More Dystopia

Tonight marks my third face off against my noble and erstwhile opponent/house lord Guppyshark, and my second loss for the Prussians. His damnable British and those cursed Torpedos hole me terribly in the late game when my Concussion Charges are nerfed by vessel damage, but admittedly last game was all about his tactics, and this was all about mine.






I used my Bombers poorly from early on, although Hansel and Gretel did put out most of my late game damage, being too afraid of the Ack-Ack to get stuck in. With DR4 they do seem to have good survivability against small groups of Cruisers and even larger squadrons of Frigates, and Bombs steady damage rate is certainly nice.







I do continue to be underwhelmed by my Cruisers, however. With awesome names like SMS Mörder, Pirschjäger, and Blut (Which hopefully translate as Killer, Stalker, and Blood respectively), they never really do a lot. With only HP4 and such short range Broadsides and port/starboard Tesla they get whittled down easily and don't end up throwing enough AD to do more than scratch a Frigate or two. That assumes they make it at all, which so far only one or two have, so I need to do a better job screrning them with the little guys.







Speaking of, my Teutoburg Neun (as I call my Frigates, each with his own relevant name) are doing quite well. I continue to be jealous of the British Attacker class Frigate with it's side Torpedos and both fore and aft turrets, but the little Arminius class Prussians do have quite the engine power, and at AD6 in range band 1 they're consistendly putting out hurt on both the British Cruisers and even the Battleship.







Speaking of Battleships, the SMS Ludwig Van was left drifting this evening, her marines having mostly died in an assault on her British counterpart. I believe it was the last Cruiser on the water to launch the fateful counterattack, my own defensive Ack-Ack failing to take down even one as they swarmed aboard.




Back to the actual hobby side, I've prepped four random islands made from Morrowguard Base cutoffs with a little sand. I'll see if I can bung some paint on them soon, as they really helped the look of the board - and certainly helped me tactically. Torpedos were blocked, vessels forced to stay inside RB1 by nearby islands, and I learned a good lesson that kept the SMS-LV afloat for it's key rounds tonight. You might also note some vague basing attempts on her and the Cruisers - I'm using spare clear card to give the ships something to mark damage and remaining AP on, and while the overlap base issue has come up, it's already saved me a lot of token related headaches. On the drawing board is a set of pre-printed clear sheets with Warmachine style hull/AP boxes along the sides or at the rear, with defensive stats facing up fore, along with the obligatory vessel designation and flag.

One last thing I've found, like others, is the unfortunate lack of scenario and/or set table size. We've played once on the kitchen table bare (3" across), and twice now on blank Warmachine boards (4"x4"), but we're considering getting a 5"x5" board for the lounge room. This will give us not only a comfier place to play, and an xbox to have a war movie playing on for good effect, but also a nice birds eye view of the table. It might turn out to be a pain to reach over though, so some board science might need to be done.

Speaking of science, expect a custom scenario from yours truly to go up on the Spartan forums in the next week. Titled for my favourite line from SteamPunk ever, by Agatha acting as Lucrezia in Girl Genius (well worth the read folks) - you'll do it, "For The Science!".

Random photos

Morrowguard Mounting, Khador Culling!

Finally today, in between my computer dying and getting to bed late thanks to Choppers Big Fucken' Late Show at the Fringe festival, I finished the Morrowans' display base. With a whole tub of GW grass, four coats of snow in some places, and admittedly a few little details that could use some picking out with paint, it's a load off to get it done. For the last month the kitchen table has been a complete mess, and a lot of spare time I could have been painting has been wasted cleaning up glue and picking flock out of my fingernails.

So worth it, though.










After that, I needed to do a little shelf shuffling. The Morrowguard have taken the shelf below my Cryx in the main display area, flanked by a few of the books that inspired them. Said Cryx got a bit squeezed in, but more importantly I sold some of my Khador this week so I've stuck the Farrow on their spare shelf room, and packed what's goin in the mail monday.




