Super Dungeon Explore

So yeah, wow. At $100 (AUD), I picked this beauty up from the LGS yesterday and boy was it worth it.

I'd read the demo rules way back when they were released and been eagerly awaiting this game for something in the realms of 12 to 18 months, and it certainly didn't disappoint.




Movement? Dead easy. Attacks/defence? Fairly basic. Cuteness? Not quite as over the top as I expected, but once the models are painted I can definitely see it overflowing. Replayability? Fairly high with eight different heroes, and the obvious room for expansion. It looks from the rulebook like it's been built strongly around having expansions, and they can't come soon enough for me.

Daniela (Nailyon) and I had our first go of it last night, and bar some accidents, a few misreads, a bottle of wine and a pair of bad headaches we had a good amount of fun with it. I had to laugh at how long we took, I think our first "30 minute" game was closer to the two hour mark, but I lay the blame for that mostly on my own lack of pre reading. What, I had models to put together I didn't have to pin, ok?




Speaking of, I quite like them. Like any of the model based boardgames we see these days they've got a fairly decent yet minimalistic amount of detail, which with painting will look great. I needed to glue them together, as most didn't have much purchase on the dry fit, and about my only complaint was there not being a big warning saying "dude, bring glue!".




So whats next? Well, Daniela has a handful of heroes and the cute dragon stuff to cleanup, fill cracks on, and paint, while I've got the majority to browbeat the guys into learning to play with. I'm strongly considering getting a second set for dice/heroes/tiles, and I'm thinking it's worth taking a look at my Terraclips for alternate boards.

I'm thinking of converting the second box a tad if I get one. The fire mage could use a dragon head on her staff, that paladin is just asking for a Menite or Morrowan shield and goggles, and a couple of the others could use some steampunking or general conversion work. Paint wise I'd like to get names on the bases too, it's easy to remember which kobold is which with cards in front of me but opponents could use a hand.

Oh, and I'm thinking Cryx might make good Kobolds. You know, if I run out or something. Mechanithralls, Skarlocks, Slayers, and the Deathjack come to mind...

Creativity

In many forms, I've always been the creative type. Starting back as early as my first decade I was painting models, but todays imminent posting of my latest work on Lost Hemisphere has me very nervous, and thus I'm comforting myself with a stroll through the past.




Part of my first real foray onto the internet was with Baldur's Gate. Still one of the best RPG series of alltime, I loved the Infinity Engine games, and ran a small website hosted on (and eventually deleted without warning by, insert long standing grudge) Gamespy. House Atreus was dedicated to portraits, voicepacks, strats, and scripts, the only legacy remaining a single voicepack on Fileplanet.




The community I was first really an engaged part of was the online Spelljammer community, now carefully cached at Beyond The Moons. I wrote a metric fuck ton for my campaign setting, Star of Enerithon, including character prose, mass plotlines, and even worked on some 3d art. Not a lot of it made it online to my webpage House Enildarion, but between that and BtM I still get a good nostalgic surf every few years.




My boy Korgesh here, named for one of the main Enerithon villains, became a focus for many years when World of Warcraft came out, but even there the muscles flexed. I made a few boss fight videos in my raiding days, including a Kael'Thas kill vid with a voiced in character intro by Korgesh still possibly available. Most of my work on videos was fairly standard, and again not all of it made it to the intertubes, but I have a dvd of a score or so videos I pop out occasionally and watch, glass of Jack in hand.

The less said about Korgesh and Demron's RP days on feathermoon the better ;)




The last big creative project was The Morrowguard. I began work on them around a year ago, after a long desire to paint Precursors, and it was my first in depth creative strike upon the world of Warmachine. I'd been a PG for 5 years at the time, and I'd painted nearly every army in existence, but this was my showcase army, and has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for Cygnar overall. I'll be fielding elements of the Morrowguard this weekend at our Longest Night event, so maybe it's fitting that I should start on some fiction for them now that Clad in Iron is about to hit the public?

Time will tell, first I have to finish Seething with Rage, then Unstable Cortex, and there's still A Faithful Reckoning and Clad's followup to write.

