BadWolf

Last weekend saw me swap tournament running schedules with Ross to throw down in Stay On Target, 35pts of action at Infinity. In true faction ADD fashion I took my Khador down, having splurged on Conquest during the week.




I put some extra details on her, a few Drago/Berserker spikes, and magnetted her with 20 large disc magnets and 6 small discs for ease of transport. This model was MADE for magnets I swear, and was as much a treat to assemble as she was to play and paint.




Round 1 was vs Circle so I took Karchev, 3 Berserkers, a Bokur, and the BadWolf. Turns out Gnarlhorns have this thing called Counterslam, screwing up my feat turn Berserker launching, and the big girl only got two shots off. One missed wildly, but the other cleared a hole in some druids leaving me a good spot to trample Karchev to. Pity he left Kaya2 on 1 hit point...




Game two and I drew Skorne. Strakhov was definitely a good choice for the Colossal, so with a 13" charge between feat & superiority I beat a bronzeback to a pulp and almost wiped out a gladiator. In the end the Conquest went down to the Titan, thanks to a sneaky Agoniser preventin all my focus allocation, but I got Hexeris2 thanks to some nice Riot Gun shooting and a boosted Battering Ram. Remember, POW12's kill casters dead!




Round three and I got to fight Bohdi withhis Madhammer list. A spectacular "why the hell not" shot at a Gun Bunny had me elated with a critical devastation, sending the light jack flying into it's companion, two Kayazy flying in a heap, and Gorman Di Squished into the dead pile with a Steelhead. Bohdi threw a ton of damage out, but came just a tad close to Conquest, and she happily stomped the dwarf into the dirt.




Round 4 was against Nathan running Stryker2's theme list. My Great Bears got his Storm Lancers, after I baited him with Rifle Corp, and BadWolf got to finally sweep an arm through a group of Stormblades post his feat, then finishing off a pair of StormClads next turn, but in the end she went down once more, and Strakhov just couldnt put Stryker into the dirt, biting it hard himself.




The day went to Kris, our import Scotsman that may soon be leaving us. Seen here he holds a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic toy, Pinkie Pie, given by my partner Daniela/@Nailyon_3. Last year Kris won the sportsman award at championships, but gave the prize (a similar but different Pinkie Pie toy) to Daniela when she passed her Finals spot to him to play in the side event. He'll be well missed if he goes, he's a great bloke anda fantastic player.




This is what you're here for though, right? BadWolf, named after my favouritest Dr Who companion/ladette Billie Piper, has a spectacular gap between her teeth and has been an utter joy to paint. I multi coated, I glazed, I highlighted, I washed, I freehanded, and did everything on this girl short of replicating the KMA logo from the Khador book on her. She's been every bit worth her $140 price tag, and I still have work to do.

'cuz in less than two weeks she gets checked as luggage for GenCon!

Birthday Tournament Weekend

This sunday was my 32nd birthday, so in between all the awesome thrown at me by my lovely girl I made sure there was not just one but two tournaments to get my game on at Infinity.



I forgot to take photos of my games saturday in my emthusiasm, so here's newcomer Kane taking on freshly graduated baby seal Nathan (as heard from episode 4 of Feat Turn). The saturday tourney was teams of 3, and Kane was the third in my team the Immoren Avengers. His Iron (man) Lich took both his matches to win the day for Black Widow Nailyon and I, she playing Sorscha2 while I Hulk'd out with Kromac. Here we see Asphyxious about to assassinate Haley1 in a 35pt match.



Sunday morning, about ten minutes before we were due to leave, I said "fuck it" and grabbed the soldering iron to finish the madness that is my Plasma Strider. I followed Michael Pokomys brilliant guide with my own embellishments, and I'm fairly happy with the result. My plan was to get a second Storm Strider to run Haley2's NQ StormBringers theme list, but with GenCon looming I'm thinking of turning the spare plasma ball I have into some kind of objective marker.



