Since...FOREVER!

So the back end of last year and the start of the new one have been busy for me. I have had a daughter, so hobby time has started to shrink. I still get games in but now am splitting time between Warmachine and my other gaming love that is Infinity.

I did manage a few games last monday. But I also managed to go to the pub beforehand so I got fed up taking picture to do a battlereport and thought I wouldnt remember much anyway. I played my pMorvhana list, I have probably put it up already so won't bother today. My first game was against Reznik from the Protectorate of Menoth, we played Incursion. As we were both pretty drunk it became a case of who remembered (anything) the most. I ended up jamming with Bloodtrackers and regrowing them like crazy while Morvhana dominated the central objective and Ghetorix killed anygthing that might threaten her. The right objective got overrun with Bastions and I just teleported Stones in to contest and get further ahead on CP's. It worked and thankfully Reznik couldn't land a Hex Blast to save his life so I lost no upkeeps.

The next game was against Convergance. Captian Hammer Hands (Axis?) this game was called due to time constraints while I was 1-0 up on CP's (Incursion again) and honestly I was relieved. Go and look at her cards if you can. Look at all those lovely spells that do things to Living or Undead. Then go and look at 99% of Convergance. All Constructs, so Neither. I had no Feat and my only spells gave me 2 ARM. I still had Regrowth but you can't play a game on that one spell.

Anyway, hopefully I can post a bit more. Life is kinda hectic at the moment mind.

Eyesight to the Blind

So, inspired by a comment on my last post I decided to put my 3 easy steps to painting eyes on here. Like all my painting it is a very simple process, but quick and comes up with some pretty decent results.

So, starting out. Finish everything else first. I once did the eyes before the wash on the skin and, well Rockbottom got redeye.

Step 1, paint black on. This doesn't want to be just in the actual eye, around it slightly too
 as this gives it some definition. Don't go mad though, otherwise you get a panda.

Step 2, Put the white in. This does want to be just in the eye. Leaving just a bit of black around the edge. If you go over don't sweat. Touching up is easy.

This next part is honestly the part that I see most people do wrong and end up with crazy boggle eyes. Don't paint the pupils as dots. Just don't. First off you will never get them to be looking in the same direction and secondly, it doesn't even look natural even should you manage it. Instead paint a line, from the top bit of black right down to the bottom. It is easier to get them in the right place and it looks more natural.



Now I don't claim to be an expert and doing something like this is pretty odd for me as a pretty slapdash painter. But hopefully it'll help at least one person out there.

Ghetorix painted

Ghetorix is ready for the table! The Totem Hunter is also nearly done, as I was putting paint on him between drying on Ghetorix. Would be nice to have them both finished for Monday gaming as I threw together a list with them both in as a slight bit of motivation.

In other news I now have myself an airbrush, going to start playing with that soon but need some paint thinner before I can start.

Work plan

Right, trying to get back into painting a bit more at the moment. I am not going to place any deadlines on myself because it is now under 2 weeks till the due date of my little baby girl. So everything can be thrown out the window in a moments notice.

Anyway, 5 painting goals I would like to achieve

1, Ghetorix
2, Totem Hunter
3, Wolves of Orboros
4, Tharn Ravagers
5, Dahlia and Skareth (sp?)

These are all pieces long neglected (aside from Ghetorix, but he needs paint. Being as awesome as he is) and generally get used occationally but tend to make up fewer lists than other models so constantly get pushed back on the painting list. I'm putting them on top. Lets get them done.

Krueger2 vs Sorcha2

Finally got out of the house! Got a game against our local Khadorian, I took

Krueger2, Gorax, Feral and Stalker. Druids w/UA, Woldstalkers, 2x Shifting Stones w/1 UA, a Wayfarer and 2 Gallows Groves. Alongside all this I also put my Celestial Fulcrum on the field.

Vs

Sorcha2, Beast09 and Conquest. Assault Kommandos (min) w/2xWA, Mortar Crew, Mechaniks (max), Aiyana and Holt, a Koldun Lord and a Manhunter.