Once all that was done it was time for a game on my only day off over a rather long stretch. Daniela and I were planning to goto Gamer's Guild today but a combination of her feeling ratshit and me getting little sleep instead saw us face off across the kitchen table. She borrowed my old eGoreshade Tier4 list, while I pulled out what I like to call my eDoomie 'om nom nom' list.

Army Name: 50 eDoom
Trollbloods
50+6 points, 23 models

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia +6 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Mulg the Ancient 12 points
* Troll Bouncer 5 points

6 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 4 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
Troll Whelps 2 points
Trollkin Champion Hero 3 points
5 Trollkin Champions 10 points

As monstrous (and awesome) as my 24 Bane Thralls looked across the table, some poor rolling let me manage to get a feat'd, Wild Aggressioned, Raged Earthborn Dire Troll trampling up to The Cursed. Two P+S 23 hits and it was all over. I hadn't used a Bouncer before, but at 5 points with Shield Guard I had a bit of fun with him, and the Whelps certainly earned a place in my paint queue.

Next on the work list is finishing my Dystopian Wars stuff, then onto Porkenstein and my as yet unnamed fourth War Hog, and after that some general cleanup - there's a few figures here and there that could use some paint to finish off their squad, and I'm really liking getting so many cohesive armies finished and on the shelf.

Lastly, I gotta update on FloodWar. The Adelaide event is a month off yet, but yet another state has pulled up better than the last - PG Norton's event in lovely BrisVegas raised
$1,330 this weekend! We're gunna have some big shoes to fill next month!

Dystopian Wars & Base project cont.

I've spent most of the mornings this week getting paint on my Dys Wars naval group, and last night started on the bombers. The P3 Battledress Green really fits the Prussians beautifully, I'll have to get some better photos when I'm done as this iPhone isn't doing them justice. I started on the bombers last night (I'm thinking Hansel & Gretel?), and they're just as great as the naval stuff. I've also added some Tesla glow and P3 Brass Balls to the ships, having decided to go with using metallics.








The Morrowguard base project is around 50% done, with the sand patches now coloured for dirt, and the first layer now down on all the stone work. I'll get the stone highlighted and shaded tonight after work, and the tiled section in the back left, and then if I get time tomorrow I can start on the flocking. Estimated finish date is next wednesday, but things being what they are it might yet get pushed back.

Malicious Base Corrupting Dystopia!

Thank fuck for days off. I don't remember the last time I got so much done, although it's not a lot to look at.

Almost destroyed by a water incident last night, the Morrowguard display is now assembled and base coated. With a quick trip to Mitre10 on the way home from various nefarious Valentines skullduggery, I ended up with a lighter shade of brown than I'd intended - but who can say no to half price tins of paint? Before base coating I added some further detail in the form of random bits and twigs, so I think it'll look quite neat when done.










Next up, mostly thanks to a quietish weekend, the omni jack known as Malice/Corruptor/Slayer is coming along, and I'm itchin' to use both. I had a small 25 pointer against newcomer Marc at Infinity on tuesday, and I almost smooshed Deneghra with a Malice Possessed Nightmare. Holding onto the soul token all game kinda sucked, but when its Cryx v Cryx, what can ya do?










Last, but far from least, I started painting my first Dystopian Wars vessel last night, the Prussian Battleship SMS Ludwig Van (note: turrets missing awaiting magnets). These little ships have so much detail it's amazing, I want more already. I think the pride of my fleet will be my Imperium class Sky Fortress SMS Wagner, which I have thanks to a great xmas bundle from my roomie, and still need to add tiny loud speakers to.





Next I need magnets for hot swappable turrets, but tonight after some Fajitas we're gunna give that old Prussia v England rivalry wound up and I'll probably try to come up with inappropriate sea-man jokes.

Terrain & Asphyxious

I picked up some PVA glue today to get started on some board work, aiming to get it done for FloodWar Adelaide. It should be good practice for the Morrowguard display board now in seperate pieces thanks to some random foam cutting last night before a bit of WoW.

On the way to me is some shapeable router wire for the cutting of trenches, so with any luck the big multipart plan I came up with will actually happen, I'm gunna work on boards 3 and 4 for now, as they're not quite as involved as board 1 and 2.

