Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Dystopian Victorian Conquest!

Here I am with around 60 photos from the weekend, and I can't upload them all thanks to stupidly leaving my notepads power cable in the hotel. On the bright side they'll mail it over if they find it, but meantime the pics will only come via this blog, I still have no (desire for a) desktop.

First off Friday was Conquest. Held at a rather imposing private school on the south side of the Yarra, we got 22 on the field and I managed to place 5th thanks to Control Point countback. Normally SoS is used for countback in Steamroller, but having faced both finalists as opponents I'm rrasonably sure I'd have got 5th anyway.




My first match was against Leigh Avery (aka Cmdr Roy) and an Ashlynn list. This shot was taken just before the turn where I snatched victory, flinging one of his jacks away from the flag with the Deathjack while Terminus tore the other to pieces. I love the flag based scenarios, they look good, play fast, aren't masdive control zones but do force you to do more than just run and stand at a point. From memory Leighs feat really nerfed me, but I managed to get a few Soul Tokens with my own.




The next battle was against the Blindwater Congregation of Dave. With a lot of undead on my side the Gators were slow, but the mission was Killbox so it wasn't a massive deal. In the end Terminus Came flying straight up into Barnabus' face with a ton of focus and souls, saving just enough to survive and bring Barny down once he'd spent all his fury. I think I ended with 5hp here, had one or two more Gatormen got that charge off it'd have been all over.




My phone was going flat so I have no action shots of this game, but luckily ol' buddy Purple Tallest, known as Damien to his friends and enemies, chose to batrep the game so some nice pics should come out soon. Staks' (aka Adrian) army caught my eye during the week on WargamerAU, and I was glad to get a chance to face it - although taking Terminus may not have been the wise choice. I'll admit, eDenny might not have been casting spells on those Exemplar Errants any better than Terminus, but she would have at least done it through Arc Nodes and not let two heavies charge her in the face. My second big flaw was chomping on the bait that made it appear Adrian was going for the flag - his Harbinger list was all about the assassination, and between the Avatar and Scourge of Heresy boy did he (and in a double entendre Terminus) get it.

Again in round 4 I had a failure of list selection, with eventual winner Alex McD's eDenny list swwoping across the field to beat me to the objective, and then feating before I got my turn 2 to ensure he got the 2 CP for victory. He had to clean out a bit of my stuff to do it, but it was a fast game, and again my other list might have done better.




In the final round we saw our first and only PG matchup for the day, with Matt Aslin plonking his Goreshade in front of me. It was a savage, blindingly fast battle, but in the end it came down to dice - some expectation rolls on Terminus let him survive on 3 hit points having taken a free strike from a Bane Thrall, a Scavenger, and no less than the Deathjack (hitting at effective P+S 20 thanks to Dark Shroud, swooping down on the Eldritch to punch him in the chops, sever his servants neck with the Doomsayer, and then chop the undead elf into pieces so small Nigella would turn them into some kind of sexy sounding food paste.




Fast forward to yesterday and Battle Bunker, in Northcote, and some Dystopian action was had! Delightful storeman Viv put on a great show of fantastic terrain, and even a discount that forced me at cannon point to buy a blister of Cruisers.




Here my Prussians face off against local Cam's Kingdom of Brittania. It was a fast game, and I think the only one that actually finished the three rounds within 2 hour time limit to begin with, and was a Crushing Victory for my forces at 615vp to 280. MVP this match was the Cruisers, taking out the KoB Battleship with a critical ammunition explosion in the econd activation of my first turn. I got lucky there, and it paid repeatedly for the rest of the match, knowing my ships were relatively safe withoit the big guns afloat.




Next up was another local, and shop employee, that I want to call Dave(?). Prussians on both sides rushed to defend objectives on their sides of the table and take the enemy - but again, a massively lucky critical roll of Sturginium Flare in turn one and my opponents Battleship was vaporised. This time it was my bombers, Hansel & Gretel, in a combined Tesla shot from RB1. As we were playjng the Xcam mission Epic Conflict this gave me two conditions completed for victory, having destroyed my opponents most expensive vessel and holding all 3 objectives of my own. I liked this mission, with the exception of the ease I won - holding the objectives you can deploy your forces near and auto-assault from turn1 to capture made it far too easy for a random shot to decide the battle.