(Now I am writing this I noticed his list is a whopping 5pts shy, after sending him a message he informs me his Kommandos were supposed to be a max unit and he was supposed to also have a Field Gun in there. In case you cared)

Anyway, the game

The scenario was Chemical reaction. Standard set ups, I had placed the Fulcrum on the right to contest his zone with some stones but his Conquest got set opposite. So plans ended up changing.

We both ran up, the Druids did all their tricks Stalker and Feral warped Prowl and +2 ARM respectively. Krueger put up Stormwall.

The other side also ran, Sorcha put Iron Flesh on the Kommandos.

I decided to pull Beast09 in, so the druids went and got him nice and close. The Fulcrum moved over to soften him up a bit. (and not run away from conquest...honest) It managed to knock off 10 damage meaning the Feral could finish him off nice and easy. The stones toe'd in the far zone and mocked the Conquest as he was the only piece in range to do anything. Yet would have been a massive waste if he did.

Khador's response was brutal, the Kommandos rolled like champs and started clearing druids. 9's to hit I thought they might not be too much of a threat. They killed a few Druids anyway. The Manhunter came charging out and killed the stone UA on the left. The Conquest shot a few more Druids to bits...bit harsh.

Krueger moved up to force the Khadorians out of the left zone and dominate it for a control point. I was looking to force myself at Sorcha as control points were not gonna win this for me. The Conquest was never going to set himself up to be taken out and the mechaniks would prevent a piecemeal approach. Krueger feated to try and lock them down a bit for my big rush and the blackclad got shot over and tied everyone up to cause some more headaches.

Sorcha Feated, her quad iron blew my feral off the table. Conquest was now truely part of this game and blew some holes in my troops again. I was looking slim.

Yet had everything I needed, the Woldstalkers used Zepher and shot the Kommando in the way. The Gallows Grove shifted into range, Krueger cast telekensis on the Stalker and then arc'd telekensis at Sorscha, boosted and missed. I then tried again but couldn't afford the boost. I was too fury starved. thankfully this connected and sorcha suddenly found herself facing her deployment zone. I then shot a Kommando with his gun. Just because. So, Stalker has range, a target facing away and is now all primaled up. 


End result was a win. I was pretty happy about it till I started typing this and realised he was 5pts down. When deploying I made a comment on how his list looked a bit small, he then put Beast09 on the table...oh well. I have told him and arranged a rematch. 

A Game of Dice

So I missed the club again this week, I did manage to play over Vassal instead though. So, straight into it.

I took my Mohsar list and was against Kreoss3 and the scenario was number 8, Incoming. As it is tradition between my friend and I to rename the Warcasters, Kreoss got renamed Incestor Kreoss and we began. I got first turn, the Bloodtrackers were preying on the Errants. I pulled the trick off. Namely stones teleport Mohsar to stones, stones teleport Mohsar again and then Mohsar puts 3 pillars of salt right in front of the enemy before using sands of fate to get back to safety. As I had maltreated Megalith (who I used to put Mirage on the trackers first) I still had a transfer available. This kept the Errants locked down and the trackers ran forwards so they would be in range to Mirage into the 10" and get the Prey movement buff. All went well. When they came to advance in to throw spears and two get melee range. I then need a CMD check because he thought he had done the Tough call with Rhupert but had instead done Dirge of Mists. I failed that check so the Trackers killed nothing and could now not reform back into the zone and contest it. So he got some easy kills on them and scored in my zone with the solo. Highly annoying was that he managed to dominate his own zone this turn as well so took an early lead on the control points.

Seeing that things were not great, the entire tracker front had collapsed without a fight (one I was confident about victory in), yet in dominating the zone Kreoss had put himself in range of a warp speed Feral. Now he had Holy Ward on himself, was camping 2 and had a pair of warjacks in between. One of which was enlivened. So I had to get through two Warjacks to deal with a Def16 Arm19 'caster. No problems. Megalith was stone ported in, put up his animus and threw the Reckoner (the enlivened one) at something of mine to get it out of the way. He then used Geomancy to put Curse of Shadows upon the Redeemer. Job done, the jacks are now no longer a problem and Kreoss is at Def14. Next up was the Gorax who put Primal on the Feral and charged at the Errant solo. Revenge for an easy score was going to be mine. But no, he didn't die. No bother that was only petty revenge. The real show was coming up.

