My Top 10 Favorite Models

Inspired by another blog entry I saw come up on the BoLS blogroll I thought I'd put together my top ten favorite list of models I've painted for the "big three" systems over the years. Some of these have never seen the light of the internet, so enjoy!

10: Wood Elf Wardancer Lord
I collected wood elves to paint. I think I got maybe three games in with them, but I have many painted models. I really enjoy this sculpt and I feel like the wood elves were the first time I really took painting seriously. I did this girl almost 6 years ago!

9: Badruk The Ork Pirate

I enoyed painting all the fiddly bitz on this guy. GW ork models have so much character and this one might be the most characterful of all. Finished in 2009.

8: World Eater Terminator Champion

My World Eater army is one of my favs. and completely 100% painted to 1850+ points. It tough to pick one model out of the army, but this one is a cool representation of the scheme and the Forge World bits. Another model from 2008/2009

7: Beast Lord

Another fantasy army. This one I actually took to a tournament and won best painted. Which was good because I didn't win many games. This is another older model, probably 5 or 6 years ago.

6: Orion

Besides being very busy, I really like this model. I spent a lot of time on him back in the day and still think he turned out pretty darn decent.

5: Belial

Ahhh my beloved Deathwing. Every model unique, freehand banners... this captain model is old school GW but still one of my favorites. I'm sure when DA are re-released under 6th belial will get a shiny new sculpt and I'll replace this guy, but it will not be without a great deal of sadness. Painted back in '08 I believe.

4: Vostroyan Banner Bearer

I find it odd that my favorite model from the fuzzy hats isn't wearing a fuzzy hat at all.... Painted in 2009.

3: Deathwing Terminator Standard

Still proud of the freehand standard.... Painted in 2009

2: eSkarre

My favorite PP sculpt, quite possibly one of my favorite models ever. While single figure models were dominated by GW, units and dreads/ jacks would of been dominated by PP. Painted in 2010

1: Sammael

The best model I've ever painted, hands down.



Return to 40k: Dark Angels vs. Dark Eldar

Last night saw a return to 40k for the Carney Wargaming Crew. With the upcoming Warmahordes slow grow league we figured a evening diversion back to our original game would be a lot of fun. We set up the basement for 40k and rolled some dice... a lot of dice.

I took on Joey Baltimore's Dark Eldar and their shiny new (well to us at least) codex with a good old fashioned DarkAngels mech list. We rolled sieze ground and pitched battle. The early turns were domintaed by long range shooting. After years of PP games, 48" seems like it goes forever. I had quite a few lucky shots in turn one shutting down some of the DE skimmers. Joe moved in on one objective early on and I decided to let that one go as it had a unit of wracks and a Chronos pain engine sitting on it. I focused on the right flank and the objective that was placed there and soon had a tac. squad in a razorback parked on the objective with a clear third of the board. The middle of the table became a scrim as my fire power brought down the transports but not before Joe dropped a unit of warriors and incubi with Vect on the objective. I headed in with my command squad; a combat squad; and a very angry chaplain under the cover fire of a combat squad and a dreadnaught while he hoofed the chronos and a second unit of wracks in to add to the melee. I shot down a few DE but Vect chumped almost everything he touched before the chaplain brought his crozious into the dark eldar's helmet, ending his reign of terror in the table. In turn five a razorback charged onto the far left flank to contest the objective and then in turn 6 the dreadnought marched in to the middle objective contesting it and allowing the Dark Angels to pull off a 1-0 win.

40k = fun. The rules seem clunky now, especially the vehicle rules but I still enjoyed myself. I hope that 2012 brings 6th edition and a big return to the K for our group.

Now, we've got some Warmahordes to cover! But before the Jan. 4 kick off to the slow grow league, tune in tomorrow for the first of two end of year blog entries!

My Painting Station: New and Improved!

My wonderful wife restocked my paints for Christmas! This led to a total reworking of my paint station. I threw away a lot of old, mostly dried up citadel paints and reorganized my paint carousels. I've converted to using Reaper Paints and P3 paints almost exclusively now. I really like the Reaper Paints for their depth of color and coverage. The P3 adds some "game specific" colors to the pallette. I really like the spread of browns and off whites in the P3 range. I still have a few citadel colors on the table, including the full range of foundation paints and washes. The foundation paints are some of the best products GW ever produced. I also still have my leftover Citadel inks. One of GWs worst ideas was to discontinue the inks. Anyways, here's a shot of my painting station as of last night:

If you look closely, you can see the Celesital Fulcrum box in the back corner!

Tonight is 40k night! You heard that right! We're playing some old school 40k prior to starting our slow grow league for warmahordes next week. Tomorrow look for a battle report and some pics!

I've also got a few "special" blog entries planned to close out the year, so check back soon!

Miniature Market

Just a quick one tonight. The guys at Miniature Market are top notch. Quick replies, great customer service, and on the front end great prices. I feel like people are always quick to complain, so I thought I'd throw that positive remark out there. I won't go into the specifics of my issue that prompted this comment, but it was handled very well.

www.miniaturemarket.com

No other news. Missed weekly Warmahordes night tonight for Christmas prep time at the homestead. Playing a lot of gigs this week and next, but do have some vacation time. Now if only I can stop playing T.O.R. for a few hours...

Happy Second Night of Hanukkah!
D-9

Cygnar: 3 35 Point lists Painted

well... almost painted.
I have one damn Boomhowler troll camped out, occupying my painting table.
But otherwise, look three 35 point lists + some other stuff!