With 8 players we only needed 3 rounds to gwmet a clear winner, so Mike and I faced off with our Prussian fleets in the Xcam Assassination scenario. Again, I like this scenario, but it didn't quite suit battleboxes - with a 6 turn limit, very close deployments, and no objectives bar VP it was a real slaughterfest and a tad boring. I tried to play to the VP bonus of killing a ship I'd secretly chosen beforehand (amusingly we both went for the Battleships) but ended up shot to pieces, my offensive over-extension of Frigates early on and the costly mistake of repeatedly forgetting to obscure my bombers piling on the damage to my game. Congratulations to Mike, he won the first Australian Dystopian Wars tournament I'm aware of, snagging himself a second faction with a KoB battle box while I grabbed another blister of those deadly Prussian Bombers for second place.

Nearly all the DW stuff yesterday was painted, so I took a lot of photos I'll upload ASAP. I should have a link to Damien's batreps soon too, it'l be interesting to see what he's quoted me on, and a great read I'm sure.

Whew, that was a post and a half!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Cryx Unbound and in Melbourne

With the announcement of Unbound, a game mode with alternating activations and 150pt battles, I'm very enrhused to field a ton if fun things for my Cryx at once. I'll be ramming Trollbloods into Nic's hand's to get a game out of him, likely take on a swarm of Sam's faithful, and maybe even a combo Circle/Gator army of tbe GF - not that I'm looking forward to Cassius/Barny.

Here's a prelim list. It hasn't got as much as I expected, but it does have nearly everything I consider insane fun. I might play with it a bit, those Ghost raiders could get maybe dropped for a fistful more Wraith Witches purely for hot chick love (more likely for Pistol Wraiths though).

Army Name: 150 Unbound
Cryx
150+16 points, 112 models

Iron Lich Asphyxious +6 points
* Cankerworm 5 points
* Deathjack 12 points
* 2x Deathripper 4 points each
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points

Warwitch Deneghra +5 points
* 3x Defiler 5 points each
* Nightmare 10 points
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points

Goreshade the Cursed +5 points
* Leviathan 9 points
* Malice 9 points

Bane Lord Tartarus 4 points
10 Bane Thralls 8 points
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3 points
10 Bane Thralls 8 points
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3 points
6 Bile Thralls 5 points
6 Bile Thralls 5 points
6 Bile Thralls 5 points
10 Blackbane's Ghost Raiders 9 points
2x Bloat Thrall 2 points each
6 Bloodgorgers 5 points
General Gerlak Slaughterborn 3 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls 2 points
Necrotech 1 point
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor 2 points
2x Pistol Wraith 3 points each
1 Scrap Thrall
3x Warwitch Siren 2 points each
Withershadow Combine 5 points


So much character love! I regret not fitting in Rengrave and some revenants, but maybw thatd be better for a Skarre/Terminus/Magnus combo with a nautical theme.

Unbound is a few months off regardless, so back to more immediate concerns heres a rundownnof a test game vs Shauns freshblood Cygnar from tuesday night.




Turn 1 with Terminus and I elected to go first. I could hardly believe how much ground I covered, swarming straight to the objectives. I forget the scenario name, but we elected to go for the SR2011 one with 2 flags. Shaun came thundering forward in his own turn, blasting Revenants to shreds and throwing a dent in a Bloodgorger or two but those filthy pirates just sprang back into unlife next turn, blades hefted...




Terminus, the Deathjack, and the Cavalry pressed forward while the other elements knifed deep into the enemy ranks. Highlight of the round was the Ghost Raiders convincing the Storm Lancers to hop out of the saddle and take up an unlife of piracy, and some horrific action from Revenants left Terminus sitting on 8 Soul Tokens, having feated.




