Boisterous Exuberance

Lord Tyrant Hexeris: Thoughts/Tips

2011-09-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

I finally have some experience with Hexeris (at least enough to write SOMETHING about him). He's certainly different than the other Skorne warlocks I've used, and with his epic version coming out, there's never been a better time to be excited about him!

Stats:
His stats aren't really amazing (or terrible) all around. Average SPD, decent MAT, DEF, and ARM. Having 17 damage boxes actually puts him slightly above average in Skorne, and he has a few ways to heal himself. His FURY stat of 7 is really nice as well. Overall, his stats are pretty average or slightly above average.

Attacks:
His only attack is Gulgata, a moderate P+S weapon with reach. It has Beat Back, which is a nice ability that lets Hexeris move his opponent around some, either to push him into a more favorable position, or even to push him out of combat, if you'd like. Also, it has Life Drinker- if he kills a living enemy model, he can heal d3 damage.

I don't find myself getting into combat much with Hexeris, but it's actually not that bad if you do. P+S 14 will definitely get the job done, and with Beat Back to help move people out of combat if you'd like, Life Drinker will help keep him alive, and with Vampiric Reaving (look under Special Rules) he can really get a lot of Fury during his turn to be very effective. Of course, you aren't going to have that happen too terribly often, but even though it rarely occurs it's a nice addition.

Feat:
Hexeris' feat is Dark Dominion. When an enemy living or undead model is boxed while in his control area, you gain control of them, they become undead, they can move three inches, make an attack, and then are removed from play. With luck, you can chain this through your opponent's army, getting a lot of value for a single death (although in practice, you're lucky to get even the one extra dead model per model you kill). With luck, you can drop an opponent's warbeast with some of your attacks, and get a free warbeast attack (with no lost aspects) on another of an opponent's models.

As I 've said, with some luck, this becomes a TERRIFYING feat. I mean, it can end a game sometimes. Usually, you'll use it to kill models that are blocking charge lanes, or get a few extra points of damage on something that you're having a hard time killing.

Spells:
Death March: This spell tends to get used every game. Extra MAT and Vengeance is really helpful in a generally melee oriented army. You'll need the extra MAT often enough to make it worth using for that alone, but having the extra attacks from Vengeance, plus the extra movement can make even mediocre offensive units into something a lot scarier. Throw it on something first turn, and move it to something else when the time comes.

Obliteration: AOE 4 POW 15 attack. Decent damage and the AOE is nice, but at a cost of 4, you're not likely to cast it often during your games. However, on the feat turn, sending one of these into a group of enemies can really get you started on the right foot. I find I rarely cast this.

Psychic Vampire: This spell is incredibly helpful against some armies, and not nearly as useful against others. However, even with the 'less useful' armies, it still might be nice to cast right away and upkeep it. Whenever an enemy model casts a spell or uses an animus while in Hexeris' control area, they take a point of damage and Hexeris heals a point. This spell will put a definite limit on the lifespan of several units, including Greylords, Battle Mages, Hex Hunters, and Druids. It'll also chip away at those spell casting solos pretty quickly. The healing is a nice bonus that could occasionally keep you in the game.

Against warcasters and warlocks, it's not quite so strong, but how often do you find your opponent at 1 health after your turn? Often enough that this can really be a powerful spell.

Soulfire: This is a pretty solid spell. It's POW 12, but removes the boxed model from play if it kills it (effectively making it useless for your feat). However, if you kill a living non-soulless model with the spell, you gain a fury (effectively making the spell only cost a single fury to cast!). POW 12 is high enough to be deadly to most infantry, and with the extra fury you can get a lot of mileage out of this spell.

Soul Slave: Two parts to this one- first, the warbeast you cast it on automatically passes threshold checks. That's actually not so bad on its own, although with Paingivers and FURY 7 you're not going to be struggling horribly with managing it. However, in addition to that, Hexeris can channel through the model this spell is on. That's REALLY nice.

Throw it on a Bronzeback, and none of your Titans needs to worry about Threshold checks. Throw it on a Gladiator, slam something, and start casting at the knocked down models.

There are plenty of ways that this spell can be handy so it's probably good enough to say that you'll be throwing this on something from the very beginning and upkeeping it the entire time.

Special Rules:
Vampiric Reaving: Hexeris can reave fury from enemy warbeasts if he's closer than anyone else who could do the reaving. Not only do you get extra fury, which is always really helpful for spell casting, healing, or holding for transferring, but you also deprive it from your opponent, who is going to be more restricted about doing those things next turn. Of course, this ability means that you'll want to keep Hexeris up towards the front line a little, but with the abilities he has to help heal himself, having him just behind the front line isn't such a bad idea.

Synergies:
Cyclops Savage: Other than the benefits the Cyclops Savage gives to the other members of your army, there isn't really any major synergy between the two. Perhaps making Soulfire more likely to hit would be nice, but there are probably better targets for Prescience. Soul Slave isn't really that helpful on the Savage either.

Molik Karn: Since Karn is so good in every list, it makes sense that he would work so well with Hexeris. Soul Slave is really nice for when Karn gets too far ahead. You can very effectively extend your spell threat range. The amount of pain Karn can dish out can really feed Hexeris' feat turn. Hexeris' 14" control area gives Karn the ability to operate even further out.

Titan Cannoneer: I really like taking a Cannoneer with Hexeris for a few reasons. First, the gun is very handy on the feat turn. Shooting into low ARM infantry can really effectively clear them out. Second, when you're in position to shoot the gun, you'll be in position to channel some offensive spells through (via Soul Slave). The shooting + offensive spells can make for a moderately effective ranged threat. Also, since Hexeris is likely to be fairly close to the front, Diminish is a very handy animus to have available.

Titan Gladiator: Another very strong choice for Hexeris. Soul Slave allows you to put an arc node equivalent right in the midst of your opponent's army, where, after a Gladiator's slam, you should have some very vulnerable targets to drop an Obliteration or a Soulfire onto. Using the Gladiator as any sort of wrecking ball for some spell attacks is pretty effective.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Not really any major synergy, although you can run really beast heavy if you wanted, because Soul Slave removes the threat of frenzying from a beast. Of course, you'll end up taking these guys in almost every list you can take anyway.

Praetorian Swordsmen: Death March on these guys is really nice. They become MAT 8 with is really nice, and with Vengeance, they become quite a bit more threatening, especially to a nearby beast or jack. Moving from two attacks to a potential three, in addition to the extra movement potentially provided by Vengeance (and Side-Step, of course), Hexeris can turn this unit into a huge pain in your opponent's army. Certainly not a bad choice.

Agonizer: There's no special synergy with the Agonizer, but the extra durability that he could bring may be handy. Two less damage from living models may be the difference between alive and dead with Hexeris, you never know.

Ancestral Guardian: Not any particular synergy, but reach and potential to have extra attacks can make the Ancestral Guardian an effective starter during a feat turn.

Tier Thoughts:
Hexeris' tier list is called the 'Kingdom of Shadow.' It's a very non-restrictive list of models you can include, although to hit tier 4 you're required to take 2 units of Praetorian Swordsmen (giving them Advanced Deployment), Aptimus Marketh (who I'll review soon, and is an amazing choice), and at least two Cataphract units. The benefits (Advance Deploy, Advance Move, and an extended deployment zone) are all geared to get you to grips with the enemy faster, and combined with Death March and some strong beasts, this could be a very effective combination of tools.

Oh, and he gets to have all his upkeeps up on the first turn. That's just fantastic of course. I've heard about using a Soul Slaved Razor Worm to put a shot into your opponent's deployment zone Turn 1, but I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know exactly how helpful that is.

Since this list is fairly open, I'll try to get it on the table one of these days in the not too distant future. Looks like it could be very effective.

Thoughts:
Overall, Hexeris is a fairly strong caster. You don't see him taken in a lot of major tournaments, because he isn't as 'easy' as some of the other strong Skorne casters. You'll want to take a strong melee-oriented army, with at least one good melee unit (even Swordsmen work here), and a beast that'll need to be up close. All three of his upkeeps will probably be in play the entire game, leaving Hexeris enough focus for a solid Soulfire shot. I think Aptimus Marketh is absolutely required to run Hexeris- the extra spell a turn can save you some focus (even if you're just recasting an upkeep so that Hexeris doesn't have to pay for it), and the occasional ability to upkeep spells can help Hexeris' fury go a long way.

You'll probably end up playing fairly close to the action, so you'll need to make sure to have some protection as well as focus to leave on Hexeris in order to transfer damage. He can heal himself, a couple of ways, which will extend his lifespan. I've been able to fairly successfully run Hexeris as a backfield caster, but it can be a little tough if your Soul Slaved beast gets heavily engaged.

Skorne vs Khador, 35 pts, 9/23/11

2011-09-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

No pictures sadly, but did at least get a game in against Rob.

My list:
Archdomina Makeda
* Basilisk Krea
* Molik Karn
* Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
Ancestral Guardian

Nothing really out of the ordinary here, in my opinion. I'm trying to run the Arcuarii in every list for a bit to see how I like the feel of them.

Rob's list:
Supreme Kommandant Irusk
* Demolisher
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Greylord Escort
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Kayazy Eliminators (Leader and Grunt)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard
* 2 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Rob has had some success recently with this list against Ben (from Impact Hits). He was certainly hoping to duplicate that success against me!

We rolled for scenario, and ended up with Overrun. In this scenario there is a 36" x 8" rectangle in the middle of the table, and you are working on getting control points. Pretty standard.

Rob won the roll-off, and elected to go second. The control area had forest on both the left and the right sides, with not much terrain down the middle. I deployed my Swordsmen with the Ancestral Guardian on the right, and everything else on the left.

My first turn was just a basic advance. Most things ran, to get into position. The Krea advanced and used it's animus, and most of the army on my left hunkered around it. I threw Savagery on Makeda and Defender's Ward on the Gladiator.

Rob had his Winter Guard, the Demolisher, and the Kayazy Eliminators run on the right, staying just out of the control zone. The Doom Reavers and Great Bears ran up on my left, with the Doom Reavers entering the control point forest. Irusk cast Fire for Effect on the Mortar, which advances, and Tactical Supremacy on the Demolisher, which got a few extra bits of movement.

I run my Swordsmen into the woods on my left, trying to keep them safe and able to contest the control area should things go bad. I move Makeda forward into the control area to get her control zone into place, pops her feat, and casts Carnage, while moving the Krea, Gladiator, and Arcuarii around her. Molik Karn charges the single Doom Reaver he can see in the forest in the left, and after some side-steps and swings, kills 4 of the Doom Reavers.

Now we're fully engaged, and Rob starts the shooting off. He starts with a Mortar shot at Makeda, but deviates well past her, killing two Paingiver Beast Handlers. Rob spends a few minutes deciding whether to send the Demolisher charging into Makeda, but after some deliberation, realizes he's definitely out of range. The Doom Reavers take chunks out of Molik Karn, and are helped by 2 of the Great Bears who move in to support. They don't fully kill him though (almost!). The Winter Guard move up, get into position, and try a CRA at Makeda, which ends up as a POW 18 attack. The 9 damage is transferred to the Basilisk. Irusk moves to the left, and pops his feat (not realizing he's pretty far out of range for certain of my guys). The Demolisher decides to start shooting at Makeda, but the Krea's animus keeps her safe, and the scatters end up killing a Swordsmen.

After some quick checking, we find out that the only models of mine that the feat affected were about 3 Swordsmen, who don't need the extra distance to reach his Winter Guard. Poor Rob was a bit displeased about this- he mentioned later that Irusk's positioning with the feat cost him the game (for what it's worth, I agree).

I start my third turn off by upkeeping Defender's Ward on the Gladiator, advancing Makeda pretty far, and once again casting Carnage. Molik Karn goes on a rampage after getting healed some, killing all the Great Bears and Doom Reavers (poor tough rolls by Rob). The Arcuarii kill 3 Winter Guard, which clears a path for my Gladiator to charge into the Demolisher, doing some moderate damage (my rolls here were pretty poor). My Swordsmen end up killing another 3 of the Winter Guard.

We're pretty tied up here, but I"m definitely winning the attrition war at this point.

Rob decides to go for a pretty ballsy move, and casts Artifice of Deviation on top of the Gladiator, allowing the Demolisher to charge through him into Makeda. He first drops a Mortar on top of the Krea, but doesn't get a whole lot of damage out of it. The Demolisher charges, but the rolls don't happen to go in Rob's favor, and the 2 attacks that end up hitting Makeda are transferred to the Basilisk, killing it. The Winter Guard turn their attention to the pesky Swordsmen, and end up killing all but one.

Fully stuck in, I hammer the Demolisher with the Arcuarii, and Makeda finishes it off (and casts Defender's Ward on herself). Molik Karn gets healed up some, and slowly moves to rejoin the battle. The Ancestral Guardian and the Gladiator kill almost all of the Winter Guard. Rob is running really low on guys!

Rob again decides to go for broke. The Mortar takes a shot at Makeda, hits, but can't do any damage. Irusk Battle Lust's the Eliminators, who rush in, hoping for the best. Unfortunately, none of their 4 attacks hits Makeda, and Rob decides to concede, tired of the ineptitude of his underlings.

So, another hard-fought win for the Skorne. We talked a bit, and I just don't think the Demolisher works with Irusk. I thought that maybe a Destroyer will be better, and Rob had some ideas himself. He also thought about switching in Fenris for some more offensive punch. I guess we'll see!

Been so busy!

2011-07-22T13:45:00.002-04:00

Man, it feels like forever since I've posted here.

I've been busy, obviously- I'm starting to move to a new job, which requires skills and knowledge I have to learn before doing so. That takes a lot of time. My girlfriend is starting college, and her first classes are poorly taught, leaving me to help her out... that takes time. I work two jobs... that takes time.

Mainly, there just isn't enough time to go around, and certainly none for blogging (or myself in general).

Well, I'm going to try to keep it up a little. I HAVE played a few games in the intervening months, and I have stacks of battle reports to go through, but truthfully it's so daunting to sit out, right them up, and edit them that I may never get around to it. Instead, I'll just make a few comments here about what's been going on for me the last few months (various things I haven't posted already, at least).

Warhammer Fantasy: All I've really done somewhat recently was play a single game of this against Frans. I was using Dark Elves vs. his Skaven, 2500 points, I believe. I tried to run a little stronger with magic and melee, and it was actually a decently close game, but I still lost. I actually learned a LOT about Warhammer from this game though- for instance, I won't be taking any more small units. They are just too easy to get points from. They can't stand up to all the various things in the game, and it's not worth it anymore. The new 'unkillable' lord is really as tough as he sounds, as well.

I haven't purchased the Storm of Magic supplement yet. I may or may not, I haven't decided. It's too difficult to keep up with GW's pricing these days.

Warhammer 40K: I've spent some time thinking about the background for my Chaos Space Marines, and even started to assemble some Berzerkers, but haven't progressed past that yet. I'm really excited about Necron rumors, however.

Other GW games: My Blood Bowl project has hit a bit of a snag, because my free time is so limited. I will look at trying to use the updated Java Blood Bowl client to help speed me up here, however. If I can save some time, I can still pull it off.

Warmachine/Hordes: I've done a decent amount here, but still pretty disappointing. Let's cover a few things.

I've played quite a few games. I played Nathan, Cryx vs. his Cygnar, and lost. I played BK, Skorne vs. his Menoth, and lost (although the Titan Gladiator dropped two of his heavies in a turn, something he won't forget, I'm sure). I've played Ben during lunch once or twice, and lost. I've been playing Rob with intent to help him play Warmachine (especially his Khador) better, and won, but of course these were teaching games. We've made some progress though- last night we played a quick game, 35 points, me running Master Tormentor Morghoul, and him running Karchev, and although I won, he was one or two rolls away from making it a MUCH closer game (as in, not rolling a 4 on three die for damage on Morghoul sort of rolling). So, I'm getting some gaming in, but not much.

I've been assembling some, but not very quickly. Finished a Necrotech for Cryx (you know, because I'll use it so much). Finished my Arcuarii for Skorne. Started on a unit of Venator Reivers. I bought a few Retribution models, but I don't expect to start working on them soon. Still haven't been painting.

I'm really excited about Unbound, but I don't think I'll get many opportunities to play, since I'm the only person amongst my group of friends with 150 points (of Cryx). However, I'm going to be working on my Cryx to have them available to play such a game should the chance arrive.

Warmachine Wrath came out, and it looks incredible. Maybe I'll go over the choices, from my perspective, but maybe not, since it's not like you can't find those reviews elsewhere :).

Other games: I haven't been working on any of my other miniatures, sadly. I'm really eager to work on Flames of War, even though I don't play it yet. Same with Malifaux. But I don't have time to play the games I have stuff for, it's hard to justify extra.

So yeah, that's where I've been. I'll be trying to blog more, now that I've posted. If I go back and manage to get some of the other battle reports up, great, if not I'm not going to sweat it too much. Anyway, hope everyone is doing well out there!

Lunchtime Hordes, 3/31/11

2011-03-31T16:02:00.001-04:00

Ben and I played a quick game of Hordes during lunch, using 25 point armies, and with a few new things on both sides.

I ran:
Archdomina Makeda
- Basilisk Krea
- Molik Karn
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)
Agonizer
Totem Hunter

I was eager to get my newly assembled Basilisk and Swamp Gobbers on the table, and they provide me a good amount of ranged defense, in case Ben ran with more shooting elements.

Ben, however, took:
Hoarluk Doomshaper
- Dire Troll Mauler
- Earthborn Dire Troll
- Mulg the Ancient

Ben obviously went for a rather direct approach to his army design, but that sure is a lot of 'beat-down' packed into 3 packages.

The first turn, Ben and I moved into position. I put Savagery on Molik Karn and Defender's Ward onto my Swordsmen, Ben used Transmute for Mulg and the Mauler, giving them +2 ARM due to proximity to obstacles.

On the second turn, I started with the offense. I used my Krea (on my left) to paralyze his Mauler, preventing it from charging. I sent the Swordsmen up so that they were out of the Mauler's charge range, but still in Mulg's. Molik Karn (on my far right) flew into Ben's Earthborn, but some bad rolls (an 8 on 4 dice) caused only minor damage. Molik used Fate Weaver to get away, behind a Swamp Gobber cloud, to keep him safe.

Ben went on the offensive. Mulg charged in, killing two Praetorians and a Swamp Gobber, before struggling with rolls to hit anything else. The Earthborn trampled forward into the newly created void, and managed to land two swings onto Makeda, but she transferred one, and stayed alive.

With two heavy trolls in among my forces, my immediate goals were clear. The Swordsmen surrounded Mulg, taking small amounts of damage off him, Makeda took some small chunks out of the Earthborn, and the Totem Hunter ran up to put some more damage on Mulg. Then Molik Karn went into action. Swing, side-step, swing, side-step dropped the Earthborn, and with the 5 Fury I had available (due to Affinity with Makeda), he finished off Mulg as well.

Ben was left with only a single Dire Troll Mauler and Doomshaper, and briefly considered conceding. Instead, he decided to take a shot for victory. He moved up into the Swamp Gobber, and declared a double-handed throw (boosting to hit). He chose Makeda as a target, again boosting to hit, and knocking her down. A few Primal Rages later, Makeda was dead, and Ben was again victorious.

I made a few really dumb mistakes. I forgot to use my feat on the turn I had planned to (prior to Mulg charging), which probably wouldn't have made a difference overall, but certainly would've been nice to help have more bodies. I also cast Carnage at one point, and completely forgot that I had used it. Those are silly mistakes that there's no excuse for. I also really need to be more careful with the warlock. Makeda could've side-stepped away easily, and been happily out of danger (she'd have been out of range for Primal Rage, at the least). Overall though, the game was very close, and several times the overall momentum changed. I have a few new toys I can use, and I phase them in, I should start seeing some improved results.

Trying to get more 40K stuff going on again

2011-03-10T10:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I've been pretty lax the past year or so about getting my Warhammer 40k armies assembled and on the table, and given all the cool new things that have come out, as well as a strong desire to play Spec Ops: Killzone with some 40k minis, I'm going to have to rectify that.

Part of the problem with my 40k motivation has been that all of my armies are really out of date. I have Necrons (the oldest un-updated codex) and Witch hunters (the next oldest), and I actually own a decent amount of Grey Knights (which are going to be the newest) but really can't afford to go buying the stuff I'd need to really play them. That leaves my Chaos Space Marines which I own plenty of, but have never touched.

I'm going to try really hard to assemble and play these guys this year, as well as work hard to create a unique, background driven army for them. I think 40k is one of those systems that really gains so much from the work the authors have done in fleshing out the background that it would be a waste to not to tap some of that when creating an army. So for now, I'm going to work on more 'fluffy' armies for my Chaos guys.

I own mostly Khorne stuff, and frankly, I'd like to start with a Khorne-based army anyway, since I think it'll be the easiest to figure out how to play well, even if I don't get many wins.