Circle of Journeyman

This last month saw the end of the Infinity Games Journeyman league, and the start of The Hobby Matrixs league. The blessing of two stores and two leagues means still earning those patches while getting to play something different. I'd had my partner, Nailyon's, circle sitting at my place for some time, so I thought it was time to slap some paint on Kromac and eat some hearts. Tuesday night is random gaming night at Infinity, so I warmed up with this list. I had to proxy a couple of figures, as the photos will show (one Whitemane in first game, two Tharn in the second)

Army Name: 35 Kromac Eat Your Heart Out
Circle Orboros
Theme Force: Heart Eaters Tier 4
35+4 points, 17 models

Kromac the Ravenous +4 points
* Gorax 4 points
* Warpwolf Stalker 10 points

Lord of the Feast 4 points
2x Tharn Ravager White Mane 3 points each
4 Tharn Ravagers 6 points
6 Tharn Ravagers 9 points
* Tharn Ravager Chieftain




I got two games in before switching to a pre arranged Dystopian Wars game. The first was against Khador, my old buddy Kristian (the most enthusiastic man you'll ever meet) did great against my list (which had a third Whitemane instead of extra Tharn in the chief's unit). Despite early heavy losses of his IFP to the non chieftained unit, Irusk1's troops turned the tide and gave my boy a fair whalloping, my erstwhile opponent completely tabling me.




The second game was against Shaun and Siege. Shaun's one of our newer players, joining up around six months ago. His boy, Harry, had done us all proud coming 5th in the Infinity league, but unfortunately his old man went down against the Ravager army. Highlights included a Ground Pounder/Arcane Tempest against the pictured Tharn swarm on Siege's feat turn, after I foolishly clumped them up to take down a Stormclad. In the end the Stalker got up and Trampled across the gun mages with the Goraxs Primal animus on it and chopped Siege in two with a Berserk hit and a purchased attack, nabbing the win.

Tonight I'm heading to Hobby Matrix, so here's the list.

Army Name: 25 Kromac JM
Circle Orboros
Theme Force: Heart Eaters Tier 2
25+4 points, 13 models

Kromac the Ravenous +4 points
* 2x Argus 4 points each
* Feral Warpwolf 9 points

4 Tharn Ravagers 6 points
* Tharn Ravager Chieftain
4 Tharn Ravagers 6 points




Ignore the Whitemanes and LOTF in
The pic above.

Obviously I've got a bit of painting to go, but I'm really happy with how Kromac turned out, so after some fun games tonight I'll head home, throw a movie or two on, and see if I can't at least get one unit finished. I'm loving Kromac's theme, although I don't expect it to do as well with the Circle BB tonight. My rollings been particularly abysmal lately, but Wild Aggression, Heart Tokens, and the ravenous one's feat should help make up for that.

Either way, feels good to Play like I've Got A Pair.

Journeymany

I'm on my way out to Fairview park this evening for Hobby Matrix's first night of Journeyman tonight. I've decided to go with Circle, because I know I won't get out there much to play, but I have a ton of Daniela's bare metal models at my place to paint up. In particular, I want to work on the following list, of which only the Stalker & Weavers are painted.

Army Name: 50 Kromac TierA
Circle Orboros
Theme Force: Heart Eaters Tier 4
50+4 points, 30 models

Kromac the Ravenous +4 points
* Argus 4 points
* Gorax 4 points
* Warpwolf Stalker 10 points

Lord of the Feast 4 points
6 Tharn Bloodtrackers 5 points
* Nuala The Huntress 2 points
Tharn Bloodweavers 5 points
2x Tharn Ravager White Mane 3 points each
4 Tharn Ravagers 6 points
* Tharn Ravager Chieftain
4 Tharn Ravagers 6 points
* Tharn Ravager Chieftain 2 points

It's Tier 4, giving me a Stealthed battlegroup first round, and Advance Move on one warbeast. I had the pleasure of facing a Trampling Stalker with an Argus' Animus on it this week, with that and Berserk it made a mess of some of the Morrowguard, so this will give me a good project for a bit. I'll get a bunch of Hobby Points, a nice heavy infantry theme list, and a ton of fun painting the autumn style Circle I can picture in my head. After Kromac I want to hit Cassius, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.




Infinity Games' Journeyman league is in week 5, and as you can see Connie got out for some fun. I'm currently in the lead on 45 Game Points + 14 Hobby Points, winning the former thus far but too far behind on the latter to catch Ross on 19 points without literally buying models to paint.