A few minutes behind thanks to my last minute gluing amidst fears of fire and explosions, we made it to Infinity in plenty of time for sundays Australian Highlander Qualifier Heat. My first match was against Bohdi's Skorne, so I chose my shiny list with glee and went to town. His Bronzeback got my Plasma Strider thanks to its Beat Back animus, but in the end Morghoul had been baited forward without Admonition, and Runewood was the final blow to end him.



Game 2 was against Heath, whom I knew was bringing either Stormwall (which I really disn't want to face) or Caine2. I opted for my Haley2 list, the bonded Grenadier my choice to try to out assassinate Caine - and it worked! Four focus with three arcing fire shots is very nice, but it was Victoria herself who got the killing blow - charging into melee with a Stormlance to get Caine in range for a well placed Arcane Bolt. Victoryfor the list against what I had specifically designed it to kill!

Game 3 was not so great. In a genius move I not only didn't feat with Constance taking turn two of the game against Lylyth 2, I also chose to hide my red haired girl behind but a few Precursor Knights instead of the battle engine in her list. It's yet another of the staples that I'd just not faced (the other being Molik Karn) that lead to my underestimation of Lylyths threat range, and caused me to lose without rolling a single dice against Mitchell.



Round 4 came down to being diced against a baby seal. Bryan Captained "The Tigers, They Red, They Fly" on saturday and I took down his Kaya2 despite a great alpha strike - this time it was the other way around. With Haley2's feat getting me the distance to get my own alpha strike, I completely failed to kill the young druidess sitting on a single firy after a 3 man CRA, boosted Hunter shot, telekinesis to turn her back on the fully loaded Stormclad and ended my turn two inches from a Feral Warpwolf. Kaya survived the game with one health, Haley and my pride not so much.



The day went to Brad playing a single Lylyth1 list, seen here getting the killing blow on Grissel1 with a Shepherd. The table was surrounded with onlookers, both Brad and Nic were in their element, and it couldn't have been a greater end to the day.



Well, to the tournament anyway - here's the desert my beautiful girl presented me with after a few hours of Diablo 3 together, a cuddle on the couch watching Masterchef, and a hearty homecooked meal. It's the offcuts of a Missisipe Mudcake, a rare Australian commodity known as a banana, hazelnut ganachè, ice cream, and chocolate sauce - warmed to my delight.

Tonight we're heading out to TGI Friday's with the family and close mates where there's a Jack Daniels burger and drink with my name on it.

Oh, and keep an eye on twitter - the offcut mudcake was for what I expect to be an epic cale that I'll tweet pictures of.

Trolls, Khador, & Cygnar oh my!

It's been another busy few weeks of work, but I've managed to get a few games in, and a bit more hobby work out of the way.




My latest load of models came in chokkas with Stormnouns and other Morrowans. I've gotten a fair bit assembled, but I'm yet to get paint on much more than the Fireflies (which I magnetted to put on the chassis' I'd already prepped for them). The Plasma Ball Storm Strider is on the paint table, I'm hoping to do the detailing tomorrow. I think I'll do the same lightning clouds freehand I did on Nemo2 and the aforementioned lights, but I really need to get a hold of some 12v a27 battery clips for the Plasma Ball itself.




I had a great game for the podcast against Nic last night using my Trollbloods, specifically Borka. Extreme Rök looks great even without paint, and Nic is always a great opponent - it comes down to a lot more than stupid mistakes between us, as we're both very sportsman orientated. I'm looking forward to listening to the episode next week, here's another shot of Nic's fantastic Gunnbjorn.




I'm going to swing by Granny Wendy tonight on the way to meet my girl for our newly addidcting fix of Diablo3 at The PiMP PAD, and grab one of their new glazes to give my Khador some touch ups. I love my Gun Carriages, but I need a deeper red on them than I'm getting with my P3 ink, so I'm hoping GW's new range will have SOMETHING worth some coins.