Once that damn troll gets some paint on him, I'm taking a break from Cygnar for a while as 2012 is the year of the Circle. With our upcoming slow grow league I will be focusing on painting up Grayle and his merry band of forest dwelling outlaws and werewolves.

A List of Painted Stuff (if anyone cares)

Casters: eStryker, pStryker, Siege, eNemo

Jacks: Ol' Rowdy, Hammersmith, Stormclad, Cyclone, Charger, Thunderhead, Triumph

Solos: Stormsmith Stormcallerx3, Journeyman Warcaster, Squire, Capt. Arlan Strangeways, Eiryss

Units: 2 units of stormblades w/ UA and 1 WA, 6 stormguard, 6 Arcane Tempest Gun Mages +UA, Black 13th, 2 Trencher Chainguns, Boomhowler and Co. (minus one damn troll...)

Battle Engine: Storm Strider

Finished Storm Strider Pics.

It is done. I've been working on this model on and off since it was released back in July and it's finally finished. It's an incredible piece, but it was boring as all get out to paint. The repetitive nature of the circles on the legs and the ball made it very difficult to sustain interest over long painting sessions.

The blues are my normal Cygnar recipe (GW blue foundation, cygnar blue base, cygnar blue high light, then arcane blue in various levels of blend) minus the wash I normally give everything to tie the colors together. On the larger pieces the washes tend to look dirty. The silver on the ball is pig iron and mithril silver with some light arcane blue washes worked in for shadows. The golds are pretty straightforward metallic work with some brown washes for shadowing. The interior of the nodes followed the suggesstions in wrath, and I'm pretty happy with the result. The road on the base is all green stuff with a few bits added for color like the broken menoth shield. So anyway... pictures!

Updates

No the storm strider isn't done yet. Closer than the last pictures show, but still not done. Life has hit the holiday/ midterm of semester accelerated season and my hobbying has taken a hit. But fear not oh gentle purveyors of the internetz, D-9 has some vacation coming and hopefully a few surprise days off thanks to weather.

of course there's a small snag to that logic.

It's called Old Republic and it's coming very, very soon...

www.swtor.com

Look for a new series of articles starting here soon as our group is about to begin a slow grow league. I'm playing Circle with Grayle as my caster of choice. Hopefully I'll figure out to play the little guy and keep you up to date on my exploits. Part of the league is to paint a new army up, so if all goes as planned I should have another 50 point army done sometime in the spring.

I made a few Black Friday purchases to fill out my Circle collection, including a preorder of the Battle Engine. I picked up the Warpborn Skinwalkers finally and they are some of the coolest looking models I've ever seen.

Hopefully the next update will consist of a completed Storm Strider! Til then!

Storm Strider: Almost Done!

Tonight brought a present surprise as I actually got a big chunk of prime time painting in. My wonderful wife was working on sewing Christmas gifts while I got a great two hours of uninterupted time. I finished one of the last two boomy trolls and then turned all my attention on the Storm Strider.

First, some information for anyone thinking of painting one of these.
Don't.
This has to be one of the most boring models I've ever painted. Don't get me wrong, I think it is incredibly cool looking, but man do those glowy circles get repetitive. This is coming from the guy that painted a forgeworld Brass Scorpion... without an airbrush! I lost my motivation to actually finish this model over the summer, but tonight saw me actually complete the bulk of the battle engine. All that is left to finish is the arch assembly with the tesla coils and the two crewmen.

Pictures!

Tharn Wolf Rider: 1 Down, 2 to Go!

Nothing much to report tonight. Had a great Thanksgiving with friends, family, football and food. Got some nice bike rides in due to the mild weather we've been having. Ordered some stuff from the various webstores' BF deals. The Circle Battle Engine is probably the high point of those orders. Played some D&D last night, but no miniatures gaming action to report. Wednesday night will get our weekly matches back on schedule though. In the meantime, here's some shots of the Circle stuff I'm working on.

When I get to the Bloodtrackers I'll do a step by step how to for painting these girls. I did the wolf riders on a black undercoat, which I probably won't use for the 'trackers. I'm still fairly happy with the final product with this model. I decided that all the Tharn in the army will be relatively healthy looking with skin tones built up from browns and tans to flesh colors. The women will favor red and blond hair. I'll probably work in some celtic tatoo motifs on the trackers when they aren't so bunched up.

Domination Thoughts

Finally finished a full read of Domination this afternoon and thought I'd throw up some initial impressions. For anyone who doesn't read my words of self adoration in blog form often, let me preface this pointless pontification with the fact that I'm a Circle player. (not in the dirty hippy druid way either, but in the eat your face, grr I'm a werewolf, way... but I digress....) Be aware: spoilers abound.

FLUFF: Wow, wow and wow again. I really enjoyed the story woven through the book. Circle seemed to get more than enough face time and Grayle came off as a very likeable and interesting character. I wanted more of the Kromac vs. Skorne subplot, but now Kromac will definitely want some revenge on Jarl, no good troll git... the last portion of the storyline puts the Skorne on the doorstep of Ios and sets up some very interesting plot twists in the ol' Iron Kingdoms. I wonder how close to the Warmahordes storyline the new IK RPG will be?