It's been fantastic, and I've really enjoyed the push it's given me to paint. Here you can see the latest additions, Sword Knights for the Morrowguard, my Runewood, and another Gallant inspired conversion - Itkovian. I gotta say, the new plastic light jacks are huge, he really dwarfs my old Charger, but considering he's taken down a handful of beasts already, I think he deserves that fourth Gallant kit I purchased. Itkovian was the Grey Swords' Shield Anvil in Memories of Ice, the fourth (?) Malazan novel, and this guy has taken it on the chin a bit like his namesake, but done well enough in his own right.




Lastly, I got my second game of Unbound in last week against our mad Scottsman, Kris. All looks shiny and rosy above, but unfortunately every plan failed me as every dice roll went the wrong way, from fleeing Trenchers, to Overtake Stryker2 completely fluffing his assassination run on Barnabas. Conny I lost being too ballsy early on, and not only did Mulg Crit:Slam the Centurion into Gallant on top of a Stormsmith finishing the three of them off, he later used a similarly propelled Haley1 to get Runewood, massacreing the remnants of my command as my last warcaster fell. I tell you, I love Unbound, but so far the game has taken a sharp nasty turn the minute a Warlock or Warcaster is down, I hope it's not going to be a continuing trend.

Hobby Matrix 25pts

This weekend was my young PG apprentice Nic's first tournament, which turned out to be a great showing. The Hobby Matrix is relatively new to Warmachine, but they had six locals and four of us interlopers from the long standing home of Warmachine & Hordes in Adelaide, Infinity Games.

The veterans, myself included, ended up taking the top three spots, but far more importantly we had a ton of fun games, and the newer crowd learnt a few tricks.

Here's my list.

Army Name: 25 Conny
Cygnar
25+6 points, 25 models

Constance Blaize +6 points
* Gallant 9 points

Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
10 Precursor Knights 8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points
Trencher Chain Gun Crew 2 points
Trencher Chain Gun Crew 2 points
6 Trenchers 6 points




Check our that dice roll! Against one of the newest of the new, a Precursor got an incredibly brutal charge in Morrows Name on Stryker1 and ended his life with no less than 3 sixes and 1 five on the damage roll. We had a great game, I taught my opponent a few things, and was incredibly impressed with his skill, doubly so when he later revealed it was his first game ever. You wouldn't have known, I expect this bloke (whose name escapes me, I'm going to have to go back to keeping a log) to fight fierce in coming weeks.




Next up was Aleks, with a Mangler heavy Magnus1 list. Unfortunately he'd purchased out of store and been sent the wrong thing (like everyone I've known to do so recently) - most people would love a free heavy for a light cost, but when it's Magnus and that light was a Renegade, not so much.

This bloke managed to leave Constance on 6 hit points on her feat turn while she was at ARM25, and would have got her had he gone for her first and her infantry later. I'd have suggested that but I didn't realise he was going for her until halfway through his turn when she took the (lone) Renegade rocket to the face.

A spray from Magnus and even an Arcane Bolt almost finished her off, but unfortunately it wasn't to be, and with Gallant Trampling up over my own Harlan Versh and denting The Traitor a bit, Constance herself brought the man down thanks to Flank and 11 focus worth of swings. Any opponent that leaves me on 6 health while I have ARM25 is worth respect, I'm hoping to get another game against Aleks soon.




Inevitably I had to face her, and Daniela was as unmerciless as I as Shae came to the table. Despite a feat turn and some lucky shots from Harlan Versh I just couldn't blow the man down, and here you can see what happens when a Precursor Knight is slammed by a cannomball into a warcaster, and there's a Freebooter in charge range. I probably should have taken her more west and used Sunburst to clear the models she moved up to kill, so this time it was me doing the learning, and Daniela went on to face Kris for the last match.




My last match up was Ben (I think? Names, argh!) and Khador. With a list only containing Sorscha1, a Wardog, Behemoth, Beast 09, Manhuntress and a Mortar, he did an incredible amount of damage to me. Unpictured is the remnants of my army, a mere handful of Precursors, but I taught my opponent a valuable lesson about keeping that extra 2 focus to Wind Rush away after popping his feat.

Constance finished Sorscha off again thanks to Flank and a ton of focus, but it was a close thing and I only just managed to her the War Dog out of the way to lower his melee DEF, even with Flank Constance needed 7's to hit so it was a very focus hungry strike, one miss and it would have been curtains for me next round.




At the end of the day a rather hungover Scottsman, Kris, won the day, and fun was had by all. I'm hopeful that with the Breast Cancer Brawl this year at 35pts we'll see some of these guys in the city, it's fantastic to play some new people and the BCB is always a fantastically fun event with prizes all over the place, and being for charity never hurts either ;)




I almost forgot - Daniela came second, and I got third! I gave her my winnings voucher for paint, and we spent the evening painting in the loungeroom

Morrowguard Update

Work on Gallant is coming along nicely, I'm hoping to finish him tonight.