It just got worse for Shaun, and I ended my turn in such a commanding position the game was basically over. Terminus destroyed the Stormclad, the Deathjack ripped the Lancer to shreds, and the less said about what happened to the Stormblades the better. Note those Soul Hunters, bemoaned as light cavalrh, are regrouping having lain blades on Siege who ended the round surrounded by Ghost Raiders.




I didn't eben get a turn 4, receiving The last points I needed for flags. Siege gave it a real go, sending Ghost Raiders flying into each other, with the Defender backing him up - but it was a resounding win for the forces of darkness. Terminus scored 14 Soul Tokens over the game, and came out having lost only 3 Blood Gorgers and 4 Ghost Raiders, which were replaced by fresh recruits in the course of the game. I felt really rotten layibg the smack down so rough, but hopefully it was as fun a game for Shaun as it could have been.

Dirty bloody Terminus. I blame the Ferret!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

What, no pics?

While watching through a couple more discs of Battlestar with the GF last night (apparently, EVERYONEs a Cylon) I managed to get a nice bit of painting done.

Darragh Wraith is nearing completion, I've gone with the Thrall Flesh for him and the horse with flesh wash on both, and a little red wash near the eyes/mouth for that nasty, grotty zombie look. I've done some basic work on the armour and an armour wash with some highlights, his is Pig Iron while I went for a mix of that and Tin Bitz for the barding. His scythe is mostly metal with a few bone bits at current, I'm gunna try to add detail to it tonight.

Terminus I'm not so happy with - but I can't figure out what to do with him. I completely hate his cloth bits, and still can't figure out half of the detail around his exhaust pipes and under his chest. He'll hafta do as is, without stripping him completely and rebuilding from scratch he's just not gunna look better.

A Scavenger, 12 Ghost Raiders, and 2 minimum squads of Revenant Crew need a bit more detailing, and all need their arcs marked. I'm planning to cut out another foamcore template tonight as I've lost my old one, so check back for some shots of that with the next update.

Lastly theres the Deneghra stuff - a pair of Defilers that just look too damn dark, and two Warwitches that I had a lot of trouble making out the detail on. I think the former can be highlighted up, and maybe I can add some runes to their armour for a bit of detail, but the Warwitches I'm not sold on. I'll get everything else done first and then go back to them I think, they might take time to deal with.


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Hamageddon

Last night I got to bust out the Battlestar Galactica Boardgame my lady dear bought me for our 1 year anniversary (I know, right) after feeding a few mates on my favourite staple food of fajitas, but beforehand PG 'In Waiting' Nic, aka Butler on the forums, threw down a test list for ConVic at me. I was tempted to do the same, with a few different Cryxian options at my disposal, but I couldn't go past the fielding of my Farrow in all their glory. Here's the lists.




Army Name: 50 Carver Hamageddon TierA
Minion Theme Force
Theme Force: The Golden Horde Tier 4
50+6 points, 24 models

Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III +6 points
* Gun Boar 5 points
* 4x War Hog 8 points each
Rorsh 9 points
* Brine
4 Farrow Bone Grinders 2 points
6 Farrow Brigands 4 points
6 Farrow Brigands 4 points


Army Name: 50 Nic Grissel
Trollbloods
50+5 points, 31 models
Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller +5 points

* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
Fell Caller Hero 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
Troll Whelps 2 points
Trollkin Champion Hero 3 points
5 Trollkin Champions 10 points
5 Trollkin Champions 10 points





5 beasts with the Bringer of Most Massive Destruction seems way too much on paper, but honestly I was really happy with how they performed. I went first, a quick bit of thinking telling me I'd likely get the charge off, and got rather nicely stuck in from round 2. With Mobility up, Aggression Dials turned to maximum, and Carvers feat Hog Heaven giving them overtake, I made some fairly good use of the War Hogs killing around half his champions on round 3.