Showtime! Kreoss being Def14 thanks to Undergrowth and the Feral at Mat9 thanks to Primal was 5+ to hit, also thanks to Primal the need to warp speed was offset with the damage buff side putting me to P+S17. So -2 for damage rolls. With 3 initials and 3 fury to buy attacks (after the charge) I was confident in this one. Charge attack, 4. Second claw, 4. Bite hits! -3 for this one...3 damage. Buy a claw, 4. Buy a claw, HITS! This one does what it was supposed to and knocks a good chunk out of him. Enough to make it so that if this last Claw hits I can finish it off on a slightly above average damage roll...so naturally I got a 4 to hit. Do you think it is because claw and four kinda rhyme? So yeah desperation kicks in. I stare at it and think, a good Crevasse might help...Kreoss can't be hit by spells...but my Wilder can! She gets sacrificed to put another couple of damage onto Kreoss. His turn comes around and he uses the Redeemer to kill the objective, the Vessal of Judgment to push Megalith away and re-dominate his zone and then win on scenario.

I am totally blaming dice. I could have easily contested my zone during turn 2 but forgot to after the trackers failed the test so they couldn't reform back into it. I should have run the Gorax in, but didn't. My fault I know...but it was totally the dice.

I need to take that step back and start rethinking when things go badly like that, damage limitation was not on my list of cards. It needs to be.

Tharn-tastic

Not a great deal happening so here are a few photos of work I have been doing. My Tharn have been decided on being all ginger, which is going to be amusing when I get around to Ghetorix. Kromac was done a while ago but the bloodtrackers were finished this morning. The Warpwolves are another recent finish.

Next up is Kromacs beast form and the unit of Ravagers.

Other news is a bit slim. I missed last weeks gaming for a fishing trip with a workmate. I have come up with a few dirty tricks with Mohsar which I want to drop in my next game with him. I was going to get onto Vassal soon and play a 'dojo' first turn on there to see how well it actually works as the theory is sound but I wanted to be sure of ranges before I try it in a real game.

Shakey Return

So I have had a few games now with Circle and to say the least they have been shakey at best. I have been loosing a lot and to be honest, it's a good feeling. I think my main problem has been trying to go straight through the middle and fight like a Cygnarian.

First game was pKrueger vs Harkavich (sp?) and that was a close loss as I put in my last entry. The game after I used Cassius and ended up against Menoth with heavy spell denial and another 3 heavy warjacks. That was a loss as I got rolled over in no time. I tried a last ditch assassination before I was wiped out but when your Warlock needs to roll 6,6,6 to kill the enemy warcaster (Reznik btw) you know things got desperate fast.

My last game was Krueger2, I used his Wake of Destruction theme force. Now Krueger is my strongest Warlock, and I managed to get a very solid assassination against Thyra. He moved up to Feat and cast Carnage and this was my opening. Krueger moved up so she was a fraction outside his control area and feated. Moveing everything a bit closer, I then cast Telekenisis at the Guardian, Warden and the Reckoner moving them even closer. I used the Warden to throw the Reckoner at Thyra and then Geomancied Telekenisis at it to shift it out of the way (cheating I know, I should have used Gallows but the assassination being so close I forgot you can only hit a target with TK once a turn) Then I pegged her with the Devouring for the Druids and a few Force Bolts this left her at 3HP, KD'd and in charge ranged of the Woldguardian.

Next Warlock is looking to be Mohsar. I am going to cycle each in for one game before I settle on the two I want to really push for the next year.

The Storms Wrath

Right so my return game to Circle was a shaky one, I need to get reacquainted with both building a list for Hordes and how to play Circle again. Which is exactly what I expected. So to start todays blog I shall go into my thought process in building my list and then have a brief run through of my first game back.

Building the list!