Here's the list I'm going to work towards, at least to start (2000 points):

Kharn the Betrayer - 165
Chaos Dreadnought w/ Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer - 105
Chaos Dreadnought w/ Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer - 105
4 Terminators w/ Icon of Khorne, 3 Combi-Meltas, Lightning Claws - 175
8 Khorne Berzerkers w/ Personal Icon, Skull Champion w/ Power Fist, Rhino w/ Extra Armour - 263
8 Khorne Berzerkers w/ Personal Icon, Skull Champion w/ Power Fist, Rhino w/ Extra Armour - 263
8 Khorne Berzerkers w/ Personal Icon, Skull Champion w/ Power Fist - 213
Chaos Predator w/ Lascannon Sponsons - 130
Chaos Predator w/ Lascannon Sponsons - 130
Land Raider w/ Daemonic Possession - 240
8 Lesser Daemons - 104
8 Lesser Daemons - 104

1997 points

First off, I wanted to keep as many units at 8 models as possible, because that's Khorne's sacred number.

Kharn is such a great HQ choice that I couldn't imagine not including him (although I really was considering trying to fit a Chaos Lord with a Daemon Weapon in if I could have fit him). He can help drop vehicles as well as eat through infantry.

The Khorne Berzerkers are pretty self explanatory. I can't really have a Khorne list without Khorne-worshipping guys, can I? The power fist is in there so that I won't be demolished every time I fight a walker, and the one squad on foot is actually going to be using the Land Raider. Them + Kharn in the Land Raider should be a nasty start to my army's assault. Obviously, the Icons are there to help make sure those Daemons land where I need them, as well as to help the Terminators.

The Dreadnoughts and Predators are there because I felt like I'd have a hard time with tanks otherwise. I probably still will, but I didn't have many other good choices I felt. Obliterators didn't feel very 'Khorney', and I considered running Defilers, but they didn't really fit the theme to me either (although I thought a Defiler with a ton of arms sure would). I needed SOMETHING to try to tackle armor, and these seemed like good choices.

The Lesser Daemons will help add some bodies to the army for a cheap price, and will help out during my assaults.

The Terminators... hmm... I was considering not using them, because they don't seem all that good, but they do give me a moderately mobile anti-tank option (they can pop a Land Raider before my first wave hits, I would think). Giving them the Mark of Khorne is a bit of a waste of points, but again, the list just wouldn't really feel right otherwise. I may put something else in, however. I'm not sure.

Once I get an army list hashed out, I'm going to start working on the army, with a squad of Berzerkers first (so I can use them in Killzone). As I do that, I'll work on the background for my army.

Any thoughts?

Molik Karn: Thoughts/Tips

2011-03-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

Well, this article probably could just write itself, if it even needs to be written at all. But for the sake of completeness, I'll have it up here anyway. Molik Karn is considered our best beast, and some people consider it one of the best beasts in the game. It's all about offense, and it does its just pretty dang well.

Stats:
To start, Karn has the best SPD of all Skorne heavies- he's as fast as the Skorne lights. His STR is the same as other Cyclops, but he has a great MAT of 7. His DEF/ARM is 13/18, which isn't terrible, but he's pretty frail given how much attention will be paid to him. He has 28 health boxes, which isn't great, 8 CMD which is handy given one of his special rules, and has 4 FURY/10 THR which means you're going to be able to do a decent amount with him in a single activation. He's the most expensive of the Skorne beasts (actually- of any Skorne model at this point), so given how fragile he is, he's not going to be showing up in every list. It's dependent on whether you'll actually have a good use for him.

Attacks:
Karn's attacks are two P+S 13 Falchions. They have Reach, which is extra handy given Karn's mobility, and Weapon Master. Yes, a beast with Weapon Master. Combined with the various ways Skorne can buff their beasts, this has some pretty scary potential.

To top it all off, the Falchions can be used to Combo Strike as a special attack, giving you an option for a single P+S 18 attack with weapon master. Sometimes it might be worth doing this, especially if you're doing some of his various tricks. We'll look at that in a bit.

Animus:
His animus is Fate Walker. After all friendly models have finished their activations, models who have had Fate Walker used on them (the animus has a range of Self) can make a full advance. There are two uses for this- first, you can use it on your warlock to get him into either a better position, or a safer position. Having the option to move after seeing how your turn has unfolded is a fantastic option. Second would be to move Molik Karn. Since this doesn't negate free strikes, you'll most likely use this after a Side Step, or when Karn is out by himself. Getting him into position, or locking up the enemy warcaster/warlock, or getting Karn around incredibly fast are all options here- it's an animus that will see a good amount of use.

Special Rules:
Affinity [Makeda]- +1 FURY while in either Makeda's control area. That's an AWESOME affinity. 5 FURY can come in handy so often.

Chieftain [Cyclops]- Friendly Cyclops within 8" of him become THR 10 instead of 8/9. If you're running a few Cyclops, that's a HUGE help for leaving a fury or two on a beast.

Future Sight- Just like the Cyclops Savage, he can boost after rolling. Great for making the most of his fury, and with MAT 7, you'll hit a lot of things anyway, so you can get a lot of mileage out of him. Extra handy for his 'bullet' stuff.

Intuition- Stolen from the Cyclops Brute. On a DEF 13 model, I just don't see this being used all that much. Maybe if your opponent happens to hit with one of those inaccurate AOE attacks with a lucky roll. Otherwise don't bother.

Side Step- If Karn hits with either his initial attacks or a Combo Strike, he can move 2" without fear of free strikes. This is a big part of Karn's mobility. He has some versatility here, since he can either use it once or twice (based off if he Combo Strikes or not), and there are a few uses. It can be used to get him out of combat so that he can Fate Walker away. It could also be used to reposition himself deeper into the enemy lines if he was going for the caster-kill, or some other really important target.

Synergies:
Archdomina Makeda: Where to start? The Affinity is the first thing to notice here. Having five available fury can come in handy several times. That's a great start already, but her spells make Karn even better. Carnage is nice, but Karn doesn't really need it, but obviously won't complain if he benefits from it. Defender's Ward and Savagery are the key spells here.

With Defender's Ward, Molik Karn becomes DEF/ARM 15/20. That's tough enough (combined with some healing) to be a front-line beast, and go toe-to-toe with other heavies. Since he already has the offensive potential to scare heavies away, having the extra survivability, plus a high enough DEF for Intuition to be a noteworthy ability just makes him incredible.

Alternatively, Savagery can be used for the basic 'Molik Bullet/Missile'. Savagery adds +5 SPD when making a full advance, and hey- Fate Walker allows Molik Karn to make a full advance. That means Karn could advance (not charge!) into combat, and reach enemies that are 13" (6 SPD + 5 Savagery + 2 reach) away, Combo Strike (boosting to hit and for damage as needed due to Intuition), Side Step away 2", and retreat back using Fate Walker, ending your turn 15" (2 to start + 2 Side Step + 6 SPD + 5 Savagery) away from your target. He's mauled, you're safe, and it's a great way to take chunks out of your opponent's army without too too much risk. Obviously, you could also have him Side Step INTO the opponent's lines (multiple times if you don't Combo Strike) if that seems more important. So long as he's within 12" of Makeda (her control area) it's a scary thing to consider.

In short, this is a great pairing, helped even more by other choices.

Master Tormentor Morghoul: Abuse is always nice for getting the extra threat range and damage into Molik's activation (he then charges for a 13" threat and can get 13" away), but the d3 damage may not always be worth taking, since Karn can be VERY fragile. Admonition can be used to make up some of the difference in retreating distance though, keeping Molik Karn safe. Not a terrible match, but really Morghoul is decent with any beast. Morghoul gains some benefit from Fate Walker as well, but he doesn't have much fury to spare, usually. He has plenty of mobility though, so the additional movement can be pretty nasty.

Cyclops Savage: Molik Karn already has Future Sight, so gains nothing from having a Savage around. The Savage, however, moves from THR 8 to 10, which is a massive difference. No longer will leaving 1-2 fury on the Savage be a cause of tremendous stress.

Titan Cannoneer: Well, Diminish can be nice for keeping Molik Karn alive, but it's so unlikely to be useful that I wouldn't consider it much help. Molik's on a large base, so the Cannoneer will never fully cover him.

Titan Gladiator: A great inclusion with Molik Karn because of Rush. The extra speed is always helpful, given Karn's abilities, but the addition of Pathfinder just makes it so much better.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: As with any beast, they help a lot. Medicate will be nice, since a dead Molik Karn isn't killing anything, and Enrage is nice because Karn will heat even harder than before. Nothing surprising here.

Praetorian Swordsmen: No synergies.

Agonizer: The Agonizer does a better job than the Cannoneer for helping provide a little protection for Molik Karn due to the extra range. It's also a lot cheaper.

Ancestral Guardian: No synergies.

Tier Thoughts:
Molik Karn can be taken in either of the Makeda theme forces, and this will oftentimes be a great choice. It's also required for eMakeda's Tier 4 list (getting extra speed on the first turn) and counts for the Tier 4 requirement for pMakeda's (extending your deployment zone). You'll generally include him here anyway.

He can also be taken with Tyrant Xerxis' theme force, although including him won't provide much benefit aside from his normal abilities. This isn't a bad inclusion either- Xerxis can make Karn hit terrifyingly hard.

Thoughts:
Overall, Molik Karn is a fantastic warbeast, although you shouldn't get into the habit of using him like other Skorne heavies. He does hit as hard as or harder than the other choices, but he is not so tough. He is capable of getting out of danger however, and this 'hit-and-run' style can really serve him well. He's not a great match for all of the warlocks though (as we'll see when I finally move on to other warlocks), and since he's pricey, he's not an auto-include to your lists. However, if you think you have a role for him, and the ability to support him some, you're going to love taking him.

Quick lunchtime battle report, and Skorne additions, finally

2011-03-04T10:19:00.000-05:00

Ben and I had a quick lunchtime game of Hordes a bit over a week ago, so I figured I'd just put a quick post up, so that the blog has some signs of life.

I ran:
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Savage
- Titan Gladiator
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
Agonizer
Ancestral Guardian

I'm still trying to get the hang of Hexeris. I like the Titan Gladiator with him, the rest are just various things I'm trying with him.

Ben ran:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Troll Impaler
- Troll Impaler
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler

This is Ben's normal list with Madrak, and has served him well in the past.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but basically, I made a few mistakes, specifically with my activation order and fury management (I had the Gladiator cast Rush on himself instead of having Hexeris do it, despite him having the fury available) plus an instance of bad luck (that same turn, the Gladiator missed with EVERY attack against the Champions) on my feat turn, accomplishing nothing, and I ended up conceding.

I still don't know what to do with Hexeris. I really like him, but I think I need a few tools to get him working. Marketh seems to be a necessity, so I'll have to start with him, and figure it out from there. I need a better infantry unit to use Death March on- the Swordsmen really just aren't scary enough. Maybe some better ranged support will help too. I'll try some things out.

In other news, I was assembling some miniatures with some friends, so I'll finally have some new things to throw in my armies. I now have a Basilisk Krea, a unit of Swamp Gobbers, and a unit of Cataphract Arcuarii to start using. Some more variety will be nice, and with these I can run a fairly different playstyle.

I also assembled a few of my Malifaux miniatures. Hopefully I'll get the Neverborn crew finished assembly by the end of March- I still want to get them on the table, see how I like them.

Alright, that's it for now. Thanks for reading guys!

Tales of Battle #8 review/thoughts

2011-02-11T10:45:00.002-05:00

For some reason, I'm on a magazine-reviewing kick. I promise I'll have other articles up soon.

I recently received the latest issue of Tales of Battle magazine. It's an independent magazine generally covering independent GTs and various other events concerning Fantasy miniatures. Previous issues have really impressed me with their production quality and content, with very well done battle reports, army thoughts, and even allied army lists that could be fun to use. One thing to note, however, is that Issue #7 came out over 6 months ago- it's been a LONG wait for this issue.

Let's take a look at the various inclusions in this issue.

First, the issue is 20 pages. 1 1/2 pages are ads. Not a bad ratio, especially in a magazine that costs five dollars.

Coverage of Reaper Con. The coverage of this was fairly mediocre, I thought. I don't care how many females were at the event. I don't need to read about Aliens invade ReaperCon. Also, given that the issue came out in January, and the Con took place in May, it's a bit dated. Tales of Battle runs a Reaper ad, however, so I assume they are one of the sponsors. Maybe he didn't have a choice?

Review of Warhammer Ancients Battle 2.0. Four pages. This is mainly coverage of how the book and rules changed from the first edition of the game, as opposed to the basics about the system as a whole (which, seeing as how it's so similar to WFB is probably not necessary anyway). The article does make the system sound fairly interesting, and since one of the biggest complaints about the current WFB system isn't present in historical games (magic), there may be some reason to take a look at the system. Still, if you haven't played WAB, this article is going to be pretty uninteresting, even if you have interest in the system.

Interview with Marlon Subieta. An interview with someone who has won a GT. I find these interviews to be pretty interesting, it's nice to see how they think, get an opinion from them on strengths of various armies, and also to get a feel for how these people are. This guy is a big elf player of all sorts, and loves Wood Elves, apparently with an army based off 2 Treemen. Not a bad read.

8th Edition Observations. A pretty good article covering the basics of how the new 8th edition rules have changed the game. I'll point out, again, that the article is a bit too late (8th ed has been out for a while), but the thoughts are good, and if you're just NOW starting to play the new edition, it's probably a worthwhile read. Takes up three pages, covering a lot of different points.

Painting Guide for a GameZone Chaos Hound. Basically an article on how to paint a Chaos Hound with Reaper Paints. It's not very long, but it also doesn't have enough interesting going on in it (various reds, ooooh) to make it something you'll be looking back to from time to time.

Battle Report- Daemons vs Vampire Counts. At 6 pages, this is the longest article of the magazine, and is probably the best written piece in the whole thing. Great coverage of the game, with a very close ending, and you get to read a lot about the players' thoughts about the game while it's going on (always a fun time, in my opinion).

Overall, I found the issue a bit disappointing, compared to how good the last couple of issues have been, but for 5 dollars, we're not talking a huge waste here. The Battle Report is the best article in the issue, but that's hardly a reason to pick it up.

I really want to support independent magazines- I think they add a lot to the hobby, and I want to see them succeed. Unfortunately, this issue just wasn't so good. I'm hoping that the long delay probably screwed with it, and when Issue #9 comes out, I'm going to be able to write a review about how great it was. Look for it, whenever the issue comes!

Non-collectible Monsterpocalypse?

2011-02-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

According to PP's Monsterpocalypse news blog, Monsterpocalypse is going to move to a non-collectible format this year. In addition, they will be re-releasing all of the old stuff so that people can assemble the armies they want.

That is VERY exciting news. If that comes to pass, I may actually get some new miniatures, and finally get some more games in. Rob's been eager to play, and I certainly would love to try some of the new and old stuff.

Hopefully, look for more Monpoc stuff on this blog this year! Of course, if you have no interest in it, then you can just ignore those posts :).

No Quarter 34 review/thoughts

2011-02-08T16:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I finished reading/digesting the new issue of No Quarter, and since I haven't posted in a while, I figured I'd post what was in it, and my thoughts on the issue.

To start, there's a lot of Retribution stuff in the issue, starting with the cover. Retribution is a fairly cool faction, and they do a lot of work to give players some fun things for players to think about, both with terrain, alternate color schemes, and tactics.

Alright, so let's go through the main things in the issue:

Strategic Academy: Minions. Basic tactics and ideas for using the various Minion choices in the Hordes armies, as well as some thoughts on how to use the new warlocks. Like all of the Strategic Academy articles, they are a good start for people looking for tactics, and I'm sure there's plenty of good information here for everyone. That part on using Minions with Skorne isn't terribly amazing, but really, Skorne are so great it doesn't matter :).

Campaign Terrain. This article covers a Cephalyx Slave Pit- a type of trench that may prevent grunts from actually dying when nearby, with the ability to rescue them. I don't think that this really adds anything exciting to the game, truth be told, and I think it's the weakest of their terrain ideas to date. I would've probably liked this a bit better had the picture shown some sort of conversion for the trench, to fit the theme (basically the Cephalyx capture injured bodies and drag them to these places to start their 'work' on them), instead it's a picture of a trench with Cephalyx standing in it. Amazing.

Ranking Officers and Wrath model previews. Rules for the new Ranking Officers that will come in Wrath. There's rules for this type of unit attachment, as well as the rules for the Ogrun Assault Corps, Attendant Priest, Captain Jonas Murdoch, and Koldun Kapitan Valachev (no Cryx! :( ). The Ranking Officers are a cool concept, and there's a lot of potential there, especially given the vast variety of Mercenary units out there. I'm not really qualified to give much tactical advice here, however. It's a brand new option for your armies though, that's extremely exciting. As for the new units, the Ogrun Assault Corps has some serious potential, but it has a very limited selection of factions it'll work for. CMA and CRA on a single unit is pretty fun sounding. All three of the Ranking Officers are pretty awesome. The abilities they'll give to their units are going to make for some VERY interesting combinations. Assault (from Murdoch) is going to be an interesting option, and combined with the various Cygnar ranged attack enhancements could be VERY strong.

Tales from the Iron Kingdom: Prey. This is story about a Totem Hunter hunting a group of Trollkin Champions. Great story. I thought it was pretty well written, and most importantly it moved quickly enough to be enjoyable.

Studio Secrets: Underpainting. Now, this is a technique I've never heard of, but after reading the article, I'm 100% going to have to give it a shot. Basically, you spray on 3 layers of primer, black to grey to white, and use extremely light paint on the top to take advantage of the highlighting caused by the primers. The results (at least those shown in No Quarter) are fantastic, and it looks like it would be fairly fast to do, once it was practiced. It's a VERY interesting technique, and I'm really excited about the idea.

Guts & Gears: Dawnguard. Extra background and tactics for the Retribution's Dawnguard infantry units (the Invictors and Sentinels). The tactics are probably a good read for Retribution players (I have no experience with or against them yet...) but the coolest part of the article for me was the variant paint scheme after the article- the Golden Guard. They are painted to a darkened bronze color scheme, and frankly, it's so awesome looking that I almost went out and bought models for the army the day after seeing it. Seriously- it's pretty sweet looking.

Forces of Distinction. Two new theme forces for Warmachine armies- one for Captain Allister Caine, and one for Aleksandra Zerkova. Regardless of the relative usefulness of these forces, I think the most important thing is that it looks like Privateer Press is going to be occasionally giving players new theme forces to go with their armies. That means that maybe I'll see a nice Epic Asphyxious list that isn't based off of Cephalyx.

Caine's list is Trencher-based, which is different (and means that Caine's Elite Cadre ability is worthless here), but it has some interesting potential. More mobility and protection for your models in the early going- plus extra free Trencher Commando Scattergunners. It feels... a bit strange, since Caine doesn't have all that much to help out the trencher units, although they probably don't need it. Maybe the intent is for Caine to do his assassination thing with as much protection as possible?

Zerkova's list actually looks pretty good. First, you get to take Vanguard light jacks, and with the Tier 4 benefit, they'll actually be a point cheaper. Greylords, Kayazy, Widowmakers, and get this- Gorman di Wulfe are allowed in the list. That's a pretty interesting variety of choices here. I'd love to see this in action, just to get an idea of how it would work on the table.

Modeling and Painting. Battle Wounds and assembly help for Bethanyne and Belphagor. Not of any interest to me, but I'm sure those are handy to plenty of people.

Power Progression: Retribution. Handy if you're a new Retribution player. Glad to see they are doing this for all the factions.

Terrain Building and The Gavyn Kyle Files. Both were kind of 'meh' for me. The terrain is for Retribution themed terrain, which is nice, but I don't think it's terribly exciting. The Gavin Kyle Files were on Saxon Orrik, a very interesting character, but the article didn't really add anything to him that I hadn't heard already, so it was only of medium interest.

Finally, the concept art on the pack is of the Scavenger, the Battle Mechanik Officer (a Battle Mechanik in Man-o-War armor? Hmm), and Constance Blaize. Interesting looking stuff, but I'm more interested in seeing the models (the Scavenger model already looks cool!).

So, there you go. I think it's another fantastic issue by Privateer Press, and if you haven't picked it up, you really should.

Recap of 2010 for this blog, and what to look forward to in 2011

2011-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Well, another year gone away, and a new one to look forward to.

I'm going to spare everyone a long post about how and why I failed probably all of my last year's resolutions; instead I'll look at what I managed to do last year, and what I hope to do this upcoming year.

To start, last year I played 19 games of Warmachine and Hordes, 7 games of Warhammer Fantasy, 2 games of Arcane Legions, 2 games of Space Hulk, 2 games of Warhammer 40K, and a game of Lord of the Rings. That's not a terrible amount (almost 3 games a month), but I'm sure I could do better, and I plan to.