CIRCLE ADDITIONS: In my order from best to meh...
1: Gallows Grove: truly a game changer. At 1 point, these little arc nodes are going to be a lot of fun to experiment with.
2: Grayle: I like him, enough that he is going to be my caster in our club's slow grow league this winter. I think there's a lot going on with him, and he's different from everyone else Circle has to bring to the field.
3: Ghettorix: The fluff, the art, the abilities... this guy is pure win. He's a little pricy at 11 points, but should prove to be a very hard to kill beatstick for Kromac.
4: Scarsfell Griffon: Coming in at 5 pts, this guy has a lot of competition. Either way, his extended control and two handed throws could be a lot of fun, especially in a Kaya list.
5: Celestial Fulcrum: I think I might get one of these to try out. If nothing else the model is awesome. I don't know how survivable it will be though.
6: Winter Argus: again, 5 point bracket. Nice animus, cool sprays, doubt I'll ever get one.
7: eBaldur: just meh for me. No need for another new caster.

Overall, I really liked the book. I think PP continues to put awesome stuff together on all fronts and two years into their game, I'm still really enjoying it. Next on my reading list is the new Necron book, expect more there soon. Have some Tharn on my painting table right now and two more boomy trolls to finish before my Siege 35 pt list is done. Some pics later this week.

Circle Oroboros Weekend Results

First off, the beautiful above picture was taken on my bike ride yesterday. We are in prime time autumn weather in old Maryland right now, the rain has taken a break, and it is beautiful.

So I've had a chance to get quite a few games in with my Circle armies over the last few weeks. My Circle record since I started playing them again sits at 5-3 between the two casters.

Kromac had great success at 50 points against Ozzy last week, hitting and running with the Tharn and Lord of the Feast to win by objective. At smaller points he has struggled getting dropped by Garreth and the stupid Gators. Kaya split two games of battle box with Morghul, and I can see why she's not one of the more widely played casters. Her well of tricks is pretty damn shallow compared to the other warlocks in the faction. Krueger tore apart the Skorne twice in a row, once by assasination and once my objective and then went off and had a great, drawn out, game against the pirates of the Talion Charter finally giving Shae a wallopin personally for the win.

Our group is getting ready to start a slow grow shortly where I'll be playing Grayle. It will be interesting to see how he works.

My current 35 point lists that I've been playing

KROMAC

   - feral warpwolf

   - pureblood warpwolf

-6 bloodtrackers +Nuala

-3 wolf riders

-4 ravagers + chieftan

pKRUEGER

     -woldwarden

     -woldwyrd

     -feral warpwolf

-6 bloodweavers

-6 druids + overseer

-shifting stones + stonekeeper

Til next time!

Triumph and Siege

My Siege army is almost done. Reinholdt is being dullcoated and I have two Boomhowler trolls to finish. Here's the bad mamajama himself and his 'jack, Triumph.

Triumph has gotten a pretty rotten rap in the forums since his release, but I've enjoyed playing him. The extra point of RAT makes him pretty accurate even without boosting and arcane precision just goes another step towards making my Siege list my premier anti stealth foil. On top of all that, the model is one of my favorite jack sculpts.

In other Warmahordes news, my 50 pt. Circle game ended with a win over Joey Baltimore's angry elves. Kromac ran way back as a support lock while his army hit, ran, and claimed objectives. Looking forward for more circle fun this Wednesday!

Kromac is watching!

Circle Orboros: The Theory

Greetings from Baltimore where it is... gasp... raining. Hey, it's ok, because the new forecast for the weekend includes "wintry mix." Not even freakin' Halloween yet...

"Here lies D-9... Maryland weather finally drove him so mad his brain asplode'"

Well with the tournament last weekend in the "done" column, I figure it's time to shift focus to a different one of my 4 Warmachine Factions.It's time for werewolves and angry hippies, it's time for heart eatin', forestwalkin', pathfindin', and all sorts of other fun things it's time for Circle Orboros.

Now, I've had my Circle army since early on in our dabblings with Warmahordes (dabblings... makes it sound like witchcraft on the after school specials... "those kids were never the same after they started dabblin' in that witchcraft....") but I am notoriously bad with them. I mean really, really, really bad. I think it's time to change that, so I'm declaring the Circle as my faction of choice for the Fall and early Winter. (plus when I play an army it makes me want to paint it... I'd really like to get some paint on some of these models.)

So in trying not to repeat the past, I'm trying to figure out what makes Circle "Work." Here's my preliminary findings.

1: They ignore rules: Of course they do, they're Whordez! But more than just the every day Hordes ignoring rules, Circle ignores rules about line of sight and movement. Many models have pathfinder and some have, or can be given, hunter. Being able to make warpwolves ghostly is another neat trick. This is the key in my plan. I need to maximize moving the army in and through places others can't/ aren't expecting me to be.

2: They're the manuever kings: This is nothing new to me. I played Ravenwing in 40k. When I first tried this faction though I had only ever played my Satyxis lists. Now after a solid year of playing Cygnar I understand just how fast a Circle list can be. Combined with the ability to ignore certain rules, this is the armies single greatest strength. We should not ever be stuck in an unfavorable match up. I'm working on plans to "swing deploy" the entire army. This was a favorite trick of mine with the Ravenwing. You set up in a very balanced spread across the entire deployment zone, then with advanced deployment/ advanced move or just through run moves the first turn, you shift your entire army to one flank and then turn the battle field. If your opponent set up to deal with all the threats you laid out initially, and is from a slow faction, you should be able to isolate and crash down on a large part of his army before the second can effectively react.

3: They are made to counter an opponent, not go for the throat: I tried to play the Circle very agressivly, and failed. Now it's time to take a much more relaxed approach. Annoy the oponent, shut down his casting with bestial, push him away with hurricane, flee behind the woods so he has to work to get at me... and then, snap the trap shut as the army moves apart. Easy to say, hard to do... but I think this is how the army will win.