In the end, I didnt have too many fury issues having lost a few hogs here and there, but admittedly if Hogs Breath hadn't frenzied at the wrong time I might have got a good run in on Grissel. Casualties were heavy on both sides, including Rorsh being ambushed by Pygmy Burrowers, and one thrown War Hog taking out most of the Bone Grinders, but I gave as good as I got taking out all but two champions, the Mauler, and two Krielstone guys including the bearer - the hogs dealt out a ton of damage, very impressively for fighting Trollbloods. Said Mauler, Blanka, was the star of the match, taking out two War Hogs, three Bone Grinders, and finally finding room to stuff Carver in his gullet.

Back on the Cryxian front I've been convinced to attend ConVic in July, so in turn I've convinced Nic we should make it a road trip. I want to take my eSkarre schoolgirl list for one of my lists, but I'm tossing up a tier4 Asphyxious vs a non theme eAsphyxious list for the other. The Scavengers theme is great but I will miss out on my favourite stuff like Tartarus, Slaughterborn, and the Combine, so I might play around with a non theme list yet. My only hesitation with the theme list as I've planned it is dropping one Nightwretch for a Necrosurgeon and a pair of Brute Thralls - the surgeons great, but my boy does love his Arc Nodes. Theres not much to hide him behind either, so we'll see yet.

Army Name: 50 Asphyxious TierA
Cryx
Theme Force: Scavengers of the Line Tier 4
50+6 points, 46 models
Iron Lich Asphyxious +6 points
* Cankerworm 5 points
* Corruptor 7 points
* 2x Nightwretch 4 points each
* 2x Slayer 5 points each
* Skarlock Thrall 2 points
10 Bane Thralls 8 points
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
10 Mechanithralls 5 points
3x Necrotech 1 point each
3 Scrap Thralls


It could work, and I do love a theme list (especially at Tier4) but it does feel a tad too vulnerable, it'll need a real good test.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The circuit, with a side of Bacon

So, I'm getting a bit all on board with this national tournament circuit thing. In two weeks I fly to Melbourne on easter for Conquest, a one day affair of Cryxian trouble before a nice weekend and a 5 star hotel with the GF.

Some thinking later, I've signed myself up for ConVic in July, again over in Vic, which looks to be a bit bigger an affair with two days of gaming including over 50 signups per day. I'll be getting eSkarre and a soon to be converted eAsphy in gear for the main even, and plan to bring my Mastercraft Warhogs along for a side event of Porktastic Proportions.

Army Name: 50 Arkadius Hogpocalypse TierA
Minion Theme Force
Theme Force: Mad Science Tier 4
50+6 points, 26 models

Dr. Arkadius +6 points
* Gun Boar 5 points
* 3x War Hog 7 points each
Rorsh 9 points
* Brine
* War Hog 7 points
6 Farrow Bone Grinders 3 points
10 Farrow Brigands 8 points
Farrow Razorback Crew 3 points


Thats Tier4 right there, for a +1 to start, re-deploy of a single model, and faster beasts on turn 1. I really struggled to alter the list a bit more, but at 50 points with the minimum 4 Warhogs (I couldn't leave one out!) it was a real PITA, and not worth dropping the theme list to go for the standard Thornfall Alliance.

Now as if that ain't enough, I've set my eye on hitting MOAB this year in October, and my heart's set itself on this notion of running a campaign weekend akin to the Snakebite guys of mother Brittain. I dunno where or what it'll be yet, but it sounded so fun I've gotta give it a go.




On the painting front I've set myself a bit of work for Conquest with all these bloody pirates. I took a look at my existing Revenant Crew and was cometely disgusted with them too, so I have to put paint to 2 Warwitches, 12 Revenants, 12 Ghost Raiders, a Scavenger, touch up and make a transport for Terminus, and there's still Darragh Wrathe to assemble. I've got to make some Flag and Objective tokens too, come to think of it - hence the parts above.

Yeesh! Why can't I ever just play with what I've got?




Also, Happy Birthday dad, you Old Bastard.