Thursday, March 31, 2011

Conquest Preamble

I'm starting to work on my Conquest lists, with a lean towards using some slightly different stuff and not be yet another eAsphyxious player (on a personal note, I've been playing 6 years and barely used him, and only recently got the urge to - but whatever, forum bitching has guilted me out of it, and that pisses me off a little).

It's a 1 day, 32 player, 2 list, standard SR2011 event in Melbourne on good friday. Here's what I'm thinkin.

Army Name: 50 eDenny Conquest TierA
Cryx
Theme Force: Shadow Play Tier 4
50+6 points, 30 models

Wraith Witch Deneghra +6 points
* 3x Defiler 5 points each
* Nightmare 10 points
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points
10 Bane Knights 10 points
10 Blackbane's Ghost Raiders 9 points
2x Pistol Wraith 3 points each
2x Warwitch Siren 2 points each


eDenny has always been a good choice for scenario play, but I've never really liked her until recently (much like eAsphy). First off, everyone likes a scantily clad zombie girl, but second her Theme list looks pretty fun and competitive. Lack of Tartarus is a bit worrying, but with Blackbanes recycling, 3 nasty sprays mounting Arc Nodes, and the ever present Warwitches and Pistol Wraiths I think it's got good potential.

I'm a little concerned with only one heavy - but it IS Nightmare, so as long as it lasts it'll pack some nasty damage. I'm primarily thinking Assassination with this list, and I think it'll be the better of the two against Hordes with so many damage sources. As a Tier4 list it gains deployment zone room, SPD boosts solos with pacman ghosts on turn 1, gives the battlegroup Ghostly also in turn1, and I think gives me a free Machine Wraith that iBodger may have forgotten about.

Army Name: 50 Termy Conquest TierA
Cryx
Theme Force: The Ghost Fleet Tier 3
50+4 points, 34 models

Lich Lord Terminus +4 points
* Deathjack 12 points
* Scavenger 4 points
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points
6 Blackbane's Ghost Raiders 6 points
6 Bloodgorgers 5 points
Captain Rengrave 2 points
Darragh Wrathe 4 points
General Gerlak Slaughterborn 3 points
6 Revenant Crew 5 points
6 Revenant Crew 5 points
3 Soulhunters 6 points


Boss of all PG Jen Ikuta can be blamed for this - although every five minutes I feel like I'm changing my mind on elements. Like the eDenny list it hits deep in Termys theme at Tier3 - I love Harrowers and have a very special spot in my heart for my Leviathan, but every time I looked at the list with even one extra heavy it felt too infantry light.

I'm not sold on the Soulhunters, but with Darragh Wrathe they're worth a go. Speaking of, he's part of a trio of nasty solos that along with Rengrave and Slaughterborn I both love the look and feel of. Throw in Revenant crew for cheap nasty flavouring, a dash of Blackbane to do some nasty things, and a nice meaty unit of Bloodgorgers and I think I've got a semi decent scenario/objective list, with yet again fantastic assassination potential.

I'm not sure on Stalker vs Scavenger, but I figure two flying reliable hitters are better than one? The Tier3 bonus gives me faster and Incorporeal revenants for the first round, and lets me fit in the model I just won't have fun without - the always enjoyable Deathjack.

So, thoughts?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Of Bacon and Transfers

Thanks to an annoying but non serious health issue I had the day off today. Not one to waste time I managed to watch a whole bunch of films, but more importantly painted to entire heavy Warbeasts for my Farrow army.

Say hello (or Oink?) to Porkenstein, and Warpig.







Not the best photos, but I'm fairly happy with the results. As Frankenbacon and Hog Breath before them they're heavily converted. Frankenbacon has a whole ton of menite warjack parts (I stopped short at using the chain weapons to not confuse rules with visuals), while Warpig (named for the Black Sabbath song) has merc gear, and some fuzzy hog hair in the form of painted static grass. I'd initially planned a bit more intricate a paint job on the latter, and both could use some minor detailing/base work, but I'm fairly happy with them as is.

