The lot of the Gorax

So I was having an amusing conversation with a friend today. The subject matter turned towards how I have been using the same Gorax since about 2005/2006. He has been a staple in my lists for all that time and yet...I hate him. With a passion.

Odd you may say. I love the stats, the cost and the animus but I absolutly hate the sculpt. This has evolved into a few specific ways I treat my Gorax. I always rile the Gorax if any beast needs riling that turn. I don't call it riling, I say I am 'calling him a prick' and 'telling him he's one ugly ass sculpt', I always transfer the damage to him. I always take one with Mohsar entirely for Maltreatment and finally if I need to slam/throw one of my own models at something to gain a knockdown, well you can bet your sweet ass it's the Gorax being thrown/slammed.

That being said, occationally he really shines through and I feel bad for the little guy. More than once he has been abused by me and still stepped up to the plate and totaled an enemy heavy, usually better because I have been mean to him, go go Pain Response.

Anyway, he will more than likely make most of my lists. 4pts for a 4 Fury light warbeast with an animus that can literally win games is a bargain. I just usually have to make sure I don't kill him using him as my whipping bitch.

Baldur2 vs Asphyxious3 (good few pics)

I was under the impression I would be against a colossal this week, I had asked one of the guys at the club for a game knowing full well he had been bought one for his birthday so would likely be out and about with it. He did not dissapoint, the Kraken was unleashed.

I'm just gonna jump straight into it. I took photos at the end of each turn as well as a couple just because they made me chuckle.

Standard first turn,. Druids cloud covered and everyone got into position, we were playing (Incursion?) the Scenario with 3 flags and a random one goes 'pop'

His first turn was to jam the central and left flags with ashen vailed mcthralls and send the Kraken over to the right hand flag, the Kraken also fired that massive cannon of his at the druids bagging two. First blood to Cryx. The left hand objective vanished handing me an advantage (I had put nowhere near enough over there to contend with a tide of thralls instead putting full force into dropping the Kraken).

Apparently the last Circle guy he went against had a lot of trouble clearing mcthralls, after a barrage of druidic magic only a steaming pile of body parts and a single mcthrall were left alive. Even the stitch thrall bit the dust under the concentrated attack so no rebuilding for you Mr Cryx. Baldur feated this turn and put a wall down to protect the Stalker and Guardian from the deadly embrace of a pistol wraith which is just out of shot on the right there.

And there he is! Though he turned his attention on the Druids instead claiming the lives of two of them. The Kraken had a few more and the crazy harpoon helljack had another few. Leaving one druid alive...the Pistol wraith claimed a CP for Cryx. Asphyxious also feated this round...

Baldur went and avenged the fallen Druids by charging and destroying the helljack, Then hopping back over the wall thanks to Lightning Strike from the Wilder. The stalker moved in front as a bit more protection the Gorax tried to claim the Pistol Wraith but failed the charge so the Guardian had a go. Claiming the Objective for Circle.

When your opponent feats it is usually a good idea to pay attention, this was his focus pool after allocation. Apparently he would have been healing too but I hadn't managed to get a bead on his so that part made no odds. Still...thats a lot of focus. Shame he got Diced really, he threw 2 Hex blasts at megalith and both missed and both scattered badly. The third hit and removed his animus so he could apply a few thralls and the withershadow to his stoney face.

 The Kraken took down the Guardian and Megalith got swarmed, thankfully Roots of the Earth kept him kicking.

It hardly seems fair does it? Heres a hit boys and girls, dont turn your back on the giant tentacle monster.

The kraken had been lured in. Time to bag the prey, the stalker went first. Due to a frenzy on the Gorax he didn't get primal but still took down most of the right had side. Baldur got teleported over and went ape on the thing, destroying the Kraken and claiming another CP for me. Hurray!

Now I had a picture of the last turn, but I accidentally deleted it. Basically he needed to kill Baldur as anything he sent over would be killed and I'd claim another point...he decided to use Asphyxious. He measured and might be able to make it. Not entirely clear as he had to take an odd angle due to avoiding the Stalkers base. He cast mobility, camped 5 and charged. Out by a 1/4". The stalker headbutted him so he was prone atop his beloved (and utterly destroyed Kraken) and Baldur liberally applied Tritus to his face untill he stopped moving. P+S19 makes a mockery of overboosted powerfields.


To conclude the list worked quite nicely, the flag vanished in my favour even if it did bring all the action over towards the colossal. Oh, and don't f*** with Baldur.

Back to my Roots

While work is progressing on the Stormwall and Finn I have decided that today is going to be a true Forest Mans day. I'm going to be taking my circle again with me today, more specifically Baldur the Stonesoul. I'm going to use a list I wrote just before I went all Cygnar mad, it looks a little something like this;

Baldur the Stonesoul
-Druid Wilder
-Gorax
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Woldguardian
-Megalith

Shifting Stones x2
-Stonekeeper
Druids of Orboros
-Overseer
Stoneward & Woldstalkers

50pts

The list was written with the advent of Colossals, needing a couple of good sources of raw damage output to drop one in a coordinated effort of the stalker and Baldur. Plus having Sprint available means that Baldur can contribute more with his increasing strength. That and being able to put a wall down where ever I need one is a blooming good defence against huge bases seeing as they can't end on one.

Anyway I can't just have a list that is entirely for taking down the big guys. The Druids are always a good choice for control and magic denial, the Overseer makes for an additional layer of defence for them or can be put on the offence. The Woldstalkers I have always found to be a very powerful unit, concentrated fire means they can be punching about their wight class and Zephyr they can get the jump on further targets.

Anyway heres to hoping, I havent really tested the list beyond theory. But I do believe I have most bases covered. I have no idea what I'm against later today but I do believe I am prepared for it.

