2014 Wrap Up

As 2014 draws to a close, I figure I should do a quick wrap of the last half of the year. I took part in 2 Warmachine and 2 X-wing events, all of which were an absolute blast and all taught me lessons along the way.

Lords of Ruin, in Wellington taught me not to second guess myself and play the lists that I am enjoying at the time. I had planned on taking my pSkarre Incorporeal spam list to Wellington, but ended up second guessing myself and taking a "special snowflake" pDenny list instead. I managed just 2 practice games with the Denny list before the event and even though I won both of them I went into the event with zero confidence in that list. As a result, I ended up playing eLich for all 7 games and probably not having as much fun as I could have. Looking back, there was probably at least 1 game where I should have dropped the Denny list, but didn't, due to the lack of confidence.

Choptember on the other hand, taught me that sometimes you should just pull the trigger if you get the chance. Having started the day 2-0, I went into the third round against Runes of War with a pDenny + Banes + shooting list that was designed to both attrition and play for the Scourge 'Pop-n-drop'. I had a shot at a Turn 2 assassination but was a little iffy on whether one of the two Pistol Wraiths had range to Doomshaper. After umming and ahhing for far to long I decided to play the long game and ended up clocking out.
 In hindsight I should have gone for it, recognising two key points:
   1) Against Runeshapers the Pistol Wraiths were never going to last very long anyway and throwing them foward for a possible assassination early was not going to cost me much.
  2) If I moved the iffy Pistol Wraith first and found he was out of range, I still could have redirected the second one somewhere else to do some good (like killing that trollop Jannissa). In the end they both just dithered around, did nothing particularly useful  and then got killed.

On the Xwing front, I took part in both the Auckland Regional event and the National event, both of which taught me two very separate lessons.

Auckland Regionals taught me that no plan survives contact with the enemy and complex Rube Goldberg machines tend to fall apart when your opponent starts to deny you the actions you require to fuel said machine. Nationals on the other hand taught me that spreading your firepower over multiple smaller ships is generally better than concentrating all your points into a pair of hefty ships. Having said that, the Xwing meta is constantly changing and I am not particularly good at the game so it may just be my bad read of the metastate combined with being generally bad that is my problem.

I also managed to paint a bunch of stuff so lets take a look at some awful photos shall we....

Wraith Engine: Painted it in time for Lords of Ruin, but ended up not taking it. Good chance it could make its debut at Ides of March 2015.

Bane Riders: these did make it to Lords of Ruin. Did some work, but will take some practice to get the most out of them.

Aiakos: Also made it to Wellington as part of the pDenny jank list, never saw tabletime. Greivous Wounds Kraken was some fun in practice  though..

Also made a start on my fledgling Trollblood army with Fennblades....

as well as Grim1 and everyones favourite troll solo, Jannissa Stonetide, AKA that bitch with the wall..

I have also managed to paint a couple of Legion models, a Strider Deathstalker and a Shepherd, but thier photo was even worse than the ones above so will have to wait until next time.

All in all, a productive few months to end the year. What am I looking at for next year? I really want to start playing some Legion or Trolls next year and I am targeting the Auckland Open for my first competitive Hordes outing. Unfortunately, this is a 3 list event, which will require a lot of painting for me to be ready by April, so we shall see how it goes.

Hope everyone has a safe and game filled holiday season, and until next year...

Get off my lawn.

Time to join the gang...

I've managed to get through a bit of painting in the last couple of months but have only just got around to taking photos so heres a photo dump.

Flames of War - 1500 point Fallschirmjager list.

I needed to finish painting my FJ list for my first ever FoW tournament at the end of June (Wolfcry) I had done all the infantry earlier for a TCOW FoW-Noob challenge, but needed to paint some tanks (Tiger 1s and Panzer IVs)

 

I bodged up some HYDRA decals for them and gave them a pretty blue barrel-glow to simulate Teseract-powered weaponry. I also painted up a Red Skull CO model to lead the army (not pictured)

Legion of Everblight Battlebox.

The first of two new Hordes factions I am starting this year, I needed to get two battleboxes painted to be able to apply for Pressgang membership.

 

Trollblood Battlebox.

With the new releases spoiled at Lock n Load, the Troll box is the one that has me most enthused at the moment, although I'm sure that will change once we see the rules for eAbby and the beast packs

To add to this decent amount of progress (for me) I also found time to design and cut a custom transport box for my Wraith Engine.

I have since added a large amount of padding and can shake the box with the Engine inside it and hear not a single rattle, which is perfect.

 

Whats next??

Next on the paint list is finishing the Wraith Engine, because I will need it for Lords of Ruin in September (I can hear the screams of masses already). Then I need to actually work out what lists I will be taking and whether I need to paint the Bane Riders as well.