I've just ordered an Asphyxious 2010 to replace the one Daniela will (hopefully) be taking to Egypt with her. I've got ideas on the conversion, we'll see if I can wait long enough to get some wings off the new Scavenger bonejack, but in any case I think he'll get some nice Wrastler heads as shoulderpads, and he'll definitely have some souls.

The only part I'm not sure about is his arms.  I'm tempted to replicate how the green fireball is coming out of my current Asphyxious with the souls, but I'm tempted to do something with his weapon or his chest - I'd love to make his chest open as he's feating, but I think that's a project for another parts order, so maybe just have the weapon point down impaled in a body, with souls flying up to his hand?  I think I'll hafta grab something Circle for the base...

Hmm.

A little character

I got a bit of painting done tonight post nacho cookin', and so my Cryx Helljack kit is coming along nicely. I'm really looking forward to fielding the Corruptor, but I think I'll give Malice a go first - that harpoon looks neat, and everyone loves a Soul Token. Here's the chassis progress.









I really enjoy doing Helljacks because I love painyting the icky green glow. With the Malice souls coming out the back I got to do a little extra, but I may have to go back over the bits in the arms and head griiling, I decided to armour wash the bronze and iron before putting down the brush and there was a little overflow.

I'm fairly happy with the green and the bone, but I think the metal areas, cabling, and obviously the rivets need attention yet. Once he's close to done I might pull out the old MKI book Escalation for the section on Cryx runes and give him some nice detail to rival my Seethers.

For now though, I have a very sooky kitteh to deal with - three hours she's waited for a cuddle, so a cuddle she will get!

My boy

The game I had against Mitchell with eAsphyxious the week before last was good fun, but it's pAsphyxious that has always been my main love. Between his feat that restores his focus, Sustained Attack helping him to nail things to a wall Rocco Siffredi style (no link there, bit too NSFW), and his absolutely golden spell list, he's my favourite caster of all time to use. Add in that he's got that real savage look of the old school Iron Liches, he has a hot pet witch following him around, and was literally the first Warmachine model I ever saw and he really does have a warm if somewhat sickly green place in my heart.

I've played around 150 games with my boy over the years, so I don't mind admitting it WAS nice to see other people for a while. Since the start of MKII he's actually been broken and sitting on my shelf, so with an imminent repair and make-up sex on the way, let's take a look at his theme list: Scavengers of The Line.

I've actually played against this theme in with my Farrow, and I must admit it's quickly grownnon me. Admittedly, no Deathjack or Malice - but hey, I can make do. At Tier4 as below I get AD Mechanithralls, cheaper Corruptors and Slayers, a speed boost to his jacks in the first round, and some deployable wreck markers to abuse with Necrotechs and Cankerworm, Scrap Thralls for the former, healing for the latter. Here's what I'm thinking.

Army Name: 50 Asphy TierA
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
* 2x Defiler 5 points each
* 2x Slayer 5 points each
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points

Machine Wraith 1 point
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
* 2 Brute Thralls 2 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
3x Necrotech 1 point each
6 Scrap Thralls 1 point

Now that's a lot of warjacks I gotta say, but I think it'll be fun. For the same cost as one of those Slayers or Defilers I could whack in a minimum squad of Bane Thralls, and I'm also umming and arring over dropping a Brute and the Machine Wraith to fit in a necrosurgeon - those girls are just stupid good, and I've yet to see a game where they haven't been consistently full on tokens.

The Corruptor, at least one Slayer, Skarlock, Cankerworm, Arc Nodes (In this case a Defiler surprise surprise) and the swarm of Mechanithralls are a must have scenario wise, but if there's one thing I know it's that my boy can take down nearly anything if he can get in melee with it and feat, so for the most part the army is a delivery system. A lack of medium bases to screen him from shooting's a bit of a concern, but with deep enough ranks of infantry and the nasty ranged power of those jacks, I think it's a fairly valid option. I'm thinking of picking up a fresh, 2010 Asphyxious Resculpt, so I might take him to Conquest yet.

Oh, and I did get that Burrito.