Good Intentions

I did finish that defender the day after the last post...I swear it. I have just been bloody busy and not had time to blog at the moment. Or get much else done really, here we go anyway.

The Master Gunner was also finished so I am really getting close, I just have the Trencher Infantry and Finn to paint before I get hold of the Commandos.

But wait, as I was going to work one day the girlfriend asked if she might have a crack at the Infantry. Seeing no time at anypoint for me to sit down for practically a month I agreed. She delivered. Producing a unit that meets my (very low) standards and in fact is much better than I would have done had I done them myself.

So yeah, just Finn left till I need to pick up the last unit. Unfortunatly I dropped him while painting him and he kinda broke. So I'm intending on picking up some superglue soon to get him fixed.

Thorn and Haley

Not much of a post today, I finished Thorn yesterday and got the snap today. I finished Haley a while ago but it didn't feel right having a picture of Thorn without her.

The Defender is nearly there now and Finn is exactly the same as the post he featured in last. The Trencher Infantry and Master Gunner have been based in Bootstrap Leather and are ready for the other colours to go on. Once all them are done I then look into getting my hands on a box of Trencher Commandos to complete the list off.

I have a plan, do I have the drive to see it through? I have a day off work tomorrow, hopefully we can see at least a finished Defender, which will put me at all the 'jacks for the list done and dusted.

Presenting, the Avenger!

Seriously, I know even I was doubting I'd get the guy done what with my track record at being massivly distracted by everything else that passes me by. But here we are, the Avenger!

I really should learn to doctor my photos or at least get a decent lamp. There we go though. He's ready to hit the table, though he does need his base cleaning off. I have also made a start on the Defender and Thorn (GASP!) but a game over vassal against Loftybloke put an end to that and I tidied it all up.

Yes obviously I took the gravediggers though it was only a quick 35pts game so wasn't the full list. I took:

Major Haley, Thorn, Avenger (bonded), Commandos (min), Infantry (max), Chain Gun, Master Gunner and Finn.

Against:

Bloody Barnabas, Snapper, Spitter, Wrastler, 2x Posse (max) and Thrullg.

I took first and moved everyone up. Haley dived into her trench to hide from the Spitter, his turn was similar but with barnabas putting down swamp pits and Gators cramming into them.  His spitter did manage a cheaky shot that melted a commando on the deviation. He survived the boosted blast but died to the corrosion.

Second turn Haley kept all her focus. Thorn advanced on the posse's who were side by side in swamp pits. Haley channeled timb bomb twice through him and due to a lucky deviation and some crafty targetting managed to catch all the posse with the spell, meaning they were all -2spd next turn. She then popped her feat. the commandos moved off to the left to hunt themselves a flanking thrullg and bagged it with a couple of grenades. The infantry moved up and waited for the Gators to be forced out of their swamps by popping smoke. With the Avenger right behind them.

His turn was both posse's crawling forward, the spitter hitting Thorn for a few damage but nothing serious and melting a pair of Trenchers who were covering him with smoke. the Wrastler advancing and waiting, the Snapper spiney growthing the Wrastlerand barney putting Iron Flesh on the unit of gators most central and then hiding behind them.

Third turn they were out of the swamps, time to pounce! Shame that 10 heavy infantry just don't fall down to gunfire quite as easily as you'd need them to. The avenger got 2 focus. Temporal acceleration and the Master gunner used artillerist on him to get to RAT8 with the aim. He then pumped two boosted to hit rounds into the iron fleshed posse and knocked them all down. Between that, Finn gunning them (rolled and got 3 shots!) Haleys hand cannon and 8 trencher infantry shooting them (all this with zero misses) I managed to kill 3 of them...whooo! The commandos failed to kill any of the other posse over the left but got on down to 1hp with a grenade. Not looking good.

Barnabas retaliated by charging a Trencher, Feating catching my whole army, killing the trencher and getting a free spell into Haley (who's trench is no good when your KD, Def20 would have been handy) boosting damage for 6 to her. Burned fury to cast it again and again did 6 damage. Hurting Haley thinks she is safe, oh no. The Wrastler advanced up and used it's animus Rise to get one of the Posse I failed to kill on it's feet. He had an easy line though to Haley (whom hadn't fallen back thinking the KD gators would have been shot to ribbons and thusly have been no threat, plus I'd forgotton about Rise) she got attacked by an angry Gator.

This is why Gators are my biggest fear...right above brain aneurysms.

 Anyway, bloody fun game, Barnabas is a pain in the backside 'lock for Cygnar. Not impossible but denying our shooting means we're in a lot of trouble. That and Gators being tough as old nails makes for a hard day.  Lofty did offer to switch 'locks out. But that would hardly have been fair.

Onto the good news, I've been passing ideas back and forth with Loftybloke and he is going to be making me a pair of nice looking trench templates so that he can attack Haley in them in style in future games. He should be documenting his process over at his Blog.

Gravediggin'

Now it might come as a shock, but I love Trenchers. Far too much if I'm honest. Now the release of the Avenger kit (something I have been very excited about) has given me a reason to invest in the Master Gunner solo (the Avenger's RAT being ridiculiously low and requiring a direct hit to do it's delightful KD).

Now I have Trenchers out the wazoo, I still don't own any commandos but they are next on the list of things to buy, even if that might be a long time because of the impromptu Stormwall. Anyway to prevent from rambling I am very, very close to having enough Trencher stuff to run a 50pts 'Trencher' list. Looking over the theme forces I saw the one that appealed to me...namely Haley2. I mean, you can't get more 'Trencher' than 'jacks with guns, 'jacks with magic hats (this is how one describes an arc node to a 6yr old by the way), Trencher units and Trencher solos...all the Trenchers all the time.