I put up 101 posts last year, here on this blog. I won't pretend that many of them were worth reading to the random person on the Internet, but there were a few articles that I think turned out well, in particular my Skorne and Dark Elf articles. The posts resulted in 9,350 visits from 5,291 visitors... and that's just since April (when I started using Google Analytics). The 5 most common searches, in order, that sent people to my blog were "Dark Elves in 8th" (in a variety of forms), "Boisterous Exhuberance", "Deneghra Tier List",
"No Quarter 31", and "Asphyxious Tier List".

I didn't really paint that much last year, although I did make progress in several areas, especially on my Cold One Knights and my Skorne stuff. Nothing finished, but if I can focus on working on it, I just may get things completed this year. I also assembled a bunch of models last year. Not too terrible from that standpoint.

So, what's in store for 2011? I'm not going to make hard resolutions, since my success rate with them has been... well, terrible. The big goals this year will just be more of the same, but also more of the stuff I haven't been doing. For instance, although working on my Warmachine/Hordes armies is a blast, and I enjoy playing them, they aren't the only game I love. I really want to get more games of 40K in, especially with the Chaos Space Marine army I'm building (I also want to play a bunch of Killzone games). I plan to play more Games Workshop games, in addition to giving Malifaux and probably Firestorm Armada a try this year. In addition, the building and painting will definitely be happening in the background.

Once again, I don't intend to proxy. I got in the habit of proxying a little over the years since college, and I'm glad I forced myself out of it the past year. We play with miniatures because it creates a visual experience we can't get with other boardgames. Part of the joy of that visual experience is to provide the tools (models) that we are expected to provide for that game. I don't plan on proxying again, if I can help it.

As for articles, I'm going to start working on my Skorne articles once again, and I may even throw out some Cryx ones. I also have some basic designs for some posts on a miniature game based off a popular fantasy book series, just to keep me busy. All of this and more coming in 2011 :).

Thanks for reading guys!

Local Competition December Results

2011-01-03T12:30:00.002-05:00

Painting: Frans painted a ton of models this month, as you can see on his blog, so he won here.

Construction: Frans also did the most assembling of anyone, including a small conversion for his Plagueclaw Catapult. Definitely a point here as well.

Blogging: And Frans wins the point here! He's begun a series of articles on the Skaven army in Fantasy, as well as posted a ton of progress about his Skaven. Great stuff!

Gaming: I get the point here, since no one played many games this month.

Totals, and final results:

Frans: 9 (3 Playing, 2 Construction, 3 Painting, 1 Blogging)
Steve (me): 7 (4 Blogging, 3 Gaming)
Ben: 4 (3 Painting, 1 Blogging)
BK: 2 (2 Construction)
Rob: 2 (2 Construction)
Nathan: 0

So, the final score has Frans as the winner. CONGRATULATIONS MAN! Not only does he get the joy of beating us all, but he made some good progress on his Skaven army as well.

For this upcoming year, we're not really sure what we'll do with this, or indeed if we'll have it at all. I certainly hope so, but that's going to depend on interest :).

Accomplishments for December

2011-01-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

Annnnd ended the year on a fairly un-productive note.

I did no painting this past month, and as you can tell from my blog I really didn't do a whole lot of blogging, and certainly nothing outstanding even so.

For Assembly, I finished the assembly of my Soulhunters, as well as assembled my Warwitch Siren and Rutger Shaw.

With gaming, I played a single 35 point game of Warmachine, as well as played 2 games of Blood Bowl.

I'll have the final results of the local competition up soon!

Black Library eBooks

2010-12-27T13:38:00.002-05:00

Well, I received a Nook for Christmas, and I've been loving it so far. Upon getting it though, I've been looking into where to pick up a ton of e-books, and additionally, ones which I want to read.

I realized today that Black Library produces ebooks for some of their books. That's really exciting. Does anyone have any experience using the ones they produce? How good are they, quality-wise? Just wanted to get some opinions before I pick up any books.

Thanks guys!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Yeah, like there isn't enough blogs saying this exact thing today :).

No real content, but I wanted to wish everyone who takes time to stop by and read this blog a Merry Christmas. I really appreciate you guys stopping by, and I have a bunch of ideas for the new year to provide reason to come back!

Have a safe and happy holidays in the meantime!

Reinforcements for my Warmachine armies assembled!

2010-12-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Finished assembly on a few miniatures. Nothing special conversion-wise, but it's nice to have new toys to use (and I've already gotten use out of some of them!).

Soulhunters

Rutger Shaw and a Warwitch Siren

Rutger Shaw doesn't really help me much, since I can't use him in any of my armies, but since I'm only a unit away from having a playable Four Star Syndicate Army, maybe I'll have a chance to get him on the table one of these days yet.

Next on the assembly table are Cataphract Arcuarii for Skorne and Khorne Berserkers for 40K.
Hopefully I get some painting done this upcoming week!

Quick Battle Report, Cryx vs Khador, 35 pts, 12/16/10

2010-12-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

No pictures today, although Rob took a few, so whenever he gets around to posting I'm sure you can see them there.

I played a quick 35 point game against Rob yesterday. I randomly choose my caster nowadays, and ended up with Iron Lich Asphyxious, for Cryx.

My list:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Defiler
Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Soulhunters (Leader and 2 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Pretty basic stuff. I wanted to give the Soulhunters a shot, to see how they functioned. The Warwitch Siren is also a new addition. Still working to bring new awesome things into my armies :).

Rob's list:
Vladimir, The Dark Prince
- Behemoth
- Drago
Man-o-war Bombardiers (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt)
Widowmaker Marksman

When we were teaching Frans to play warmachine, Frans used (with some direction) Vlad to pretty cool results, especially with shooting. Rob wanted to leverage this into a fairly strong ranged list, and although I think this is a good start, I could tell that this wasn't going to be an easy fight for him. Most of those AoE (even after Signs & Portents) aren't terribly scary to my infantry, since I'm generally stealthed. Regardless, you never know.

We rolled up a random scenario, and ended up with Convergence. Basically, an 11" circle in the middle of the table, at the end of every player's turn, if someone is in full control of the circle, they get a point- first one to 2 points wins.

Rob won the roll, and chose to go second. I think that was probably a mistake (I would always go first!), and I told him so, but still, I was plenty happy to go first.

Turn 1:
I started my turn by advancing everything forward. The Warwitch gave a focus to the Defiler, who ran forward (although not into the circle), and everything moved up 4-5 inches. Nothing in the control zone yet.

Rob pretty much did the same. Everything moved forward a few inches, although the jacks ran forward maybe 7 or so inches. He tried a ranging shot with the mortars but was still far out of range. However, he ended the turn with nothing in the control zone. Bad news.

Turn 2:
I ran a Deathripper forward, and cast Parasite followed by a boosted Hellfire onto Drago, dealing about 10 points of damage. Bane Lord Tartarus moved into the control zone as well. My Bane Knights, Warwitch, and the Defiler moved towards the circle from my right. The Bane Thralls moved in from my left. I sent the Soulhunters 20" across the board into combat with his Widowmakers and Man-o-War Bombardiers, with the hopes of distracting them from shooting at me for a turn. With things in the control zone, and no Rob- I gain the first control point.

Rob moved Vlad forward and popped his feat (as well as cast S&P). Drago charged Bane Lord Tartarus, killing him. The Behemoth charged my Deathripper, and killed him. The Man-o-Wars managed to kill the Soulhunter engaged with them, but the Widowmakers didn't have much success, dealing only 4 points of damage to one of the other Soulhunters. Rob ended the turn claiming a control point, tying us at 1-1.

Turn 3:
I see my chance. The Bane Thralls attempt to charge Drago, but only two of them can make it. They still manage to deal a decent amount of damage, however. The Withershadow Combine finishes him off though, creating a Slayer. With only the Behemoth left, I can tell I only need to kill him to win. Asphyxious decides he's up to the task. I cast Parasite on the Behemoth, and Scything Touch on myself, and charge in. Dice-1 with Sustained Attack, in addition to popping my feat means a dead Behemoth, and a victorious Cryx.

I think poor Rob was hindered both by the scenario. Next time, we're going to randomly choose two scenarios ahead of time, write a list with those in mind, then choose one of them randomly before the game starts. That should help both of us have a chance when we play again. We'll see though!

Cryx vs Khador, 35pts, 11/26/10

2010-12-07T10:00:00.045-05:00

Part of my fun non-shopping Black Friday was spent playing Warmachine (amidst plenty of board games, as mentioned on my Cardboard Warriors blog). Rob had been really excited to play Karchev, who he's been getting more and more experience with, and I was definitely eager to play.

I've been getting in the habit of randomly choosing my warcasters/warlocks before each game, this way I won't neglect casters just because I'm not good with them. Occasionally, I'll be forced to play with casters/locks I'm not great with, and hopefully get some more practice. My random choice this time was Epic Deneghra. She's an interesting choice- most people think she's just the most amazing scenario caster in the game, and we just happened to be playing a scenario. Hmm... Sadly, I've not used her in MkII. That means this would be an EXTRA interesting game.

My list:
Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Nightwretch
- Nightwretch
- Skarlock Thrall
Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith

Just about the same list I ALWAYS take. Unfortunately, after randomly choosing my caster, I realized I didn't have her model handy. It's assembled, but sadly it was at home. Sad. That means that yes, I did proxy her. I can't go against the random-ness, can I? I used regular Deneghra for her instead.

Rob's list:
Karchev the Terrible
- Berserker
- Juggernaut
- Marauder
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Man-o-war Bombardiers (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Koldun Lord

Rob ran a Tier 4 Karchev list. Not a bad choice of models, honestly, although I might have switched up the jacks. Regardless, pretty hard looking army.

Terrain:

Plenty of terrain on the table. That hill was our objective. We were playing Convergence (I believe that's the name). Basically, we need to control the hill to win.

Deployment:
Rob deployed first:

Since these were completely proxied, a quick translation for you. The Assault Kommandoes are Ternions, those medium based models are all Man-o-Wars of some stripe, the jacks are jacks, aside from the Slayer, which is actually Karchev.

My deployment:

Spread out, just like usual.

Turn 1:
Rob advances everything as far forward as he can.

I advance everything as well. I run a Nightwretch onto the hill, and cast Curse of Shadows on the Shocktroopers, and Pursuit on the Bombardiers.

Turn 2:
The Shocktroopers charge the Nightwretch, and do 10 damage to it (and most importantly, knock out the Arc Node). The Bombardiers shoot, and manage to kill a Bane Thrall. Everything else moves towards the hill.

The Nightwretch advances through the Man-O-Wars and shoots them, dealing 4 damage. The Withershadow Combine manages to kill one of the Bombardiers, and the Bane Thralls kill the unit of Shocktroopers. I move eDenny up onto the hill, and pop my feat, locking the Khador army in place for a turn. I also try to Hellmouth the Bombardiers, but don't deal much damage. The rest of my army swarms the hill.

Turn 3:
Karchev chooses to spray his own jack in front of him, and manages to get eDenny under the spray. He kills a Bane Thrall, deals 9 damage to Deneghra (and knocks her down!), and damages a Nightwretch. Rob tries to follow up with the 2 Bombardiers nearby, who should've killed her... but rolls a double one for one of the shots, and the second shot only deals 5 points of damage. The Ternions manage to kill 3 Bane Knights.

I finally remember to go Incorporeal at the beginning of my turn, and stand up, and move out to the back of the hill, away from the action. Eek. I keep swarming the middle though- my Bane Thralls, Mech Thralls, and Bane Lord Tartarus all charge into the Khador jacks, dealing a ton of damage, and crippling a few systems. I send the Bane Knights into the Ternions, locking them in place, and killing a few. The Withershadow Combine finish off the Bombardiers.

Things aren't looking too too bad at this point, I'll almost have killed the majority of Rob's threats, and I still have a few parts of my army intact. However, with some luck, Rob could definitely wipe out my front rank of guys, and I didn't have much left after that should he succeed.

Turn 4:
Rob knows he has to do things now to win, or else I would wear him out, and then he wouldn't stand a chance. He has the Juggernaut and Marauder trample through my troops, killing a total of 3 Bane Thralls. The Koldun Lord sprayed another Bane Lord... giving Karchev a path to move up and spray Deneghra. He does, and deals enough damage to kill her.

Unfortunately for the both of us, I learned a few days later that Karchev's spray isn't magical, and Rob definitely thought it was. With that said, I think the game was still fantastic, and I still have it marked in my books as a loss. Rob put himself in position to win throughout the game, and although I was saved by luck once, I was going to struggle to keep the pressure going on him after his mass trampling.

I'm still pretty unfamiliar with epic Deneghra, so I'm looking forward to playing her again. I'm not sure when it will be, but I need to re-evaluate what I take with her. I'm assembling some Soulhunters, which should help provide me some extra threat range, and I'll probably need to fit in another arc node. We'll see how I perform next time I use her!

Skorne vs Khador, 35 pts, 11/18/10

2010-12-03T09:00:00.049-05:00

Rob and I played a game, this time taking my Skorne- his first experience facing them.

My list:
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Savage
- Molik Karn
- Titan Gladiator
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Ancestral Guardian
Totem Hunter

I randomly determine my casters before each game, and thankfully I chose Lord Tyrant Hexeris, who I've been eager to play forever. I wasn't really sure what to run with him, so I chose a varied assortment of stuff, plus added Molik Karn, who I haven't tried using before. The Totem Hunter was another new choice for me. Figured it'd be a fun army.

Rob's list:
Kommander Strakhov
- Destroyer
- Spriggan
- War dog
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- 1 Assault Kommando Flame Thrower
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- 1 Assault Kommando Flame Thrower
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Widowmaker Marksman

Rob chose a Tier 4 Strakhov list. Strakhov was one of Rob's first casters, and I think it's just plain awesome he's trying out the theme forces. Moral win for Rob already! Regardless, I'm not sure how this would function. Two flamethrowers really aren't scary enough, and the Kommandos themselves would struggle with my beasts. Still, you never know what Rob has up his sleeve.

We've been trying to get more scenario play into our games, so for this game our scenario is Killbox. If a caster is too close to the edge of the table at the end of his activation, he loses. This didn't come up this game... but as we do other scenarios we'll start seeing the effects of them come into play, I'm sure.

Terrain:

A few buildings. Green felt is forest, wooden pieces are walls.

Deployment:
Rob deploys first:

Since he proxies, I've labeled what everything is.

I deploy next.

Nothing terribly exciting- really didn't have a game plan at this point.

Turn 1:
The Khador advances forward, with the Assault Kommandos hoping into the trenches.

I also advance forward, and cast Death March on the Swordsmen, and Soul Slave on the Titan Gladiator. I had dreams of slamming something into Strakhov and punishing him for the win, but it was just a dream. Having some ability to put some distance on my spells would be helpful though, I thought.

Turn 2:
The Assault Kommandos spring forward and kill 3 Swordsmen with their shooting. Another unit shoots at one of my Cyclops (as well as dropping his defense), and the Spriggan joins in, resulting in 7 damage to the Cyclops, and a dead Paingiver.

I send everything into his line, trying to do all the damage I can. I think I killed about 12 Assault Kommandos? Something like that. It was a beating. Swordsmen and Ancestral Guardians charge in on the left, both Cyclopses and the Gladiator go in on the middle, and I send the Totem Hunter off to my right, leaping into combat with the Widowmakers, killing one and locking them all in combat.

View of the battle on my left:

On my right:

Turn 3:
Strakhov pops his feat, but after a lot of deliberating, Rob decides he can't really get to my warlock, and instead charges the Destroyer into my Gladiator, dealing heavy damage (bringing him down to 2 health!), and the Spriggan charges into one of my Cyclops, killing him. The Widowmakers, desperate to add their fire onto the Gladiator, attempt to leave the combat with the Totem Hunter, but are killed to a man.

Molik Karn joins the Titan Gladiator in killing the Destroyer. The Totem Hunter comes across the table, into contact with some of the remaining Assault Kommandos, killing two, and Hexeris hops into the forest, nice and safe. The remaining Swordsmen and the Ancestral Guardian kill the last Assault Kommandos on my left.

Rob concedes at this point. I have a pretty intact army, and he's down to his warcaster, War Dog, and a Spriggan. The Totem Hunter and Molik Karn are likely to put a LOT of heat on Strakhov next turn, so he decides to give me the victory.

Rob mentioned that he enjoyed playing against Skorne- they are a lot less tricky to play against, and they definitely don't feel much like Cryx to play nor face.

I had a good time with my Skorne, as I always do, but my warlock spent the entire game doing almost nothing, so I don't have much of a feel for Hexeris. I'll hopefully get him into another game soon, because I really do enjoy using him.

Local Competition November Results

2010-12-02T10:37:00.000-05:00

Painting: Frans wins this- he did small amounts of work on a large amount of models, and really that's pretty tedious, but important work!
Construction: Rob wins here- he assembled two Firestorm Armada fleets, which was a task filled with hurdles.
Blogging: I win here, since most of my friends didn't blog all last month (again).

Gaming: Votes had me win here- Frans did teach several people to play though, which is great for the hobby, but my games were all larger and more involved, which people were more impressed with (or something).

So the totals:

Frans: 6 (3 Playing, 1 Construction, 2 Painting)
Steve (me): 6 (4 Blogging, 2 Gaming)
Ben: 4 (3 Painting, 1 Blogging)
BK: 2 (2 Construction)
Rob: 2 (2 Construction)
Nathan: 0

I climb into a tie for first. One month to go!

Accomplishments for November

2010-12-01T12:15:00.002-05:00

Alright, another month down! What did I do?

Painting: I made some progress on my Titan Gladiator, finally. It's not much, but I finished the red and began painting the bronze. Hopefully I can have him done by the year end (if I push myself!)

Here are the current pictures (thanks Rob!).

Assembly: I began working on assembling a 3-man unit of Soulhunters (the Cryx light cavalry). They've been filed, washed, and I've started assembling them, but they aren't finished. Surprisingly, I've also been working on some 40K miniatures- I began filing and working on a unit of Khorne Berserkers! Not very far along though, I admit.

Gaming: Played 4 games with my Cryx (25 pts vs BK, 35 pts vs Rob twice, and 25 pts vs Ben), 1 game with my Skorne (35 pts vs Rob), and 2 solo games of Blood Bowl.

Blogging: Like always, you can just look at my blog(s) to see what I've posted last month.

Book Review: The First Heretic

2010-11-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Recently finished the most recent release for the Horus Heresy series, so decided I'd write a review of it.

The First Heretic is the 14th book in the series, and is written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden ('easily the coolest name' according to a clip from the DLT podcasts). He's written a few other books for Black Library, but I don't believe I've read any of them yet.

The novel covers Lorgar and his legion, the Word Bearers. There are three phases to the book, which are actually divided to help the reader out:
Grey, the Word Bearers fall from grace, and their punishment by the Emperor.
Pilgrimage, their voyage to discover Gods worthy of their worship and go to the place where 'gods and man meet' or some such, and
Crimson, their first steps as a legion of Chaos.

I'll highlight the good/bad things about the book, and what I think of it overall- I don't think there is much in the way of spoilers, since the basic story (the Word Bearers turn to Chaos) is not surprising to fans of the universe.

First, the overall progression of the story is fantastic. Covering some 43 years of Word Bearers history is pretty significant given the end result of the period. As you read, you get to see how a very very loyal (and faithful legion) gets on the Emperor's 'bad side', and how it is hinted to be very close to receiving the same treatment two of the other legions (the expunged legions). You also get the whole story as to the journey of discovery the legion undertook to search for the gods of the Old Faith- who they are convinced exist, since so many different worlds in very different parts of the galaxy have stories related to them. Upon finding the gods, we get to experience the legion's transformation into the new Word Bearers, as well as read about the first Possessed. The story moved along pretty well throughout. There was plenty of dialogue, which is important for fleshing out the background of the Horus Heresy, but there was no shortage of action (including another perspective of Isstvan V) to help break up the 'slower' parts.

To me, the focus of the Horus Heresy series is (or largely should be) on the Primarchs, and this book does a great job of that. Lorgar features heavily and there are interactions with Guilliman, Magnus, and Corax (briefly), as well as appearances by Perturabo, Konrad Curze, and Alpharius. Corax, Guilliman, and Perturabo really haven't been in the series thus far, so their inclusion was a nice bonus (at least for me). Curze has only been in the Audiobooks, so again, I loved the fact he was in it. Of course, the focus of the book is on Lorgar, and the book does a fantastic job filling in details of his personality and skills (largely as an orator). It also makes a point to show that he is VERY different than his brothers when it comes to combat skills. Lorgar laments several times throughout the book on this, early on saying "I will never understand tactics and logistics with the effortless ease of Guilliman or the Lion. I will never possess the skill with a blade shown by Fulgrim or the Khan," as he struggles with his role in the galaxy. As the book progresses, he struggles with his role and beliefs, finally deciding to worship gods that WANT to be worshipped, and provide gifts to those that do.