In a final note Nic is now running the Team Challenge, so I've stepped up with Team Immoren Avengers as Captain Australia to get at least one team actually signed up. I hate doing pre reg, it never works well, but when each signup is three people you really need to know...

Hobby, Hobby, Hobby

I might not get to play an awful lot, but lately I've gotten a fair bit of hobbying done. This weekend we have our Wrathination event at Infinity Games (the store) for Warmachine, and the weekend after that it's off to Melbourne for the Taking of Paradiso for Infinity (the game). Let's take a look at my prep.




First up my Aleph are coming along and starting to look how I want, but I still can't play worth a damn. I'm really hoping Paradiso is a planet where they hand out wooden spoons, but this trip is far less about competition and more about dipping the toes in a cool fresh pond, while catching some people I haven't seen for ages and seeing how things are done on and off tables in a different game.




My extreme Rök conversion is coming along, although I probably should have stripped him first. I think he needs more hair and detail, although I've added the all important beer - perhaps a dead Khadoran on his base? Speaking of Khadorans, I'm thinking of fielding the reds on sunday at Wrathination (I get to play!), so Nailyon is considering borrowing my blue skins and Rök might hit the table already.




For a few weeks my Plasma Ball Storm Strider has been on hold waiting for more appropriate sized hardware, and yesterday it arrived. Rök got stuck on a shelf and a different set of tools came out for this one, although I'm having trouble deciding how go about the wiring.




Last, but far from least, Feat Turn continues with only the occasional minor hiccup, and frequent coatse language. Ep3 ended up being Heath vs myself, so I brought my personal lord and saviour Asphyxious out for a spin. I won't spoil the podcast by giving away the result, but I'm looking forward to taking the host role for episode four and keeping discussions a tad more on track.

Staying Objective

Today was the 50pt objective scenarios tournament at Infinity Games, we got a low turnout of nine including one late comer, but many blasts were had. I fielded my olall time love, Constance Blaize, with a secondary list of Kara Sloan that didn't end up hitting the table once.

Army Name: Morrowguard
Cygnar
Theme Force: Army of Light Tier 4
50+6 points, 41 models

Constance Blaize +6 points
* Defender 9 points
* Gallant 9 points
* Lancer 6 points

Journeyman Warcaster 3 points

Archduke Alain Runewood 3 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
10 Sword Knights 6 points

Additional Rules

Harlan Versh gains Advance Deployment.
Precursor Knights and Sword Knights gain +2 SPD during your first turn.
Heavy warjacks in Blaize's battlegroup without ranged weapons gain Advance Move.




Round one was Mitch with Bethayne. I was pretty happy with the matchup, knowing half my army couldn't be targetted by spells, but Mitch drove a hard bargain knowing the right tricks for the situation. The scenario was Demolition, and he almost blew up the crate on me, but in the end Conny had too many tricks up her sleeve and got the win. Secondary scoring for the day was Destruction, so Army Points killed, and I bagged quite a few for my troubles.




Next was Neil, in the scenario named Destruction, with a fairly standard troll brick. I had a few lucky runs, but almost cost myself the match reminding him he'd not activated his Fellcaller Hero (which he couldn't see behind a building) who had a clear lane to charge Conny. Lucky for me it fluffed its damage rolls, giving me the chance to Shock Hammer it in the face and get Conny into melee.

She weathered a charge from Madrak, who also felt the hatred of the dice gods, and then went to town with Flanking on the trollkin chieftain. Game 2 was another win and a ton more Army Points, but the highlight was Conny catching Mulg in Flanking midgame and showing him that she's the one who hits harder than she looks.




Game 3 and Magnus the Warlord took to the field, with mercenary cutthroats, trollkin, and even an impostor Harlan Versh! I pushed hard early, knowing I'd be stuck in place for a round, and sure enough Aleks (of Hobby Matrix) lovked me down. Unfortunately for him I had a touch more shooting, and the Defender sealed the decision to keep it in the list, getting the first shot in on Magnus in a turn that would see him fall to Constance's Sunburst when he overstepped his comfort zone.