So, a quick look at the list.

Major Haley +5pts
-Thorn -8pts
-Avenger -9pts
-Defender -9pts

Trencher Infantry (leader and 9 grunts) -10pts
-Officer and Sharpshooter -3pts
-Grenadier -5pts
Trencher Commandos (leader and 5 grunts) -6pts

Trencher Master Gunner -2pts
Captian Maxwell Finn -3pts

This comes out at 50pts, quite a nice looking list (if like me you get a bit too excited about digging in the mud) but I can hear you crying out...why? What do you gain from this madness? Well imaginary voice I'll tell you. I gain several benifits to help offset the incrediably limited selection of models.

-First off I can redeploy one Trencher Model or unit. Not a really massive benifit but means I gain a bit of tactical leeway. Nice, not amazing.
-Secondly I gain +1 to the Starting Roll. This to me is where it gets good. First turn can be a huge boon to a control caster like Haley. Get up there are stall the arse off the other guy and you start scoring first. Totally worth it.
-Thirdly I gain a trench template for each unit of Trencher Infantry/Trencher Commandos once I have 2 units of the aformentioned units. Basically I get two trench templates. Now this was at first a real 'why?' moment for me. they only get to be placed at 20" and alongside the +2" deploy bonus the Trencher Infantry are stood at the other side of it and usually dug in anyway due to cautious advance. So why the blue hell would I want trench templates...let me tell you with an anecdote. Haley got shot in the face. (great anecdote right?) But if she stands herself in...hmmm say a trench template for cover and say...hmmm has a spell that increases defence against shooting. Yes Def22 against shooting is nice in a list that has a unit that usually doesn't block LOS and another that has Stealth naturally. My trench templates have affectionatly been named 'Haleys Grave' and I usually place them around where she is going to be wanting to stand during the game.
-Forthly is the +2" of deployment. With a list that naturally has a lot of Advanced Deployment and has +1 to start with the 'Caster at the helm being very much into control. it makes for another nice bonus.

Ah but I can hear you again imaginary voice. Yes I do have to give up a few Haley staples. Namely the Squire, Stormclad and Gun Mages.
-The Squire hurts, I won't deny it at all. That thing is golden for increasing the control area on such a powerful feat. The extra point of focus and spell re-roll were gravy on some already deliciously chunky chips. It's been painful not having this in the lists. But I have made more friends without it. Swings and roundabouts I suppose.
-The Gun Mages I'm not feeling quite as badly as I thought I might. They provided a lot of anti-stealth and pushback/KD. The sheer amount of AOE fire a grenadier and Avenger (temporally accelerated too if I'm feeling cheeky) that is more accurate or more indiscriminate depending on the mood of the Master Gunner, can deal with most of the Stealth units out there. The KD effects on the Avenger have helped with the stall game too. All round I'm not really missing them too much.
-The Stormclad, loosing this hurt. The 'jack bullet is a tried and tested method of killing casters. I am curently using the Avenger (notice a theme here...) as the bonded warjack to offset his usually slow speed. He does work alright as a 'jack bullet too if I'm honest. Though seeing as so far people have been surprised when the 'jack that has been thumping out 2 KD AOE's a turn suddenly packs that in as a bad job and comes screaming in swinging what is a surprisingly powerful sword. The killer is actually the lack of Squire...Temporal Acceleration and Telekenisis come out at 5/8 focus. leaving only 3 to allocate to the 'jack going in. Because yes it is usually the bonded 'jack going for it. As a side note I am aware that the Stormclad is available through the theme force as shooting lightning is legitimate 'ranged attack' and so he counts. But without making use of that accumulator and the list leaning more on the ranged attacks he is very much a goose amoung the swans (be dum tish!).

Anyway, those of you who have braved the wall of text shall be rewardeth!

'

Great reward eh? Bet you're loving it.

'Thumper' here is the Trencher Infantrys trusted grenadier warjack. Having been running about the battlefield as bare metal for as long as I can remember he finally got himself a lick of paint so he can look stylish as he drops explosion after explosion down into the enemy ranks. Being the quintessential Trencher warjack he got first spot on my get the 'jacks done agenda. Next up (should be, I mean seriously has anyone out there ever seen me stick to something?) the Avenger.

I can recommend...

This weeks gaming threw up a strange situatuion and I ended up playing a 3 way game of warmachine, figuring why the hell not? I can seriously recommend never, ever doing it. It's just painful. From now on I'll just be sticking to the regular games. Waiting for the turns to come around was quite dull. nevermind, I tried it. It might have been quite entertaining.

New Toy

Well, took my list of piggies to the club Monday, it went as well as I'd expected. A loss, but a laugh. With my very limited Battlegroups all my points were put into infantry and ended up against the Old Witch with a pair of Destroyers, Behemoth and some Mechaniks. Add into this that 2 rounds of shooting neither my Gun Boar (boosting) and Razorback Crew (hoping) couldn't nail a round into Scrapjack and stop his rampage in my lines. Rorch managed to catch Old Witch in a blast of his dynomite and do a few points of damage.

In other news a friend of mine sells a few bits and peices on the side and had a Stormwall. Letting me have it discounted and paying for it over a couple of months led me to have a new project...damn it I was supposed to be getting my Farrow up and running. Anyway, just getting the colours right on the big boy. A quick snap seeing as he is right next to me drying.

On a side note, the wreck marker that come with the Colossal is awesome, it'd be good if they put them out for light and heavies too. God knows I'd pick up a set.

Minion Madness

Well, I told you all I was going to be a busy bunny and I damn well aim to please (mostly myself...whoooo!).