First thing is first, I needed to pick a 'lock. Now I usually love playing Krueger2, but thought that I would keep him back bench for a short time and get used to something a bit different. I chose Krueger1, because I love Krueger too much. Looking at his cards he does a lot of infantry killing with lightning. Fair enough, means the rest of the list doesn't need to be too heavy on that.

For the battlegroup I chose my standard 1 light and 2 heavies for 35pts. It gives enough flexibility for fury and I can keep going after loosing a beast without too much stress. My loadout was Gorax, Feral and a Stalker. The idea being that these guys will kill hard targets and Warpwolves are the things for those jobs. The Gorax provides both Primal and a 4 Fury 4pts beast so is an amazing return. He is also a surprisingly good combat light for the endgame.

Troops needed to be something cheap, 35pts doesn't give a massive amount of wiggle room for taking fancy stuff. I decided to take the Wolves of Orboros. First because they are cheap, at 6pts for a full unit they make for good fodder and secondly for the Wolf Lord. Morriag loves him some Wolves for flank and I am fully intending on taking him too. Krueger can give the Wolves a bit more protection against ranged attacks but to be fair, they will still die to any hits. Only blast damage is a bit more iffy. The next two units are the ubiquitous shifting stones, 2 units of which give me plently of options. I have decided against the UA because after the battlegroup, Wolves, Stones and Morriag I would only have 2pts left and I had a plan for those two points. Still, Stealth on the stones can sometimes hinder Krueger who can use them to get Chain Lightning into spell immune or Stealth infantry. With that, healing, fury control, teleports and getting in the way of things for my opponents Shifting Stones are a good 2pts buy.

Solos were easy, Morriag because he hits like a truck, a charge with Flank is looking at MAT12 with a P+S of 13 with 5d6 damage. He is also highly mobile at SPD8 with light cav movement and if all that isn't enough go and try putting Lightning Strike on him. The Stalkers animus makes for some ridiculious movement after a kill. Charge 11" (with reach as well) kill something and then trigger both Lightning Strike and light cav for a 13" post killing advance. The other solos were a pair of Gallows Groves. Bcause what is a spellslinging Warlock without a way to channel.

so the list at the end of this was,
Krueger the Stormwrath
Gorax
Feral Warpwolf
Warpwolf Stalker

Wolves of Orboros
Shifting Stones x2

Wolf Lord Morriag
Gallows Groves x2

35pts

I seemingly had most bases covered. I was a bit surprised by the game I had, which was a Haravich theme force with 3 heavies, Black Ivan, a Spriggan and the newest Clamjack, the Demolisher? A wall of steel I was never getting through in a positive piece trade. These were backed up with a min Winter Guard one of each weapon crew and Joe. Maybe a few other bits but thats what I recall.

We played Incurstion and the middle flag vanished, I put up with a ranged bombardment and got a CP off the leftmost flag. Things got close and Krueger started casting Tornado every turn and one of the 'jacks and I was sneaking ahead on the CP's. I decided to go for the Domination on the rightmost flag and cast Skyborne to fly over a tower to get there, I then cast Tornado at the Spriggan in melee with my Gorax (he had charged and killed the Stalker) judging that a good throw will free up the Gorax to run and block LOS to any shooters and the Spriggan would be KD'd facing the wrong direction and too far away to get at Krueger I opted to burn all the fury and boost. I threw the Spriggan 2" not great so a shifting stone teleported next to it to prevent anything. I was sure he was out but I like safety nets when I burn all my Fury.

I had made a mistake, a horrible one. I had judged the spriggan down and out. Not at all. He allocated 3 to it, activated Black Ivan and shot the stone away. Cast Jump Start (stand up and face any direction, uh oh) then cast Escort (+2" of move for battlegroup models in his CTRL, double uh oh) and charged Krueger, he was just in. With needing 9's on the charge he boosted and hit, the charge left me on 4hps. His last focus he bought an attack, needing an 11 now. He got it. Krueger was paste. A very unexpected charge and some very unlikely dice. But thats what happens, I got cockey and paid the price. I got up to 4 CP's and if I had survived that I would have won on scenario. Well played Sir.

