Main Contents
May 14, 2010
Life’s little challenges and surprises have kept me off the blog for a while. So much has happened in the realm of nerd that it’s difficult to remember it all, but for you, dear reader, I shall try:
Ashlynn complete!
I was rushing to get her finished during the Nightfall league so I could get my Battle Dress stamp. Well, I got her done, but a serious bout of gut sickness meant I missed the last night I could attend the event, so therefore, no achievement was to be had. I’m pretty pleased with her (the rich purple and platinum blonde hair came out really well) with the sole exception of her skin-tone. I used the suggested Privateer Press method, but I found that even with very thin washes for the shading her flesh is too mottled. I’m preferring the method I used with Perdita: basecoat of medium flesh, washed with terracota brown, and highlighted back up with the basecoat and one lighter flesh colour. Faster and more pleasing.
Rhuls assembled!
Even though I lost the first portion of my spring vacation to illness, by the end of the week I was back to somewhat normal. Some home-alone time gave me ample opportunity to assemble all of the Searforge models. Last weekend, I used the Army Painter Desert Yellow primer / basecoat on them. This stuff is great! If their black and white primer is this good, I may have to dump my beloved Krylon flats.
I’ve also picked up a can of the Army Painter Quickshade Strong tone to speed up the process. It won’t happen for a bit (I’ve lent Searforge to Stu so he can get a better taste of Warmachine), but I’ll chronicle the process of using the Army painter stuff on a ‘jack or two.
Currently in progress: everyone’s favourite Panzerbjorn knock-off, Lug. I don’t paint animals much, but I’m really liking how he’s coming along.
Nightfall
Well, this was a bit of a let-down. Although the core ideas of the Shattered Ground leagues for this year are sound, the fact they’re only 3 weeks long really limits how much I can get out of the experience. To explain, here’s our good friend, Bullet Point List!:
Pros:
- Thematically interesting alternate version of existing models. Good lord am I going to miss the Gravedigger Grenadier.
- Persistent online campaign map.
- Special perks and stratagems based on faction / personal performance.
- The War Journals are pretty cool, and will lst throughout the year.
Cons:
- Only three weeks. This really only gets me 3 nights to be able to play, which is maybe 5-6 games max. The way the schedule is, I’ll never be able to attend the finales, so I’ll never be in a position to get one of the coins.
- Again, the short length of the league means that they’res a lot of dead space between them. Dueling Grounds previous leagues ran for 3 months, meaning there was a good turn-out all the time. Sure they still have open gaming for WM/H, but attendance has been poor.
Malifaux
Now I’ve got every available Guild model (largely thanks to Meeplemart). Hurray! But attendance at the Thursday Throwdowns has been poor. Boo! As a consequence of the Nightfall league, most of the player base has been preferring Waramahordes. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing against Brian, but I need to expand my roster of opponents! Oh, and the Peacekeeper is the ugliest damn miniature in the entire line, but boy is it UUUGGGLYY what it does to an enemy crew. Relentless + Arachnid = nowhere to hide, scofflaws!
Gaming Madness!
Well, it’s maddening that our Eberron campaign has ground to a halt because of player availability. What’s more frustrating is the usual spring bounty of game release announcements for the con season. Here’s just a sampling:
- The Deathwatch RPG by Fantasy Flight (the company that can do no wrong). Ever wanted to be a member of the Adeptus Astartes? Well, here’s your chance.
- Yet another Gamma World edition. Taking the franchise back to it’s slightly-campy fun using the 4E rules. Sign me up!
- Hell Dorado. The only thing that kept me from buying into this miniatures game was the steep import price and the lack of English materials. Now that a North American relaunch is planned, I no longer have these excuses. Hello, hobby game #4.
- Wild Talents 2nd Edition. It’s my longstanding dream to run a Cold War era game set in the Godlike universe. With the background material in this new edition, my fantasy may soon become reality. If only I could actually find a copy of the book ’round these parts.
Exciting last minute update!:
Stu fielded my Searforge list last night and I was beaten by my own models! Close game though, but dice fail + leaving Gorten at 1 HP = one dead Nemo. Hell, we even attracted an audience!