I managed to get two heavies painted for the Thornfall Alliance. Enough gassing, more pictures.

An early WIP of Brine, which has been entitled Bling Pig. I thought him to be a little bit garish so this got toned down...a lot.

Rorch and Brine, ready for the tabletop. As you can see Bling Pig didn't last too long.

The Warhog, I was having a lot of trouble with his wounds and got a bit over excited when they worked out...totally not claiming credit for this one though.

Lord Carvers battlegroup. Yes I know it's small, I know I'm missing out on those amazing battlegroup wide spells. But I'm poor, it is a sad fact I have to live with.

The reason I aint claiming credit for the sores on the Warhog. My girlfriend got involved and put them on for me, she is a gem.

Who apparently likes using her hand as a pallet...bloody artists.


Whoop, last night was a sit down and get things done night. We had a few beers (yes this is not just viral advertising for red stripe...the delicious refreshing jamaican beer) and got some beasts painted.

Today saw Carvers first table game (vassal doesn't count) and it was 15pts against legion, Absylonia, a Scythean and a Carnevian. I took Lord Carver, a Gun Boar, a Warhog and a full unit of Brigands. I basically drip fed his 'beasts quagmired Brigands and then charged Absylonia with Lord Carver. A quick application of the Hand of God along with Carver feating and Brigands giving her the -2def hug. It was lights out.

Admittedly I was a bit disappointed. I have 35pts of Farrow together now but that was all the other guy had and I was pressed for time.

Well, that was a bit hectic.

Hoping to get back to posting now, having just recently moved house I've been a bit lax (don't look at me like that...ok MORE lax) in my posting. But honestly nothing much has been happening, sort of switched over to my Cygnar for a bit to indulge my random love of all things Trencher.

A WIP of the toughest bastard alive, who as it turns out is the toughest bastard alive to get done. My usual methods of throw some colours on and let it all sort itself out are not going too well. I have, as it were, hit the wall. Probably because I've been out of it for a few months and came back straight into one of my favorite characters in this game. Aye well, I shall keep at it. bits here and there. I also managed to get a War Hog for half price from a clear out at the LGS. Which was blooming nice and is providing a good counterpoint to Finn, seeing as I know exactly what is going where on that beastie.



Anyway, I'm back. Hopefully I wont be months between posts and might even have a finished Finn for showing off at some point. Maybe I might actually start my Trencher unit? Maybe I might make it to a decent hobby store and pick up the bits I need for my tier list trench templates.

Celestial Fulcrum, Blog...erm, 6?

So in the 76 years I have been working upon my Celestial Fulcrum I have made very little progress. Call it my easily distracted nature or...well I am just plain lazy. Anyway, I decided to actually sit down and do something about that.

Ta Da! Yeah it a terrible photograph, all the colours are sort of washed together in it. But hey, I actually got this far! Baby steps people, baby steps.

The point of Kaya...not getting in the way?

So I've stayed strong with Kaya the Wildborne. Yes I know it's been hard but I'm finally getting there. The theme force for her has highlighted a few things about her that I had not really thought about before. Namely Kaya doesn't need a massive battlegroup, soothing song is a bit of a trap there because you start thinking...'ooo, I can get rid of more if I have more beasts!' but really her other spells don't much lend themselves to actually running beasts more efficiently or effectivly. They do allow you to use her beasts as a scalpel mind you, removing things that the rest of the force is having trouble with.

So, how have I found she's doing this? Simple. Pack hunters. This is the best thing she brings and it's passive, it's why even when Kaya is waiting to activate this turn she is contributing to the accuracy of her battlegroup. This can be massive as it lets you not need to worry about boosting hits as often (a MAT8 berzerking Stalker is a thing of beauty BTW) then using Spirit Door and Sprint to get the commited beasts out of the way of the rest of the force. This is why it needs to be a small(ish) battlegroup, maybe two combat heavies and a support beast or two.

The rest of the force is doing most of the work, it needs to be able to get in and hit and hold the ground. Which is the main reason I'm considering breaking theme with her. I kinda want some Skinwalkers for holding/contesting/not dying. For now though I want a few more games with her and the wolves. They seem to be doing alright.

The Second Warlock, Cassius is a bit of a failure but not for the reasons you might think. Basically I'm finding Legion to be a tough matchup for ol'Kaya. They run far more 'beasts than Kaya's 'spot removal' method can deal with and my poor troops get run over. Cassius suffers even more because of his tree. Basically they can and will get at it and then it's lights out for him. Shall see anyway.

The Weakest Link

So I have a few games under my belt with the Kaya the Wildborne Theme Force. The vast majority of the list works really well together. I have to say that even the Reeves were pulling their weight in it. Not only wiping out most of a unit of blighted legionaires but then also wiping out the entire Spawning Vessel crew the turn afterwards. Never mind the Sic 'em's they were triggering on my warwolves. It was glorious.

The weakest link was obviously Kaya herself. She just doesnt have a spell list that is worth using most of the time. Occulation was pointless against legion as they ignore stealth for the most part, spirit fang costs a lot but can be useful soothing song was the spell I mostly found myself using and spirit door seemed moot, all my beasts got shot to bits before they made combat. Admittedly I was against eVayl and she has a very appealing set of spells. I mostly felt like Kaya was shuffling her feet and looking sheepish. There were a few times I was looking at the board and thought to myself...if I had the Stormlord I could have won on scenario this turn.

Still, going to keep at it. She was my first Warlock and I'll be damned if I let her slip into oblivion.

Crutch Free...