MY LIST: 35 points
-Kromac the Ravenous
-Feral Warpwolf
-Pureblood Warpwolf
-6 Bloodtrackers
-Nuala
-3 Tharn Wolf Riders
-4 Ravagers
-Chieftan

Everything has pathfinder or can be given ghostly. Most of the units are frighteningly fast and Kromac can aid the beasts' speed with his spells...

I plan on setting Kromac and the wolves up dead center with the riders off to one side. Everything else has advanced deployment and will allow me to "swing the flank" very early on. The ammount of damage this list can drop on infantry is incredible, but heavy warjacks and beasts will give this list a lof of trouble. We'll be relying on a warpwolf or beastly Kromac to handle anything big and scary. The feral is my assasination bullet with Kromac himself able to jump in and do the deed if the situation is correct.

Tournament Results

After a week of prep Sunday was tournament day! 8 people showed up including three of us from the Carney Garage Warmachine League. The armies were Cygnar heavy with a Cryx army, 2 rets and minions rounding out the field. Overall everything was very well organized and laid out. The store is a great place to shop and play and if you live near Harford County, Maryland you should definitely check out Critical Hit Games.

GAME 1: eNemo vs. pCaine  WIN
My first game was against a very well played pCaine tier 4 list. Through some lucky repair rolls and Nemo's spells I was able to pop the pulse from t-head twice, frying a lot of gun mages. I eeked out a scenario win... barely. This was one of the most enjoyable games of Warmachine I've played in a long time.

GAME 2: eStryker vs. Barnabas LOSS

Meh. I lost to Hanan. I lose to Hanan in the garage all the time, why should a tournament be any different? I hate the gators. I know people complain about Legion being broken, but the damn gator list is just unfair. Barnabas pulled off a caster kill, but only because I was out there collecting victory points after I knew I was going to lose on scenario the next turn.

GAME 3: eStryker vs. pSkarre  WIN

Last game was a pSkarre/ eStryker show down. My feet turn worked very well allowing my storm guard and stormblades to roll a lot of thralls and satyxis. Skarre feated and sat on focus until her armor was 28. While her armor was 28, the path to her was clear. I over boosted, rolled an 11, rolled 7 for damage, then energized and charged smashing skarre down with my second hit. Caster kill win, turn three. The cryx player was another really nice guy. All and all, an enjoyable game.

So by my math, I came in third in the tournament. I'll warn you that my math sometimes ignores the laws of the universe so I may be off by 1 or 10 places. I had fun though and am looking forward to the next event.

Thinking of finishing off my Siege army and then taking a painting break from Cygnar (so.,.. much.... blue...) which might see the Circle coming off the shelf.

Be well!
D-9

Tournament Packing List

Great night of D&D...errr... Pathfinder tonight. Lots of fun with the adventure path we're running, but tomorrow's day of nerding is all about Warmachine.

I condensed the models I'm using tomorrow into a small Sabol case to make it easier to move them around. I have the huge armored company bag for my Cygnar collection, and that puppy is just too big to take to the store. Besides my models, here's my packing list.

-cards in sleeves
-2 dry erase markers
- block of d6s
-tokens
- template set
-tape measure
- rule book
-carrying tray
-Camera

I try to go as light as possible. Check back tomorrow night for a complete run down of how the Carney boys did!

Tournament Armies: Final Touches with 4 days to Go!

As predicted... it is raining in Baltimore. (Any other Counting Crows fans that get the reference? no? didn't think so...) I knocked out a 12 hour work day today so tonight's tourney update may be a bit abbreviated.

In getting ready for this weekend's shindig I wanted to take a look at my armies and see if there was anything they needed. I touched up a few paint chips here and there, but there was something else that I've been putting off for way too long.

Arc Markings.

Not to be confused with things measured in cubits or the autobots ship, arc marks are (for the non warmahordes crowd) simply two marks placed on a model's base to delineate front and rear arcs. They are also a fiddly little bit of painting that I have been ignoring up to now. So before Sunday I have to mark two entire 35 point armies...

I made a template to help things move a little faster.

And then started the process of putting base markings on the models. I went for a gradient of blue with a pattern to make them a little more unique. Here's the rough take:

It looks pretty good on all the models I've finished, and goes a long way towards tying the lists together. Tomorrow night should see all the infantry finally finished and then the armies will be ready to go. Here's a shot of everything I'm taking in both lists:

So that's it for tonight. I hope to give one last update pre-tournament and then check back Sunday night for all the various sundry details from a day of Warma-fun.

Oh... while I had the camera out, I took a few shots of some of the things both done and in progress on my painting table:



Warmachine Tourney Prep. 5 days out

Greetings from B-More where we had a beautiful day. After work I jumped on the bicycle and pulled a quick 27 miles of hills and soaked up some fall sunshine.

Tomorrow. It will rain. It's been like freaking Seattle here lately...

Anyways, you; my fellow nerds, care not for my weather commentary or how insane my bike ride was today, so let's talk little toy soldiers!

Tournament draws closer. 5 days out. My wife and I have tickets for Macbeth on Friday night and we're playing D&D on Saturday night, so that timeline is even more abbreviated!

So today's blog entry, eNemo. yesterday I blogged about the eStryker list I plan on using. I definitely think Stryks is the more powerful list (at least in my unskilled hands) but my second list is going to be eNemo. Take a look at yesterday's blog for what's in the list.

