Brimblecon - the aftermath.

So, it turns out that knowing what your stuff does is a thing. Only having played 1 game with a caster 8 months ago is not the best prep for a tournament. But, like everything Warmachine, it was still a great day. Props to Luke for organizing it. Like many others, I have become an instant fan of the 1 day, 4 game format.

 But how did my day actually play out you ask? Let me tell you a tale of my incompetence.

Game 1 vs John McLeish (Gators):
Hmmm, Venethrax vs Gators - this should be easy right? Not when the gators are packing more undead than me. Although I was slowly grinding the gators down I found myself with the dubious honour of "first clockout of the day"

Game 2 vs Luke Harvey (Trolls):
Right lets try this again. I got first turn moved everyone up at speed, Luke followed suit, lining his Kriel Warriors up in a perfect row, just waiting to be purged on. Which I duly did. Unfortunately, I forgot to pop Vennies feat first throwing away the perfect setup. Some pistol wraith shenanigans kept Mulg out of the way while the Bloodgorgers cut thier way through to a position where they could threaten Doomy in the next turn. I then commited massive screwup number 2 and charged big V at the Earthborn. Failed to scratch it behind the wall (missing boosted attacks rolls on 8s) and got pulped in return.

Game 3 vs Chris Townley (Khador):
Chris had a single, pButcher list loaded with both flavors of Iron Fang Pikemen. Perfect fodder of multiple Bile purges. Once agi, core plan of puge over the infantry worked a treat. Pistol Wraiths tied up 2 Jacks, Machine Wraith a third. Venethrax went for the kill and fluffed it, again. Got smashed in return, again.  Apparently big Venny isn't the hard ass I thought he was.

Game 4 vs Damian Reid (Khador):
So Damo and I faced off for the Wooden spoon. We both decided to use the lists we hadn't used all day, in his case Strakov. My "off" list was Mortenebra, with a small change from the list posted previously. I swapped out the 2 helldivers and the Defiler for Deathjack. Turn 1 saw Damo's Doomreavers rush foward as quickly as possible. These were met by an exploding scrapthrall and a charge into the woods by Deathjack accounted for his manhunters. Turn two saw the remaining Doomreavers pounce on Deathjack and take out an arm, while Strakov moved up behind a pair of Devastators. One one flank, an entire unit of Kossite woodsmen came on from the flank and charged a lone Warwitch Siren, doing a grand total of 1 damage. In return, the remaining scrapthrall exploded over the doomreavers engaged with DJ, giving him enough sould to heal himself up before finishing off the last 3 reavers himself. The Siren danced away from the kossites, leaving them bunched and vunerable to a possible power sweep by the Kraken later in the turn. Morty cast Terminal Velocity and one of the Slayers slammed a Devastator, hoping to crush Strakov with its bulk. Instead the angle of the hit meant it connected with the other Devastator instead resulting in them both being knocked down. Cue a charge from the Kraken and a couple of 4 nch melee attacks later the game was over.

So 14th out  of 16 with 1 win and no CPs. I feel the Venethrax list has potential, but is probably a little heavy on the anti-infantry at the moment. Dropping the Gorgers and Gerlak would give me room for some heavy hitters at 35 points and at 50 a second Seether would be most welcome, or maybe a Reaper/Malice to drag beasts out of position and into Vennys clutches without him needing to expose himself as much.

The one game I had with the Morty/Kraken list did not really show me much I didn't already know, but the Kraken + DJ + extras combo @ 50 points could be fun, but is not something that will see table time for a while.

Road to Rallypoint - The Kraken wakes.

Thats right folks, Katie the choco-mint Kraken is complete, aside from some water effects on the base, which will have to wait awhile

 

 

 

 Also finished recently, two sets of Bane Thrall UA's

and my 2nd Pistol Wraith

This just leaves eGoreshade himself to be painted in the next two weeks, a task that hopefully won't be hampered too badly by the upcoming surgery on my elbow.