So I was reading a few posts on the Privateer forums about crutch free 2012. This seemed like an interesting idea, I thought about it a bit and decided I was on board. I couldn't really decide what I would consider a crutch in Circle though so I went into the sub-forum to see what the community thought and none of them could really decide either. Aside from fanning my faction superiority complex it gave me another idea.

I'm coming at this from the wrong direction.

There are very few models I use in every list, but there are a few I tend to shy away from. Those are; Kaya the Wildborne (who suffers a real lack of purpose), Reeves of Orboros (far too overcosted in my eyes), Tharn Ravagers (die easily and loose thier greatest strength if the target is non living), Reeve Hunter (mostly because mine always misses, on paper he's really good, but on the table that doesn't matter. I can knock the target down and he'll still bloody miss) and the War Wolves (who because I don't tend to take anything that triggers sic' 'em they loose a lot of the oomph that makes them look really appealing).

Now I couldn't just throw all this into one list, but thankfully steamroller allows for two. I decided on Kaya the Wildborne running theme force, to somewhat migate the fact that Reeves are overcosted by dropping them by 1pt and granting me a forest for doing so and the list practically screams to be filled with everything on my list aside from the Ravagers. The second list was going to be Grayle, but character restrictions being what they are and Kaya needing Morriag I've had to decided on a different 'lock to run the Ravagers. Now me being me I have to do something rash and foolhardy. I've taken what I keep reading as our weakest 'lock as one of my lists, it's time I support her by taking my second list as Cassius the Oathkeeper. Thats right. My best hope now is to not fail too badly.

So, without much further ado, my first take on my two lists that are gonna need (a great bloody deal of) practise and tweaking if I'm gonna take them to my next tournament.

1; Kaya the Wildborne, Feral Warpwolf, Gnarlhorn Satyr, Gorax, Warpwolf Stalker, Druid Wilder, Wolves of Orboros (max w/Chieftian and Standard), Reeves of Orboros (min), Reeve Hunter, Wolf Lord Morriag and 3x War Wolfs.

2; Cassius the Oathkeeper, Argus, Gorax, Feral Warpwolf, Woldwarden, Shifting Stones, Tharn Ravagers (min w/Chieftian) Wolves of Orboros (max), Druids of Orboros (w/Overseer) 2x Gallows Groves and a Tharn Ravager White Mane.

Wow, while coming up with my second list I realised I needed another source of Fury so trimmed a bit and got 4pts, then realised that an Argus is just that. Then realised that the Argus really needed to be on my list, cause I never even think about it when writing lists...it's in. This is gonna be a lot of fun I think.


Anyway, wall of text. I'll finish up by saying my game with my Cygnar was against my mate who just got back from Wales, so ended up being a piss take. The game ended when Haley decided that her spear wasn't just for looks and tried to run Shae through with it, instead of hanging back and letting her army finish him off as I'd destroyed practically everything else he had. It surprisingly enough didn't happen and she got murdered. Was good fun though. They always are with Ed.

A Gross Betrayal

I kinda feel bad, I've just taken some of my Circle minis out of my case to make room for Captian Haley and co. The main reason being that people at the club have started whining about Major Haley and how annoying she is. Well, she's good no doubt but annoying, the Captian has that one.

Still, I feel bad. I need a second case so I don't have to kick my Circle out when I fancy a more civilised game. Anyway, A short blog. Hopefully have a battlereport later. With my new fancy phone (in preperation for War Room) I should be able to get a few turn by turn pics...if I remember.

3rd place

Well, this weekends tournament went well enough. I took 3rd place behind Legion and Trolls. I call that a victory right? I didn't end up taking Wake of Destruction. Instead opting for a more conventional eKrueger list. I'd basically only managed 1 practise game with the list and deemed myself unready with it.

The first game was against what was to be the guy who came first. He took Seryn, me eKrueger. The key moments...He charged a Gallows Grove and killed it with an Angelius. Then used It's animus to push a Feral out of the control zone to score. He then Feated so I couldn't kill it or any of his other beasties. My turn came round I feated back at him, used a few of Kruegers other tricks (basically Telekenisis lol) to secure both of the zones and score 2. I Telekenisis'd his Scythean (which had run right at me) round and 2" away. It was now 8" away from Krueger with it's back to me and a -2spd debuff...I thought I was safe. All set to score in either zone next turn and take the win. Along comes a Seraph and the Scythean is looking right at me and 2" closer again. Oops.

Second game, eKaya and Siege. I got first. Put up shadowpack and went forwards. He moved siege to take a potshot at the Stalker after a Magesight. He didn't kill it and 14" away from a Stalker with eKaya and some Druids is not a healty place to be. Game ended on my second turn as he put nothing of note between Captian Slashy and Siege. We even had time to play a second game just for the funsies.

3rd Game was against eButcher and I switched back to eKrueger. He put on the pressure but between Kruegers feat netting me 2 control points again and the Woldguardian wandering about smashing faces in he never had a chance to stop me netting the 3rd to take the win via scenario...which is good as nobody can kill Butcher. Thats a fact. It's practically in the rules.

4th game was against my friend Scott. Who despite a rather long break away was taking some names with Vyros and Rahn. I got Vyros for our game. I took Krueger again. The scenario was a funny one with an interactive objective flag thing in the middle of a zone. If the 'Caster/'Lock was in B2B with the flag there was some paltry benafit. I ignored it and left some Shifting Stones holding mine. Backed up by the Lord of the Feast. 'Cause you know...he kills stuff that comes near. Kreuger went for the throat with his battlegroup. He moved Vyros into contact with his objective, I teleported a Woldguardian with my second set of Shifters at him after some really lucky Force Bolts dropped the Sentinals in the way. Then Krueger did his thing and set up a nice direct path for my Feral to get in and finish the job. Second turn victory...again. And I even scored a control point because apparently I only needed to hold my flag and contest his zone. Gravy!