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, RPG, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
April 10, 2010
Before I get into the newest league for Warmahordes, some small matters:
- I finished Perdita. I’m not 100% happy with it, but if I tried to fix my mistakes I know I’d end up totally ruining her. The lack of depth to the detail made painting her a little difficult.
- I’ve set up my painting area in a smaller, yet better area. Note the Vassal action in the background.
- My Rhuls have arrived! Dear god that’s a lot of work ahead.
- Last weekend I gave the kids a couple of cast off Space marines to paint while I worked on Reinholdt. The results are now proudly displayed in the display case. I also found a big batch of Trinity: Battleground minis that I plan on assembling and priming for them to “practice” with.
So, on to Nightfall. The booklet / passport thingy you get is pretty neat and brings a touch of Xbox Live achievements to league play. Win or lose, you get stamps. The more stamps you get, the more access you have to special strategums. Hell, you even get stamps for just joining, or painting a model during the league (I’ve decided to knock off Ashlynn). there are special multi-player scenarios as well, including an insane 4-way game that I witnessed a group playing. Lots of league points and stamps for them!
I got 2 games in; one against Christian, whom I had never had the pleasure of facing off against, and long-time opponent and all around good guy Rob. Both games were immensely enjoyable. To crib from my SA post:
First up was Destruction, in region 2, against a pDenny list. I thought I had a lock on it with this:
Captain Kara Sloan
>Charger
>Grenadier
>Hunter
>Defender
>Squire
Precursor Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)
>Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
Storm Lances (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes
Major Katherine Laddermore
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
Stormsmith Stormcaller
He had no ranged to speak of, so I figured his objectives would go down early under the volume of fire I could put out. Details would be boring, but the highlights are:
- Me choosing to use the Pirate Cove advantage to add Harlan Versh, but then I dropped Arlan’s card underneath the table and for got to pull him out of my case.
- 11 shots from Kara’s battlegroup during the feat turn, which resulted in 3 scrapped bone chickens, a crippled Nightmare and a dead Tartarus.
- Laddermore jabbing repeatedly at an objective while surrounded by Mechanithralls. It took them 3 turns to kill her.
- The Gravedigger (also responsible for ending Tartarus) rolling triple sixes on a boosted damage roll to the nightmare. Didn’t need those arms, didja?
- The Knights absolutely butchering the Bane Thralls and the Combine to the loss of a single man.
- A great finish where Denny was able to get into melee with Kara and rolling 11s to hit and doing just enough damage on his last roll to kill her.
Next up was Killbox, region 5 against a Ryas Legion list. I fielded:
Captain Jeremiah Kraye
>Grenadier
>Hunter
>Sentinel
>Stormclad
>Squire
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts)
>Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard
Captain Arlan Strangewayes
Again, highlights:
- The Shredder swarm he threw at me didn’t manage to kill a single model of mine. Instead, they were either torn apart by the blades and Black 13, or they killed each other since Rob failed EVERY SINGLE FRENZY ROLL!
- Kraye had to blow his feat defensively to get out a terrible situation. It worked pretty well as I was able to tie up his blighted ogrun spearthrowers with the lowly Sentinel.
- Arlan barely escaping a free strike to get to the Stormclad, thereby repairing the sword arm that the Carni had torn off, allowing the ‘clad to kill the beast in 2 hits.
- The same fully loaded ‘clad charging Ryas, leaving her with 3 hp after transferring to he last 2 Shredders (which I’d left alive by forgetting to move Ryan into Gunfighter range - whoops).
- Ryas cuts herself down to one and goes for the assassination. It takes her the very last focus to do just enough to kill Kraye.
Both games were challenging and fun and my my opponents were rewarded for taking risks.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
March 30, 2010
Such a fun little guy to paint. Took me a while ’cause I’m slow, but another 1 point mercenary is complete.
I also got my custom bases done for my new Guild members:
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
March 29, 2010
Thanks for asking. Pretty damn well, actually! This week I was able to prep, assemble, prime and make custom bases for my new Malifaux models and finish off Reinholdt (sans basing). In fact, with one day remaining, I’ve actually gone over my pledged time by 30 minutes. Tonight, my plan is to base Reinholdt, maybe get him sealed, and start work on Perdita Ortega.