I'm planning to finish my Bone Grinders asap, and then move on to Al Gore, my Gun Boar.




One of several films I watched today was Sink The Bismarck, a classic film about the infamous WWII German vessel. I had one of those awestruck moments we nerds get from time to time while watching a sequence about the loading of cannon on the HMS HOOD, and the scenes portraying the sinking of both vessels. Playing games really makes us disconnected from the reality sometimes, and where I might have been tempted to name a Prussian Dreadnought after Bismarck previously, I think I'll leave that well enough alone, and find something more light hearted. Don't read me wrong, it was a great film, but I'd rather play a game without thinking about the reality of war if possible.




Speaking of Prussia, my transfers from Dom's Decals arrived today so I set about marking my ships. Many hours and far too many tiny pieces of backing paper later, I'd marked my bombers, cruisers, battleship, and sky fortress. I painted the flag on the sky fortress upside down at first, but a quick bit of fixing has made it semi ok.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Rumours of my Death are greatly exaggerated

Just been sick.




Fresh import from Scotland, Kris, was a surprise this tuesday at random gaming night. With Trolls painted the right colour (people actually thought "Hey, is that Terry's Borka?", myself included) he put up a stoic defense, and smashed Deneghra's pretty little face all over the ground. The Bileforce wasn't a complete loss this week, however, managing to take down Nic's Trolls in an earlier game. How I managed two games with this stomach pain is beyond me, I barely remember coming home after.




Sunday was the engagement party of two dear friends, the Amazing Cheryl (as she was known at FloodWar) and the Passionate but Not Yelling Mitchell. At Greenhills Adventure Park fun was had, walls were climbed, karts were Go, and golf was mini'd. That's Garth eating my dust, and that's me fantasising about his mum.




On the paint desk I've put together and thrown a little colour on some Firestorm Armada terrain that looks like it'll be ok for Dystopian Wars, done the base colours, washes, and first rounds of fine detail on 3 more Prussian bombers, got most of my Sky Fortress done, and finally got my ass around to greensing up the gaps and extra details needed for my final two Warhog conversions. I probably won't make the next game night due to work, but I really want to try Arkadius with four of them soon.

Oh, and thanks to some free crack in the form of starter decks given to us at Armageddon Adelaide, I now have $150ish of Magic: The Gathering cards and Daniela has a new and interesting game to beat me at. Quite enjoying my Black/Vampire and Red/Burn (Foil Fire & Lightning with slight changes) decks.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

FloodWar

With but one final event in Tassie to go, FloodWar had its total kicked up by $2,224.45 yesterday by the fantastic gamers of Adelaide. With almost half of the Warmachiners stolen by the inclusion of other games or just not present, we had around 14 for 40k, 8 for L5R and BloodBowl, 5 for Warmachine, and a whopping 22 for the console gaming. The total the FloodWar initiative has raised is now around $8,500, so here's to a job well done.




Once the names and numbers are in for the Tasmania event we can get to to epic fun part - giving back to the donators fror Warmachine and Hordes with a massive prize pool. Each entrant got a ticket for entry and one more per $10 spent on tokens, and we're raffling out two fantastic armies thanks to Privateer Press and Defiant Gaming, and a few other nice prizes thanks to supporters like Sam at Guts n Gears Podcast, the ever loved Au/Nz PG group known as The Antipodean Thralls, and everyones favourite new con in Brisbane AusCon.




Post event, despite a couple of small hiccups, I have to say I really enjoyed running the event and that it was the best charity event I've put my organiser hat on for yet. Later in the year I think we'll do similar for Breast Cancer Brawl, but we might take a look at the event rules and see if we can streamline a bit and encourage more tokens. I still haven't ever seen as many tokens purchased as at last years BCB, but even then Warmachine was way ahead of the others on individual donations (highest $185 in tokens for Warmachine, the highest from another game being $45).