All told a good day out. I ended 3 of the games I played before any of the other tables. Which seems to be my thing. Met some good guys and had a blast playing with ma Forest Mans.

Oh, as a note. I was nearly entirely painted. I had only my Skinwalkers to finish. Oh well, nearly. One day soon I'll take a pair of lists and they'll BOTH be funny painted.

Lessons Learned

Got my games in with the two lists I have set for the 25th, the eKaya list is as straight forwards as it looked. Beat face and then beat it a bit more. The eKrueger list is still a little confusing. A brief overview.

eKaya had the privilage of playing against eHexeris, Druids ten to put a crimp on any enemy 'lock who like to sling spells at you and this was no different. The main problem was the 3 Titans, one of which was a bronzeback. After a horrible turn of trying to kill the damn thing (with the Feral and Pureblood on the job) I decided to forget about them and open up a lane to a squishy, squishy Hexeris. After throwing my own Gnarlhorn at him for the KD and a seris of slams, throws and just general attacks I got Laris through. just advanced and attacked a pretorian next to him. Then oh noes, he wasnt actually engaged with Hexeris. Still, Kaya went through and had a blast. left Hexeris on 1hp. I died to his counterattack...though he had to feat to get enough attacks. not bad to say I wasn't camping anything. Next time, forget about the chaff. Run Laris. Lesson learned.

eKrueger was against Terminus. I hate that guy BTW, 4 Lightning Storm on my first turn (I got second) severley hampered his movments but I did end up being ground into the dirt. Thanks to Orin Midwinter I couldn't get him out and his Sac Pawn ability meant I couldn't peg him with Eyriss and attempt a dirty teleport into him. He's always going to be the caster that gives me fits I think. Anyway, Orin needs to die, magic denial hurts Krueger...lesson learned. 

On a plus note my second set of shifting stones arrived and I've a full week off before the tournament. Gonna be a week of painting like a fool. Especially seeing as work seem to be enjoying taking up all my time (I played these games LAST MONDAY...and have only just got the free time to sit down and blog).

A Goal and a Deadline

Well, settled on the second list for the local tournament. It's going to be an eKrueger list, le gasp! Though I've decided to use Wake of Destruction, his NQ theme force. Why not? I am after all taking eKaya's theme.

So, to sum this one up.

eKrueger +5pts

Woldwarden -9pts
Woldwarden -9pts
Woldguardian -9pts

Shifting Stones -2pts
Shifting Stones (w/Stonekeeper) -3pts
Stoneward & Woldstalkers -5pts
Druids of Orboros (w/Overseer) -9pts

Gallows Grove -1pt
Gallows Grove -1pt
Lord of the Feast -4pts
Eyriss, Mage Hunter of Ios -3pts

The theme not only allows me to take Eyriss, but nets me AD on 2 warbeasts. Which is more than likely going to go on the Woldwardens, try and snag something tasty early on.

Now, thats both lists set. I have it mostly done but I've a few bits need finishing.

Started but not quite finished:
Warpborn Skinwalkers (min)
Gnarlhorn Satyr

Don't even have yet:
Shifting Stones
2x Gallows Groves

That gives me a month to finish one warbeast and a unit. Then get Shifting stones and Gallows Groves assembled and a lick of paint on them. However shall I manage. I only have till the 25th of March...actually with my current speed at getting these things done will make me happy.

Getting Ready

Found a bit of time today before setting out to work to do a quick bit of painting, managed to get near done on my Skinwalkers. Figured they needed sorting out before the Fulcrum purely based on the fact that next month is a local tournament and they are the only thing not painted in my eKaya theme force, well that and the second set of shifting stones. But I've yet to order them (tomorrow is payday) and they dont take two minutes to get done.

My list, for those out there that might give a wurms arse...

Kaya the Moonhunter & Laris +3pts
Druid Wilder -2pts

Gnarlhorn Satyr -7pts
Feral Warpwolf -8pts
Pureblood Warpwolf -8pts
Warpwolf Stalker -9pts

Shifting Stones -2pts
Shifting Stones (w/Stonekeeper) -3pts
Warpborn Skinwalkers -5pts
Druids of Orboros (w/Overseer) -9pts


Overall nets me advanced deployment on the heavy warbeasts, advanced move on the skinwalkers, +1 to the starting roll and a lovely 4pts saved. Gonna have a few plays with it before I go and hopefully post up results and if your very lucky I'll have a photo of the finished skinwalkers sooner rarther than later. Life and Skyrim permitting.

A tiny bit of progress.

Yep, really is a tiny bit of progress. What with work being hectic my days off are mostly spent with the loved ones. Painting is a little anti-social then so managed to steal about half an hour before todays trip out. This Fulcrum is going to take for-blooming-ever. At least those gemstones are still looking pretty...but I did knock one of the Druids off by accident.

Not much else to say, last time I got to the club I couldn't get a game in. Apparently my reputation is so far out of control people are not wanting to play me cause they'll just lose, or maybe I'm just an arse to play against. I wouldn't mind but it's highly annoying seeing as I'm only getting down to the club every other week due to work and I'm not even that good a player.

Two bits of good news though, firstly I have a shiney new banner thanks to a jolly good chap over on the PP forums. Secondly is none gaming related, all my hard work at, well work has paid off and I'm stepping up to a management job. Whoop! That place is going to burn down by the end of the week.

Celestial Fulcrum, Blog 4.

Well, I got it on the table today. I was quite pleased with it, but first off...

I got hold of some gloss varnish and got busy. The only job left to get the thing done and dusted would be the runes, but that is one ballache (hehe, I made a funny) of a job.