As I await my Rhulic army with bated breath, I’ve begun to contemplate the horror that is painting units. However, looking at the Searforge colour schemes, they don’t appear to be as complicated, in terms of large patches of multiple base colours, as the precursor Knights or the Trenchers. This got me to thinking: why not use the dipping technique?
Dipping involves either dunking the model or brushing on a liquid similar to floor wax or stain. For earth tones, I’ve seen examples where this has worked very well. A company called Army Painter makes primer/basecoats in various common colours along with a Quickshade product for dipping. I think I’ll use the Desert Yellow spray and the Strong shade tone for them. Accent colour will be a dark red. For solos and warcasters, I’ll probably just stick to my usual shading and highlighting technique.
Meeplemart carries this stuff locally.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
March 25, 2010
Tax refund time is dangerous. A more fiscally responsible individual would turn a blind eye to things like this. I am not that sort of person. Behold what I have sacrificed our childrens’ non-existent college funds for:
Yep, that’s a ready-made Rhulic mercenary army for Warmachine. I got it for roughly half retail. It consists of:
Gorten Grundback
3 Grundback Gunners
2 Grundback Blasters
1 Ghordson Driller
1 Wroughthammer Rockram
1 Ghordson Basher
10 Horgenhold Forge Guard
10 Hammerfall High shield Gun Corps
Hern & Jonne
Thor Steinhammer
Cragback & Lug
Wow. That’s 66 points. I can use most of these with Highborn and Cygnar. And here I didn’t think there were deals on eBay anymore.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Warmachine |
Comments (0)
March 23, 2010
First off, before I get into the real meat of this post, I’ll just copy/paste a write-up I did regarding the tournament I attended this past Saturday:
It was the best of times and the worst of times. On Saturday, our LGS had it’s first SR2010 tournament. 13 players, 4 rounds at 25 points. Fun was had by all. I ran the following lists:
Major Victoria Haley
Thorn
Stormclad
Squire
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Journeyman Warcaster
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane
Charger
Ol' Rowdy
Squire
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Defender
Precursor Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
Game 1 - Outflank, Outrun, Outlast
I played against a pSorcha list (Ken, a player for Burlington)with Beast-09 and a full unit of Winterguard Rifleman. I used the Siege list and knew I would have to go for assassination over a scenario win. Not much happened other than lackluster exchanged fire for the first 2 turns, but at the top of the third, Siege had a sliver of LOS to Sorcha and went for the hail mary: needed 13s to hit through Iron Flesh. On the feat, 2 double-boosted rockets (rolling exactly 13 on each) took her out. Fastest kill of the day, I think. Feeling pretty good at this point.
Game 2 - Killbox
My pairing for this was against Charles. Who’s Charles, you may ask? He’s the guy that was best overall WM player at Templecon and 2nd overall. Fantastic. He ran a pNemo list that was very similar to the one he used at Templecon (Thunderhead, Black 13th, Stormguard, the usual suspects). I ran eHaley, so the ridiculous control ranges meant we stayed pretty far apart from one another, as did the our competing B13s. All the lightning immunities were hilarious, so it meant that the melee troops had to get up close and personal. This one came down to a hail mary for Charles, however. The Thunderhead got Locomotioned up, and with Deceleration, needed 12s to hit. He only needed to the first on to end it. It’s too bad, becasue next turn Thorn could have moved up pretty far and would have been able to TK Nemo out of the box for the win. 1-1 so far, not so shabby.
Game 3 - Capture the flag
After the break, I returned to face Paul. Who’s Paul, you may ask? He’s just the guy that beat Charles in the Templecon final. Oh boy. He ran a pMagnus with Long Gunners and Idrians (ugh), 2 Nomads and a Mangler. Safe to say, no one was capturing flags in the scenario, so I went with Siege. Utter carnage. I went for the hail mary again against Magnus (needing the same 13s to hit with Siege), but this time the dice failed me. The marshalled defender took a chunk out of him, his ‘caster stayed alive. The game ground on, with the all of my precursors and ATGM wiped out, along with all of his Idrians. A fourth turn attempt to Force Hammer the Mangler into the Nomad missed, leaving Siege exposed to the remaining Long Gunners. Good game and a good opponent.