This book, like the first few in the series, I think does a GREAT job of really giving the reader a view into the mind of a genetically engineered superhuman- something I think makes these books the best in the series. You get to know Lorgar, his goals, his feelings on faith and the universe (and his place in it), and also you sympathize somewhat with the reasons for his turning traitor. Dembski-Bowden does a fantastic job of getting you inside Lorgar's head, as well as any of the authors in the series have done so far.

I love the new perspective on the battle of Isstvan V. Sure, we read about the battle somewhat in Fulgrim, but here we read about the roles of some of the various traitor legions who came towards the end of the fight, as well as how the massacre at the end unfolded. Lorgar's role in the battle was an interesting read, as well as the interactions between him and two of his brothers.

Overall, I'd say this is a great addition to the series- indeed I think it's one of the stronger books in the series, and although it hasn't moved the story on past Isstvan, knowing the background behind another legion's fall and the brief lead-up to the battle on Calth (where the Word Bearers fight the Ultramarines, delaying their movement to defend Terra) is fascinating. If you love the series, you'll read it anyway. If you have interest in the Word Bearers, there are plenty of background bits to warrant reading it on its own.

**** SPOILERS? ****

You know, there's a point where Ingethel is showing 'truths' to members of the Word Bearers legion, including Argel Tal, and implies/states flat out that the Emperor only learned of the science needed to create the Primarchs (and the Adeptus Astartes and Custodes) by interaction with the Chaos gods. I wonder how true that is. It could be a trick of the Chaos gods, but if it's true... that really throws the Imperium in a new light, and especially changes how I'd view the Emperor. That's just a crazy insinuation. That whole scene is just filled with a lot of revelations about the universe, assuming they are all true.

I LOVE the references to the missing legions. To me, one of the more interesting parts is a member of the Word Bearers implying that they may have had to fight one of those legions at one point, that it was indeed a heartbreaking moment in history, and that the loss of one (or both) of the legions is what gave the Ultramarines their recruiting numbers, helping them to become the most populous of the legions. We may never know what the truth behind those legions were (story-wise, I understand their role from Games Workshop's standpoint), but it is fun to read hints about them.

Can't seem to protect my warcaster! (Cryx vs Trollbloods, 25pts, 11/16/10)

2010-11-18T09:00:00.035-05:00

Ben and I played another game during our lunch break.

My list:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Nightwretch
- Deathjack
- Slayer
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Ben had expressed a lack of fear over the Cryx jacks, aside from Arc Nodes. I wanted to try to run more jacks, and hope to inspire some terror.

Ben's list:
Captain Gunnbjorn
* Troll Impaler
* Troll Impaler
* Dire Troll Bomber
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Trollkin Sluggers (Leader and 4 Grunts)

This is actually 26 points, but I doubt the single point mattered ;). Ben has loved Gunnbjorn ever since seeing the concept art for him, so he's been eager to get him on the board.

Our terrain was our normal lunch-time setup. 3 walls, two rough patches, and a column (a salt shaker) in the middle.

I deployed first, and put Asphyxious and the jacks near the middle (the Deathjack was in the middle, just further up due to Advance Deployment), and my Bane models to my right.

Ben deployed Gunnbjorn in the center, an Impaler and his Sluggers off to my left, his Burrowers to my right, and everything else fairly near Gunnbjorn.

I advanced everything forward, but hid Asphyxious and my jacks behind a wall, so they wouldn't take much shooting. I sent my Nightwretch forward, but it turned out to be out of range for arcing spells. Ben responded by taking a few shots at my Bane Thralls, but didn't do any damage. His Burrowers crept on up near the Bane Thralls, however. Shooting from the Impaler and Gunnbjorn killed the poor bonejack.

I moved my jacks out of cover- the Deathjack ran towards the Sluggers, the Slayer and Asphyxious moved towards the middle, and Asphyxious camped his focus. My Bane Thralls kept advancing (through a patch of rough terrain), and Bane Lord Tartarus tried to run around a long wall on my right.

One of Ben's Impalers started the turn off by Frenzying, rushing towards his Sluggers, but not quite reaching them. His Burrowers popped up, and killed 4 of the 6 Bane Thralls. The Sluggers opened fire on my Death jack, at d3 shots apiece, but ended up doing about 10 damage. His Bomber attempted to assist, but found himself out of range. Not quite the effective turn he wanted.

I went aggressive at this point. The Deathjack charged into the previously frenzied Impaler, killing it, and healing 5 points of damage. Next turn, I was going to have it start eating through the Sluggers. Bane Lord Tartarus moved up behind the Burrowers, killing 3 (and replenishing some Bane Thralls) before the Bane Thralls activated, killing the Burrower unit.

Asphyxious charged the Bomber, dealing a ton of damage... then Teleported away. As we'll see, that was a huge mistake.

Ben was pretty excited at this point, cast Guided Fire, and fired with Gunnbjorn, getting a Critical Devastation, knocking Asphyxious down and back, and dealing a LOT of damage to him. The Impaler next to him stepped up and finished the job. Loss for Cryx.

Really, I had this game, but I was a little stupid with Asphyxious. I keep neglecting to pop his feat when he's in danger, wanting to use the extra focus for his turn offensively. Had I kept smacking the Bomber (probably killing it) with the last two focus instead of Teleporting, and popped my feat for the 7 focus, I probably would've survived. At that point, I probably could've won the game, since I had already dealt so much damage to the Troll forces.

I'm really going to have to work to remembering that. Twice now, I've had this happen. Going to try harder to make sure there's not a third.

Two Quick Battle Reports

2010-11-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Played two games last week, and although I didn't take pictures, I'll write brief reports up just for my own memory, and the enjoyment of whoever will bother reading them.

Game 1:
First game was last Wednesday, at 25 points. My Cryx vs. BK's Menoth.

My list:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Nightwretch
- Deathjack
- Skarlock Thrall
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Pistol Wraith

Fairly standard stuff, I think. I was trying to take a decent variety of things to show BK different things about Cryx. I thought the Deathjack would be fun, since I knew he would be taking the Avatar, and having the two on the table could be a pretty great battle.

BK's list:
Harbinger of Menoth
- Crusader
- Hierophant
Avatar of Menoth
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 5 Grunts)
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
Paladin of the Order of the Wall
Paladin of the Order of the Wall
Vassal Mechanik

BK took a Tier 3 Harbinger list, which has been the primary focus of his Warmachine purchases from the very beginning. I think he just loves him some Paladins.

The table was very basic, flat terrain, with a lot of small patches of rough terrain. Not many interesting terrain features, although BK's theme list puts out some Wall Templates which really screwed with me.

BK got the first turn, chose to go first, and deployed all of his guys near the middle of his deployment zone, fairly close together.

I did my usual 'fill the board' deployment, with Bane Thralls on the right, Mechanithralls in the middle, jacks, the Pistol Wraith, and my warcaster on the right.

For the first turn, we basically pushed everything forward. BK used the walls to gain a defensive position while advancing the Avatar towards my line. I set up my guys for a potential charge on his Paladins or the Avatar next turn should he move forward.

BK took the bait somewhat, charging Vilmon into my Nightwretch, killing it, then using the Avatar's Gaze to lock some of my models in place (the Mechanithralls mainly). The Harbinger slowly advanced, primarily to ensure that Vilmon was in her control area.

Turns out... I was taking the bait ;). Asphyxious gets into position a few inches away from Vilmon, and drops some spells on him, which the Harbinger Martyrdoms away. My Bane Thralls then charge, killing him twice more, meaning 3 more damage on the Harbinger. My Pistol Wraith attempts to shoot at the Vassal Mechanik, hidden next to one of the wall obstacles, but fails to hit.

BK has the Avatar charge the Bane Thralls, killing the 4 who were around Vilmon. Vilmon then charges Asphyxious, who was left pretty much in the open, because I didn't see the danger. Ugh. Well, he has a lot of health, I'm sure I can survive. 4 dice, dice-1 for damage... BK rolls a 20. Game over.

BK played very well for not having much experience, and I was a little disappointed I didn't give him more of a game. I had him use some of his other models to beat on me, just so he could see their relative power. I'm sure our next game will be a lot closer. At least I hope so!

Game 2:
Game 2 was a 35 point game, played on Thursday, against Rob's Karchev list. I chose to try out Epic Asphyxious.

Rob did take pictures of this game, but it does take him a bit to upload them ;).

My list:
Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Cankerworm
- Nightwretch
- Nightwretch
- Skarlock Thrall
Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith

Really, I had no idea what was best to take with him, so I went for my usual things, expecting the Bane models to be what I use for his feat. I haven't tried using the Cankerworm prior to this either, but sadly, I don't think I got a good handle on him from this game. Maybe next one.

Rob's list:
Karchev the Terrible
- Beast-09
- Behemoth
- Berserker
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Koldun Lord
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Rob's in love with Karchev lately, and he even wrote an article on him.

The tables had a few buildings on the right and left side, with some walls near the middle. I went first.

I spread out, with Asphyxious, the jacks, and the Pistol Wraiths on my left, all of my Bane models on the right.

Most of his army was deployed on my right, aside from Eiryss who deployed in woods closer to the center of the table.

I basically started off the game advancing everything forward.

Rob advanced Karchev, using tow, and turned around to get his jacks close to the center of the board, prepared to fight me. Everything else advanced, aside from Eiryss, who took a shot at a Nightwretch and disrupted it.

I sent the Pistol Wraiths through the forest to try to Death Chill some of his jacks, to give me the chance to send the Bane models in, prepared to cause a ton of damage. First Pistol Wraith shot at the Behemoth, needing anything but snake-eyes to hit, and missed on the second shot. The Second Pistol Wraith chose the same target... and then missed on the second shot. Ugh.

The Banes all advanced up; close enough to be a threat to Rob's jacks next turn. I manage to get a Parasite onto the Behemoth.

Rob hesitated a bit with his movement, and had his jacks mill about, although the Behemoth succeeded in killing both Pistol Wraiths. Eiryss dealt some damage to Asphyxious. The Greylords and Koldun Lord moved up, and killed 2 of the Bane Knights, due to poor rolling.

The Bane Knights made their Vengeance move, and killed the a few Greylords. Bane Lord Tartarus charged into the Berserker, nearly destroying it, and a few Bane Knights came with him, nearly wrecking the jack. I moved Asphyxious up to try to throw some damage onto the opposing jacks, but couldn't roll well for damage. The Skarlock moved up and tried to cast a spell onto Eiryss, missed, and died for his efforts.

Karchev moved forward, and cast Unearthly Rage. He followed this by charging Beast-09 into Asphyxious, dealing decent damage, but not serious. The Behemoth, with nothing to get into combat with shot at the Withershadow Combine, dealing small amounts of damage off the scatter. The Berserker failed to kill any of the Bane Knights assailing it.

Asphyxious laid into Beast-09, not dealing tremendous damage, but hurting it some, then Teleported away to safety. The Cankerworm attempted to follow up, but didn't do much better on the damage rolls, even with the Armor Piercing attack. Ugh. Tartarus and the Bane Knights did succeed in killing off the last Greylord and the Berserker though.

Karchev again advanced, dropped an Eruption template in front of him (killing a Bane Thrall, probably) to stop Asphyxious from feating and killing him (smart!). Beast-09 tried to get into contact with Aspyxious, but couldn't.

The game ended with Tartarus and all the Bane Knights charging into Karchev, and after some favorable damage rolls, ending him.

The game was, sadly, fairly one-sided towards the end, although he did manage to get some pressure on my warcaster which isn't common. I think Rob needs to spend another turn towing his warjacks into position to ensure he gets the charge into my lines next time. With that said, after some practice, this could be a much more difficult matchup!

Local Competition October Results

2010-11-01T14:00:00.000-04:00

Painting: Well, the only one of us that did anything was Frans, who primed almost his entire army, as well as worked on painting some of the weapons for his army.

Construction: BK wins this one, although Frans was a VERY close second!

Blogging: I win here, since most of my friends didn't blog all last month.

Gaming: I finally wrest a point away from Frans here, but I'm sure this won't last ;).

So the totals:

Frans: 5 (3 Playing, 1 Construction, 1 Painting)
Ben: 4 (3 Painting, 1 Blogging)
Steve (me): 4 (3 Blogging, 1 Gaming)
BK: 2 (2 Construction)
Rob: 1 (1 Construction)
Nathan: 0

Frans has the sole lead at the moment, and there's only two months to go! Frans ALSO has the most variety of points, which shows he's definitely working hard!

Accomplishments for October

2010-11-01T10:36:00.000-04:00

Well, another month down. Let's see what I managed to get done.

Painting: Nothing

Assembly: I assembled the Withershadow Combine, and Lich Lord Asphyxious. It would have been more, but Asphyxious was a bit of a pain...

Gaming: Ben has been too terrified to game with me at work, so I only played 2 games of Warmachine (both 25 pts, one as a three-player game), and 2 games of Blood Bowl (solo).

Blogging: Again, you can just read them here.

Will have the competition results up as soon as I can!

Master Tormentor Morghoul Tier 4 List

2010-10-26T11:00:00.122-04:00

So, after playing with several of the Skorne models, and giving serious thought to others, I think I can take a shot at some of their theme forces. I figure it'll be easiest to start with the 'battle box' warlock, Morghoul. I've already gone over the basics of him, and his capabilities here. In this post, I'll take a look at his theme force.

Let's start by taking a look at the benefits of such a list.

FA U for Paingiver Beast Handlers, and Pathfinder for all models during the first turn of the game. The extra FA is handy, especially since the list is going to be running a lot of beasts. Pathfinder is even better though, since you'll be able to move up very quickly, regardless of terrain. Might be critical for certain scenarios.
Cataphract Arcuarii get Advance Deployment. Since you'll have to take two units to get to Tier 4, this is a nice benefit as it gets them much closer to the enemy, where they need to be.
Cheaper heavy warbeasts. That's always good.
Increased deployment zone. Yeah, it's only 2", but it gets your melee-oriented beasts up the field a little faster, and every inch closer is going to be helpful.

Overall, pretty good benefits. Cheaper beasts and ways to get them up there a bit faster certainly seem like a good match. You're going to be very aggressive, and you're going to likely be melee oriented.

Well, what can Morghoul take?

Warlock: Obviously, you have the choice of Master Tormentor Morghoul, and that's all. Given the purpose of this list, he's going to be a great choice regardless. Abuse is going to get some power out of your beasts, while Morghoul himself can be used to clear out single-wound infantry quickly.

Warbeasts: Non-character Cyclops and Titans are available. That leaves the Cyclops Savage, Shaman, and Brute, and the Titan Gladiator, Sentry, Cannoneer, and the Bronzeback Titan. You'll need two heavies to finish out the tiers, and I'd recommend the Titan Gladiator and Bronzeback.

The Cannoneer doesn't really help you all that much, since you're going to be depending on melee punch more than your range attacks. The Cyclops Brute can help keep the warlock alive. The Cyclops Savage and Shaman provide good animi, so are a good choice if you have a few points available. The Titan Sentry is probably not offensively oriented enough to be a good fit. The Gladiator provides a great animus and can hit hard. The Bronzeback is a great beast, and his Counter-Charge works really well with Morghoul's Admonition. Back the Bronzeback 3" away, then charge him back in.

Units: The theme list can take Paingiver units, as well as Cataphract Arcuarii. You're required to take 2 units of Arcuarii, and although they are a good unit for certain things, I don't feel they are useful enough that you're going to find much use to take more than the two minimum units. They'll provide a way to handle multi-wound infantry, and are going to be very helpful for killing key medium-base models.

Paingiver Beast Handlers are going to be hugely important for this army because of the heavy beast theme. Once the beasts get into contact with the opposing lines, they'll be running with a LOT of fury on them, and they'll be taking some damage. Having Beast Handlers around to keep things under control is going to be vital. In the theme force, they are FA U as well, in case you find yourself really needing more than 2 full units.

Paingiver Bloodrunners are another unit that can be taken. They don't really gain anything from the list, and the pieces you can include in the theme force don't help them any either (aside from the Master Tormentor). They can definitely be useful for going after ranged infantry in your opponent's army, or for going after other flanking units (like Daughters), especially if you take a Master Tormentor to increase their MAT.

Solos: Paingiver solos are available. Without Minion units, the Paingiver Task Master really doesn't have a role, so for now that just leaves the Paingiver Master Tormentor. Thresher, Reach, and Anatomical Precision give her a pretty effective ability to clear out single-wound infantry, and if you take Bloodrunners, she makes them pretty incredible at doing so as well. We may find a place for her.

How about some lists (all Tier 4):

25pts:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

That's a lot more Beast Handlers than you'll need for only two beasts, but they'll be helpful for clogging up charge lanes or blocking your opponent in other ways. They also can kill single wound infantry, but that can't really be counted on. The key is the two Titans, who will bust through the center of the opposing army and mess up anything in their path. The Arcuarii can take out certain targets (like stupid Trollkin Champions).

At 35, I keep the core, and add some utility and protection:

35pts:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Cyclops Brute
- Cyclops Shaman
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

The Brute is there to protect Morghoul. It can eat a combined ranged attack a turn (until it dies), which is a huge help in keeping my warlock alive. The Cyclops Shaman can drop negative spells/animi with his animus, which is great against some armies, while the Primal Magic ability can give me another casting of Rush while saving Fury on my primary combat beasts.

And here's the list at 50:

50pts:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Cyclops Brute
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Shaman
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor

The Savage's animus is really helpful for maximizing your fury efficiency on those beasts. You'll NEED them to kill things, you can't afford them missing or wasting fury, and you'll want them doing as much damage as possible. Another Gladiator gives you more killing ability on the front line. The Bloodrunner Master Tormentor is great for clearing out infantry, which there isn't a whole lot of in this list. The last point is spent maxing out one of those Beast Handler units. You're up to 6 beasts now; you'll need the Beast Handlers.

I think this list could be very effective. That's a lot of beasts, and a decent amount of ability to support them. Certain armies will certainly give them problems, but I really think this army could be very tough for many armies to handle.

3-player Free-For-All, 25 points, 10/16/10

2010-10-23T14:10:00.001-04:00

Having a free Saturday, Ben, Rob, and I all decided to spend some time playing Warmachine/Hordes. With three of us, we figured that playing a bunch of one on one games would be pretty enjoyable. However, we didn't want anyone to be excluded to start, so decided to go with a three-player game just to get the day going.

Three players is a bit of a challenge, as anyone knows, so we had to figure out a good way to go about this on short notice. We decided to go with a 'Capture the Flag' style game, with a token in the middle of the board, and the players trying to capture the token, and return it to their board edge.

Picking up the token was an action (but didn't stop you from using another action or an attack), and once you had the token you couldn't run, use any of your special movement rules, and you lost Incorporeal.

Also, we assumed the casters would die at some point, so caster death didn't end the game for you. Your jacks did become autonomous though.

The armies:
I chose my trusty Cryx, and decided to use Goreshade, hoping that a potentially chaotic game would give me a chance to see 'what he could do'.

My list:
Goreshade the Bastard
- Slayer
- Skarlock Thrall
Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol Wraith

Nothing terribly new here.

Ben ran Trollbloods, since he doesn't have much in the way of choice.

His list:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Dire Troll Bomber
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler

This is Ben's normal list as well. Basically a brick of beat-downs heading straight down the opposing throat.

Rob chose to run Khador, since he has almost no experience with his Legion.

Rob's list:
Karchev the Terrible
- Beast-09
- Decimator
- Spriggan

Lots of scary jacks there. I haven't seen the Decimator used, nor did I really remember what it did (Rob stole my book >:( ) but I would find out soon enough.

The table and deployment:

The entire table was part of the game, not just the green part. We didn't have enough felt to cover it, because we're lame. The well in the center of the table has the token we needed to bring out.

After rolling, we started deploying.

Khador:

Despite owning many of these models, Rob hasn't gotten around to assembling them. Tsk tsk.

Cryx:

Trollbloods:

With that, we got it started!

Turn 1:
Not much happened at this point, since we were all quite a distance away from one another. Rob advanced as fast as he could directly towards the center. I did the same, but cast Shadowmancer. Ben did the same, after doing all his bricking abilities.

Turn 2:
Karchev tows his jacks forward. They then run towards Ben (Rob was trying to trick me into ignoring him. Not a chance).

I move towards the center and cast Mage Blight, after popping my feat to give me some bodies to face off against Rob.

Ben moves up, and his Bomber begins shelling my infantry, dropping 4 Mechanithralls and 3 Bane Knights.

Looking a little sparse on my side!

Turn 3:
Rob, a little unnerved by the mage blight, advances directly away from both me and the action (I marked this in my notes as a ?!, like in chess). I certainly wasn't going to complain about the reprieve.

I try to take advantage of the lull by attacking Ben. My Bane Knights charge into his Axer, dealing some damage. Everything else advances towards the center, and again I Mage Blight.

Ben's Axer uses Thresher against the three Bane Knights next to him... and misses all three times. His Bomber tramples through the Mechanithralls, into combat with Tartarus... and fails to hit. The Champions kill two of the Bane Knights, but overall, definitely not the turn he (and I, really) expected. Not much you can do about that, man!

