casters and a solo or 2), I could start playing a Highborn Covenant army.  Uh oh.

This isn’t a “grass is always greener” situation.  I still adore my Swans, but after more than a year playing one faction it might be nice to branch out a little and see how the other half lives.  A quick list generation on Forward Kommander reveals that I could field pretty solid forces up to 50 points with my existing models under the Covenant ‘casters Ashlynn d’Elyse, Captain Bartolo Montador or Fiona the Black.  The latter would be problematic because she’s a Thamaarite and I couldn’t field the Precursors with her so her army would be filed with solos.  Not exactly optimal, but doable.

Since it appears that the league no longer restricts you from running more than one faction, it might be worth trying out for fun or during a casual match.  Plus, Meg, the Mule and the Mariner aren’t seeing much table time in MkII.

Since bonus time comes ’round but once a year, I might as well gorge while I can.  Right?

My property tax bill might argue that.

• It’s an escalation format: lists progress from 25 points the first match, 35 the 2nd and 50 all subsequent matches.  based on the number of confirmed players, there’ll be at least 4 rounds.
• List restrictions include: no character models or epic casters  EXCEPT for those in MkII Prime (in other words, just the mercs); upgraded character ‘jacks only at the 35 point level; and lists must maintain the same units from point value to point value.
• The Gain Ground scenario entails 3 control areas from north to south on the table.  Control of those areas earns the player 1 -3 (from closest to farthest) points starting at the end of the 2nd player’s 2nd turn.  ‘Caster kill also applies as a victory; the control points used to break ties.
• Turns are timed.

Up for grabs: store credit and the new MkII faction coins.  Having won an old-school Cygnar coin last year I’m just a tad eager to repeat that success.  I doubt I’ll win or even place in the top four, but I sure would like that shiny coin.  I think there’ll be at least 2 other Cygnar players in attendance, so I better get my army lists just right.

Luckily, my new stuff has already shipped from Mini War Gaming, so I’ll have it ready in plenty of time should I have to use some of it (although I’ll have to locate the ATGM Officer before then).  I’ve been wracking my brains over the past couple of days over my lists and in light of the scenario, I’ve decided to make a scenario wins my primary objective.  That isn’t to say, however, that I shouldn’t be ready to go for an assassination.  List considerations:

• Advancing into, and holding, the centre objective.  This is where the points are, or more likely, where you’ll want to stop your opponent from geting any.  Fast, survivable models need to get up into this area and hold it from at least turn 2 onward.
• Denying point in their “home” zone.  It’s pretty unlikely that either player will completely seize the zone farthest from them, but the least you can do is have something to get in there and contest at the last minute.
• The problem of stealth.  As usual, agile, unhitable at range models will play havoc with your plans.  This is especially true in a scenario like this.
• Flankers.  Lanes to the left and right of the zones will be largely open, perfect for swift moving solos or cavalry to run up on you.

I’ve narrowed down my ‘casters to Stryker, Siege or Haley.  All three are excellent toolkits for dealing with any kind of force composition.  However, only one can really dish out the punishment and bring excellent support to your army at the same time.  Can you guess who?

The answer will come in the next post.