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.

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

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.

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?

Random photos