Turn 4:
Rob's Spriggan flares some Bane Thralls, and the Devastator manages to drop one of them. Karchev tows Beast-09 into position... he then charges into my Bane Thralls, killing 4 of them.

Beset on both sides (how did I end up in the middle?) I began to unleash some paint. My Pistol Wraith Death Chills his Spriggan. My Bane Thralls + Goreshade (who Mage Blighted again) + the Withershadow Combine drop Beast-09, creating a Seether, who runs towards the Trolls to put some pressure on them.

Tartarus, my Slayer, and my few remaining Mechanithralls kill the Bomber, and the Deathwalker runs into contact with the token. If I can buy her a turn to pick it up, and some time to start moving, I could take this game!

Ben moves Madrak back, so he's out of Mage Blight range. The Champions do some heavy damage to the Seether.

Running out of guys...

Engaging Ben.

Turn 5:
Karchev sprays a Bane Thrall, and manages to hit Goreshade, knocking him down. The Decimator then unloads into him, killing him once (bye Deathwalker!). Fairly scary turn for me.

Goreshade heals, and my Slayer kills a Trollkin Champion. My Bane Thrall and the Withershadow Combine charge into the Decimator, dealing a ton of damage to it.

The Champions bring down the Seether, and almost succeed in killing the Slayer. I'm definitely definitely running out of guys.

Of course, I'm fighting off two armies at the same time, no wonder I'm losing guys so fast!

Turn 6:
Karchev tows the Decimator out of it's engagement... into Bane Lord Tartarus, who it kills, and the Decimator finally picks up the token. The Spriggan flares then shoots at the Withershadow Combine, but fails to kill any.

The Withershadow Combine, trying to find a good target, charge into Karchev, dealing fairly minimal damage. The Bane Thrall kills the Decimator. I have a Mechanithrall grab the token, while Goreshade Mage Blights, hoping to buy a turn.

One of Ben's champions kills the last Bane Thrall. He also kills a Mechanithrall and the Slayer. Madrak shoots and kills the Skarlock, while the Axer gets into combat with Goreshade and deals three damage to him.

Turn 7:
Karchev sprays again, killing the Mechanithrall and knocking down the Axer.

The Withershadow Combine's spells kill a Champion, and the Pistol Wraith Death Chills Karchev.

Madrak misses Goreshade with his thrown axe. However, the Champions, with their axes in their hands, do not miss him. No recovering for him this time.

I am down to the Withershadow Combine and a Pistol Wraith at this point.

Turn 8:
Karchev kills the Axer, and the Spriggan takes a great opportunity shot at the Pistol Wraith.. but deals only 4 damage!

The Pistol Wraith responds by freezing the Spriggan. The Withershadow Combine kill 2 members of the Krielstone bearer unit, trying to collect some souls.

Ben, realizing I'm not quite threatening at the moment, moves in, and the Champions begin taking chunks out of Karchev.

Turn 9:
Karchev kills a champion, and the Spriggan tries to move around to get away from the Pistol Wraith.

The Pistol Wraith doesn't let him, and again freezes him. The Withershadow Combine use their magic on Karchev, and this time do pretty good damage to him.

This is followed by the Champions charging into him, nearly killing him.

All this time, the token is sitting on the ground, by the way.

Turn 10:
Karchev uses Ground Zero, killing a Champion and pushing the other one away from him.

The Withershadow Combine kill that Champion.

Ben rushes in, Madrak throwing his axe, and having a Krielstone Bearer pick up the token.

Turns 11-End
Karchev does finally die, and with my remaining guys I wipe out everything of Ben's except for Madrak... who kills my Pistol Wraith. The Spriggan kills all but one of my Withershadow Combine.

We finally all get locked into an unfortunate combat. Spriggan against one of the Withershadow Combine against a heavily damaged Madrak. Despite Madrak and the WC member swinging at the Spriggan, it eventually slays us both.

With the only model left on the board... Rob wins!

Cryx vs Khador, 50pts, 9/4/10

2010-10-22T16:30:00.001-04:00

Wow. Took me over a month and a half to post this. Usually if I'm that far behind I probably wouldn't bother... but I took pictures, and I feel cheated if I don't actually use them.

So here we go. Thankfully it's a quick one.

Rob and I played Warmachine the Saturday listed, deciding to go for a 50 point game to add some variety to our armies. I chose to use Goreshade, since he was 'next' in line for warcasters for me to try under MkII. Rob was determined to throw something new at me, so chose epic Butcher.

We set up and started our first game, which I won't post much information about here. About 2 turns in, I pointed out that Rob had chosen an army that probably wasn't going to be very effective- a LOT of shooting units in an army really not intended for them. After a few minutes of deliberation, we decided to start over, with a different army under Rob's command.

My list:
Goreshade the Bastard
- Deathjack
- Leviathan
- Slayer
Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Bloat Thrall
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith

I wasn't really sure if those would be an effective list, but I figured that the Cryx choices are strong enough to work with any caster.

I don't have Rob's army list handy, and since Rob proxies some, I can't really piece together what he was using from the pictures. I do know it was epic Butcher, some Doom Reavers, and a few combat oriented models.

Deployment

The game started with Rob going first, and basically just moving everything towards my lines.

I follow by doing about the same, although spreading out some.

On Turn 2, Eiryss and a unit of Widowmakers drop 6 Mechanithralls, and the Khador army continues to advance, to prepare for some charges.

I begin to take chunks out of his army at this point. My Bloat Thrall kills Eiryss, my unit of Bile Thralls kill 3 Doom Reavers and their Escort, and my Leviathan deals a few points of damage to Beast-09. I run my Slayer up into melee range of his Widowmakers to prevent them from shooting at me. I manage to catch 2 or 3 in melee range.

Rob decides to go aggressive, and sends Beast-09 rushing into combat with Goreshade, dealing 13 damage. The non-tied up Widowmakers kill 2 Mechanithralls. He then drops the Mortar right onto the Slayer, getting a direct hit, and doing 10 damage.

I begin to kill everything on the table on my 3rd turn. The Widowmakers die, and everything over there moves close enough to the Mortar to stop it from shooting. Beast-09 dies. Most of the infantry Rob owns dies as well.

On turn 3, Rob doesn't have a lot left, so chooses to charge the Butcher into the Deathjack, bringing it down to 7 boxes. He couldn't really do much with the DJ threatening his advance, but sadly he couldn't put him away. Rob concedes at this point.

I wasn't very impressed with Goreshade. He's effective, since Mage Blight is so annoying, but there wasn't much Goreshade had to do from turn to turn. I didn't use many of Goreshade's spells, however, so I may have to force myself to play Goreshade without Mage Blighting every turn, and hope for some good tactical choices from him. We'll see!

Cryx vs Trollbloods, 25 pts, 10/21/10

2010-10-21T16:00:00.001-04:00

Quick battle report from today.

Played Ben again during lunch. My list was:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch
- Skarlock Thrall
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith

To me, that's a fairly basic 25pt Cryx list for almost any of my casters. Deneghra makes almost everything better- especially those Pistol Wraiths. They are just terrifying on her feat turn.

Ben's list:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Dire Troll Bomber
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler

This is Ben's normal list, partially because he doesn't have a ton to draw from at the moment.

Game terrain was fairly normal for our lunch breaks, mostly a few things around the center (this time with the benefit that some of the terrain caused Ben to forget about two of my models completely).

I started, placing everything close to the line, and sent almost everything directly towards the middle, aside from the two Pistol Wraiths and the Bane Thralls who moved off to the right, hopefully to force Ben to split his forces up.

Ben doesn't really bite, advancing most of his army towards the center, while setting up his various tools to help his survivability.

I start turn 2 by running a Deathripper forward close to his Champions, and Deneghra begins to screw with it, starting with a Crippling Grasp, followed by 3 Influences, killing a Champion and injuring another. The Pistol Wraiths follow up, killing a champion and finishing off the damaged one. The rest of my army advances closer.

Ben decides he has to go on the aggressive now, and pops Madrak's feat. He then throws his axe at the Pistol Wraiths, killing one, but fails to hit the other one. The Axer then charges my Deathripper and manages to grab a Bane Thrall in his melee range. He Threshers, heavily damaging the Deathripper and killing the Bane Thrall. Overtake triggers, and he kills another Bane Thrall... then again... then again... etc. He finishes by dropping that Deathripper. 9 points gone in a single activation. Pretty scary.

He finishes his activation by moving the Bomber up (out of Madrak's control range accidentally) and throws some barrels at the Mechanithralls, killing 3. I smartly had spread the Mech thralls out last turn expecting this. Good thing!

My 3rd turn starts with my second Deathripper moving into range of his Bomber, and Deneghra advancing forward, feating, Parasiting the Bomber, and ending with Venom, taking a small chunk of damage from it. A Nightwretch shot followed by two charging Mechanithralls end the Bomber's life, and since he was too far from Madrak, Madrak doesn't get the fury. Not good. The Pistol Wraith ends my turn by Death Chilling the Axer, as well as doing a few points of damage.

Ben takes stock of his situation... SPD 1 Champions on the front of his line, a frozen Axer nearby, and not much way to deal damage beyond that... and concedes.

My army worked pretty much as expected (good, since I do have plenty of practice with it). Ben's army just didn't have a good matchup against me, it felt like. I'm not really sure how to help him there though. I don't think Trolls have any good way to drop enemy upkeeps (and I really don't know Minions all that well), which would've been a huge help. I don't think the Bomber really helps much at this point level with Madrak, but beyond that I'm not sure what help I could provide. I think an Impaler would be a help, because of Critical Smite plus his Animus. I also think the Mauler serves him better (maybe to replace the Axer). That would save him two points, which he could use for another utility solo. Other than that, I have no idea.

Anyone else have any suggestions for Ben?

Book Review: Brunner The Bounty Hunter (Omnibus)

2010-10-13T13:00:00.022-04:00

I finally finished this omnibus, and despite some initial reservations, I have to say I quite liked it.

Let me first mention what's in the book. The omnibus contains three previously published novels- Blood and Steel, Blood Money, and Blood of the Dragon, as well as the short story "What Price Vengeance". All the books/stories in the omnibus cover the exploits and adventures of Brunner, a mysterious bounty hunter known to always get his man, creature, or anything.

Now, I listed the omnibus' inclusions as books, but two of the books are actually compilations of short stories that often have nothing to do with one another. This is one thing that is both a good and bad thing about the book. The short stories (12, I think) let you see Brunner in a variety of situations, and interacting with a variety of people from either his past as a bounty hunter, or the hinted-at past prior to him becoming one. However, you don't often see much connection between people in the short stories, aside from a few cases, and what seemed a fairly important character mentioned in the first story is never mentioned again, which I found a little peculiar. Having a career as a bounty hunter in a world like the Warhammer one would probably be a life where the feel of moving from one adventure to the next would be fairly accurate, so although it's probably not to everyone's taste, it definitely moves well enough to not hinder a reader's enjoyment.

Brunner as a character is more interesting than I originally expected. When you're starting to read through the first story in the omnibus ("What Price Vengeance") you can obviously tell he's very cold, skilled ('unbeatable' is the trait I believe the author was going for), and ruthless. The character seems actually very shallow: he wants money; he takes jobs to get it. However as you read along, you can feel there's definitely more to him, and that there's certainly more to his past than you'd expect. You also learn that he does have a goal (vengeance), and find out why. I won't say the character is very highly developed, even by the end, but there's certainly several steps made in that direction.

The setting is a little different for Warhammer. Much of the action takes place in the city-states of Tilea, and almost the entirety of Blood of the Dragon takes place in some of the darker parts of Bretonnia. Although I thought that the setting would add to the book's appeal, I honestly felt several times that the book wasn't even set in the 'Warhammer universe', despite the obvious appearances of Skaven, Dragons, Orcs and Dark Elves. That's probably an unfair assessment of mine, because as a fantasy setting much of Warhammer's uniqueness is its history and not the races that make up the world... and you shouldn't expect to read its history in every book. The setting is well enough developed to provide a good backdrop for Brunner's adventures, but that's about all- and that's really all it needs to be, given the scope of the adventures.

One thing I loved about the book, but missed much of until about halfway through, is little hints that the author puts into the story, both through characters, dialogue, and Brunner's own thoughts, that tell you more of who Brunner is, and why he's doing it. I will say, after reading the ending of the Omnibus, I immediately read the first story again, because I didn't realize the connection between a few occurences and characters until very near the end. I'm not sure that everyone will miss them like I did, but I think that's a testament to Werner's skill that there are still pieces to pick up from the story even after you've read it.

I would recommend this book to people who like Black Library books, although I probably wouldn't direct people who are interested in either the Warhammer or 40K settings to start with this book. C.L. Werner has some great contributions to the Black Library collection, and although I don't think this is one of his best, it certainly is quite enjoyable, and I hope he continues to write for the character at some point in the future.

Cryx vs Khador, 35pts, 9/22/10 (no pictures)

2010-10-12T15:05:00.001-04:00

Rob and I played a game almost a month ago, and I figure I'd put a brief write-up on the interwebs.

First off, I didn't take any pictures. Rob did, and if he ever puts them online, I'll make sure to link to them.

We decided to run 35 points. I chose to run the Witch Coven (who I hadn't used in MkII), Rob chose regular Irusk.

My list:
The Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Defiler
- Reaper
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith

I wasn't really sure how the Witch Coven worked under MkII, so I went for as generic a list as I could. Of course, now having some experience, I realize I really need more threats. The Reaper doesn't really fit, and the Pistol Wraiths aren't helpful enough. Regardless, not important for this game.

Rob's list:
Kommandant Irusk
- Devastator
- War dog
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- Greylord Escort
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Man-o-war Kovnik

Rob's been getting smarter! First off, he is running Irusk, which means he needs a decent amount of infantry to take the most advantage of him. Well, there's plenty of infantry there. Knowing he was running against Cryx, he took two units of Doom Reavers- a fantastic choice that I definitely struggled with. The Great Bears are fantastic, of course. The Man-o-war choices are interesting as well, since they are very durable, and aren't as easy for my Cryx guys to quickly kill.

The Devastator as a jack choice was a little strange to me, but he seemed to intend it to go after arc nodes, or infantry. That's a good role for it.

Rob wanted extra forests on the board, so our terrain set-up was about five forests scattered around the board, with a single building on my right towards Rob's deployment zone.

I can't recall who deployed first, but the end deployment for me was by Bane Thralls + Tartarus on my left, Bile Thralls + Pistol Wraiths on my right, and my jacks in the middle. Rob has Doom Reavers on his left and right, and Irusk + the Man-o-War choices up the middle.

We both advanced cautiously towards the middle, and I used Ghost Walk on an arc node to get some early spells off at his advancing troops (the MoW). The Doom Reavers on my right shredded the Pistol Wraiths and a Defiler that got too close (knocking off its arc node), and in return were purged upon by the Bile Thralls, killing almost the entire unit.

On my left, I left the Bane Thralls and Tartarus too far forward, and the Doom Reavers on that side tore through them with limited casualties. Talk about scary for a Cryx player.

The Man-o-War troops used to advance up the middle slowed down upon entering the forest in the middle, and I used the added time they spent traversing it to pelt them with my offensive magic. That combined with my Reaper's shooting and dragging finally killed the unit.

Towards mid-game, our forces were battered, and things weren't looking well. I had lost both my Pistol Wraiths, all but maybe 1 of my Bile Thralls, and all my Bane units, as well as suffered damage to all of my jacks. Rob had a virtually untouched unit of Reavers and an undamaged Devastator (plus that War Dog).

I used my turn to the best effect possible. The Deathrippers and the Defiler went in and killed a few of the Doom Reavers, while I started taking shots at the Devastator, hoping to damage it enough to kill with magic. In response, the Devastator charged into the Reaper, dealing heavy damage. In the next turn, the Reaper would take enough swings to finally disable the arms on the thing, bringing it to ARM 17. The Doom Reavers took swings at the bonejacks in front of them, but failed to do much damage, and ended up finally being destroyed next turn.

The Devastator then moved forward and Rain of Death'd my Defiler, killing it, and the Coven used magic to kill it right afterwards. Down to only two bonejacks and the Coven vs. an angry Irusk, I was actually terrified. What if he camped his focus and kept marching straight at me? Stygian Abyss would buy me time, but I wasn't going to easily chip away at his damage.

Thankfully, Rob was determined to end me, and used focus to shoot at my bonejacks, generally not causing enough damage to matter, while leaving himself open for spell damage. Two turns of this, and the game was over.

Overall, this is the closest game Rob and I have had, by far. The Witch Coven don't feel quite the same as they did in the previous version of the game, which isn't a bad thing, but I'll definitely need more experience with them to figure out how to use them.

Rob seems to be learning quite well. I was actually quite concerned at some points, especially after the models on my left flank were utterly destroyed, and I had no means to retaliate immediately.

Next game, I'm unsure what I'll be using vs. Rob. It will either be Lich Lord Asphyxious, Wraith Witch Deneghra, or a Skorne army (my current love). We'll see ;).

By the way, I realized that my blog has been up and running for over a year (a year and a week, actually!). I didn't even notice, but that's awesome!

Thanks for reading guys!

Ancestral Guardian: Thoughts/Tips

2010-10-10T22:15:00.000-04:00

One of the first solos released for the Skorne when Hordes was new, the Ancestral Guardian is a construct that follows Skorne into battle, to preserve the spirits of fallen Skorne warriors, so that they are not sent to the void upon their death.

Stats:
It's very slow, and has a really low DEF. Not many attacks are likely to miss it. However, it does get a great MAT (of 8!) and it's ARM allows it to be pretty durable as well. With 10 Damage, it should be able to take a hit or two before crumbling. It is 3 points, however, which actually feels a little high for what it does. That's just my opinion though.

Attacks:
Back in the day, this used to have Weapon Master. Sadly, it no longer does. It is a P+S 13 weapon with Reach and it counts as a Magical Weapon. Its strong enough to dish out some damage, and with the mentioned traits, it's not going to have a hard time finding targets one the enemy starts contacting the Skorne lines.

Special Rules:
Construct: No fleeing for this guy! Not that he would get far even if he did.

Defensive Strike: Since he's slow moving, he's going to be getting charged in most games. With this, however, the Guardian has a way to counteract it some, by letting him take a free swing at the enemy. Very handy ability, just remember you can't boost your rolls on this attack. Certainly can't complain about a free attack though.

Soul Guardian: The Ancestral Guardian can hold up to three souls, which he can get from the deaths of nearby friendly living faction warrior models, then use those souls during his activation to boost attack or damage rolls, or gain an additional attack. You're going to need to run the Guardian near a unit of some sort, but with Reach he won't be hurting for chances to get into combat anyway. Even in death your Skorne units can serve you. This ability lets the Guardian become fairly intimidating in melee.

Spirit Driven: The Guardian can also spend a soul token at the beginning of its movement to gain another 2" of movement. This allows the guardian to have an 11" threat range- that's not half bad.

Steady: Can't be knocked down. Not that opponents are going to need much help hitting the Ancestral Guardian, but it does mean you won't be deprived of your Defensive Strike.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: No real synergies.

Archdomina Makeda: Walking Death allows the Guardian to get double the use out of your warrior models. They'll die, providing souls for the Guardian, then return, hopefully to die again eventually and provide MORE souls for the Guardian! Carnage allows the Guardian to hit almost anything it wants, especially if it boosts. Savagery allows the Guardian to have a 13" threat, and Defender's Ward makes the Ancestral Guardian even harder to kill (ARM 20!). The spells have much better targets, however, so you'll likely get the most use out of Carnage.

Cyclops Savage: Prescience is pretty nice on the Guardian, since you're likely to be running on only a few souls at a time, and you'll want to use them as efficiently as possible to deal damage.

Titan Cannoneer: No real synergies, but Diminish around the Guardian is helpful for keeping it alive.

Titan Gladiator: No real synergies.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: No synergies.

Praetorian Swordsmen: With the Unit Attachment, I think these guys make a great pair. Swordsmen are cheap, and are likely to die once the fighting starts getting the thickest. With Ranked Attack, the Guardian can stand behind the Swordsmen and get some swings in without taking too much damage in return. Defensive Strike may even net you a free kill over a Swordsmen head to help keep the Swordsmen alive.

Agonizer: No real synergies.

Tier Thoughts:
Given that many Ancestral Guardians were sent to the west to assist with the invasion, it's no surprise to see that epic Makeda has them available in her theme force. With all the infantry, he's sure to have a full stock of souls to use.

Lord Tyrant Hexeris can take them as well, and if you get up to Tier 4, the Guardian will actually get another 6" onto the table before the game starts. Helpful for a model that's so slow.

Unsurprisingly, Supreme Aptimus Zaal gets to use Ancestral Guardians in his theme force as well, gaining an increased FA, as well as Advance Deployment, in addition to all the benefits of running a Guardian with this warlock anyway.