Aleks doesn't play at Infinity often, but I'd seen how much he'd been improving last time I caught him at Hobby Matrix. In my fear of his list I didn't do the little cleanup I could, and ended the round with just under half the potential Army Points. I was undefeated at the end of round three, but when I wrote the tournament schedule months ago I'd decided we'd do four rounds regardless of numbers - woe to me, for next the sight of the dragonfather were upon me.




Kris, our favourite mad scottsman, has recently picked up Cryx and has been fielding Skarre2 with great success. He's still finding his feet, and picking up models, but managed to ruin the face of half his opponents today - myself included.

Highlights were Runewood charging out of a forest to rip the Deathjack near in half, and Conny having Flanking on both Malice and Nightmare for 6 focus worth of her Flashing Blade, but alas with a push from a Deathripper the Queen of the Broken Coast sirfged forward like a Blackship in the night, and dashed my Conny down upon the rocks.

I ended the day 3-1, and in second place thanks to the scoring. It was a great day, and I'm really enjoying being able to compete more recently - to any PG out there running your show solo, I suggest getting a "PG Attachment" and sharing the workload. It keeps you fresh, keeps your mind in the game, and gives a nice break from constant demoing and teaching games.




Tomorrow night we record Episode 3 of Feat Turn, the Adelaide based battle report podcast. Heath "Kojiro" Eblen will guest star against Ross "Killbox" Baldock in a Stryker1 vs Krueger2 matchup of Cybertronian proportions. The marine here is Heath's, he's one of those old school gamers and is building a "Classic" Blood Angel Space Marine army at current and wanted a model painted by each of us for it. I had to go with an assault sergeant with an axe, I played the Sons of Sanguinius in my Workshop days too, and hope this one does him justice on and off the field.

Right, now, I think that Lancer can go, and we'll bring back the Journeymans Charger and add some Mechaniks...

Quiet like a Colossal

It's been a madhouse here this month. We've seen the end of Gnarls, start of another Journeyman league, a 50pt Tournament this weekend gone, the launch of Battle Report podcast "Feat Turn" (also iTunes) featuring Ross and yours truly, and most important of all my lovely girls birthday.



Apparently it was this tortoise' birthday too.

We hit the Adelaide Zoo for a picnic last saturday, having had a family dinner the night before, and then popped over to the Garden Of Unearthly Delights for a few cocktails.



The "No Beer Bus".

Declining to play in a packed out room or nerds the next day, Nailyon opted out of the tournament and spent the day with Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes, comfy on the couch and guarded by the kitties.




Flanks for the Memories, loosely stolen from Templecon, was a 50pt 4 round tournament with casual limits, no character restrictions, and reinforcements every scenario. It seems to have gone down quite well, although we only got a showing of 11, and all reports are positive.




Next up is Stay Objective, another 50pter before we drop back to 35 for May. With objective based scenarios and Destruction scoring it should help teach the guys a little more, timing is baseline as are character restrictions.

Ross "Killbox" Baldock is gunna run this one, so I get to play! I'm gunna try Constance's Army of Light at tier 4 with two full squads of Precursors AND two ten man squads of Sword Knights alongside a Defender heavy Kara Sloan list. I won't give too much away, but with any luck I'll score myself a shiny coin.




More disturbing than Xerxis with a feather boa, Ross and I have finally gotten Feat Turn off the ground. Ep1 had Kris, who was let's say "interesting" to keep on track, his Trolls taking on Killbox's Khador in a match that felt like a real endurance battle.

Next we're hoping to have GuppyShark on with his Crusaders of Sul list taking on my Morrowguard. He's made a real go of diving back into Warmachine this past year and a bit, like several of our veterans, so considering I live at his place he was a great choice to grab. Both our armies are Theme forces from a time before theme force rules, so the pictures should be as awesome as the big God-off.

Feat Turn is also on facebook, and on twitter @featturn. We'd love some reviews on the iTunes store, stay tuned for the next episode!