I don't know this list as well as the Stryker list, and that's got me worried. This list is my counter to a stealth incorporeal threat, as the Black 13th make an appearance along with the Storm Callers.

A pulsing thunderhead can help clear pesky infantry and the Stormguard are great for holding an objective or chunking medium toughness enemies. Stormcallers are fun, I don't usually go for the crazy triangulations of doom as eNemo's bonus for the 'callers makes them great at simply sniping enemy models. The infantry though is not very important.

This list is all about the 'jacks. Thunderhead is my distractor. He's a big point sink and people seem to respond to him proportionately. While everyone is focusing on the Head (who is much more survivable with Polarity Shield or Fail Safe), my Hammersmith is loaded up on focus, upkept with lightening shroud and moving faster than expected under energizer to bash up what ever target is most juicy. The charger hangs back with Nemo giving him a LOS block and taking pot shots when possible until feat turn when it is loaded with focus and hopefully dropping a light jack or beast or at least a solo.

This list will have trouble winning scenario based games, but can do ok as long as it doesn't have to spread out too much. I'll have to be heads up if my opponent brings any warjack shut down lists (Skarre with Satyxis or any Ret list bringing Mage Hunters) and just use eStryker if possible.

 tomorrow's entry: Getting the models ready for play.

Heading to a Warmachine Tourney! Six Days Out!

So yesterday I laid out my considerations when choosing two armies for a tournament situation. I've come to my conclusion for the tournament. eStryker and eNemo.

Now if you don't play these casters (or if you don't enjoy a sneaky glimpse into the vast primordial chaos that is my mind) you might want to go read some Necron rumors or something, because I'm gonna get a little specific here.
You have been warned.
Wait a minute... I haven't read Necron rumors yet today.... brb...


The C'tan are gone? Really? Dag... anyways... back to our regularly scheduled series of rambling thoughts and half formed ideas already in progress.

So the lists.
LIST ONE:
eStryker
Squire
Ol' Rowdy
Stormclad
6x stormblades + UA+ 1 WA
6x stormblades + UA+ 1 WA
6x stormguard

LIST TWO:
eNemo
Squire
Charger
Hammersmith
Thunderhead
3x storm callers
Black 13th
Arlan Strangeways
6x stormguard

 Under my own criteria, the first thing about the list is Do I Know the List? I have played the eStryker list more than any other list I have owned so it's a big yes. I've won with eStryker, I've lost with eStryker, I've won on assasination, I've won on scenario (lost on both of them a lot too...) but I do feel comfortable with the list. eNemo is a little more of a wildcard, since I've only had about 10-12 games with the angry old man and his giant electro jack of doom, but I have at least played him a little bit.

Now some theory on the Stryker. eStryker is a very different game than eNemo, hence why I'm pairing them together. eStryks can handle a heavy infantry army with things like man o' wars and bastions or a jack heavy or beast heavy army. The stormblades hit hard with assault and a well placed feat turn can turn a battle line to pulp. Both heavy jacks are the best beat sticks that Cygnar can bring, and are relatively efficient focus wise leaving Stryker with enough focus to beat some things down, or take well aimed hand cannon shots. Rebuke is a powerful spell if I have to play stryker up.
 Stryker has enough infantry to try for a scenario win if the assasination isn't favorable, but it certainly isn't my first choice. Weaknesses are stealth and incorporeal models, in fact if I see an opponent carrying undead models with green glowy bits I might just park Stryks and take Nemo. Huge horde armies are also troublesome. The ideal win vector with this army is a path being cleared by stormblades and jacks so eStryker can blast through the hole, supercharge, and chop the enemy caster neatly in half with his ever so big sword.

The army is totally painted too, which is a big thumbs up.

Tomorrow: eNemo

Heading to a Warmahordes Tourney! 1 week out!

Hey folks! D-9 here, back after an extended hiatus. For anyone who cares, the new job is great and I'm starting to see a little glimmer of free time here and there, so it's time to get the blog rolling again.

One week from now we'll hopefully be wrapping up a Warmachine steam roller event. I figured it would be fun to catalog the prep as the week leads up to the tourney and then give you all the gory details when the tournament was done. So today's topic... choosing an army.

Last time we played Warmachine anywhere outside of the garage I took pSkarre and eSkarre. My day was a loss overall, but it was a lot of fun and taught me a lot about the game. It's been almost a year since that tournament, so I feel like I know what I'm doing going into this experience. Still doesn't mean I'll win... but in theory I have a better chance! So... what army to take? Here's my take on picking a solid tournament army.

Considerations:
1: Do I know the army?  This is probably the biggest consideration. Warmachine is a game of, sometimes, minute interactions. Knowing the army means having played with it, relatively extensivly, so you have the experience of knowing what the army can do in a host of situations. It also speeds up gameplay when you know your army, as you don't have to reference your cards quite as much. I know a Stormblade is def 12 arm 12, whenever anyone asks, I don't waste 20 seconds checking...

2: Does the army actually have a shot at winning some games? I love fun fluffy armies. Tier forces in Warmahordes just make me smile, but the question is, can the army actually take on some of the more hardcore lists in the game and win? You can expect that people will play Cryx, can you handle the incorporeal? Can you break the trollkin brick? Can you down a mass of Khador heavies? Can you sacrifice something to the Winterguard deathstar and still win a game? I guess a great player can use any caster and win, however I am most definitely not a great player, more accurately I am barely a moderately not-awful player, therefore I need to make sure my army has some capability built in.

