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.