Thoughts:
Whether you take an Ancestral Guardian or not is really going to depend on the rest of your army. If you're running lots of cheaper infantry (such as Praetorian Swordsmen), you'll probably find him to be very helpful. Obviously, he'll be useful if you're running Zaal. With other forces, however, you'll probably have better uses for your points. 3 points isn't much, but when you could spend them to upgrade a unit of Cataphracts, or even change some of your beasts for more expensive ones, you'll probably leave the Guardian at home.

Praetorian Swordsmen: Thoughts/Tips

2010-10-09T13:30:00.001-04:00

Swordsmen are the basic rank and file members of the Skorne army, and with their rules, plus abilities gained by the other members of your army, they'll be capable of performing a few roles for you, and are cheap enough to be put in most armies.

Stats:
They have fairly basic stats, actually. Nothing really amazing or terrible. A CMD of 9 is nice, letting them spread out a bit. Their MAT is decent as well, and they are SPD 6, which is on the higher end of Skorne models. Costing only 4/6, however, they are so inexpensive that you'll take them and find uses for them in almost every game.

Attacks:
Each Swordsmen has two swords, at a hefty P+S of 9. Against light infantry, they are fantastic, against anything else, they struggle. However, the swords come with Combo Strike, which means they can make a single P+S 12 attack instead, which is a lot better against heavy infantry and light jacks/beasts. On the charge, you could even damage heavier jacks/beasts.

Special Rules:
Penetrating Strike: Of course, if you're going against that heavy beast or jack, you'll want something that can deal a little more damage to it without needing to charge. Thankfully, Praetorian Swordsmen get this rule, meaning that if you hit a warjack or warbeast, you can have the target take a single point of damage instead of rolling for it. Now, you're not going to be bringing down heavies with this alone, but it does help that a unit of Swordsmen could take 10+ points of a Khador jack reliably.

Of course, on the charge, you'll have to decide what's going to help- a boosted damage roll from Combo Strike, or two attacks dealing a point apiece? If you're going against ARM 21 or higher, you'll always take the Penetrating Strikes, most likely. ARM 19 or lower, I find myself always taking the Combo Strike (unless they are in range for the P+S 9 swords to do some damage). ARM 20 is a bit trickier. Yeah, you'll likely get those two points of damage easily using Penetrating Strike, and Combo Strikes 'average roll' on the charge will net you a total damage of 22.5 (so 2.5 damage). The 'Expected Value' for damage is 2.8. You also only have like a 37% chance to NOT deal those two damage. So I'd recommend going for it- if you get a lucky roll, you could even make your opponent really nervous about the condition his poor jack is in. (Yes, I know I could have made that paragraph a lot smaller, but I had a person ask me, so there).

Regardless, with Penetrating and Combo Strike, Praetorian Swordsmen have a way to deal small amounts of damage to almost anything.

Attachments:
Currently, Swordsmen only have one attachment available, the Officer & Standard. Let's see what they do, and whether they are much worth it.

To start, the Standard Bearer has no attacks. Yes, really. Despite the fact that the Venator Reiver Standard Bearer can both hold a flag and swing a sword, this guy can't. I don't get it. Maybe the flag is just too big? Regardless, the Standard Bearer doesn't really give you anything other than the regular Standard Bearer rules, so it's still moderately handy.

The officer, however, brings a bunch to the table. First, he has an extra point of MAT and CMD. Both are nice, especially the extra CMD. He has all the regular Praetorian Swordsmen rules, so there's no need to cover them. He does give three extra abilities, however.

First, his 'mini-feat': Perfect Strike. Once per game, models in the unit can deal 1 point of damage instead of making a damage roll. Although it's not useful against warjacks/warbeasts (since you have Penetrating Strike), it's really awesome against ARM-buffed single wound infantry. For instance, against Kriel Warriors w/ a Krielstone Bearer + Stone Scribe Elder (using Protective Aura) backing them up, they're ARM 18- with Perfect Strike, Swordsmen will mow right through them.

The Officer has Tactics: Ranked Attack, meaning friendly faction models can ignore them for LOS. This is occasionally handy, as it allows you to attack through them using either Venators or models with Reach.

Finally, the Officer has Granted: Side Step. This is the main reason to take the attachment, in my opinion. After a model hits with an attack, the model can advance 2", ignoring free strikes. On the turn Perfect Strike is used, you could really easily mow through a full unit, and advance several inches in the process. It's helpful for getting the Officer to swing his swords while ending his activation far enough away that he won't get killed (since the unit loses Side Step if he dies). It's such a handy ability on this unit.

The unit attachment costs 2 points, which, compared to the 4/6 points you spend for the unit, is a little high proportionally. But honestly, if you're taking a full unit of Swordsmen, you'll probably want to take the attachment. 8 points for a 12-man unit (with 11 fighting bodies) that can reliably deal some damage to anything it faces, as well as doesn't block LOS from your own models is going to help you in many games.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: No real synergies.

Archdomina Makeda: Well, Makeda is really an 'infantry warlock' in a sense, so they go together with her really well. First, if the unit is within 9" of her, they'll never flee. Her Feat can keep them alive, especially if the unit is mostly full, since the enemy isn't going to have an easy time eating through 12 cheap bodies. If they have Defender's Ward on them, they become a great tarpit unit on her feat turn. 15 DEF/16 ARM aren't amazing for defensive stats, but they are both high enough to cause difficulties to various threats. Carnage is great for helping Swordsmen hit, since they'll be able to hit DEF 15 fairly reliably. Great for when they need to mow through high DEF infantry. Overall, it's a decent match, since Makeda can enhance the unit pretty well (of course, some of these spells are going to better used on other infantry ;)).

Titan Gladiator: No real synergies

Titan Cannoneer: Park the Cannoneer behind the Swordsmen, use Diminish, and you have a moderately effective wall to advance your army behind. Of course, there are going to be better choices for this role, but the Swordsmen will at least eat through a few models en route.

Cyclops Savage: No real synergies. Backing up the Swordsmen with the Cyclops might be nice though- my Cyclops always seem so fragile, having some warm bodies around it to keep him out of too much enemy contact would probably help. The Savage does have reach, so they won't hinder him from fighting either.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: No real synergies.

Agonizer: Putting the Agonizer near the Swordsmen actually gives them a really good chance against beasts or jacks, since the Agonizer can hinder the enemy model enough to buy the Swordsmen enough time to chip away at it.

Tier Thoughts:
Praetorian Swordsmen can be taken in both of Makeda's theme forces, and if you take two units in Epic Makeda's, you can get a unit attachment to one of them for free.

Lord Tyrant Hexeris also requires two units of them, and vies them Advance Deployment, which is really great.

Void Seer Mordikaar and Supreme Aptimus Zaal can take units of Swordsmen as well, but don't provide any benefits to them.

Thoughts:
Like I've said twice, I think you can always find a use for this unit in your army. They are fairly versatile, and cheap enough to fit into most lists.

Local Competition September Results

2010-10-05T16:45:00.001-04:00

Painting: If you look at Ben's blog, he definitely dominated here. His early time off really gave him the time to work on painting, and he got quite a bit done!

Construction: When you have the time to assemble 3 or so boxes of Island of Blood, you get the point easily. Frans wins here.

Blogging: I slacked off, and Ben took the point this month. His blog has come along quite well!

Gaming: Again, Frans gets it. Not much we can do about it.

So the totals!

Ben: 4 (3 Painting, 1 Blogging)
Frans: 4 (3 Playing, 1 Construction)
Steve (me): 2 (2 Blogging)
BK: 1 (1 Construction)
Rob: 1 (1 Construction)
Nathan: 0

Let's see if I can get back in it next month!

Accomplishments for September

2010-10-01T13:15:00.001-04:00

Well, the competition continues, but I'm really not in it much this month, sadly.

Painting: I put about half a layer of red onto a Titan Gladiator, but that's all.

Assembly: Assembled Hexeris, Xerxis, Molik Karn, the Cankerworm, an Agonizer, a unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + the Unit Attachment, and Bane Lord Tartarus.

Gaming: 2 Games of Blood Bowl, 2 games of Warmachine, one at 50 points, one at 35, a game of Arcane Legions, 2 25 point games of Hordes, and a 2500 point game of Warhammer Fantasy. Definitely got a lot of variety this month :).

Blogging: Well, you can just see from the blog what I did last month. I also started up a new side (blog) project: the Triple Skull Blood Bowl League. I love Blood Bowl, so I have a semi-solo league with one of every race in it, to get some experience and enjoyment out of it, as well as impetus to work on all my Blood Bowl miniatures. I also try to keep it all 'in character' of sorts. Check it out if you're at all interested in Blood Bowl, I could really use some feedback :).

Anyway, we'll get our local competition results up soon, I'm not sure I got any points this month, but one never knows.

Empire vs Skaven, 2500 pts, 9/4/10 (First game of 8th!)

2010-09-30T23:30:00.002-04:00

Wow, this post really is quite late. Better late than never though, right?

After getting the 8th edition rulebook, I was really excited about playing the game. The rules are significantly different, and really you can feel just from the reading that the game is going to be a very different experience than 7th. So, with the girlfriend out of town, I really wanted to get a game in. Frans volunteered, so I went over to his place for a fun, relaxed game.

Of course, I got home, and since we agreed on 2500 points (and since I randomly choose which army I'll play- choosing Empire) sat down to start working on the list, and realized, to my panic, that I really didn't have enough points of assembled Empire. Some digging through my pieces relaxed me some, and some extra upgrades on the characters made up the difference. Clearly, need to work on these Fantasy armies some!

Well, let's start with the list I ended up with. Not optimized, but since it was supposed to be a 'fun' game, I wasn't going to worry about it.

Wizard Lord (lvl 4) w/ Rod of Power, Holy Relic, Ring of Volans, Barded Warhorse, Lore of Fire
Captain (BSB) w/ Armour of Meteoric Iron, Wyrmslayer Sword
Wizard (lvl 2) w/ Dispel Scroll, Lore of Life
Engineer
34 Spearmen w/ shields, full command
28 Swordsmen w/ full command
20 Handgunners
11 Handgunners
12 Knights w/ Full Command, Banner of Valour
2 Cannon
2 Mortar
5 Pistoliers w/ Musician
Hellblaster
Steam Tank

6 war machines, although the Steam Tank really isn't that scary these days. Lots of stuff that really was just a waste, but sadly, no choice.

I don't have Frans' list- but some of it's basic components:
Grey Seer w/ Power Scroll
Warlord on Bonebreaker
2-3 Warlock Engineers
3 min. size units of Stormvermin, one with the Storm Banner
1 large (50?) unit of Clanrats
2 20 or so man units of Slaves
About 3 Poison Wind Mortars as weapon teams
unit of 5-6 Rat Ogres
Doomwheel
2 Hellpit Abominations

Frans may end up commenting to correct it. I wasn't pleased about the addition of the Power Scroll, but whatever.

We rolled up some terrain, then realized we really didn't have much available, so kind of fudged things a bit. By a bit, I mean a lot. We also rolled the Watchtower scenario, so that was the main piece in the middle.

Quick summary for those that are without rulebook:
Sorcerous Portal casts a random spell a turn. During our game, all it did was cast Wyssan's Wildform and Soulblight on the nearest unit of Slaves... in the exact opposite order for it to be useful.
Sigmarite Shrine would force Skaven within 6" to reroll successful ward saves.
The Charnel pit causes all units within 6" to have -1 leadership.
The Wyrding Well had a chance to recover models in a unit, as well as a change to force the unit to be completely inactive for a turn.
Our three pillars represented a Nehekharan Sphynx, which could add cool special rules randomly to a character who goes near it... or damage it. I don't think we ended up using it during the game.

I rolled to be in the watchtower, and sadly only had a choice between a 20 man unit of Handgunners, and an 11 man unit of Handgunners. I chose the former (perhaps not a good idea). We deployed our armies, and the game started.

Deployment:

Full picture of the deployment

Better picture of the Skaven side.

With that done, we got stared.

Turn 1:
The Doomwheel starts off by going 14" straight towards the Steam Tank. The Hellpits move 7 and 17" (ugh). The Rat Ogres started the game by charging the Watchtower, and get shot at by the defenders, losing a taskmaster and I believe a Rat Ogre.

The Skaven successfully get off Bless with Filth and a Howling Warpgale, protecting the army from shooting.

The Doomwheel generates electricity and sends it at the Steam Tank, rolling a 6 or so. He does get one wound by, however, and deals 3- a very frustrating blow to start the game. Other Skaven shooting is just as effective... 2 direct hits by Plague Wind Mortars on the Spearmen result in 24 dead, but it's not all good as one of the Plague Wind Mortars misfires and dies.

In Close Combat, 11 of the Hangunners die, and they do 4 wounds in return to the Rat Ogres, and continue holding the building.

The Watchtower, surrounded, but still held.

I generate 4 Steam Points with the Steam Tank, and the Spearmen recover 3 models from the Wyrding Well. I move a few things forward, mainly the Pistoliers to a side of a clanrat unit, and the Steam Tank into his Doomwheel. The rest of my army stays put, hoping to do some damage with shooting (of course, Frans had popped the Storm Banner at the beginning of the turn).

I don't really accomplish much with magic, but do succeed in getting a Fireball off onto one of the Hellpit Abominations, dealing maybe 1-2 wounds. The shooting doesn't help much either. I do another wound to the Hellpit with a Cannonball, the rest of my shooting deals a single wound to a Rat Ogre. Not the decisive firepower I need.

In combat, I roll up my 5d3 for the Steam Tank's impact hits, hoping this will help turn the tide a little... and roll a 6. *sigh. It does total to 4 wounds on the Doomwheel, however, but that's not enough to kill it.

Nope, really didn't move a whole lot that turn.

Turn 2:
The Rat Ogres launch themselves at the building again, the nearest Abomination charges into my unit of Knights, and the other one rolls a triple 2, moving itself 6" backwards. Everything else moves up a little.

The only accomplishment from shooting or magic is the Doomwheel, who rolls a 10 for his strength that turn... destroying the Steam Tank. This causes Frans to scream and dance around in joy.

His joy continues as his Rat Ogres destroy the remaining Handgunners and enter the building, and the Abomination destroys the unit of knights, takes no wounds in return, and runs them off the board, Wizard Lord in tow.

I believe everything I have left is in this picture. Frans also has a Doomwheel and 2 Abominations off to the left. Ugh.

The Storm Banner had worn off on his turn, so I had high hopes that a good round of shooting would help even the gap some. Maybe I could salvage this. I didn't really move a whole lot, although my infantry units started to move up a little to start getting ready to assault the building.

My shooting phase starts off promising- the Pistoliers drop the Doomwheel. The Helblaster then kills 4 slaves (a cannon kills another 2), and my handgunners kill 4 Stormvermin. The other cannon, however, explodes. My mortars kill 11 slaves and 7 clanrats total. This all causes a unit of slaves and a unit of Stormvermin to panic and run. Not dominate, but it's certainly a start.

Turn 3:
Frans doesn't really move much, just enough to get things around the watchtower.

He Power Scrolls the 13th spell into the only decent sized unit I have, killing 17 of my Swordsmen (and killing 17 of his Clanrats who were by the Grey Seer!). The Swordsmen then panic off the board.

His shooting also takes a toll again, killing 3 Handgunners, and 4 Spearmen. The Spearmen then panic off the board.

At this point, I had no combat unit capable of assaulting the building, so I concede.

There were a few things I did wrong this game, but there really wasn't a lot I could do. My army, for now, is really only designed to work in one phase in the game, and Frans was able to stop me playing. I really ended up spending the entire game watching him.

Obviously, this soured my opinion of fantasy some, but I'm willing to play a few more games before I really start hating on it. There's a lot of reasons this game wasn't that enjoyable. As Rob, our spectator, pointed out- my luck sucked BAD, for instance. Also, I really need to run an army that can compete in the close combat phase. There's so many new changes, and there's a lot of maneuvering to do. I can't judge a game unfairly when I don't even try to take advantage of it, right?

Following this game, I showed Frans how to play Warmachine, and he played against Rob. Frans took a modified version of the Khador starter set, taking Vlad instead. Rob took Mercs. I won't bother with a report, suffice to say that Frans won, and ended up thoroughly enjoyed the game, and the faction.

Agonizer: Thoughts/Tips

2010-09-30T12:00:00.006-04:00

"Its agony leaves our enemies vulnerable. They hear its piteous cries and tremble to think what suffering we have in store for those who stand against us." Man, that just about sums up the theme behind this model. The concept is actually sick enough that one of my most common opponents described the Agonizer as 'horrifying'. When you see the art in the book, it's hard to disagree...

Stats:
Slow, but decent DEF and ARM for a solo. It also has 8 Damage Boxes, which is great for a solo. His combat stats don't matter, as we'll see. For only 2 points, it's not difficult to fit him into lists, as well.

Attacks:
No attacks. That's not what he's here for.

Special Rules:
Fearless: The thing has been through horrors you can't imagine... what's scarier to an Agonizer than potentially staying alive through a fight? Pretty good too, since its CMD is only 6! You wouldn't want it running, after all.

Agonies: First off, they aren't an action. You can run and use them! There are three different ones you can use, and each costs a fury point, and effects enemies within a 4-8 inch range.

- Gnawing Pain: Enemy warbeasts get -2 to damage rolls. I find this the most commonly helpful, since it can really help keep your tough Skorne beasts and your warlock alive. 10" run + 8" agony means that you could also use this to go stop a ranged warbeast somewhat too. Of course, they could just go after the Agonizer, but that does help preserve the rest of your army.

- Maddening: Enemy warbeasts are -2 THR. It's good, but it's not as common to find uses, although late game it would probably come in handy. Dropping someone's THR from 8 to 6 is a MAJOR threat if the beast has 1 fury left on it, 9 to 7 is nice, and 10 to 8 still increases the chances of failing. There's potential for some serious game-shifting potential here, just not always applicable.

- Spiritual Affliction: Enemy warbeasts can't use their animi; warjacks lose the use of their arc node, nor can be allocated focus for a round. This is the only Agony that works against Warmachine. Against Hordes, this could be awesome. There are some great Animi that warlocks depend on- stopping their use for a turn, or forcing a beast to get away just to allow the use of it, could really screw with your opponent's plans. Against Warmachine, as Ian points out in the comments, this can be quite devastating. Some jacks absolutely need focus to be effective. Not getting it can really hamper the effectiveness of the army. This is a great denial ability, and against some opponents will probably cause the Agonizer to draw a lot of fire.

Fury Bank: This is how the Agonizer gets the fury he needs to use his Agonies. Early on, you'll have some spare fury, so it's not hard to fill him up with the 5 max he can have. Later on, if he's still alive, he can fill in for potentially dead beasts to give you that fury back. In some ways, he may be worth taking just for this, but if you're depending on him to get your fury, you're probably pretty screwed anyway. Like I said, it shouldn't be a problem to fill him up by turn 2.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: Inflict Pain + Maddening could be incredibly effective mid/late game to get a warbeast to frenzy at a useful time.

Archdomina Makeda: Not really much... but she becomes even harder to kill in combat when backed up by an Agonizer.

Titan Gladiator: Not much, although Gnawing Pain helps keep it alive once it's in combat.

Cyclops Savage: Not much, although Gnawing Pain helps keep it alive as well.

Titan Cannoneer: Same as the other beasts. Not really much synergy, just an ability to keep the beasts alive once they are engaged.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Inflict Pain + Maddening is still great here- a full unit can add another 6 fury total to opponent's beasts, and the decreased THR can really screw with the opponent's plans.

Tier Thoughts:
He can be taken in Hexeris' theme force, which will virtually ensure he can be stocked up on focus turn one, since the upkeep spells are free.

Void Seer Mordikaar can take an Agonizer in his theme force as well.

Dominar Rasheth, however, actually requires Agonizers. First, for every Titan you take, you can take an extra Agonizer. For tier 3, you're required to take 2 Agonizers (starting them each with 3 fury points). I'll have to actually play with Dominar Rasheth to get a feel for the synergies for them, but they do seem to be great targets for Dark Rituals.

Thoughts:
It's only two points- and there's always something it can do for you. Against Hordes, it's more versatile, but it certainly has some pretty effective ways to screw over warjacks as well.

It's a quite disruptive piece that's versatile in its role, and should definitely get under your opponent's skin, especially on crucial turns. Definitely consider taking one.

Archdomina Makeda: Thoughts/Tips

2010-09-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

Makeda is the overall leader of the Skorne forces, both of the Army of the Western Reaches, as well as back in their own lands. Although this doesn't represent the 'overall ruler' incarnation of her, she's still a powerful leader with great fighting discipline.

Stats:
Honestly, her stats are about as average as you can get. MAT 7 is nice, and her DEF/ARM of 15/16 is good, but not outstanding. Other than that, very average stats for a melee caster.

Attacks:
Two weaker attacks with the ability to Combo Strike for P+S 17. Having two melee attacks is always nice, and the flexibility of having a stronger attack really adds to the utility of the weapons. Again, it's not amazing, but it's certainly helpful.