Game 4 - Convergence
This time I was matched up against James, who ran a Retribution list with Adeptis Rahn, an arc node, 1 heavy, Stormfall Archers and Houseguard Halbediers. Oh, and Eiryss of course. Again, due to the scenario and ‘casters (I ran eHaley), the control areas were huge. I Lost this one for the following reasons:
- I ‘jack bulleted the bonded, fully loaded, temporally accelerated Stormclad straight into his lines / heavy turn 2. 5s to hit. What did I roll? 3, 4, 3, 7. Only one meager hit with one meh leap that didn’t kill anything. I was a little pissed. Bye bye ‘clad next turn.
- My turn 4, after my feat, his army was in tatters. The B13 and Time Bombs from Haley had nearly wiped out his Halberdiers and most of his really dangerous solos. His Node had been dominated and turned away from me, sitting in a Mage Storm with tons of damage on it (except not on the node, dammit). The Stormblades get the assault charge on Eiryss and the Node ‘jack. Then my 10 minutes are up and the activation ends after the movement.
I lost next turn. This one pisses me off a bit, because he had nothing in the circle by that point, and not enough stuff left on his side to take out everything I had in it by the following.
Overall, it was great, but tiring fun.
I finally received my Detolf display cabinet on Sunday, and with the assistance of my mom, got it assembled in record time. Here it is, filled with nerdy goodness. I am both happy with the result and deeply ashamed.
Why? Well, my intention was to use the contents of the cabinet as a source of inspiration. I would look upon my works and feel inspired to increase the quality and quantity of my output. However, the small number of completed models seen here were all that I could finish and a year and a half. As you might suspect, I have a lot more that are bare metal / primer only. Oh, and of course I picked up the last of the Guild box sets for Malifaux that I needed, so I’ve got some unassembled too.
So, now I have no option but to regard my cabinet, fully visible throughout my living and dining rooms, as a mark of shame. Shame can also be a powerful motivator. To this end, I now pledge the following. Starting tonight, the 23rd of March, 2010, I shall do work on my modelling (which includes assembly, priming, painting and basing) for at least 1 hour per day. Y’know what?; I’ll also include terrain construction as well. This, of course, will need to budgeted over the course of a week as life’s little trials get in the way.
But how will I motivate myself? What are the carrots and sticks of this scenario? Easy:
- I model, I get to buy more models.
- I don’t model, I don’t get to buy more models.
Since I visit the LGS almost weekly (and have access to other stores nearby), I hope this will generate a positive feedback loop in my favour. Yes, I am essentially bribing myself.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
March 16, 2010
Who knew that having 4 teeth removed from your face could be a detriment to one’s lifestyle? Going on three weeks from the procedure I’m still having some discomfort in the morning and evenings. I think it’s going away, but who knows how well it’ll take.
So, painting (until the last couple of nights) has taken a back seat since I finished Kraye. Instead, I’ve wiled away the hours with good old fashion vidjah games. I finished both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins just in time for the release of Battlefield Bad Company 2. I hadn’t played the first instalment other than the 360 demo and was not impressed with it’s Battlefield-lite gameplay. I need, nay, demand the full Battlefield experience from DICE. Looks like I got it for BFBC2. Even down to the frequent server disconnects and weapon / class imbalances!
Look, I’ve played every incarnation of the Battlefield franchise save the aforementioned BFBC1 and the 1943 remake. Even the half-assed Battlefield Heroes browser game. I know what to expect from DICE and EA in terms of post-launch support. But having one of those amazing, high-scoring rounds and not retaining XP because the EA master server dumps you out again is utterly infuriating. If the core gameplay wasn’t so good, it would be unplayable.
Oh, and giving the medic class an M60 that is almost more accurate than a sniper rifle at range is giving me flashbacks of the heavy support class from BF: Vietnam before it was fixed. And then there’s the Carl “The Motherfucker” Gustav. Don’t get me started on the easy button of a weapon.