MOAB is coming up at the start of next month, so I've put together some lists. Day 1 will just be the 50pt list below, with an alternate list featuring eStryker, Boomhowlers with Murdoch (Murdhowlers?), and some Trencher goodness. Day 2 is an escalating day, starting at 15pts Mangled Metal, then going up to 25, 35, and 50 pts of normal games. Each list must contain what the previous list had, so...

15pts
Constance Blaize +6 points
* Centurion 9 points
* Gallant 9 points

25pts
Constance Blaize +6 points
* Centurion 9 points
* Gallant 9 points
Archduke Alain Runewood 3 points
6 Precursor Knights 5 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
6 Precursor Knights 5 points

35pts
Constance Blaize +6 points
* Centurion 9 points
* Gallant 9 points
Archduke Alain Runewood 3 points
* Sentinel 4 points
6 Precursor Knights 5 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
6 Precursor Knights 5 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points
6 Sword Knights 4 points

50pts
Constance Blaize +6 points
* Centurion 9 points
* Gallant 9 points
Journeyman Warcaster 3 points
* Charger 4 points
Archduke Alain Runewood 3 points
* Sentinel 4 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
10 Precursor Knights 8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard
10 Precursor Knights 8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points
6 Sword Knights 4 points

Also on the painting table are the Sword Knights, the leader of which has a Gallant shield while his buddies have Precursor shields, a Sentinel with the book and shield of Gallant (did I mention I bought 3 kits? Yeah, I bought 3 kits), and a Centurion with an extended pike, Gallant cowl shoulders, and funnily enough another book on his upper body. I stopped short at giving him Gallant's sword instead of the end of the spear as it just looked a little too silly, but I'm still tossing around the idea of greensing up his shoulders like the Sword Knights.

Jonas Murdoch got painted quickly as well week before last, I'm looking forward to theming my second unit of Boomhowlers (I converted the first into Kriel warriors back in MKI when Boomhowlers were near useless).

Adelaide Championships, more events!

Last weekend the Adelaide Championships went off like Hoff, and it was on like Megatron! 22 locals planted their butts and bases and fought it out for a ton of prizes, after having gotten an even larger amount in their player packs, and I hosted my best Warmachine & Hordes weekend to date.



Faces old and new riddle the 80+ photos I took across the two days, including two interstaters, one of whom walked away with the title. Beware Michael Blyth, vengeance will be ours if I can make it to Arcanacon 2012, Great Bears or not!




The side event on the sunday gave me a chance to test some of the Iron Arena style tables I've been planning for my campaign day, the End of the Iron Kingdoms. I've been running scenario and/or table special rules every now and then for years to great enjoyment of my players, this weekends test included a sea battle with converted Uncharted Seas vessels, a four player King of the Hill table, some opposed Grind Jacks on a table with a Grinder, and Vinter Raelthorne himself in the desert akin to the start of Wrath. Al were good fun, so I'm working where I can on planning the event, but unfortunately my work leave has been denied for Arcanacon next year where I was going to run it as part of their '2012 End of the World' theme, so I'll have to make do with the much easier to swamp with my stuff venue here, unless new employment appears.




In between working on more Morrowguard conversions and my recent forays into the WoW TCG, I'm planning the next few months of local events. Breast Cancer Brawl is on the cards for October, while the Journeyman league from PP should hit in September. Everyones chomping at the bit for another tournament, so I'm hoping I can fit something small in during September at Infinity Games, unless The Hobby Matrix un-cancel their tournament plans.




As mentioned I've rediscovered the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, and you'll note above I've had some nice luck with cards. This $190ish card that turns into a mount for World of Warcraft (online MMO) players is going straight to the loveliest girl in all the land, my darling Daniela, who has put up with the dreaded 'PressGangerus Overenthusiasticus' over the last few months leading up to the Championships. Between that, the flowers, and the repeated beatings she gives me (usually at games), hopefully I'm doing my main calling and priority as well as the others.