Putting the Swan Down...

So I have been playing Cygnar now for over a year, it has been a fun and rewarding experiance sticking to the same faction for such a long period of time, I managed to play some great games and some really tedious ones but all told I learnt a good few things

1: Take what you want, I have been rocking Trencher Infantry in about 70% of my lists and they have rarely let me down. Even against Errants, Mage Hunters, Feora2 and her bonded Judicator and they have pulled weight.

2: Stormblades kick ass, high power good accuracy and with a few buffs they might actually make it there. Also shooting each other for the AOE's is a thing. I took down a massive unit of Kayazy by running 3 at them and then assault shotting them in the back to wipe out a few Assassins. My opponent was just a little surprised by that one. The kicker is you only need a 5 to hit your guys and they are immune to the attack anyway.

3: Do not play Unbound games. Just don't. Too much bookkeeping and the game went on far too long. I left 40K because bigger does not equal better.

4: Haley2 is boss, though this might seem a bit obvious I played her a lot this last year and that spell list with 8 Focus makes for options in most situations. I have even won a few games where I never even Feated. She is awesome incarnate...and she makes Trenchers kick all manner of ass.


 Well I bet your all wondering why I am summing this up, well kind of obviously I have decided to move on and put them away. I have just finished changing my main gaming bag over and putting my Circle back in.

In other news we (as a Yorkshire based club) have gotten in touch with a club over in Lancashire and have decided to hold an inter-club tournament. Hopefully this is something we can try and keep going and have the War of the Roses reborn again in Western Immoren.

Anyway, to sum it all up. After so long away it is going to be nice to be a forest man again. Now to start painting green again.

Job Done - Gorax Repose

Managed to get this far in the time I set myself in this challange, I am fairly happy with the results the pose is not exactly what I was wanting but to have the arms any lower than that would have required rebuilding most of the biceps too and I really didn't want to be doing that. I decided on a fleshy torso as opposed to building up a shadowhorn style belt, mostly because I felt that flesh would be easier.

Hug a Gorax! Managed to find time to paint him up too. This was outside the time I set, but only took a short time due to the limited colour pallet used. Now it is painted most of the sculpting work on him has blended in nicely.

The Gorax from behind, as you can see I took pains remove or cover all the ropes that bound him down.

Anyway I didn't quite make time with this challange but am quite happy with the results. My Gorax is nice and unique and no longer an utterly ridiculious pose. I am also more happy with the paint job this time round.

Half way, Gorax repose.

Right I seem to have forgotten that life hits me even on my free days. Yesterday we were host to a 7th birthday party for the little one and the clean up has fallen to me today. Putting me two hours behind. No bother really, I still have time. I have finished the main pose off, he just needs to cure before I stick both halfs together and then work a bit more on the details.

 

I started with the legs as I like to work ground up, chopped the left hip up to swing the leg forward slightly. I then chopped into the ankles to change the feet so they lay flat. When that was about right I got it stuck back together, using a pin on the hip joint and filling in gaps I had made with greenstuff. 

The basic idea with the upper body, I had forgotten that the right arm was glued on and was pleasently surprised when it snapped off during sawing. Both arms were removed and then using a paperclip I got them roughly where I wanted and started filling in with greenstuff. The right side is built up a bit better and I am waiting for it to cure a bit before I start building up the left side and coving over the fur a bit. I have chopped off all the ropes around his waist and plan on filling over his back to cover the one going down that. The collar was chopped up a bit so it doesnt really attach to anything anymore. He shall be FREE!

A rough idea what I am going for, the waist needs rebuilding a bit and currently I am unsure how to do this. Do I want flesh or an armour belt like the Shadowhorn Satyr has? Not really planned anything here but shall see how things turn out.

The project is fairly behind schedule now and is likely to get worse, tomorrows tasks are looking like they might have to go on hold thanks to an appointment I forgot about.

In other news I am teaching a new friend the game, he is looking into Cryx so thats what I am doing this afternoon.

And finally, thanks for reading. A bit of a rushed blog I know so forgive that please.