On the practice front, last Sunday saw my pSkarre list take the field vs Matt Carrs eButcher list. I wish I could sit here and tell you what a triumph of tactics and overwheliming Cryx brokenness this game was, i really do. But I'd be lying....badly. This game ended at the top of Turn 2 with me finding out EXACTLY what eButcher and his feat do. It was painful, it was embarrassing, it was probably just what I needed with that list.

 I haven't lost many games with that list and now tend to look at it as my comfy blanket that I can fall back on when things aren't going well. This little wake up call is a timely reminder that knowing what your opponents stuff does is quite important and that jamming is not always the answer.



But first, BrimbleCon

In a dark land devoid of Auckland-based Warmachine events, there is new light on the horizon.  The first event in this new and better age is Luke Brimblecombes Auckland Steamroller 2012. Or as I like to call it, BrimbleCon. A 1 day, 42 point, SR2012 event, BrimbleCon has offered me something of a conundrum. Cut down my Rallypoint lists to fit or take something completely different.

The fact that I won't be able to get my hands on the eShade model until the day of BrimbleCon helped the decision. I could run a version of my eShade Kraken list if I am willing to glue him together on the day and use him unpainted. This doesn't sit well with me as I am one of these people who likes to field painted models all the time. (at one point, I wouldn't even play an army at all until the whole thing was painted, not even practice games), so I have decided to try something different again.

The first list was easy. In my collection, I have a caster that I have never taken to a tournament. Indeed, I have only played 1, maybe 2 games with him ever.

Lich Lord Venethrax (+6)
  Defiler
  Seether
  Skarlock Thrall
Min Bloodgorgers
Gerlak Slaughterborn
Full Bloodwitches
   Bloodhag UA
Min Bile Thralls
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren
Machine Wraith

Reinforcements: Reaper

This list has a couple of facets to it. Firstly, it exploits Vennys interaction with continous corrosion. It also accents Big V's prowess vs Hordes with the Blood Hags entropic force. The Biles at first seem counter-productive, being that any infantry killed by a purge is one less soul to be consumed, but they work well in conjunction with his cloud making feat.

The second list is really just because I want to see how the Kraken works with everyones favorite spider-legged genius.

Master Necrotech Mortenebra (+4)
  Deryliss
  Kraken
  Slayer
  Slayer
  Helldiver
  Helldiver
  Defiler

Necrotech and Scrap Thrall
Necrotech and Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren

Reinforcements: Reaper
                           3 Scrap Thralls

A Tier 3 list, this list does nothing more than let me play the Kraken with Terminal Velocity. I may change it tTier 4 before the event by dropping the Defiler for another Slayer, but recent testing by Dave suggests an Arcnode to cast Void Gate through is quite a handy thing.

So we will see how we go. I probably won't get any practice with these lists before the event, but that doesn't phase me that much. I am just happy that Auckland is finally getting more events and I will be doing my best to attend them all.

Road to Rallypoint - On the painting merry-go-round

A wise man once said " Every journey starts with a single step". Very zen that and ultimately, it's rubbish. The journey to Rallypoint for me, like many people starts with a metric crapload of painting.

On the painting table this time round, 8 Bane Thrall grunts, 2 Bane Thrall UA's (one set converted from leftover grunts), 10 Bane Knights, a second Pistol Wraith, eGoreshade and the Kraken. While the urge to paint the Kraken first was great, I have made myself paint the infantry first. And after a couple of weeks, we have progress.

8 Bane Thralls

 

10 Bane Knights

 

 

This just leaves me the Pistol Wraith and the 2 UA's to paint, before I can move onto the Kraken.

On the gaming side of things, I made my weekly Sunday trip to the Dojo and found myself up against Matt Carrs Khador.

Matts list looked something like this;

Old Witch
Scrapjack
Beast 09
Juggernaught
Decimator

Greylords
Gorman
the Elven Hooker
full IFP with UA
Widowmakers


Unfortunately for Matt, the usual trick of shieldwalling IFPs after charging doesn't work so well against a Phantom Huntered Tartarus. 9 IFPs converted to Banes and the remainder fueling the Kraken and things were looking bleak for Matt. They got worse when the banes created by BLT then scrapped Scrapjack, made a huge dent in Beast-09 and tied up the Juggernaught.