I will also be running the Warmachine event at Wolfcry in a couple of weeks. If you haven't signed up already details can be found HERE

To Do List:

Bloodbowl:
Humans - 4/12
Skaven - 0/13
Goblins - 0/23

Malifaux:
Dark Debts crew - 0/7

Flames of War:
Fallschirmjager army - done

Warmachine:
Blackbanes Ghost Raiders - done
Revenent Crew - 0/10
Darraghe Wrathe
Goreshade 1
Saxon Orrik - done
Bane Riders - 0/5
Wraith Engine

Hordes:
Trollblood Battlebox - done
Legion Battlebox - done
Blighted Ogrun Warspears - 0/5
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Strider Deathstalker


Now, get off my lawn.....

Ides 2014 - Making the Wraith Engine Legit (Day 2)

Game 5: JS Imbeau (Gators)

Poor JS. If theres one thing he hates in this game above all other things, it's Cryx. So my pSkarre, Incorporeal spam list gave him absolute fits. Which made my black heart happy. With no magic weapons in his lists, JS was always on the back foot, although the inate toughness of Gatormen Posse meant that this game sort of turned into a grind. On my left, Blackbanes Raiders tied up a Posse in one zone, not attacking them at all, just marking them man for man, safe in the knowledge that they couldn't be hurt and daring the Gators to risk the free strike to be relevant. On the other side, the witches and Bloodgorgers dealt with the other 2 Posse, while the Wraith Engine one rounded the Wrastler and Spitter in back to back turns. Skarre then tried a spell assassination. Hitting the first Hellfire and forcing a tough check which Barnabus made. Knocked down, Barnabus should have presented an easy target to finish off however the dice said no. Two more Hellfires were thrown at Barnabus both of which missed on double ones. Thankfully, I tend to build redundancies into my assassination runs these days (having seen too many "sure things" blow up in my face) and the last two Bloodgorgers ambled over to Barnabus and finished him off.

Game 6: Nikola Jaksic: (Legion)

Another Legion player with no magic weapons, so out came the Skarre list again, he dropped eVayl. I went first, everything ran up and Skarre ran up behind the objective. Then Nikola announced he may as well try the turn 1 assassination as that was the only chance he had. At which point my butt puckered a bit. Carnivean ran forward, Vayl hit it with the Occulus to turn him into an arc node. First Obliteration hit, doing half a dozen damage to Skarre and killing her necro-surgeon. I held my breath as he rolled for the second Obliteration and breathed a sigh of relief as the second missed and scattered harmlessly into the distance. After that, the rest of the game went pretty much to plan, with Feat-boosted infantry and Wraith Engine killing off his beasts while the Blackbanes started converting legionnaires and pot holders to the cause. Game ended with the Wraith Engine one-shotting Vayl and collecting 5 CPs.

Game 7: Ian "Heartbreaker" Hart. (Legion)

The CP haul in game 6 landed me in the 3rd place playoff vs Ians Legion. Ian also had no Naga, so once again I went with Skarres incorporeal horde of doom. Ian played a great game, wheeling his army to one flank, thereby denying the Blackbanes and Bloodgorgers a chance to make a meaningful contribution on feat turn. Typhons Dark Sentinel ability stuffed me twice and stopped me from killing him a couple of times and in the end it was Typhon that sprayed Skarre to death.
 Ian played a great game and showed that the lack of magical weapons vs Incorporeal doesn't mean the game is over if you are good enough. Ian was and thoroughly deserved his 3rd place.

Overall, I ended up finishing 7th and won Best in Faction (my first). I also took full advantage of the 30% discount all competitors received from Slave to Painting to pick up a Wraith Engine of my own (I had borrowed a mates for the weekend), as well as the Hordes 2 player Starter Box. (I'm starting Legion, because I'm a terrible human being).

Big thanks to Dave for running another stellar event and thanks to all my opponents for a great weekend. I'll see some of you at Wolfcry in June and everyone else at Lords of Ruin in September.

Now, get off my lawn...

Ides 2014 - Making the Wraith Engine Legit (Day 1).

Ides of March, the preeminent event on the Auckland Warmachine calendar. Expertly run by all round nice guy Dave Stent, Ides is one of the "Big 3" not-to-be-missed events as far as Warmachine/Hordes is concerned (The others being Rallypoint in Hamilton and Call to Arms/Lords of Ruin in Wellington).

My lists consisted of one old faithful and a return to a favoured caster, with a new flavour.

List 1:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
* Deathripper
* Deathripper
Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard
Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Machine Wraith
Saxon Orrik

Basically the usual eGaspy nonsense, nothing too innovative here.