Happy birthday honey.

The Matrix

Sunday was the 25pt Tournament at The Hobby Matrix. I took Kara Sloan and Major Haley, and came third from the bottom in a 15player slugfest.




First game was against Jason Ly and his Cryx. We were both a bit nervous despite the simple scenario of Close Quarters and casual time limits - Jason having gone 0-3 last time he competed, and me on my first competitive outing with Haley2. I chose the list based on the scenario and the fact my opponent would have 'jacks to screw with via the delicious spells.

Army Name: 25 Haley2: The Sequelinator
Cygnar
25+5 points, 17 models

Major Victoria Haley +5 points
* Ironclad 7 points
* Thorn 8 points
* Squire 2 points

Archduke Alain Runewood 3 points
10 Precursor Knights 8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points

The Ironclad was Haleys bond, while she was Nightmares prey, but it ended up being Deneghra1 that got me. I forgot the bond I had on my Ironclad gave me +2" movement, and further left Haley too close. I'd brought her forward to TK the Ironclad closer to Denny, who herself had been TK'd through Thorn to present her backside to the charging Ironclad. I failed the Charge at 9" on an 8.5" threat range, remembering later thanks to the bond it should have been 10.5" and a success with 3 focus to mash tge evil tein with - c'est la vie!




Round two started after lunch, during which hungover Scottsman Kris fought valiantly with not one, not two, but three wasps before failing his command and retreating. This time I matched up against Kristian Zi... Ze.. Kristian Z. I won't past me list again as I did last post, but I ended losing on scenario after fluffing the assassination roll on feat turn with two 1's and a 2, and forgetting that I could have prolonged the game by blowing up his objective and stopping him scoring in Scenario #5: Supply & Demand.

I'd also spent the game thinking Lylyth1 had Stealth. Forcing me to keep Kara back to aim and ignore it and failing to fet CP's. Uhhh, what's that I always say about reading your opponents cards again?




Round 3 was my only win of the day against circle player Mark, who thankfully didn't flip the table when my Charger came on as reinforcements and toasted him. Sure, the StormSmith had rolled a POW18 hit on Kaya after Haley2 TK'd the warlock to present her butt to my army, and a Time Bomb had dropped her def by a further 2 to ensure the 4 point reinforcer of choice flanked his way on, but it still felt very rough to catch her on but two fury and get the dual-cannon's shots on her after they'd been used to transfer. Twas a dirty, dirty kill, and not one I'm particularly proud of.



Last round was against Tim's Retribution and Garryth. He split his forces in the Bunkers scenario early, which I'd again chosen Haley2 for. I kept mine center and right, my Ironclad, Thorn, and the reinforcement Charger decimating a squad of Halberdiers while Haley Time Bomb'd the daylights out of Invictors and Ghost Snipers, but my Precursors just couldn't clear the Chimera after the fire they'd taken, and my opponents reinforcements took two CP to win the match without him even realising.

I'd have had two CP myself If the Ironclad hadn't fluffed two hit rolls on the Phoenix in the zone I was attacking, or if I'd thought to throw it out rather than just attack it - again a heavy screnario learning experience for me.




Making up for missing Masters due to running it in January, February is continuing to prove it's not actually out to get me with not only an awesome league but ANOTHER TOURNAMENT! In two weeks time, after a bit of regrouping, pep talk, and some fresh coal & whiskey, Kara and Victoria will hit the ground again with 35pt armies in Do You Know What Nemesis Means?, the next tournament at Infinity Games. My latest young apprentice, The Boldcock, is running this one on the 26th of February giving me a second shot at spectacular failure.

Will upgrading to a Stormclad and adding some Stormblades and Arlan help Haley? Can Kara run a third heavy with just 10 more points, or should I go for a bigger Trencher screen? Is Nics mum really going to show up with a special yet dubious 'award' for the man who Warmachines the hardest?

Only time will tell!

Location:Frome Rd,Adelaide,Australia