Ok, today I was running:

eKrueger, Woldguardian, Woldwarden, Megalith, Druids w/Overseer, Shifting Stones w/Stonekeeper, Woldstalkers and the Celestial Fulcrum.

First off was against eNemo and a very lightning immune list. All told not very dramatic game, I trashed thunderhead in my first turn by fishing it forwards and wailing on it with a woldguardian. Seriously this guy has been working wonders as my beatstick. The fulcrum took to a hill (before I realised battle engines don't get elevation defence against ranged attacks and that it didn't matter as all his ranged attacks were electrical anyway) and blasted some stormguard to bits. Nemo ended up get Gallows'd out and beaten to death by megalith. Not very exciting game but a nice intro for the fulcrum.

The second game was against Khador, eSorcha to be more accurate. With a list that to me reads like a greatest hits. 2 Spriggans, full winterguard w/2 rockets, full nyss hunters w/valachev, great bears, eEyriss, kovnik joe and finally aiyana and holt.

We played a scenario that involved holding an area in the opponents half while our caster was in one of the zones, apparently we needed 3 points to win so I took that to mean no scenario was being used. I got second turn, which apparently means that these days I get a 3" deployment advantage as he was deployed at 7".

So, I predeployed my Fulcrum to shuffle up and blast any fools coming for my zone, I wasn't gonna give the game away. The his nyss took my left, winterguard right, with great bears following up the nyss and joe following the winterguard. Spriggans were very central with sorcha and aiyana and holt keeping her company. Eyriss went out on my far left. I stuck my battlegroup all together over near the nyss and just to the left of my fulcrum, woldstalkers took the right hand side of it and the druids AD'd in front with the shifters in front of the battlegroup.

Standard first turns, fair bit of running involved. Ironflesh went on the Winterguard who also got tough and fearless, sorcha went and stood behind a wall where she cowered all game. I did the same, lot of running, the druids made some clouds and such and the fulcrum used flame blast to help them out in that job dropping a cloud into no mans land. Krueger put up Stormwall and did a bit of micromanaging with telekenisis. Getting all 3 heavies into my shifting triangle.
Turn 2 saw the first casualties. I lost most of my woldstalkers to crazy all boosty sprays along with a few druids, I always underestimate that range, oh well. spriggans moved up and were afraid to shoot any grenades off thanks to stormwall threatening to both make them range 5 and deviate onto his troops. The nyss did a few CRA's but did nothing overly offensive, again, thanks to stormwall. Iron flesh then went over onto the nyss...def18 is just wrong. Oh well we can work around that. My go, druids are up, they pull one of the spriggans into contact with 2 winterguard and try and kill a few other winterguard with forcebolts, I forget if they did well or not, Fulcrum next who popped a flameblast into said spriggan, doing a bit of damage and burning the 2 winterguard, the a compleatly innefectual spray followed by lightning killing a few more winterguard. The surviving stoneward charged another winterguard and cracked his head open. Megalith put up undergrowth and trampled through a few nyss, killing none as was expected but he was in place, he then tried a gallows at one of the greatbears did 4 damage and pulled him closer...uh oh, thats not where you want a great bear. The stones ported the guardian over to valachev who got smushed and the beatback put me in range of another nyss who shockingly also got smushed. the Warden wandered over and geomancied a lightning storm into two nyss faces at point blank. Krueger wandered up, Stormwall went up again and a lightning storm into Megaliths back ended 2 more nyss. It was also Feat time, Giving the opponent a headache.
Turn 3, I lost the fulcrum to some winterguard. It was a sad time. The rest was a few moves, the greatbears took a chunk out of the guardian, but it was the first time I've ever seen them not kill something, so I was impressed. the Nyss took a small CRA at Krueger who laughed it off. Cyleena, was out of range thanks to stormwall. The spriggans moved up to threaten next turn. All told not very productive, I think this was going to be his big charge turn but my feat put an end to that one. Still, I was in a bad spot, I'd killed a lot of troops but I had started to overextend. That and Sorcha sitting on a feat and 2 Spriggans tends to hurt, so when my turn came round I decided...Balls to the Wall. Megalith trampled up, geomancy to get Sorcha out from behind her damn wall. Missed, oh no, second shot was the Warden, who got ported over by the shifters and gallows'd her out, the guardian went after a few great bears to have his vengance and even missing his spirit managed to bag two of them. Krueger went in, Lightning Bolt hit with a boost, sustained attack for 3 boosted pow12's. Game over. Balls to the Wall is how Krueger rolls.

Celestial Fulcrum, Blog 3.

Well, a tad behind schedule on this thing but I've been getting busy all the same, at least by my usual rate.

The bottom half of the Fulcrum is now very nearly done. Druids and base all nicely painted aside from a few touch ups. But I don't really have time to do those before posting, is inventory day at work so I've been called in :(

This picture shows the touch ups that need doing, namely the runes overran right onto the main vest part of each Druid. It might not have help that I was shaking quite a bit while attempting it. But something new, the gemstone on his chest was the first one I have ever actually attempted. Usually I just paint it to match the rest of whatever is around it and do it as mostly a bulge on whatever it's attached to. But this is my Fulcrum, it's time to try. I bust out NQ36 and read the article in there on how to do it (something I've also never done before, follow a help guide) I think it worked out really well. I'm amazingly chuffed. I just need a bit of gloss varnish apparently to keep that shine going.

All told, touch up the runes overbleed and give the Druids eyes and Thats this half of the Fulcrum done. Onto the Thingamajig.

Also, tomorrow is gaming day, so I'm taking this thing out for a spin finished or not. Expect a battle report.

Thats all for now, Toodles.