Road to War voting

With the tournaments over and the blogging mostly done it's time for the community to vote on the Community Choice prize for the
Road to War.

Spanning three and a bit months, RtW was a community collection of Warmachine and Hordes blogs, hosted on WargamerAU and lead by Brad Visser, expat PG Doombreed now living abroad in the land of chocolate. Combining tactics, painting, army construction, and hobby work of all kinds Road to War was great fun, and mostly responsible for me getting off my ass and starting this blog.

So dear readers, hop on over if you care, take a look at the blogs nominated (including my own Morrowguard), and cast a vote in the mix. Each entry was nominated by a PG, I myself cast my vote for Stumphy's Circle Diary, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Arcanacon last month. I loved his work, especially those Bloodtrackers, and he deserved the nomination doubly so being a new player.

I'm not sure whats next for the WGAU creative warmachine community. Due to a massive bummer attack I got knocked back on my leave app for AUSCON, but it looks like between that and the new Oz Super Series there might be good opportunity for more road style blogging - for myself I think I'll start working on my beloved Cryx for my Easter trip to Conquest.

Mmm almost burrito time.

All hail the victorious!

For a long, long, LONG time I've wanted to put up something in the CBD LGS, Infinity Games to really leave a mark as far as Warmachine's concerned. For years the store has been home to brawling jacks, frenzying beasts, and many a bemoaned "what do you mean I have to write out my list". Now, it's home to something a little more visible. As always, City Trophies have rocked the Cazbah.




Damn that's sexy. Measuring, well, quite a bit across, and with 21 little plaques of awesomeness, the year that was 2010 is now ready to be mounted, adored, and shine on all the newcomers we can handle.

But you don't think that's it do you? Oh no.




And




The shields are just gorgrous, they couldn't possibly be more awesome. After seeing how Stewart's Trophies handled the Steamroller 2010 logo, I couldn't help but chat with Darren about getting the same for us. The results really speak for themselves, and my only regret is I don't get one of my own.

Now, all this costs money, obviously, but with a little help from players, particularly Leigh G who threw cash into the trophies whenever he could, and some support from the store I couldn't be happier to have dropped over $300 of my own cash on these beauties. Having spent almost that again on last year already, sure it's a bit hefty, but I do love this game, I do love this community, and my service is it's own reward.

In the words of a great man, "This one's on me."

Fightin' the hate

I won't lie, this'll sound vaguely preachy and is mostly just to link to Zack Weiner's blog, but fuck I do like to see some haters get taught a lesson.

The TL:DR is an anti-gay group in the US took one of Zacks Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal webcomics and tried to present it as a laugh at the idea of homosexuality in the future. Well, they made the mistake of hotlinking the image, so Mr Weiner replaced it with something quite nice.

Here's a link. Enjoy.

The moral of this story is haters' gunna hate, but the internet is built on truth, love, and the occasional dick joke.

Fuck you haters, fuck you right in your deaf little ears.

Now, if Zack would only have replied to the awesome masturbation skit script I sent him for SMBC Theatre...

Ow my head

The worst part of headaches is just not getting anything useful done. Bar a quick spruce up of my Steamroller 2011 kit for saturday, and a re-mail for FloodWar, this weeks been rather slow.

On the Warmachine front I've got a 35pt Steamroller this saturday at Infinity Games. I'm hoping for 12, but I think we'll hit 8 - which just means one less round. It'll be great to finally get the 2010 shield up on the wall and give out the individual awards, but higher in my mind is having one or more new players and a few returning MKI players. I really want the guys to get the big State Championship style event they deserve, hopefully this'll be the year.

Closer to home, mostly because it's one of the few things I can stand when drugged up from the icepick in the side of my head, World of Warcraft should finally mean a raid sunday night. It's been great to do some five mans with the old crowd, but a ten man will mean everyones in, and that we can have a nice long run. I'm rusty, but shit I'm only DPSing, so even if I end up out of it on painkillers it'll be great.

Now if the weather and my head can just fuck off and stop conspiring, maybe I can get that damn kitchen table done soon.