Strakhov, Championship plans

I'm slowly getting stuff ready, but the Adelaide Championships at Infinity Games on the 20th/21st August are looking like they're gunna rock. We've got 18 signed up, with a few more lurking about, a ton of stuff for the player packs, and enough tables & terrain sorted. I've been a tad tempted to drop to three rounds on day 1, giving us a possible 4 clear winners to send to day 2 finals while everyone else plays a 35pt side event, but we have several awards for day 1 and I want to give everyone an extra round at them, even if it means someone with a loss heading to finals.




That's one of the new terrain pieces sans paint, which is in my bag ready for some work this week. We've aldo got some new Trollkin huts, a Proectorate fort, and Candy Mountain (from Charlie the Unicorn, I'll let you find the links yourself). I'm working on a sweet Farrow fire pit too, should look great on our desert board.

Meanwhile we have the old Hardcore awards with trophies, some local flavour with the Troll Slayer, Power Player (aka Dire Troll Hulk) and Liberty Prime awards, and for the side event we'll be awarding some Warmachine & Hordes icons to players. Tough will be for the most successful Tough rolls, Commander will be the best Army Points ratio, and Weapon Master will be for the most damage dealt by a warcaster/warlock.




The other thing I got to do this week was pop out to The Hobby Matrix for some games with my new favourite asshole, Kommander Strakhov. Such a bad ass that he needs two different first names, I love this guy, he can Stealth a Gun Carriage, send Great Bears rocketing across a table, or shoot a Warcaster to death after they've been hit by Assault Kommando gas bombs. In the first game, above, Sentry let me get out five rough terrain templates, while said gas clouds & Kommando Carbines ended pHaley, who had the turn before been set on fire before the Flamethrower WA was blown up by my own Great Bears, setting them alight too.




In this game I put a lot of hurt on PG Butler, but mostly just messed with his head in true bastard fashion. Highlights were Gun Carriage shells landing dead center in Trench templates, and my promise I'd kill Gunnbjorn if he didn't do something very specific in his own turn. That thing was move to not be just inside el Grande Bearo threat range, I only got two of them on him but he'd left himself on no fury - one was enough.

Hobby Matrix is nice, it's much smaller than Infinity but it's great to play on a nice table I haven't had to make myself. They have a 35pt Steamroller in September I'm planning to attend, and I'm gunna play in both their and Infinity's Journeyman leagues ASAP. Here's what I used, and will take back for September.

Army Name: 35 Strakhov GC
Khador
35+6 points, 21 models

Kommander Strakhov +6 points
* Berserker 6 points

10 Assault Kommandos 8 points
* 3 Assault Kommando Flame Throwers 3 points
Great Bears of Gallowswood 5 points
2x Gun Carriage 9 points each
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point

Mmm, Bastardry.

Game Night

Game night was great last night, once again we got a few new faces but I also ran into one of the guys from our far south group, Yeuw, and found out the store down there's no longer doing Warmachine/Hordes. It's a pity, they had a great group of guys very keen to play, hopefully we can get some of them on the tables in the city.




I had a lot of fun with Constance last night (pictured here in Mitchells second copy of Wrath with a secret identifier). In my first game I took on our Scottish import, Kris, and managed to Rowdy his vicious Barnabus right on it's bloody nose. He did a bit of damage, some nasty Wrastler hurling, but his feat turn just didn't cost me enough and left him close enough I was able to Sunburst and shank some stuff out of Ol Rowdy's way thanks to my own feat, and then send him rocketing in to nail the game. It's my first victory against Kris, he plays a LOT of Vassal and really knows his shit, I was quite glad to get him.




Game 2 for Ms Blaize was against newbie Marty's Trollbloods & pMadrak. He's had a lot of poor luck, but i'd not given him a game yet so I brought the same list to a terrain heavy mirrored fort table, and gave it a go. I did some early damage to his Champions (one unit of which was mine I'd given him), taking out the skulking Impaler, and blowing an Axer to shreds with some CRA's and Harlan Versh, but my Precursors failed to take down his Earthborn on their minifeat turn, and I saw a good trample hole he could make, so I taught him the finer points of Madraks ranged awesomeness, killing the Journeyman next to Blaize and leaving room for a trampling, feat'd Earthborn to get up in her face. It turns out Snacking Removes From Play, so my feat didn't help and Morrows light welcome her for Martys first ever win.




One game taking down a local heavyweight, and one coaching a new player to his first win. You can't have a better night than that, especially when the GF stays all night just to hang out and come home with ya.

Game night has been very awesome, it's great to see so many games and have a regular meet again. It's got people spending more in store too, and actively practicing scenarios in prep for tournaments. More than anything though is the camaraderie and community spirit, I urge everyone to come along, or start your own.