3: Is the army fun to play against? No one likes "that guy." Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I want to have a good time, and I want the guy beating me to have a good time. Playing annoying casters just to be annoying (eHaley, eGaspy) or an all infantry army or all jack army could really  make someone's day awful.

4: Can the army be shut down totally by any of the other armies you are likely to face? The shooty cygnar list will be boned against a jack heavy Menoth list or even worse Barnabas and his damn gators. While this moves into #1's territory it's worth considering. As awesome as the satyxis heavy Skarre lists are, they lose effectiveness against a hordes army where backlash and feedback isn't as useful. The great thing about the Steamroller format is the two list format, so you can take a second list to deal with those factions who can really stick it to your main list.

5: Does it look good? I know many people don't seem to care on this one, but I don't want to bring anything not painted and based. Again, people are at a tournament to have fun playing the game. For many people that's seeing a well painted force across from their well painted force.

So the outcome?

Looks like I'm going to roll with eStryker and eNemo this weekend.

Tomorrow: thoughts behind my lists.

SPACE MARINE! A Video Game Review

Greetings oh noble readers. Sorry for the month hiatus, I started at a new workplace and have been putting in quite a few 12-14 hour days while I get settled. Things are slowing down, so some blog posts should start flowing in again.

Before I get to the meat of this post, and my review of Space Marine, just a quick update in D-9's world. I've finished off my trencher chain gunners and the storm strider is about 70% done. That thing is deceptively difficult to paint. Look for some pictures sooner or later. Been playing Circle lately for a change up and am still trying to wrap my head around Kromac. Look for a Circle article sometime soon as well.

Ok, so video game review time! For anyone who's read this blog in the last few years it's no secret that my long love affair with Games Workshop has been on the rocks. I haven't bought a new GW model in almost two years and have only played 40k twice in the last 12 months. At times this makes me sad, I really do love the the fluff and the aesthetics of 41st millenium and I really enjoy my armies as well, but the game itsself just hasn't been there for me.

Enter Space Marine.

I heard about this game when it was in development, saw a few screen shots, meh. Then one of my gaming buddies said that he had downloaded the demo and we all had to try it. I had some Amazon points so I ordered it up and... wow.

First, this is not some great triumph in video game design. There is nothing new and interesting in this game that hasn't been done before. But what is there, is done exactly the way I want it to be. This is a fanboy's game. Cueing up that chainsword to lay into a mob of 15 orks and watching their bloody bodies fly to and fro is exactly what I needed in a 40k video game. You are an Ultramarine captain who, along with two other marines, have responded to a Forge World that has been invaded by orks. Too valuable for exterminatus or to be simply abandoned, you are the spearhead of an assault to get the planet back. The Imperial Guard and the inquisition both make appearances in the story as well.

The beautiful backgrounds and environments, the constant nods to the 40k universe, are all totally appreciated. The Forgeworld is a marvel to behold at times, and even in the nondescript trenchworks and sewer tunnels you still get a feel for the world you've read so much about. I'm 5 hours into the campaign and the story, while not exactly Abnett quality, at least has me interested and hooked. The voice acting is great and the score is suitably awesome. Sound effects are another big plus for this game. From the revving of the chain sword to the 'whump boom" of a bolter shell, if you've got a nice stereo, crank her up.

The bad? Things can get a little repetitive. With this said, at this point in my life I'm enjoying the mindless slaughter every night before bed. (see earlier statement about 14 hr. days.) From a 40k nerd perspective, some of the weapons seem a little underpowered for their fluff. (I'm looking at YOU melta gun!) The health regen mechanic is also a little clunky. You have to perform finishing moves on your enemies to regain health. The moves are a set animation and also become a bit repetitive (although I can't see the one where you get the power axe stuck in the nob's head enough times, Classic!) and performing them in big battle becomes difficult due to camera angle issues.  

All and all if you were and/ or are a 40k fan. Play this game. You will enjoy it. Now, I've got to get ready for Wednesday night Warmahordes, Cryx, Circle or Cygnar? hmmm.....

More Finished Cygnar and Stormstrider WIP shots

Not a lot to say, just some pics of the latest finished models.

and... my latest WIP for the Storm Strider... it's is a huge model and is taking longer than I originally figured to get painted.

Blaize Impressions and Updates

Connie Blaize gave me two very interesting games last week. Both times her feat proved to be incredibly powerful ,giving me upwards of 12 souls, almost ARM 30 precursors, and very frustrated opponents. In game one however, I just couldn't thin out the horde of trolls (curse you tough rolls!) and was beat down by the few remaining champions. In game two however an awesome charge by the Bokur followed by a post feat- focus laden spell assasination brought eButcher down. A couple of observations:

1: Blaize is a midline caster: keeping gallant and a bokur close to keep her safe allow Connie to get the most out of her spells and her feat.

2: Blaize needs a crap-ton of infantry to be effective: The more single wound models you have, the better off you will be on the feat turn. I simply don't want to lay out the money on Steelheads or else everyone wouldn't stand a chance against her. With that said, make sure you have infantry that can do the deed if needed. Nyss or Forgeguard are probably your best choices, especially with transferrence active.

3: Blaize's army is deceivingly quick: Crusader's call is an awesome spell allowing you to spring on your opponent from a little further out than they expect. Capitalize on this with reach weapons and watch your threat out range your opponent's shooting.

In other news, I finished all three Storm Smiths and Arlan, which means my eNemo list is 100% finished. On the painting table right now is the Storm Strider (which is taking forever) and Boomhowler and Company.

Constance Blaize: Theory and 35 Points

Wednesday night is Warmahordes night! This week is going to see my first foray with Cygnar's new caster from Wrath, Constance Blaize.