Feat:
Her feat is Walking Death, which saves all trooper models who are in her control area for one round, returning them to play at the start of her next turn if they were destroyed. These models can't move, but can certainly attack. Also, she can't save the trooper if the whole unit is destroyed.

This is a great feat... if you're running infantry, so it's not really geared for the really small games. At about 25 points, however, you should be running at least a unit, and sometimes two, so it's awesome. The feat specifically says Trooper models, which I believe means that you'll be returning just about everything that was in the unit, including all the attachments (like the officer) and even character attachments, for the one unit we currently have with one.

Also take note: it only works with living troopers, so Immortals and Hollow models (in a two warlock game) are unaffected by this (unless after dying, Hollow models are no longer considered Undead? Hmm...).

One final thing that a lot of people miss, and may actually be wrong despite my inability to find a ruling against it: the models don't have to be returned within 3" of the remaining member(s) of the unit. They just have to be placed so that when you're done, all the returned models are within 3" of a member of the unit, and in formation. This is an interesting difference- take for example, a unit of 10 Praetorian Swordsmen. If 9 of them died, I have seen a few (okay, maybe just once) people drop the 9 in a tight circle around the last guy. You can actually set them up quite spread out, so long as the conditions are met when you're done- all the models within 3" of another model in the unit, and all in formation. Pretty slick.

The feat is great, obviously, and you're going to get a lot of mileage out of it. The timing can be a bit rough, since your opponent could just ignore your troops for that round. If he does, I'm sure you'll make him pay. Also, if your feat is about to be used, try to keep in mind that you'll want to protect at least one member of each squad. Don't bunch them all up too much, which could just lead to them dying to a man.

Spells:
Carnage: Friendly models targeting enemy models in her control area get a +2 on their attack rolls. This is really useful, as Skorne seem to have a lot of lower MAT models. Praetorian Swordsmen, Ferox, and Immortals all have MAT 6 (Karax are 5!), as do several of our beasts. Why not give them effectively MAT 8, which really helps their chances to hit those pesky enemies? I find this spell being cast from turn to turn, as it's so helpful for getting your close combat attacks to be effective and helps save fury on your beasts.

Defender's Ward: Great spell. Extra 2 defense and armor, and it's an upkeep spell. There are not many places this doesn't come in handy. On herself, it makes her 17/18 which is incredible. It can make beasts tougher to kill, and even your basic infantry get a huge boost from it (and obviously your elite infantry get a better boost). You should have this cast on someone first turn and upkeep it, or recast it on a new target every turn of the game.

Muzzle: A low powered offensive spell that stops a beast damaged by it from advancing towards her. Its range is 10, which is long enough to be useful, and it has a decent shot of putting a hurting on light beasts (and heavies if boosted). I rarely find a good use for this spell, however. I imagine if you find an opposing beast that really is that terrifying, however (maybe Mulg or an opposing Molik Karn or something), it will have its uses. Certainly not useless, but probably not getting used every turn.

Savagery: I believe Makeda is the only model with this spell. Great SPD increase when advancing, but can't make ranged attacks. This obviously works well with her special warbeast (which I'll mention when I cover him), but the uses of this spell are incredible. First, it makes your beasts move a lot faster, especially those heavies. Obviously, you have other means to enhance their speed, but this is still very handy. It can increase the speed of your infantry, while still giving them options afterwards. One trick, mentioned by loftybloke (check out his blog for more Skorne stuff!) was to have this upkept on a unit of Cataphract Cetrati, who could move up 9" a turn and end in Shield Wall (then using Defender's Ward once they are in combat). That's just such a cool use. You are going to find a lot of utility in this spell, so it will probably be upkept most of the battle, or recast when the need arises.

Special Rules:
Blood-Quenched: Pretty nice ability that gives her an extra point of STR and ARM for a round after she kills a living enemy model. It is cumulative as well, so if she somehow kills 3 such models, that's an extra 3 STR and ARM. It's great for keeping her alive, although it's not easy or common to be grabbing more than one or two of these bonuses. Still, one or two certainly can make a huge difference, especially if she's in the thick of the fighting.

Inspiration [Skorne models]: She is the leader of all Skorne forces, after all. They won't run if they are within her CMD range (of 9), and if they enter it, they'll automatically rally. Most Skorne units are CMD 9, so they aren't too likely to run anyway, but with her, they don't have to worry about it at all.

Side Step: After she hits with an initial or special attack, she can move 2", ignoring free strikes.

This has a few uses. First, she can use it to get out of combat. With a .5" melee range, she can get to the edge of her melee range, hit, and then get 2" away, out of my opponent's melee range. Of course, that's really helpful if she's already hurt and in a bad spot.

Another, and probably more useful use is to side step into another opponent. With two initial attack, she'll be able to side step twice (or once if she combo strikes), as mentioned ignoring free strikes. If she's going against low ARM models, this could put her into position to kill quite a few models, enhancing the rewards from Blood Quenched. Defender's Ward provides some additional protection for her as she does this, and of course the B-Q ARM bonus will just make you tougher and tougher to kill.

Certainly, it's another useful skill that just gives her more options.

Synergies:
Titan Gladiator: Nothing that isn't already obvious. Carnage helps save a lot of fury, bringing the Gladiator effectively to MAT 8. Defender's Ward doesn't have much use on him either. Savagery is wasted, since Rush is available, and he'll want to charge/slam if that's an option. The Gladiator is such a useful beast (because of granting Pathfinder) that it may be worth taking anyway.

Cyclops Savage: Prescience + Carnage will make your beasts incredibly likely to hit for minimal fury costs. Other than that, not much to speak of.

Titan Cannoneer: No real synergies. Diminish + Defender's Ward + Blood-Quenched all on Makeda can make Makeda very resilient against close combat death, however.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Makeda helps out infantry, these guys make beasts better. Great for enhancing your entire army, but don't really have much interaction with one another. Makeda can help keep them alive longer, if you really have no other targets or desperately need these guys alive. Enrage + Carnage will make your beasts more reliable, obviously.

Obviously, she'll have better synergy with infantry, but I haven't covered other infantry yet... I promise it's coming!

Tier Thoughts:
Her Theme Force is called 'Army of the Western Reaches', and as you can imagine, is about infantry and combined arms. It's also very inclusive, including most of the living close combat units, every warbeast, and several solos (Praetorian and Cataphract). It also includes Saxon Orrik. It's fairly generic, and gives you a slightly increased deployment zone, as well as Advance Move on some units. More on this when I have a chance to put it into action.

Thoughts:
She's a good warlock with a lot of tools to make her infantry better. Obviously, she's more geared towards close combat, with Carnage and her own special rules (and short range on her enhancement spells), but really any infantry you take with her will find her useful because she does offer some protection. Your ranged elements will love being brought back after death, and will love to see a warbeast get Muzzled instead of crashing into them. If you love Skorne infantry, and want to run a variety of different types, she's absolutely worth considering as your warlock.

Arcane Legions game, 9/3/10

2010-09-10T22:21:00.000-04:00

I haven't played Arcane Legions since PrezCon (in February), but now that Rob had some stuff, and I had a free Friday, I figured it was as good a time as any to break it out again.

Rob has pictures of the game, so whenever he decides to post them, I'll make sure to link to them.

The original goal of this post was to give you a battle report of the game, but alas, Rob and I were drinking, and we'll only have pictures to show the game happening.

I will say a few things about the game, however.

First, the distribution system is kind of nice. I find collectible games to suck- they are annoying to get into, and really annoying to stay 'up-to-date' on. However, Arcane Legions makes it a little easier in two ways. First, the starter box comes with a decent sized army for all three of the different armies (Romans, Hans, Egyptians). Second, the booster packs are split up by faction. There's a Roman booster box, an Egyptian one, etc. That really helps keep the overall cost of playing down, since you'll likely choose an army and only purchase things you need.

Second, although I like the overall simplicity of the rules, I have to wonder if they've made a balanced game. In the game we played, I destroyed my opponent by shooting. And shooting and shooting. Really, I didn't spend THAT many points on shooting, but even two units right down the middle were capable of killing anything that approached them. And you can sacrifice a model in the unit to shoot again, once per turn. Sure, that means I lose guys- but overall it's too effective not to do from time to time. I don't like that.

Third, the games we've played are very simple. Two control points in the middle of the table, the objective being to control them and score points (3/turn, first to 21 wins). You also gain a few points for killing the opposing units. I wonder if there's more options for playing the game I don't know about?

Finally- the way orders are given out, only a small portion of your army does anything on a given turn. We each had about 7 or so units, and with only 8 orders per turn (and each of our units requiring two orders to do anything, so basically 4 a turn!), a few of our units spent the entire game as spectators. It's kind of weird.

I like the game, but it's going to take a few games to get my head around some of these issues. It really may be just lack of experience.

Also, the minis have some pretty mediocre quality... that's never a good thing in a miniature game. I wonder if some good paint jobs would enhance their look. Rob needs to get on that! ;)

Happened again...

2010-09-10T21:32:00.002-04:00

Yeah, another half finished post went up. I'm not really sure why I keep doing that lately, but I promise to be more careful.

If you don't follow this blog by as rss aggregator or something, you won't see these things happen, so this is really only an apology to people who do use them.

It won't happen again!

New Skorne additions!

2010-09-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a very long time since I've bought any new miniatures, but I finally have!

Molik Karn, as is often noted, is probably among the best warbeasts in the book, if not the game (I've even heard of him described as the 'best Skorne warlock'). He'll definitely come in handy to bolster my offensive punch.

The Agonizer will be nice as a support piece, plus I know Ben hates them, so hopefully they'll draw some fire as well (put the poor guy out of his misery!).

Will hopefully have them assembled by next week to get into some games!

Pete W's first sculpt!

2010-09-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

Pete W over at Ghost Nebula had his first sculpted models cast, and sent me a set!

To start, here's a picture of the models in my hand:

These guys are going to be perfect for corpse markers, which various games have use for.

This guy will make a pretty good object marker, as well.

Of course, my photography sucks, but if you want to see these guys a little better, as well as see them painted (or if you want to buy them, since they are very affordable!) you can check out Ramshackle Games' page for them.

While you are there, you may want to look into their post-apocalyptic game, Nuclear Renaissance, which you can find plenty of information for on their web page. Heck, you can even download the rules for free, to see if you're interested. One of these days, when I have money, I'll end up picking up the starter, since I'm always down to try a new game :).

Titan Cannoneer: Thoughts/Tips

2010-09-03T14:00:00.000-04:00

The Titan Cannoneer is based off a simple concept- it's a big titan holding a cannon! It's also such a pain to put together, it had better be worth taking, right?

Stats:
Slow speed, which isn't a huge issue given his role. Low MAT and RAT, good DEF and ARM, average FURY/THR. A bit more expensive than his Gladiator brother, at 9, he also has few health boxes, especially for a heavy.

Attacks:
His first and most distinctive weapon is the Siege Gun, a mid-range, decent POW weapon with AOE 3. With his low RAT, you're not going to be hitting much, even with aiming. With boosting, you'll hit most things, but regardless the AOE is nice. He also has Tusks, which increase the strength of his head-butt and slam power attack damage rolls, as well as a War Mace which hits pretty hard.

Obviously, the focus of this beast is the siege gun, which is strong but not likely to hit without fury spending (which you probably will, so not a big problem). I wonder at whether or not the Titan is really going to be more useful overall than the Venator Catapult Crew, who has another half a foot on their range. I suppose I'll find out with more plays, and actually trying the other unit.

Animus:
His Animus is Diminish, which lowers the strength of enemy models within two inches of the user. It's an interesting tool, even though it can only be used on the Cannoneer or the warlock. In melee, in turns the Cannoneer into a more survivable beast than the other heavies Skorne have available (aside from the Sentry), and it can help keep the warlock alive when the opponent gets up close. It also can make it easier to throw targets, especially if combined with another STR enhancement on another beast. Overall, it's a very handy animus which should give the Cannoneer a place in lists.

Special Rules:
Bullheaded: Same as with the Gladiator, this changes the way the Cannoneer frenzies. He'll slam instead of charging. Overall, this can be very useful at the right times. Once your opponent has moved his army up into your army's face, leaving fury on the Cannoneer isn't nearly such a big deal- if he frenzies, he could make the battle a lot easier for the melee elements of your army.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: Not too much, here. Diminish helps Morghoul's survivability, but not enough to save him if he gets seriously threatened. Admonition can help keep the Cannoneer out of combat.

Titan Gladiator: Not really anything exciting here- Diminish helps the Gladiator throw things more easily. They are designed for very different roles, so not much synergistic overlap.

Cyclops Savage: If you're running enough beasts, the Savage is very handy- Prescience on the Cannoneer can really keep your Gladiator's fury usage to a minimum. If you're aiming at that DEF 15 warlock (needing a 9), you can roll and see if you're close before spending the fury to boost the hit, saving the fury for the damage rolls. These two go very well together. Also, if they are close, Diminish can be awesome for keeping the Savage alive, since he's quite fragile otherwise.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Medicate is the most useful ability here, since the Cannoneer doesn't have that much health. Enrage may be nice to make the Cannoneer useful on a critical turn as well.

Tier Thoughts:
Usable in all the same theme lists that the Gladiator was. I could see him having a place in Dominar Rasheth's list, just at a guess, but since I've not used the warlock, I can't tell quite yet (since the Sentry may be a better choice).

Thoughts:
Overall, the Cannoneer is a fairly well-rounded beast, with both ranged, melee, and support elements. He's capable of providing some use the entire game, unlike some of the other Skorne options who are melee geared. I think he's a little overcosted myself, since I don't find him any more useful than the Gladiator (who's a point cheaper), but I imagine that opinion will change upon facing more infantry-centric armies. Regardless, you can't go too wrong by taken this guy.

Skorne vs Trollbloods, 15pts, 8/31/10

2010-09-02T14:30:00.000-04:00

Another battle vs. Ben during our lunch break.

My list:
Archdomina Makeda
- Cyclops Savage
- Titan Cannoneer
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Ben's List:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
-Troll Impaler
-Dire Troll Bomber
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 2 Grunts)

With the Cannoneer, I actually have decent shooting, and with the Cyclops' animus I can be very efficient about hitting.

Normal terrain- rough patch in the middle, various obstructions scattered around.

Ben began the game advancing his warlock and beasts up towards my right side, and sent his Champions off towards my left.

I moved my Cyclops over towards the Champions, but still a distance away, and sent the Swordsmen behind an obstacle so they wouldn't get shot at. The Cannoneer moved forward and took a long range shot at Madrak, knowing I was out of range and hoping for a lucky deviation, which I didn't get. Makeda moved up a little and Defender's Warded herself.

Ben advanced again and took some shots with his shooting elements, to no effect.

I started my turn by charging the Cyclops into his Champions, expecting to do some decent damage. On my charge attacks, I needed a 6, and I could boost after seeing the result. I of course rolled snake-eyes. *Sigh. I did manage to kill two out of the unit, but that was definitely worse than expected. The Titan took a shot at Madrak, missing, and scattering off of anything. I moved my Swordsmen into a blocking position, in front of Ben's beasts, to try to hold them up. I used Makeda to cast Defender's Ward on them, as well as popped her feat.

Ben thought for a second, then popped his feat and moved Madrak forward. The Bomber took off, rushing into the swordsmen, killing 4, I believe, after the feat. Pretty scary. The Impaler moved forward and dropped one. They failed to kill the last one in the unit, however, meaning my guys were coming back! The Champion took a huge chunk out of the Cyclops.

Sadly, the Cyclops was out of range- so he frenzied, not really accomplishing much. The Titan hit Madrak square on with a shot, but he used his scroll to ignore it. All of my swordsmen had come back, and they surrounded his beasts, taking chunks out of the Impaler, but failing to kill him.

Ben Trampled the Bomber through my Swordsmen, past Makeda. Madrak moved into the swordsmen to kill a few as well. The Champion finished off the Cyclops, and the Impaler I think accomplished nothing. Not so exciting.

Things weren't looking too bad- Madrak was close by, and I was hoping to kill his beasts to force a concession. Makeda charged into the back of his Bomber, doing a lot of damage, but failing to kill it. The swordsmen succeeded in killing the Impaler however.

Ben stared the last turn by moving Madrak around, and attacking Makeda from behind. That was not a good thing- after a few swings, he had killed her, and was once again victorious.

Honestly, there were a lot of things that hurt me thins game. My poor rolling with the Cyclops was a start, but wasn't a major reason for the loss. I just made too many mistakes, both with positioning, and in moving to protect my warlock. I did finally get a good use out of Makeda, but I really need to run a bigger unit just to ensure they stick around. Madrak's feat finally did something, and after seeing it in action, I'll need to be conscious of it. I think I have a better hang of all the models in the army as well- my next addition will be the unit attachment for the Swordsmen, which should certainly help their capabilities.

Local Competition August results!

2010-09-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

Well, we came to a some-what majority, so let's update the scores.

Again, rules are here.

Painting: Ben narrowly wins this, making great progress on his Slann and Stegadon. Rob was close as well, finally making some painting progress. I finally started painting, but really wasn't in the running.

Playing Games: Frans again takes this, playing 10 games of Warhammer Fantasy, at various point sizes. Ben comes in second.

Blogging: I take first in a very close competition, which definitely had some disagreement. Ben came in second.

Construction: Rob gets his first point of the competition! Nathan was second, but Rob completed a LOT of models this month! Go Rob!

Next month should be interesting, since I will be playing more games, starting to get my Malifaux minis worked on, and painting more (I forgot how enjoyable it is).

Scores so far:
Ben: 2 (2 Painting)
Frans: 2 (2 Playing)
Steve (me): 2 (2 Blogging)
BK: 1 (1 Construction)
Rob: 1 (1 Construction)
Nathan: 0

Accomplishments for last month

2010-09-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

Well, a brief walkthrough of what I did in August for our friendly competition.

Painting:
Just a little

Assembly:
4 Paingivers and the Totem Hunter

Gaming:
I played 4 15 point games of Hordes.

Blogging:
Finished up my Dark Elves in 8th articles, started working on some Skorne strategy articles, and also started fleshing out some Cryx articles. Obviously, I'm on a big Warmahordes kick right now, but I have some GW games coming up, so that'll help balance me out some :).

We'll put our results up by the end of the day, once I hear what some people have done.

Painting Progress for the month!

2010-08-31T22:15:00.000-04:00

I actually did some painting, which is in itself a bit of a surprise.

Now, due to free time, I didn't paint a whole lot, but I found that now that I've decided to paint stuff up, even the 15-20 minutes I paint 2-3 times a week definitely gives me some progress!

Here are some pictures of my (small) progress:

Cyclops Savage:

They basically received two layers of GW Mechrite Red.

Titan Gladiator:

I started with two thin layers of Vallejo Bluegrey Pale (VMC 905). It dried a lot bluer than I thought it would, however.

I followed it up with a very light layer of GW Codex Grey, which seems to have done the trick. I've started painting the red on the Titan as well, but that will be finished by the end of the week (therefore next month).

Next step will be to get the rest of the basic colors in place on the models, then highlight up to Skorne Red as well as the various gold shades I need. The flags are going to take some work as well- I plan to try some blending on the Titan flag (mainly because I need the practice).

Also, I need to work on taking pictures. I know.

So, not amazing progress, but definitely a start!

Skorne vs Trollbloods, 15pts, 8/26/10

2010-08-31T09:00:00.005-04:00

Well, another game vs. Ben, again at 15 points. Feeling confident, I wanted to try another warlock, Archdomina Makeda.

My list:
Archdomina Makeda
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Savage
- Titan Gladiator
- Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

Just about the same as my last list, just a different warlock

Ben's list:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
-Troll Axer
-Troll Impaler
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts)

VERY beast light, but those champions are hard to take down.

You can read a fairly similar account of the battle here as well, on Ben's blog.

Basically, terrain was our normal- carrot forest in the middle, impassable walls scattered around it. I sent my Cyclops around it, my Paingivers providing support, and my Gladiator and Morghoul pretty much right up the middle.

He took a shot at my Cyclops, and I stalled for a turn to try to get everything in position, but I impatiently charged on my second turn. A Cyclops into his Impaler, and the Titan into his Champions. I managed to deal almost no damage to either, although I did push a champion out of the way. In return, Madrak and the Impaler ganged up on the Cyclops, and the Champions pounded on the Titan.

My other Cyclops charged into combat as well, but I learned that rolling a 6 on two die just wasn't going to happen this game- I couldn't kill anything with my attacks for nearly an entire turn, and in the next turn, the Trolls finished off a Cyclops and a Titan.

I tried to buy some time by charging Makeda into the Champions, hoping to roll through them a little with some effective attacks, but again, I just didn't roll well enough to get the job done. Makeda was cut down, and the game ended with my first Hordes loss :(.

I did learn a few things, which is good. You always learn more after a loss than a win. I need 'real' infantry to make Makeda effective. I'm almost finished assembling my Praetorian Swordsmen, who will happily fill that role. I suspect I need other infantry as well. I don't need a second Savage. I either need a different beast, or something totally different. I'm not sure.