Upcoming cool shit:
- Working on Reinholdt. Such a fun, quick little mini, especially in comparison to the endurance test that was Kraye.
- I have a 35 point Steamroller tournament coming up on Saturday. I think I’ve finalized my lists, but unfortunately won’t have much time to practice with them.
- My FLGS may finally be getting in their Malifaux order, so I should be able to finish off my Guild collection this week.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, PC, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
February 21, 2010
Or, how I nearly offed myself because of a model.
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.
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.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Warmachine |
Comments (0)
February 19, 2010
UPDATED BELOW
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:
Borka Kegslayer
Dire Troll Blitzer
Earthborn Dire Troll
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
Pyg Bushwackers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Trollkin Long Riders (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Fell Caller Hero
Now, one thing I’ve always had a hard time dealing with in Warmahordes is high ARM models. Yes, Cygnar has remarkably accurate shooting, but it never seems to do the just right amount of damage to take out a ‘jack, ‘beast or tough unit effectively. So with this in mind, I’ve decided that against Troolbloods and Khador, I’ll need to mitigate their hard-to-kill aspect with mobility. Even when I have to force mobility upon them.
Since I didn’t take pictures and have a terrible, sleep-deprived memory, here’s the essential events / thoughts:
- My list really capitalized on movement shenanigans, especially against traditionally low DEF forces like the Trollbloods. The ATGMs, while aiming, are accurate enough to Thunderbolt targets out of melee without endangering their own troops. Ashlynn’s Gallows spell can drag models out of position, setting them up for the kill, and a boosted / feated Mule can toss enemies around like toys. Even the Mariner makes for a reliable slammer.
- Ashlynn herself is extremely manoeuvrable with Admonition (which I discovered affects her battlegroup) and Quicken. Parry and a 17 DEF offsets her low ARM.
- If surrounded (which is exactly what happened at the end of the game), she can lash out like a cornered rat with Riposte. POW 11 + 3d6 may not sound like much against Trollbloods, but since they’ll need above average dice to hit her, every miss can be costly. Flashing Blade is a fantastic spell that basically buys an extra attack aginst every model in her
- Oddly, I think this game really did come down to the dice. Borka had such high DEF and ARM, and Ashlynn was so slippery, that the right blow at the right time would end the game. Certain crucial rolls didn’t go our way when we needed them to, leading to a tense, yet exciting, final confrontation between ‘caster and ‘lock.
- The final tableaux: Ashlynn standing atop the wreck of her Vanguard, ducking, weaving, spinning and slashing at the spiritless Earthborn, furyless Borka and 1 wound Fell Caller; her Mariner whacking Borka in the back of the head with his anchor. Borka gets off a needs-better-than-average-dice-to-hit knockdown under Mosh Pit and that was pretty much it for Ashlynn.
This is the closest game I’ve ever had against Jamie, and both of these lists were excellent foils for one another (well, maybe with the exception of the Precursors; I love these guys, but in this game I only had one survive to get of one attack all game). For example, Windwall trumped shooting, which was in turn mitigated by the ATGMs’ magic weapons. High ARM, multi-wound and Tough models could resist much of my damage output, but couldn’t keep positioning against Thunderbolt moves / knockdowns, Critical Devastation throws, ‘jack slams and Gallows. And that’s just the beginning.
Well, back to Cygnar for now. Have to get some practice time in prior to a tournament in March (looks like I can actually make it, at this point). When Privateer repackages their unit boxes into full squads, I might look into enhancing the Highborn with some Nyss Hunters, Boomhowler & Company or Horgenhold Forgeguard.
Lady Justice, my love for you is like a truck.
In sharp contrast to my Warmahordes league losing streak, I’ve been unstoppable with Lady Justice and her Death Marshalls. Mind you, I haven’t faced any true swarm crews yet like Nicodem or Jones, but I think I’ve won 4 games in a row. Last night was a 35 soulstone game against Brian’s Arcanists:
Me: Lady Justice, Judge, 3 x Death Marshalls, Guild Executioner, Convict Gunslinger and 7 soulstones.
Brian: Rasputina, December Acolyte, Essence of Power, Ice Golem, Razorspine Rattler and Injun Joss.