Design Brief - Gorax

So, spurred on by my recent success in reposing the woldwarden I wanted another project to sink my teeth into. Well, you guys remember my post about the lot of the Gorax? In it I said how I loved the rules but hated the sculpt (see where this is going?) and as a result he got a lot of stick from me. Yesterday, I was flicking through NQ47 which I just got hold of and there was a beautiful looking bit of art for the Gorax (page 54) and I had my new project.

A plan is forming, I have the goal in mind. I just need a list of things that will need changing.

1, Loose the bloody rock. Seriously that thing is the most ridiculious part of the whole model.

2, Stand the Gorax up straighter (same problem I had with the Woldwarden actually) and maybe give the legs a bit more of a natural looking standing. As they are they are side by side, they will likely need to be a bit staggered to look right.

3, Put the arms down...ok this is a contender for the most ridiculious part of the model. The arms need to be out to the sides, but will also need bending at the elbows a little to look more natural.

4, He needs a facelift though I am not entirely sure how I am going to manage that. I can see me just taking a cutting disk to his lower jaw and obliterating the most of it and then try lengthen it and make him look more....raaaawr! Which roughly translates into I am totally going to wing this part and hope to the Wurm I don't make him more ugly than he is now. 

5, Repaint! After all this work he is going to need it.

Ok, Now I have the goal and the things I need to do to achieve it are (sort of) planned out. This is where the fun part comes in. I have a time limit, self imposed it may be but a limit none the less. As I have to balance this around working and my family, I have set the time limit at 2 days to rebuild and repaint the Gorax. With half the first day already given over to my weekly trip to the game club. My goal is to have the Gorax chopped up and stuck back together by 2pm Monday. Giving it the night to cure enough ready for painting the Tuesday when I have from whatever time I get up untill 1pm to get that finished as that is when my better half gets home and I wanted to spend the afternoon with her.  

Anyway, thanks for reading. Wish me luck.

Quick job

Right, so yesterday I set myself the challange of getting the Woldwarden I had converted painted before dinnertime today. I managed it, easily. I took a break to make a sausage and egg sandwich and a second break to have a mess about on the Playstation. Which ended up bein over an hour. Yet here I am at 12noon and my work is complete.

Check it. I may have to start coming up with even more insane challanges for myself. The paintwork took just over an hour and a half, coupled with the repose taking just over an hour I am going to say this took about 3 hours work.

Reposing of the Woldwarden

So, I had Woldwarden number 3 sitting in his box for going on 5 months, waiting a repose to make him unique and this morning I decided to crack him out and get on with the job. Now I really think the Woldwarden has a goofy pose, the second one I put together I put a santa hat on to make it a little more tongue in cheek. Still that didn't take away from the fact that he leans far too far forwards and those arms...what is he actually doing?

 He is being my, what is behind door number 1 girl! This is this morning, I poured the box out and got the old one to set against and use as a guide of sorts. My two main goals were this, stand him up straighter and sort out that right arm.

Now I got really into my work and forgot to take WIP shots, I did finish it in about an hour so can you forgive me?

Anyway, I started by straightening the left leg and sticking it to the base. I use activator to make it all quicker, I then sawed off the peg on the right foot so it can sit flat. Now these didn't alight properly but thats alright because greenstuff is a wonderous substance. I put a small amount on to help fill it while I glued the legs together.

This was far more upright but still putting the body on flat would have had him leaning forwards. So I tilted him back a bit on his hips and rammed greenstuff into his bowls. After a bit of shaping it looks like it is supposed to be there and he looks like he is standing proud. Score!

Second problem, the silly arm. I simply sawed it off at the joint, drilled holes into it, put a paperclip into it and span it around. Oh and a bit of greenstuff to fill in the gap that appeared.

Anyway, all told just over an hour. I got a new Woldwarden I am happy to put on the table.

A side by side, the old clearly drawing attention to the new superior pose. I call him wold 2.0 and I have untill midday tomorrow to get a paintjob on him. After that I am back to work again and don't know when I'll next have the time and drive to pick up my brush. I think I can do it.

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.

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.