 Although Matt tried to sneaky a win with a crafty Decimator shot on Goreshade whom I hadn't bothered Occulating. (Lesson from this game, always Occulate, you never know where the shot that kills you may come from.) the game ended on my turn 4 with the Kraken assassinating the Old Witch in melee.

Although things went pretty much all my way this game, it was nice to see the Kraken finally do some damage, killing something every turn, with both Ranged and Melee attacks. And to get the assassination with it was just the icing on the cake. Hopefully, this means I am starting to get the hang of the thing.

 

The Road to Rallypoint

Like many people, I try to field  at least 1 new list at a tournament. This helps grow the learning curve, and also keeps the game fresh, both for myself and my opponents.

For Rallypoint, I have already decided that I was going to take the new Cryx Collossal, the Kraken.  After careful consideration of the casters that offer the most to the Tentacled Squid-bot, I have decided on a Goreshade the Cursed  list. This decision was mainly down to Phantom Hunter. A RNG 16, POW 14-17 gun that ignores LOS, cover and concealment and has a 4inch AOE. Yes, please. Add in the 4 inch melee range or 2 inch Sweep Power Attack that also ignore LOS and cover and you're are (hopefully) on to a winner.

Of course it wouldn't be a eGoreshade list without Banes, lots and lots of Banes. And then, for variety, MOAR BANEZ!!11!!! 

Goreshade the Cursed Tier 3 - 50pnts

eGoreshade - +5
    Scarlock Thrall
    Kraken

Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech + Scrap Thrall
3 Scrap Thralls
3 Scrap Thralls
Pistol Wraith

Max Bane Thralls w/UA
Max Bane Thralls w/ free UA (tier bonus)
Withershadow Combine

Reserves: Full Bane Knights

After a couple of games so far with this list, 3 things stick out:

1:  The Kraken will require a lot of practice to get the best out of. So far I think I have been too tentative in it's use, trying for the lucky Phantom Hunter assassination. I probably need to be a little more aggressive with it early game to collect some corpses and power up.

2: Although it is a Collossal, the Kraken WILL get one rounded by a halfway useful heavy. Stentus Maximus did it with Snapjaw and Luke B was damn unlucky not to do it with his EBDT. Screening charge lanes is something I need to get better at.

3: Full power Bane Thralls are some of the most fun shit I have used in a long time.  Tough + Dead Rise from the UA, (of which Goreshade allows me two of)  + Goreshades Elite Cadre rule (any warrior model killed by a Bane Thrall is ressurected as another Bane Thrall) + BLTs Bane friendly bag of tricks + eGoreshades feat  =  much hilarity for me and much muttering and cursing by opponents. This is definately something I need to learn to exploit better.

So more practice is definately required in the 4? weeks leading up to Rallypoint as well as a metric crapton of painting. Hopefully, progress will be made somewhere along the line.

Out of the darkness and into the light.

Rejoice, tremble, yawn, for I have returned.

The hideout has been neglected for many years while I got busy with life. But once again, I feel the urge to ramble on to strangers about the games I play and the awesome ideas for lists and terrain and other stuff that I have.

Some things have changed. I no longer play Warhammer Fantasy. This will no doubt cause the fantasy types who use to follow my blog to drop it forthwith. Thats fine, I completely understand.

My main source of plasti-crack these days is Warmachine. Much of this blog will be Warmachine related, everything from list ramblings, to my latest idea for a themed table to tournament reports.

I also play a little bit of Heroclix and not-as-much-as-i-would-like Bloodbowl, both Tabletop and online at FUMBBL. There will be bits and pieces on these subjects too.

Now I just need to decide which project deserves the honour of being the first to be revealed to the masses.


EDIT: Go visit some of the other blogs and sites in the side bar. They're all top blokes with awesome gaming content.