And always, Play Like You've Got A Pair.

Post ConVic

What a weekend that was! With Heath (Kojiro), Kris (the Mad Scott), and Nic (Butler) I travelled across to Melbourne for the first ever Warmachine & Hordes tournament at ConVic, a traditionally Fantasy Battle event. Mike Crossman (Mikecro), Joel Dodd (Necra-Chi), and Ed Brgoc (Badvolk) put on a fantastic fun event that was choccas with games, prizes, and people.







With some gorgeous trophies up for grabs, along with a ton of unpictured stuff including 2 25pt armies, best in faction trophies, and a Warjack box for each of the top 8, I was glad to see painting well represented with best painted army, solo, and warcaster, and a special prize taken by Terry Mo (T.Mo, who I had a great game against) for best flag/objective marker.







I did fairly poorly myself, my Machines of Hate taking the field 3 times while the Seething Thrax saw play but once. My Asphyxious matches were tight, and I had a great time, but Venethrax got hosed by legion when I overestimated his survivability against Bethayne.







I think my favourite match was against T.Mo and his gorgeous menites on the very same table I'd played Daniela & Dodgy on last year at Nationals in Brisbane. Mr Mo put up a real solid list, and Borka almost got him on scenario after single trollishly taking out the Avatar, but it wasn't to be, as Terry reminded me which of us is the real IK Terry, and taught me about a spell called Awareness when I risked not using Wind Wall.







The real winners were everyone who went though, as it was quite simply an incredible weekend. From the lads playing some dice game post round 4 saturday night to my own impromptu game against a new personal hero of mine Ed Brgoc, I can't speak more highly of the weekend. There were no dramas, grins everywhere, and a great number of us out in force - Arcanacon's now got a real competitor in my eyes for the top event, and I look forward to seeing how the age old institution at Collingwood goes with ConVic sure to shine again next year.

Leaving School

With a week and a half til my young apprentice Nic and I hop in a car and head to ConVic, I've dropped my Slaughter School list from my plans. I thought I'd have enough time to paint it across June, but between a death in the famil and a ton of other stuff it's just not happening, so Venethrax and his cloudy shennanigans are taking her place.

Here's my two lists.

Army Name: 50 Asphyxious Machines Of Hate
Cryx
Theme Force: Scavengers of the Line Tier 4
50+6 points, 50 models
Iron Lich Asphyxious +6 points
* Cankerworm 5 points
* Corruptor 7 points
* Defiler 5 points
* 2x Slayer 5 points each
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points
10 Bane Thralls 8 points
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3 points
Machine Wraith 1 point
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls 2 points
3x Necrotech 1 point each
3 Scrap Thralls

Cheap Corruptors & Slayers, AD Mechanithralls, a Wreck Marker for each jack 20" in, and +2 Spd to Warjacks 1st turn.


Army Name: 50 Seething Thrax
Cryx
Theme Force: The Dragon Slayers Tier 4
50+6 points, 40 models
Lich Lord Venethrax +6 points
* Reaper 7 points
* 2x Seether 8 points each
* 2x Stalker 4 points each
6 Bloodgorgers 5 points
General Gerlak Slaughterborn 3 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
* 1 Brute Thrall 1 point
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
* 1 Brute Thrall 1 point
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls 2 points
Pistol Wraith 3 points

Cheap Seethers, AD Trolls, AM Seethers, and a 3" cloud 20" per unit.

I'm gunna make it super easy on myself and throw Asphy at Warmachine armies and Venny at Hordes armies, along with taking along a T4 eGoreshade 'Host of Tartarus' list incase I get to and decide to play in finals.

I'm expecting a hard field, but also want to kick back and just have some fun, so I'll probably forfeit a finals spot (16 spots actually makes it likely) to play in the 35pt event on day 2, and bust out some Trollbloods. I'd planned to take the Farrow, but the more I look at them the more bland they are, I think they might stay shelved for a while yet.