I think I’ve found the best tactic for Lady Justice and a crew like this. The Marshalls spread out evenly across the board, the Executioner takes point either right up the middle or positioned opposite the bulk of the enemy crew and Judge and Lady Justice follow slightly behind. The Gunslinger hangs back enough, preferably behind hard cover, to essentially overwatch a 10″ radius hemiphere in front of him.
The Executioner is such a credible threat that most opposing models will try to take him out early and with enough overwhelming force that he dies in a single turn. If not, he’s very likely to kill something on his activation, thereby healing any damage done to him with Love the Job. I find myself sacrificing him in this way to allow Justice, with her 10″ threat range, to charge in as one of the last activations of my crew. Very little survives the kind of damage she can dish out in a single activation.
UPDATE HERE
Straight from Jamie:
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Malifaux, Warmachine |
Comments (0)
February 9, 2010
So, how did my ambitious plans turn out? See for yourself:
- 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:
Ashlynn d’Elyse
Vanguard
Mariner
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Mule
Precursor Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
Harlan Versh
Since we were both new to both ‘casters and armies, we made some mistakes, but overall, it was some good back and forth. The mule went down to 2 shots from Kara and a finisher from a defender, and I responded in kind by feating and drilling Kara with can’t miss shots from the mariner, Versh and the ATGMs. I think I have the hang of this Vassal thing and I’m looking forward to more (considering I’ll be absent form the tabletop for a couple of weeks).
Kara’s premiere in the strangest game ever
So Sunday rolls around and I head off to DG for a full day gaming. Boy was I looking forward to it after the less than satisfying Thursday. Should have known better than to be optimistic: due to a flood in the neighbouring Pizza Pizza, DG had no power. Although it was nice chatting to the other league players about all sorts of crap, after several hours of waiting it was time to give up. Jack suggested that we retire to his place nearby to play a 3v3.
It was decided to go WM v H, 15 points each, with Jack running Cryx under Denny, Neil fielding Ashlynn and myself with Kara. Across the too-small table was Tully with Circle under Kaya, Jamie running Trolls under Borka and Luke’s Skorne under Morghul. I set up in the middle directly across from Jamie.
Needless to say, this is not the ideal environment for the Hordes players to try out their latest rules, nor is it to fieldtest Kara or Ashlynn for the first time. Regardless, it was a ton of fun with some important lessons for the future:
- I read a forum comment that described our new sniper ‘caster as “Spitfire with some woman attached to it”. This is only partially true. Yes, even outside of her feat turn that gun of hers is a powerhouse (ie. if she can see a model, there shall soon be no model there), but her spells, especially Refuge, offer some versatility for her army. Certain solos really benefit from it, even more so than her ‘jacks.
- The 10″ spray that the pureblood warpwolf gets is nuts. Combined with shifting stones teleporting shenanigans, this sucker has a, what, 21″ threat range against multiple targets? Luckily, he’s kind of inaccurate with it, but it’s how I lost my squire.
- Harlan Versh is a beast, especially under the Highborn + Ashlynn. He simply will not miss getting multiple attacks with his magic gun under her feat. A good assassination threat. In this game he plugged some not-so-tuffaloes to death, clearing the way to Borka. (jamie’s famous luck with tough rolls failed him this time. Except when it really mattered with Borka.
- Borka’s stumbling around drunk thing after being hit is goddamn hilarious.
- Back to Kara: under her feat turn the dire troll mauler just went away…
- If I ever, ever play a two-caster game, it will always be Kara + Ashlynn. RAT 10 + 5 dice, drop the 2 lowest from Spitfire, doing 4 dice TWICE!? Average damage 24? Completely ruin any effective reprisals after the double-feat turn!? Freakin’ golden!
- Think that feat turn was nuts? Add Denny into the mix with parasite and / or feat - absolutely nothing will survive in a 16 inch hemisphere in front of Kara.
It was a fun, yet odd experiment. I’m looking forward to running Kara in a full list over in the near future.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Warmachine |
Comments (0)
b) Don’t forget the Krielstone Elder
c) I only needed average to pop Ashlynn at the end