First Choice? FACTION: Connie is an ally caster, so she can function as a Cygnar caster OR as a Highborn merc caster. For fun, I'm going to run her as merc this week to use some models I haven't used before.

Connie as a Caster: In my mind, she's definitely built to take a front line role in her army. Her spell list is designed around supporting infantry, but as soon as she can she needs to break loose and put a hurting on your opponent. Strangely enough, I don't see her as an assasination tool. I think with flashing blade she can clear a path for Gallant or any of her infantry to deal the final blow. This is the main weakness I see in her stats and spells, the kill condition is not as clear as I would like it. Still, with flank, reach, Crusader's Call, and the fact that her sword ignores bonuses from spells, she can make a go at a kill shot against mid level casters.

Transferrence: This spell allows infantry in Connie's control to spend her focus to boost. I see this spell going up mod 1 and never coming down. The various infantry models in the list will be able to pretty reliably clear paths, boosting when they need it. Seeing the Forgeguard boost weapon master hits will be impressive.

The Feat: Timing is going to be an issue. I see the feat more as a defensive measure than an offensive. For those who don't have the rules handy, every time a model in Connie's control dies she gets a soul, soul becomes focus next turn, etc. etc. That's not the cool part. For every soul on Connie, warrior models get +1 arm. If timed right, the feat should allow a few models to die, give Connie the focus for next turn, but make the rest of the army very survivable. With this in mind, I see the army hitting in one big wave, as opposed to being broke up.

The Army: Here's my first stab at a 35 point list.
                - Constance
                -Gallant
               -10 Forgeguard
               -10 Precursor Knights +UA
               -6 Boomhowler Trolls
               -Harlan Versh
              - pEirys
              -Ogrun Bokur

Probably should drop some of the solos for a little more infantry spam, but I like the utility this list gives me. I might drop Eirys for Wishnayylr if I can figure out where to put the extra point. I like the bokur just because he's a secondary beatstick that will help keep Connie alive as she play so close up front. Versh is Morrowan, and he's bad ass. The precursors and the forgeguard are the big muscle in the list, especially with Transferrence up and the Precursor's mini feat.
So we shall see!

On the painting front, all my Stormsmiths are finished and being sealed as you read this. Arlan is the last model before my eNemo 35 list is complete.

Magic the Gathering!

First, thanks for the kind words in the comments section of the last post. I really appreciate it! You guys keep reading, I'll keep writing!

A short Warmachine update: Wednesday night I'm going to break out Constance Blaize for the first time. Hopefully I'll give a little theory article tomorrow night, and then see how it works out on Wednesday.  Progress is steadily being made on the Stormsmiths as well, and I should have pictures for you all soon.

Saturday night eleven of us converged on my basement for a night of sealed deck MtG. Most of us have been playing Magic since revised, but for a few folks this was their first time. We each got four packs of cards, and then drafted nine more cards from other closed packs. From this card pool everyone built a 40 card deck. I went with green and white due to two "mana elves" in my packs and a few big green creatures. My deck was solid, but really didn't have any game ending combos in it. I won quite a few of my first games (besides being ground out by Joey Baltimore! Maybe he'll give us a guest testimony on how he managed to build a grinder deck in a sealed environment... ) but soon the late hour and copious ammounts of alcohol began to take their toll on my already adled mind and I fell into the loser's circle for the end of the night.

It was an incredibly enjoyable evening and a nice change of pace from all the tabletop wargaming we do. There's talk about a Magic league for the fall/ winter using only our sealed deck cards. Should be interesting...

Oh well, I'm off to paint. BTW: www.swor.com I've preorderd!
-D9

State of the Games: Warmachine, 40k, WoW, and More!

Not sure anyone ever actually reads my ramblings any more (post comments! Let me know you're alive!) but I thought it was time to update everyone in what's going on in my little corner of the nerd galaxy. Time for... (cue suitably impressive music...) D-9's State of the Hobby Address. (bound to be more cheerful than a state of the Union address, because, let's face it, the Union's pretty much in a bad state right now, but I digress...) Let's talk about all the things that make nerdin' great.

1: Warmachine/ Hordes: As you can easily tell by my blog posts, this is THE game right now. We've been playing PP games for almost two years in our gaming group and they have become the only mini game we really spend time with any more. I've been steadily cranking out painted models and just as steadily getting solid games in on a weekly schedule. Wrath was awesome, and our group is looking forward to Domination. We still have spirited discussions about the balance of Hordes vs. Warmachine, but overall the PP system is a very enjoyable, solid game. My biggest gripe is that I don't get to play enough to try all the armies/ ideas that I come up with. Currently on the hobby table is my goal to get 35 points armies done. eStryker, eSkarre, and pSkarre are all 100% finished. eNemo has two models left to get done. From there, pStryker, pDenny, and pNemo are the next candidates for the full paint treatment.

2: Warhammer 40k: Wow... how the mighty have fallen. Our group has let 40k silently slide to the wayside, and then fall of the table to be crushed under the steam driven heels of a plethora of warjacks. Some great models have come out in the last two years, but to be honest no one seems to care. GW's business studipity has been met with a few chuckles and I'm just glad I have almost every model I'll ever need in metal and won't have to muck with finecast at all.... Will 6th edition re-light the fires of grim-dark wargaming? Probably. A new chaos codex would inspire me to dust off the World Eaters. I look at all my 40k armies and the models are incredible, the rules just really need a change.