Army Name: 35 Borka
Trollbloods
35+5 points, 24 models
Borka Kegslayer +5 points
* Pyg Keg Carrier
* Mulg the Ancient 12 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Bouncer 5 points
Janissa Stonetide 3 points
Lanyssa Ryssyl 2 points
Troll Whelps 2 points
10 Trollkin Fennblades 8 points
* Fennblade Officer & Drummer 2 points

Army Name: 35 eMadrak
Trollbloods
35+5 points, 20 models
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender +5 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
Fell Caller Hero 3 points
Horthol, Long Rider Hero 5 points
10 Trollkin Fennblades 8 points
* Fennblade Officer & Drummer 2 points
3 Trollkin Long Riders 7 points

It actually looks a little competituve, so we'll see how I go. I really think I should drop that Bouncer for Dannon Blythe & Bull, but I can't find their damn card. Borka has Wind Wall, so I just don't see Shield Guard as that much use, but I do love the look on the Bouncer - decisions decisions.




I had a 50pt against Daniela the other day, and Janissa got a Rage & Blood Fury, Armour Piercing charge on Megalith and ripped him almost off the board, I want to see if I can use her more aggresively than I've seen others do.








Also it was my birthday, and one cake was not enough.

Slaughter Schools's First Outing

Unfortunately my phone died on me as I was saving the finished blog post last night, but I'll do my best to recreate in all it's glory.

After a particularly craptastic few weeks culminating in a funeral, I finly got the Satyxis on the table. Playing alongside Borka under partner Daniela/Nailyons control was a Mauler, Mulg, 2 Bouncers, max Champions, min Fennblades with UA, a Fellcaller, and minimum Krielstone with UA. on my team - all the hot bitches (apart from the one running the Trollbloods).

Army Name: 50 eSkarre Slaughter School
Cryx
Theme Force: Merchants of Death Tier 4
50+6 points, 41 models

Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast +6 points
* Leviathan 9 points
* 2x Nightwretch 4 points each
* Reaper 7 points

10 Satyxis Blood Witches 6 points
* Satyxis Blood Hag 2 points
3x Satyxis Raider Captain 2 points each
10 Satyxis Raiders 8 points
* Satyxis Sea Witch
10 Satyxis Raiders 8 points
* Satyxis Sea Witch 2 points




As a Tier 4 theme force I was enthusiastic to add my 2" to deployment on such a fast army. Setting up for an early strike at both flanks to be followed by some nasty in the middle, the girls faced a slightly off centre brick with all of the beasts down one flank, and the light but possibly deadly Fennblades on the other.




Having gone first and pushed on both flanks, playing Killbox>, I threw Admonition on the Leviathan to give him some extra mobility while everything rushed forward. The Fennblades responded with a mini-feat No Quarter charge, cutting down a few Satyxis and engaging a couple more. The rest of the Trollbloods sauntered forward, with Borka hiding in a Wind Wall safe from the Leviathan. He was a little out on the edge though, so I resolved to try and get an early hit in my round 2.




Boy did a lot happen in Round 2. On the western flank the Satyxis ripped all but two of the Fennblades and their Drummer a new one, with a Nightwretch sneaking past the reach of the one remaining in the trench to take out the Officer with a boosted shot. In the centre the Blood Witches sliced the Champions to ribbons, Entropic Force from the Blood Hag preventing all those pesky Tough rolls, while Death Strike bounced some Stone Scribe enhanced strength POW hits from the dying Champions onto the Krielstone unit cleaning most of them out. The Leviathan and Reaper threw some extra hurt on Champions, finishing all but one off. With Blood Shadow popped the Witches became Incorporeal for the rest of the round, allowing some Power Swell charging Raiders close in from the east and rip down the last of the Krielstone Bearers. With no armour buff left the Mauler and Mulg took a ton of hits, and one lonely Raider on the fringe took a whip crack at Borka but missed. Skarre moved up a bit, and watched in horror as my lovely opponent responded in kind.

With Borka healing Mulg to functionality and putting his feat up, having thrown it's animus on Mulg the Mauler trampled straight across a whole mess of Satyxis. Mulg follow up with another trample at 90 degrees to the mauler, Snacking down three Raiders. Forcing for some extra swings he crushed the skull of a Raider Captain, and then in two blows including a crit slam sent the Reaper flying back into a trench, wrecked before it even hit the wall, leaving a wreck marker in eSkarres way. The Leviathan had escaped a similar punishment thanks to Admonition, but the Fell Caller charged and wrecked a Nightwretch on the west, and the Fennblades felled another Captain and almost took out the only UA to not yet use it's minifeat. One of the Bouncers crushed a Satyxis or two, while the other tore the Arc Node from
a Nightwretch with his shield.