Celestial Fulcrum, Blog 2.

Well, got the Fulcrum assembled and ready for the painting stages. It's currently in two pieces. The base with the druids attached and the main part of the thing. 

Nice and easy for the next stage, which is painting. All told the thing has gone together very nicely. The pock marks were easily covered with the greenstuff and one of the druids needed a bit more under him to attach him properly to his rock. Like a boob I didn't take photos of those parts mind. 

Due to odd angling of this photo it looks a bit freaky. But it shows my point. Thats held there not by glue but just by slotting in, a beautiful thing as it allows me a full model for gaming while I try and motivate myself to get it painted. That said I am doing this blog tracking my progress, maybe that might be enough. 

Anyway, So far I've been enjoying this kit. Really can't wait for Monday to roll around and I can put this thing on a gaming table.

Celestial Fulcrum, Blog 1.

Ok, so I managed to obtain a rather desired item yesterday. After work I nipped down the club to speak to a friend, lo and behold there was a Celestial Fulcrum awaiting me. Well I nipped it home lickedy split and sent a few texts around in a boastful manner. One of them came back with 'get blogging' (this is the abridged version). So this morning I cracked open the box and started having a look over the contents. All told I'm a happy bunny but the 'get blogging' text also expressed an interest in the quality of the resins. So I took a few photos to whack up here.  

 The First one is the base, a nice piece but it has a few pock marks in it, presumably where air pockets formed during casting, not too much effort to sort out. A quick smooth over with a tiny bit of greenstuff will get rid of that issue without a headache. At least thats the plan...

A massive amout of flash on the...thingamajig might be a pain to remove. 

Now I'm just getting picky. This will be no issue at all. Still, figured I'd whack it up. 

And no set of photos would be complete without the group shot.

Well, onto cleaning up and putting it together as much as I can without blocking painting areas, it's handily all marked out as to what goes where, A to A, 2 to 2 etc. Plus my main worry of it being a fragile piece of £$%* appear to be unfounded at first glance as the...thingamajigs are made from resin so not overly heavy. Plus the join areas seem quite wide. Now if only I could remember where my pinning drill has gone...

Thornfall Alliance!

Well, I've been a we bit busy away from my Circle, working on a super secret (well, not at all) project that is the Thornfall Alliance. Which I started collecting as minions to wrk for my Circle anyway. Figured I'd whack up my Warlocks and yes Rorch counts too, for peeps to see.

A quick note on my painting, I only paint for tabletop quality. I never have a great deal of time to commit to a single figure and have never been the best painter out there. so long as it looks pretty at arms length I'm happy with it.
The second point is one that has had some of my gaming group gasping in horror, I never prime my models. each of these models has the colours painted straight onto the bare metal. Why? Well honestly I don't know, I used to do it. But rainey weather gave me pause one day and then I just havent done it since. Call it a casualty of Yorkshire weather.
My 3rd point, I never base my models. Once I've finished the paint job on the model I put a quick lick of black over the base to get rid of overrun and maybe paint on the facing markings. I've always maintained that the base is the part of the model that counts and I've never wanted that part of the mini cluttered. Really though I'm sure it's just because I'm lazy.

Aaaaaand after putting this photo up I've noticed that I haven't done Arkadius eyes...no rest for the wicked.

eKaya, a win and a loss.

Got to the club last night, which was nice as work seem to be dragging me in mondays at the moment. Managed to get two games going, one against Blindwater @50pts and one against Shae running A Pirates Life @35. In both I ran eKaya.

The Gator game was amusing, I fished one of his Wrastlers forwards with some Druids getting it in charge range of the Warpwolf Stalker which promptly got Forced Evolution and went hell for leather. Killing the heavy for the low low cost of one fury. Which meant it got sprint and pulled back. Next turn Laris snuck through and got a charge at a backfield Wrongeye failed to kill so kaya Spirit Shifted in and finished the job, removing Snapjaw without a single attack directed at him. This was also feat turn so a couple of warpwolves came with her. Unfortunatly the Stalker didn't live up to the turn before and failed to kill the second Wrastler by missing all but one of his attacks, out of 6 attacks needing 6's to hit you'd expect more really wouldn't you? Aye well, is probably what I get for removing snapjaw with such ease. Seeing there was no running Barnabas went at this unexpected threat like you'd expect and took down the Stalker. Unfortunatly the Feral was still standing as well as Kaya herself and Laris just for good measure. Made a good photo though, so took a quick snap on the phone.   

Obviously Barnabas went down. The good news is the Gatormen Posse's at the other side of the board were steamrolling over my small Farrow contingent, which I had taken for that exact purpose. I love it when a plan comes together.

The game against Shae was my good friend Ed, who was going back to uni so would be our last game for a while, I ran theme force up to tier4 with eKaya. everyone was engaged from turn two as both of our lists were fast striking. it got a bit hectic, I tired a trample through to Hawk and Killingsworth but then realised I'd forgotten to activate Kaya first and he was out of control. Handed him a feral for the cost of 3 Pressgangers. Foolish. It went downhill from there and ended up with Kaya literally surrounded by pirates all beating the hell out of her. I took another photo of that but my phone decided it didn't like that idea and never saved it. I hate blackberrys by the way, can not wait for this contract to run out. Either way the game against Ed was a blast, neither of us taking things too seriously. All told a good game for him to get back to uni on.

Kaya's theme force has a good few perks though, this was the first time I've run it. As I usually don't bother with theme as theres always something nice I want thats not included. Has made me think about the theme forces a lot in general...hmmm, maybe another post idea right there. Might also try and get a halfway decent picture of Rorch up as I managed to drag myself away from Skyrim long enough to at least paint something.