 List 2:

Pirate Queen Skarre
* Ripjaw
* Ripjaw
* Skarlock Thrall
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts)
General Gerlak Slaughterborn
Bloodgorgers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls
Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Satyxis Blood Hag
Wraith Engine

This list threw a few people. I had given the incorporeal spam a try at Battlecry @ 35 points and found it susceptible to magical AOE spells (Hellfire, Obliteration et al), hence the addition of the Wraith Engine. Its ability to give incorporeal models immunity to blast damage as well as its ability to throw out 3 fully boosted P+S 22 reach attacks on feat turn as well as dishing out clouds to protect a caster if needed suggested to me that it may be better than the Internets would have us believe.

So braving the "horrors" of Cyclone Lusi, 40 of us lined up for Round 1.

Round 1: Dan Conlon (Cygnar)

Sweet! I had never played Dan before so this was going to be great. Then I looked at his lists and damn near scooped on the spot.Striker with a bunch of Gun Mages and eHaley with a bunch of Gun Mages and Stormwall.
 Being a complete scrub, I panicked and confused eHaley for pHaley, immediately thinking "that both lists shoot my Skarre list to death and Haley completely shuts down  Gaspy with TB and oh god I'm screwed right from the start, this is terrible and wait...what was that Dan? I have my Haleys mixed up?? Oh, that's completely different then."

So Dan dropped Haley (obviously) and I chose Gaspy (obviously). A misplaced Mage Storm from Dan in turn 2 cost him 90% of his Gun Mages and 2/3rds of the Black 13th as my Bile Thralls just walked between it and a wall and proceeded to purge all over his very squishy dudes. Shooting from the Stormwall cut down swathes of Banes of both varieties, before Gaspys Feat deleted the Stormwall and some support staff (Squire, Junior). After a brief scare from Horsemages trying to shoot Gaspy in the back, I managed to win on scenario 5-0.

Round 2: Tony the Unpronounceable (Retribution)

Battlemages and the like spelt instant doom for the Skarre list, so I dropped Gaspy again. Tony dropped Rahn. I had never played against Rahn before. Bottom of turn two, I learnt what Rahn does.

Oh well, gave me plenty of time to eat my lunch and have a look around at some other games.

Round 3: Greg Fitchew (Legion)

Neither of Gregs list contained a Naga or Hex Hunters, so I dropped the Skarre list. He dropped Saeryn. We met in the middle and he popped her Feat, while I just tried to pin down his beasts. I popped my Feat defensively, while the Blackbanes deleted some of his support staff. Then sat back and waited to see what I would have left after his next turn. Turns out my sheer numbers made it difficult for him to place his beasts in the best positions. His Carnivean charged the ARM 23 Wraith Engine and failed to kill it, while an Angelius tried an assassination run on Skarre (at ARM 28) only to eat a free strike from a Blackbane (still under my feat) which proceeded to remove its body completely and set it on fire. Next turn, I manage to remove his Angels and Raek (1-shotted the Raek with a Ripjaw), while the witches also managed to put some hurt on Saeryn and kill some pot handlers, fuelling the Wraith Engine. Bloodgorgers softened up the Carnivean, before the Wraith Engine finished it off and then proceeded to suck Saeryns soul out through the space where the top of her head used to be.

Round 4: Nick Garden (Trolls)

Nick dropped Borka and I dropped Gaspy again, knowing full well the trouble the Krielstone would cause my Skarre list.
My first wave of Banes deleted the Fennblades and dinged up the Warders then got smashed off the table in return. Feated Banes then removed the Warders and Mulg. Borka tried to kill Gaspy by charging the Biles next to him, but couldn't connect with him over the wall he was (heroically) hiding behind. Gaspy poked Borka in the chest in return, doing decent damage and forcing him to drunkenly stumble away, before Gorman black oiled him and the bile thralls proceed to spray him to death.

So the end of day one saw me at 3-1, probably my best first day at an event in the 2 years I've been playing the game and had me feeling pretty good about my prospects for day 2.

Progress and Battlecry and stuff.....

So just over 2 months since my last update.....not bad for me.

The big question is of course: "Did I get anything done in those 2 months"?

Yes, yes I did, thanks for asking. Not as much as I would have liked admittedly, but enough.

• Watched a LOT of Battlestar Galactica
•  Finished painting Blackbanes Ghost Raiders - OK, I admit these are a bit of a cheat, as I painted them ethereal, but they're painted.
•  Done the conversion work needed on my Human Blood Bowl team, to make them "more than human" and fitting more with my X-Men theme.
•  Played around with the Corporation Marines I was going to use for Necromunda, decided they were too small and that I didn't like them, put them back in their case and threw them into the back of the wardrobe, probably never to been seen again.
•  Lost 9.5kgs since New Years (This is where a lot of my time has gone, in the gym or 6km walks up and down Birkdale hill)
•  Ran the Warmachine tournament at Battlecry, (results can be found HERE).

So, not a terrible 2 months. Could I have got more done? Most definitely, but Marvel Avengers Alliance won't play itself, so we do what we can in the meantime.

Now get off my lawn.