Running low on heavy hitters, it was time for eSkarre to really get involved. A slam from her Leviathan sent Mulg flying down into the trench, giving her the perfect charge lane and a knocked down target to wail on. With sword, rack, and gunblade she ruined Mulgs day, leaving not even a tiny piece of him in the bottom of the trench. Popping her feat she locked the Mauler out of action and protected herself, the Leviathan, last Nightwretch, and one remaining Raider Captain, while her Satyxis swarmed the Mauler, tore the Fellcaller to ribbons, and sent the Fennblades to Dhunia. The Nightwretch happily walked out of melee with a Bouncer to take a shot at Borka but missed.

In her turn Daniela didn't have a lot left, but she managed to lock down eSkarre at the reach range of both Bouncers - moving toward either in my turn would give a free strike, and also crushed the skull of another Raider or two. Borka glared menacingly at the Nightwretch, protecting himself from further trouble with a Wind Wall.




With a surprising Throw, the Leviathan was Bumped back into the trench by a Bouncer Animus I'd missed but managed to free eSkarre to move. The Witches and Raider Captain fibished off the Mauler, but in a bone headed move I lost eSkarre to a Bouncer free strike - casting Admonition on herself before moving left her on two less focus, and the Bouncer managed to send her to the ground on exact numbers, leaving the School Mistress with a rather bad headache cursing her master's stupidity.

Wow, what a battle! Despite an army of infantry with POW8 to 10, the Satyxis theme really packs some damage. Those Power Swells, Entropic Force, and Death Strike really laid waste to my opponents core, and I didn't even get a good target for Black Spot or Blood Rain. I did forget to mention the single casting of Perdition in round 2 through an Arc Node, but it did miss and my Reaper whom I'd wanted the move for hit what he wanted anyway. Those Bouncers didnt seem to do a lot actively, but with Bump, reach, and 21 armour under the Stone's aura I think I can be forgiven allowing them to be a passive force.

Daniela did quite well, and I'm not sure where it'd have gone had I not fallen to the Free Strike, butwe both had a great time, and I'm loving the Merchants of Death theme force.

Khador revisit and new Asphyxious

Surrounded by enemies on all sides, my new gorgeous winged Asphyxious finally saw the light of day at the Infinity Games gaming night this week, in my first game of the Money for Blood, and Blood for Money league I'm running. Strangely enough the day was not won by my dark lord, but with a system encouraging control points as well as caster kills for the league score, with playing being the primary point scorer and winning secondary like Shattered Grounds, even losing in a four way King of The Hill gave good points and was a blast.

With a 35 point Steamroller scheduled for May 29th I should be able to get a few more games in against any byes, letting me hit my cap of four per month and giving the flexibility to bring something else along next gaming night.




That's right, better red than dead! Note the price too, $AU85 was a steal, and it's fantastic to finally see prices match what our strong dollar shows. I've got nothing but warm thoughts for those at the recently trouble W&C, but it's nice to have stuff come in cheap enough to buy in store more often now alternate sources have been found. I'm not sure if I'll mod this one heavily or not, but I have an idea for the gunner.




What, theres no pretty dresses in Khador? Pssshaw!

More Converting

Because you just can't look awesome enough when you're an Iron Lich, I give you winged Asphy, complete with gear base!




And because such awesomeness deserves backup, I magnetted up another plastic jack kit for one of the two Slayers my boy will field at 50 points. I give you the Herald of Putridity!




What's that in the background? Well, in theory it's a Necrotech. I'll post better pics later, but I essentially rebuilt him from the chest down with the spare legs from a few of my Warhogs, a MOW:ST chest piece as a chair, and greens'd up a new belly for him. He's got a chainsword left hand for cuttin, and a MOW:ST hafted Vice Claw for grippin, and even a lantern on a boom to put a nice green glow in. He turned out to be a lil higher than I planned, but ah well.




Naturally no Necrotech leaves home without a Scrap Thrall, so heres four more with a few embellishments. Note the menoth head on the far right, I'm not sold on the angle - but I suppose it should look a little bodgy after all.




Last is a few more wreck markers, for the initial Tier4 Scavengers of the Line deployment. Note the Scrap Thrall hand poking out of one heap. PG Archipelago, aka Matt Aslin, shed a few tears over the wrecked Scavenger, but he died in service to his would be god (the Scavenger, not Matt, although he DID go down in our only matchup thus far).




It's all undercoated and just needs a final check. I want to start on the Satyxis ASAP, but I have a feeling my boy there might shirt front my inspiration when I bring him in tonight.