I'm not quite sure why we got low numbers for a crowd known for it's generosity, but I must lay most of the 'blame' on other games being present. We lost 1 to BloodBowl, another 2 to 40k, and at least 3 possibly 4 to L5R. The no shows are the greater concern to me though, one rang in sick and another got lost in the maze that is the campus for a few hours, but with no word at all back from 3 or 4 more and none from the Southern/Gamers Guild crowd I think Warmachine could have done a lot better.




Actually, Warmachine did finish slightly early, so we got a round of Thunderdome (by the Lost Hemisphere boys) and one of the newer players put in a real good effort with a Cygnaran trio of doom. It was good to see running, but I think at least 2 of the 4 playing had had enough gaming by then, so the fun filled nonstop rushed nature of the scenario kinda got lost in a cloud of 'meh'. It did keep them busy for an hour though, making all the games finish around the same time.

So, anyone out there want to share any thoughts on the multi-system event for Breast Cancer Brawl?

Friday, March 11, 2011

T minus fuck all

Well, tomorrow is finally FloodWar Adelaide. With 14 for 40k, 12ish for L5R, 10ish for BloodBowl, 6 for Warmachine (I blame the other games stealing my mans, that'll teach me to expand charity events), and around 25ish expected for the SSF4 & MvC3 console tournaments, we're looking at 50+. Pardon me for saying, but FUCK YES.

I'm hesitant to predict the money we'll raise, but I'm fairly confident in the gamers of Adelaide. In the past for Breast Cancer Brawls we've seen individuals drop as much as $300 on the day, and this time we've got better prizes, a speed painting comp, and a raffle with hundreds of dollarinies worth of prizes. Latest on that list is a Dystopian Wars rulebook and starter fleet of choice from Spartan Games, which might yet be beaten in popularity only by The Bead Forest's donated jewellery.

It's going to be one hell of a long day, but I'm really dying to pull it all off. TO's seem organised, raffle prizes are all in my possession bar one, tables and terrain are getting dropped off tonight. My Prussian blimp is ready to be detailed, giving me something to distract my nervous hands during the day, and everything on my end is packed and ready to go bar the trophies that I'm picking up tonight.

Now, just gotta hope everyone shows up.


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Cryx lubberly Cryx

Daniela and I had a game the other day (it's been quiet, I'm on day 17 of 13 days on 3 off), and I finally got to try out Mortenebra Tier4.

Army Name: 50 Morty TierA
Cryx
Theme Force: Infernal Machines Tier 4
50+4 points, 18 models

Master Necrotech Mortenebra +4 points
* Deryliss
* Corruptor 7 points
* Deathjack 11 points
* Seether 8 points
* Slayer 5 points
* 4x Stalker 4 points each

3x Necrotech 1 point each
3 Scrap Thralls
2x Warwitch Siren 2 points each


Admittedly it was a loss, but I've come to expect my darling girl to whup me, especially when I'm trying something new. It was close though, Grievous Wounds on the Stalkers made a nasty difference against the Trollbloods she had borrowed (yeah, that's right, she beat me with a foreign army!). I think the Corruptor kind of let me down, against big heaps of medium based Tough models it's just not great. I was fairly hesitant about so few infantry, but with one Warwitch Seducing a Trollkin Chamlion into hitting the Axer for half it's health, and the other dancing on a flank holding up a full squad of Fennblades, I was fairly content.




Good times. I also got some more Prussian painting done this week, a little before and a little after work adds up fast, especially with such small and fantastic models. My Teutoburg Neun are nearly done, I just need to clean them up a tad, do some decking details on them and the Cruisers, and then it's on to what I expect will really make the models shine - markings and flags.




Coincidence that Wikipedia's article of the day is on Emperor Frederick III, no? I'm thinking hot swappable squadron flags, and Maltese Crosses across the board. I might do some battle damage to the paint and/or minor markings detail too, if I can find the time.

Lastly, the Road to War Community Choice ended yesterday, and the Morrowguard came a healthy second. Chunky's Protectorate and Trollbloods just prooved too good for my Cygnarans, but I'm quite happy not to win - I'm paying for the prize, it would have had to have gone to someone else anyway.