3: World of Warcraft: Forgive me Blizzard, it has been a week since I last logged in to Azeroth... and I really don't miss it. WoW has taken a hit this summer, everything feels "grindy." Even the fun of leveling Horde characters for the first time hit a wall when I got out of the re-designed zones. I don't even touch my Alliance 85s unless someone needs me to heal a raid. The instances just aren't as fun as they were in WoTLK or BC. This is preturbing. I love WoW. I really do. I have a lot of fun playing this stupid game, but right now I'd rather paint models, play XBox, watch TV or even write pointless blog entries that no one will read. I have one eye on the horizon right now, and have already pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic. We shall see what the fall brings. (but Old Republic looks freaking sweet! Space ships! Jedi! Sith! )

4: D&D/ Pathfinder: We had some awesome Pathfinder sessions in the spring, but now we are back in the traditional rut. Its hard to get working adults with families together for long rpg sessions. That said, the Pathfinder rule set is, hands down, the best RPG I have seen in my 20+ years of playing RPGs. Our group is working through "The Curse of the Crimson Throne" adventure path, and it is truly an incredible experience. If we can just get everyone to play....

5: Magic?!?!?!? yep... the crack is back on the street... Saturday night yours truly is hosting a sealed deck 2012 event. It's always fun to come back to MtG, especially in a controlled setting. Depending on how the event goes we may be looking at a contained league for the fall/ winter. I've never written about MtG on this blog, so maybe I'll put some stuff up following our weekend.

6: Board Games: Board Game night continues to be a big hit amongst our group of friends. Last Night on Earth by Flying Frog Games is probably our favorite. I wrote a review a few months back, but suffice to say it's the zombie apocalypse board game. Other games in rotation right now are Killer Bunnies and the Search for the Magic Carrot, Red Dragon Inn (hilarious!), Forbidden Island, and Cleopatra. Forbidden Island is a cooperative game that is fast paced and a lot of fun. I highly reccomend it out of this list.

So there ya have it. That's where good ol' D-9 is in the hobby right now. If you still read, post a comment to let me know I haven't finally become that guy who types to himself in the internetz. Who am I kidding.... ;)

Thunderhead!

Here he is! In all his finished glory. I'm very happy with the finished product, especially the whites. I really worked on getting them smooth through several layers of very thinned down highlights and I think it paid off.

Gamewise, the T-Head is an infantry killer supreme. The Energy Pulse ability hits (automatically) all models within 6", doing enough damage to wipe out most one wound infantry models, and put a hurting on even big stuff like man o' wars and ogrun. After the pulse, T-Head can use focus to buy shots with the lightening coil which automatically hit due to sustained assault. Great for finishing off those tough multi wound models. I run T-Head with eNemo, and with lightening shroud on him he can do a tremendous ammount of damage in melee as well. Energizer can get him where he needs to be to pop his bug zapper ability or just to line up the charge if needed.

In other Warma-Hordes news, the Carny Gamers Society is having an interesting event this week. We're running a Prime/ Primal only 25 pt. tournament. More about this later.

Storm Strider Assembly

My Cygnar Battle Engine arrived in the mail from the fine gents at Miniature Market today! I spent about two hours tonight doing the initial cleaning and pre-assembly. The model is impressive, both in appearence and in heft. The middle section is metal, as are the upper portions of the legs. The only resin piece that reallt was a mess was the arc that has the tesla coils on it. Lots of flash and mold lines as well as some pour tags that had to be removed. I drilled a hole for the foot peg of the second crew man on the main deck, while the first storm smith has a small platform that he stands on (and that the levers connect to.)
As for the base, I put a little detail on that giant pie plate, but didn't go too over the top. Some green stuff worked into a ruined road with a resin terrrain piece and a bit of rock and sand make up the base. Hopefully this beauty will be on the painting table soon!

I'm still slowly plugging away at thunderhead. Hope to have him done sometime this weekend. He seriously might be my new favorite warmachine model.

Finished Cygnar Charger and Thunderhead WIP

Well my summer painting projects are rolling a long. By the end of the summer I wanted three fully painted 35 pt. armies for both my Cryx and Cygnar. eSkarre and pSkarre were 100% done months ago, now eStryker is finished. eNemo is coming close to completion, and pDenny is at least started!

I finished off the Charger last night for eNemo's army. I shied away from this jack for a while, but Nemo loves it. It's perfect long range fire support for the Hammersmith and Thunderhead as they move across the field. I usually load it up with the full 3 focus and then matrix back anything I didn't need when Nemo gets his turn.

Thunderhead is next on the list. I've been slowly working on him between other paints right now. This jack is an incredible sculpt and all of the large empty spaces really need a little TLC to get the highlights right. I threw in an extra stage to my normal painting of whites, two extra stages to my normal painting of blues, and three extra stages for my golds on this guy. I'm proud of the progress thus far.

I've also wrapped up the alt. pDenny sculpt and Nightmare. I'll get some pics snapped of them later on this week. I've had a pretty solid run of games with my pDenny list over the last month. Needed to take a break from the boy's in blue and get back to my Cryx-y roots...

Stay cool!

Other Finished Cygnar Models

Good morning! Sitting here watching the Tour de France and updating the blog!

My secondary Cygnar army has bounced between pStryker, Siege, eHaley, and currently is eNemo. I'm playing him a bit jack heavy with a charger, thunderhead, and a hammersmith. The storm guard add some infantry tarpiting, with the Black 13th giving fire support. Three stormsmiths and Arlan round out this list. I still have some painting to finish off the list, but here's what I have done.