I also need to throw something extra at those Champions. I shouldn't be throwing models at them one at a time. A combined charge with the Gladiator and the Cyclops might have helped a lot. Need to be smarter about it.

Still, next week I'll have some new toys, hopefully they can help me out some.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Thoughts/Tips

2010-08-30T13:00:00.006-04:00

Beast Handlers are a vital component of the Skorne war machine. They are used to train and condition the beasts Skorne use in battle. On the tabletop, they are a necessary part of your army- healing, enhancing, and just making those warbeasts easier to handle for your warlocks.

Stats:
For the most part, their stats aren't the reason you take these guys. They have SPD 6, which is perfect for keeping up with the Skorne beasts. Their DEF and ARM are very low, which means the unit has almost no survivability, but since you'll be tagging along with your beasts you can use them to provide screening for these guys. CMD 8 is a little concerning as well, since they are very fragile. It's not low enough to be in danger of constantly failing, but low enough to be worth noting. Finally, these guys are cheap. 3 points for a full unit (of 6!). That's a tremendous value!

Attacks:
Very low P+S, but it does have reach, and with Anatomical Precision it can still kill single-wound infantry. The Barbed Whip also has the Inflict Pain rule, allowing the handlers to place or remove a fury point on the target warbeast. That can be very handy for either starving your opponent of fury... or overloading his beasts with it.

Of course, if your beast handlers are in combat, you're probably doing something wrong. Their attacks are really a last resort.

Special Rules:
Anatomical Precision: Great for killing single-wound infantry, assuming you hit. Since these guys aren't likely to break ARM on their targets, this gives them the potential to chip away a point of damage apiece. Of course... they still shouldn't be in combat.

Beast Manipulation: The entire reason to take this unit. Each member of the unit can perform one of these, and each beast can be effected by one each turn.

- Condition: A friendly beast can have any number of fury put on it, or taken off it. This ability is key to keeping your beasts running efficiently. You can easily drop fury off of beasts to make it easier for your warlock to stop Frenzy, or even to give the beast some room to use Fury for its abilities on the opponent's turn (useful for the Cyclops Brute, for instance). I can't see much use for putting fury ON a friendly beast, but I've had to do it because I'm careless, so it's not wholly useless.

- Enrage: Another help on beast efficiency, it gives a bonus to STR as well as forces the beast to charge, slam, or trample on their next activation for free (which basically saves the beast another Fury). Pretty fantastic on some beasts once they get up close the opponent.

- Medicate: Heals a beast. Fairly useful throughout the game, both to keep your beasts alive after rounds of shooting, or to fix a critical aspect before charging in to unleash a beating.

Obviously, which of these is used depends wholly on circumstances. All are useful though, and will get plenty of use during the game.

Synergies:
Kind of a strange thing here, since the Beast Handlers are there solely to make your beasts better. That means they have very simple rules for synergies with beasts: They make them better!

Master Tormentor Morghoul: No real synergies. They do make Abuse better though- +4 STR is downright nasty. They can also heal the damage Morghoul's abilities cause.

Titan Gladiator: Enrage makes this thing scary. Add on another one of the STR boosts, and the Gladiator can wreck Khador heavies. Spirit and Mind are the most likely to be destroyed aspects, and the Handlers can keep them healthy.

Cyclops Savage: I find the most useful beast manipulation for the Cyclops is Medicate. Extra strength is nice, but P+S 15 isn't terribly scary. Healing these guys is always nice though, since they are handy to keep around.

Tier Thoughts:
They can be taken in all theme forces aside from Void Seer Mordikaar's and Supreme Aptimus Zaal's.

Master Tormentor Morghoul's theme list requires two units of them for one of the tiers, which causes heavy warbeasts to be cheaper.

Thoughts:
These guys are absolutely worth taking in nearly every Skorne army. They make your beasts easier to run, and that makes the beasts better overall. They are also so inexpensive that it isn't a point sink to include them. They are extremely fragile, and will certainly draw the attention of your opponent, but that's just another way to help the beasts out, I would think. 100% take them in every army.

100th post!

2010-08-30T12:00:00.001-04:00

Last post was my 100th post on this blog!

Blogs are kind of strange things, since so much of what is posted can be utterly worthless to so many of it's readers, but I appreciate everyone that comes by and takes a look at this page. I also appreciate the people who leave comments, either for me being right or wrong, because it's a reminder that someone is actually reading :).

Thanks guys!

Finally been working on miniatures!

2010-08-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

For the first time in some time, I've finally been working on assembling some miniatures!

Here's the proof!

Not much, but it's certainly a start. The Paingivers are going to be really nice, to give me a way to manage the fury on my warbeasts. I'm not really sure how the Totem Hunter is going to fit into my army, or if there's a role I really need him for, but I have him, so may as well use him!

Cyclops Savage: Thoughts/Tips

2010-08-29T13:00:00.015-04:00

The Cyclops Savage is the light beast given in the Skorne battle box. He is fairly average in almost all respects, but with an animus that alone makes him a valuable support piece that can fit into any army.

Stats:
The stats, overall, are fairly unremarkable. Decent MAT and SPD, DEF and ARM seem pretty good for a light, but overall nothing all that really stands out as exceptional. 3/8 Fury/Threshold is pretty normal, from what I see out of light warbeasts.

Attacks:
Only one attack, with a P+S 13 Falchion. It does have reach, and it's strong enough to do damage to almost anything out there, but not much. Handy against infantry and lights though.

Animus:
The key strength of the Cyclops Savage is his Animus, Prescience. It grants Future Sight, which lets the model choose to boost attack and damage rolls AFTER rolling. That's a very useful ability to keep your fury usage efficient. This is especially useful for beasts with shooting attacks, who may need a 7-8 to hit, and you want to use as little fury as possible. Roll, and if you miss by a little, boost after the roll. It can also be handy with damage- if you roll a 1 and a 2 with your initial damage roll, you're not likely to waste a fury point for a damage boost, especially if you're looking at high ARM targets. I find it less useful on close combat oriented beasts (if they haven't charged) because oftentimes you'll just prefer to spend the fury on another attack.

Overall, it's just such a handy tool that you will find plenty of times for it to come in handy. Also, it only costs a single fury to use, making it extremely easy to throw around.

Special Rules:
Future Sight: He has the same rules that his animus grants, and it's the same level of useful with him as it is on someone else.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: Abuse is alright for giving the Savage a good 13" threat range and lets him hit harder, but there are probably going to be better targets for the spell. Prescience doesn't really provide too much help to Morghoul, since you're likely better off spending fury for the two extra attacks, instead of either boosting to hit or boosting damage. The Savage's usefulness with Morghoul really depends more on what else is in the army.

Titan Gladiator: Prescience is very helpful on the Gladiator, who can use it to save fury on those slam power attacks. Generally, to kill big things, you'll want to slam it, Follow Up, then proceed to pound on the knocked down target. This revolves on that first attack hitting, but wanting to spend as little fury doing so as possible (so you can buy more attacks). Prescience definitely comes in handy there. Rush is okay on the Cyclops, but generally you'll have better things to do with it.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: I find the most useful beast manipulation for the Cyclops is Medicate. Extra strength is nice, but P+S 15 isn't terribly scary. Healing these guys is always nice though, since they are handy to keep around.

Tier Thoughts:
The Cyclops Savage can be taken in all of the theme forces but Dominar Rasheth's and Tyrant Xerxis'. Whether they make a good choice for the army is dependent more on what ELSE you take. They are very helpful with some choices, and fairly pointless with others.

Thoughts:
The Cyclops is a good, reliable, cheap beast. It's pretty inexpensive at 5 points, and can provide a lot of support to the beasts in your army, or even your warlock from time to time. It's a great fit for armies with ranged attacks on their beasts, and even some of the melee beasts will enjoy having the Cyclops Savage around.

Book Review: Nemesis

2010-08-29T09:00:00.018-04:00

I've recently finished the latest Horus Heresy novel by James Swallow (writer of Flight of the Eisenstein, another fantastic part of the series), Nemesis. It covers a plan by the Imperial assassin cults to send a team of assassins, one from each temple, to assassinate Horus. Of course, a plan is simultaneously put into motion by the traitors to send a vicious assassin to kill the Emperor.

I'll start out by saying that I really liked this book; it's a great addition to a great series. Sure, you know from the beginning that neither of the assassination plots succeed, but that's not really the point of the series. The main interest is seeing HOW it unfolds.

The assassins are covered very well, firstly because you get to see them in action. As the execution force is assembled, the group goes from location to location picking up assassins immediately after their previous missions have completed. Doing so, the reader gets to read about the missions while they are happening, to some effect. Sure, reading about a Vindicare sniping people isn't very interesting (and it's a little corny in the book), but reading about a Culexus (the anti-psyker) assassin in action from the Culexus' point of view was very interesting.

Also, you get to feel that the assassins are people, with real personalities (somewhat) and feelings and such, and you get to see how they interact with one another and how they view one another. They aren't portrayed as single-minded killers. It's especially interesting to read how the Eversor thinks when the focus is on him... ok, maybe one of them is a single-minded killer...

Finally, the book includes an operative from the Venenum and Vanus temples, who aren't really mentioned often in the 40K background otherwise; I think only in the Assassins codex from 3rd edition. They seem to be in there as plot devices, though, as opposed to being there for the necessity of their skills (although the Vanus obviously contributes quite a bit to the mission).

I don't have many complaints about the book, but there are two issues I have. First, I think the book jumps around too much, and not necessarily to the story's benefit. Generally, moving from one character's viewpoint to another can really help drive the story, but only if it's done for that goal. I don't feel that Nemesis is really written to fit with such a goal. There are two separate stories that are going on inside it, and although they are related, the jumping between the two probably should be done a little less frequently. Of course, that's my opinion, and I'm not a professional author.

The second one is very minor, and is more of a confusion than a complaint. There are two parts earlier in the book (one at the beginning, and one in the middle), where Horus could be involved, yet it seems like he's purposely kept apart from the action... then some of the characters directly interact with him at the end, and it really doesn't seem like there was a reason for it. It's probably solely because he wasn't really relevant to the story at that point, but it stuck out at me.

So there are a few things I want to also talk about, but of course, if you haven't read the book, you shouldn't read them. So stop reading if you only wanted a review!

**** SPOILER ALERT ****

The book gives a very clear hint that someone warned Horus about the assassination attempt, and even the First Chaplain is surprised that Horus was aware. There's some suggestion that it might be a spy in the Imperial Palace... but I think the implication is that the Chaos Gods are whispering directly to Horus. We know that when he assaults Terra, he's going to be significantly 'enhanced' by the Chaos Gods' gifts, so I suspect this is the start of them showing their favor to him. It certainly will make future dialogue/interactions with Horus more interesting.

The response from both the Emperor and Horus regarding assassins is one of the final parts of the book, but is very interesting. The Emperor declares a change from the Assassination clades to a more governed form (presumably the Officio Assassinorum), but defends the need to keep such a group because 'in the war to come, every weapon in the arsenal of the Imperium will be called to bear'. Horus, however, describes assassins as 'a tool of the weak'. I just found that rather fascinating- the noble Emperor using a backhanded means to try to end the war, with the traitorous Horus decrying a similar attempt by one of his allies.

I'm very excited to read the next books in the series- I can't wait!

Skorne vs Trollbloods, 15pts, 8/24/10

2010-08-28T13:00:00.008-04:00

Played again vs. Ben, this time upping the game up to 15 points, or as close as possible with what we had available.

I ran:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Cyclops Savage
- Cyclops Savage
- Titan Gladiator
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

Basically, just added the Beast Handlers, who should enhance my beasts nicely.

Ben's List:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Troll Impaler
- Dire Troll Bomber

Addition of a Bomber to replace an Impaler.

Battlefield was slightly different than last game. The only terrain that mattered was a wall in the middle of the table slightly to the left of center, and another of those strange carrot forests about 6" to the right of center. Again, I'm beat-out by shooting, so I needed to get up there as quick as possible.

Ben began the game by moving up, trying to get into position to take some shots at me the next turn. I responded by advancing my Titan Gladiator by the wall, to keep it out of line of sight from some of his army, while drawing a bead on his bomber. The rest of the army moved towards the center.

The shooting began- the Bomber dropped a bomb right on top of one of my Cyclops, doing decent damage (he then forgot that the Bomber had a ROF 2 so he could've gotten that second shot). The Impaler took a shot at the Gladiator, I believe, but missed.

I responded by sending my Abused, Enraged (from the Paingivers) Titan 9" into his Bomber, slamming him hard, and proceeded to force for the extra attacks, killing it, and moving the Titan way out of my warlock's control area. I sent a Cyclops into his Axer, not really doing a whole lot. The other Cyclops, that took some damage from shooting, I moved up after healing him with the Paingivers.

Ben took a few swings at the engaged Cyclops with Madrak and the Axer, but failed to kill him (left with a single damage box!). The Impaler took a shot at the Titan, but didn't accomplish much. Not looking so good for Ben.

I advanced my Titan into his Impaler, beating on it, but not crippling it. The other Cyclops joined the battle, but combined the two Cyclops didn't really dent the hardy trolls facing them. The Paingivers provided some healing, and Morghoul bravely raced in against the Troll Axer, but I couldn't roll higher than a 6 often enough to do some damage.

Madrak started off Ben's next turn by popping his feat. Unfortunately, he didn't have good targets for it. The Axer killed the Cyclops facing him, and took a shot at the other one, which Madrak had already beaten badly. The Impaler scratched the Titan.

At this point, the Titan killed the Impaler, and I brought the Impaler down to a single damage box, and popped my feat. Ben realized that it was going to be an uphill battle here, and we were running out of time, conceded.

This game was actually very close, and really the concession was more about time than imminent defeat. I know I messed up the battle report of the last two turns (there was another turn thrown in there, but I think it was a lot of poor dice rolling), but the basic flow of the game is there.

We're still struggling to keep the games short, but hopefully that will come with a few more games of practice. Next time, I'll be trying a new warlock, and hopefully get an actual combat unit in on the action!

And I suspect games will continue to be close, as Ben is starting to figure out how to use his army.

8th Edition Empire, 2nd Attempt

2010-08-28T09:00:00.001-04:00

Wizard Lord (lvl 4) w/ Rod of Power, Holy Relic (Lore of Life)
Captain w/ Pegasus, Lance, Full Plate Armor, Shield, Pistol, Dragon Helm
Captain (BSB) w/ Armour of Meteoric Iron, Wyrmslayer Sword
Battle Wizard (lvl 1) w/ Dispel Scroll (Lore of Shadow)
Warrior Priest w/ Relic Blade, Heavy Armor, Shield
Master Engineer
31 Halberdiers w/ Standard Bearer, Musician
-15 Swordsmen
30 Spearmen w/ Standard Bearer, Musician
- 15 Swordsmen
12 Knightly Order w/ Great Weapons, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame
30 Greatswords w/ Standard Bearer, Musician
- 15 Swordsmen
Great Cannon
Great Cannon
Mortar
Mortar
Helstorm Rocket Battery

Re-arranged things to get the Warrior Priest and the Engineer into the army, which should make me more effective overall (as per the advice I received). Also, the level 2 wizard really isn't going to do a whole lot, so he was turned down to a level 1, just so I can have the dispel scroll available. Overall, the core of the army stayed the same.

Let me know what you guys think!

Titan Gladiator: Thoughts/Tips

2010-08-27T13:00:00.020-04:00

The first heavy beast that most Skorne players will get to use/experience, the Titan Gladiator is just about as un-subtle as they come. Strong, slow, tough, and with three attacks, he's designed to run forward and lay down a beating as soon as possible. Plus, he's really cool looking!

Stats:
First off, he is extremely slow. He has the tools to help with that some, however. The rest of his stats are pretty normal for what a heavy beast/jack would be, although he has a DEF of 12 which is nice. 4 Fury/9 Threshold seem to be fairly normal as well. 30 Damage (12 Body) gives him some good durability.

Attacks:
He has three attacks, which is a great start. First are the Tusks, which are low POW, but add their POW to his STR when he makes slam and head butt power attacks (as you'll see from his rules, this is a helpful bonus). He also has two War Gauntlets, which are a nice P+S 16 attack that count as Open Fists, letting him do any of the Power Attacks. It's not very difficult to increase the STR of these attacks, so having three of them is really nice.

Animus:
His animus is Rush, which increases the movement of a warbeast and gives it Pathfinder. Skorne don't have many ways to give their beasts Pathfinder or to otherwise negate terrain (I think one of the warlocks has Ghost Walk, but this isn't common). The extra movement is handy for the heavies, who are generally slow (with the animus, the titan is now charging/slamming 9" which is tolerable). Short range animus, and it only costs 2. I suspect melee-oriented armies are going to really want to make use of him.

Special Rules:
Bullheaded: Causes the Gladiator to slam instead of charge if he frenzies. This is pretty nice, because the Tusks give you additional power on it, and slamming can knock down models, which will be a huge help for the rest of your army.

Follow Up: If the Titan Gladiator slams a model, he moves up to the distance the model was slammed. Great if you have some spare focus for extra attacks on the now prone target, or if you just want to get some extra distance into your opponent's lines. If you move into another model, however, you stop. Still, that generally means you're moving up into your opponent's face.

Grand Slam: The Gladiator slams for free, and moves slammed models an additional 2 inches. Combined with all of his other slam-related special rules, you get the idea that the designers intended for him to be slamming. Combined with Follow Up, this really gets the Gladiator moving a lot during his activation if he gets that slam off.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: Abuse is a great spell to use on the Gladiator, as it makes his slams go farther, and hit harder. Even without the slams, that's two P+S 18s and a 17. That's going to hurt. Admonition can also help with the Gladiator's mobility. The Gladiator's animus helps beasts that Morghoul takes keep up with him, as well as giving them the Pathfinder they would need to keep moving with Morghoul. Not really a bad match, truth be told.

Cyclops Savage: Prescience is very helpful on the Gladiator, who can use it to save fury on those slam power attacks. Generally, to kill big things, you'll want to slam it, Follow Up, then proceed to pound on the knocked down target. This revolves on that first attack hitting, but wanting to spend as little fury doing so as possible (so you can buy more attacks). Prescience definitely comes in handy there. Rush is okay on the Cyclops, but generally you'll have better things to do with it.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Enrage makes this thing scary. Add on another one of the STR boosts, and the Gladiator can wreck Khador heavies. Spirit and Mind are the most likely to be destroyed aspects, and the Handlers can keep them healthy.

Tier Thoughts:
Like I've said, still not a whole lot of experience with neither Skorne nor Hordes, so I won't have many thoughts here for some time.

At present, the Titan Gladiator can be taken in the theme list for Archdomina Makeda, Lord Tyrant Hexeris, Void Seer Mordikaar, Master Tormentor Morghoul, Lord Assassin Morghoul, Dominar Rasheth, Tyrant Xerxis, and Supreme Aptimus Zaal (currently everyone but Epic Makeda). He isn't specifically needed for any of the theme forces, but seems to be a good choice for Rasheth and Master Tormentor Morghoul.

Thoughts:
He's the least expensive of the Titan warbeasts, and he operates as a very effective tank for your army. His animus fills a vital hole for Skorne, and he's capable of both providing some heavy hitting for your army, as well as assisting your army out in a support role (both for his animus and by clearing holes and knocking models down). A great fit for your Skorne army.

Dark Elves in 8th, Monster List

2010-08-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

So, a common army for Dark Elves is one focused on their monsters. Unfortunately, I don't think such an army is all that effective n 8th, but I'm sure we could put together something that works.

Dreadlord w/ Manticore, Deathpiercer, Other Trickster's Shard, Pendant of Khaeleth, Dragonhelm, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield
Sorceress (lvl 2) w/ Sacrificial Dagger, Pearl of Infinite Bleakness
Sorceress (lvl 2) w/ Focus Familiar, Lord of Death
Master (BSB) w/ Armor of Darkness, Relic Blade
35 Warriors w/ Standard, Musician, Shields
10 Crossbowmen w/ Standard, Musician, Shields
10 Crossbowmen w/ Standard, Musician, Shields
10 Crossbowmen w/ Standard, Musician, Shields
6 Harpies
Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot
20 Black Guard w/ Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame, Crimson Death
War Hydra
War Hydra

Well, this is a 7th edition army ported over to 8th. However, I think it could work.

You have some decent mobility in this army, and the ability to threaten your opponent's backfield with the Manticore or the Harpies. There's some shooting, although not a very scary amount. There's some magic as well, with Death chosen as a lore because we'll need to go after enemy wizards as early as possible. The Wizard with lore of fire will put some wounds on things early.

The Black Guard is there to hold up a unit. Then hopefully one or more of my hammer units can get there to break the opposing unit. Combined, one or two of my hammers (the Chariots, Hydras, or Manticore) can do a lot of wounds. Of course, other than the Spearmen or Black Guard, there's no real way to get past Steadfast. I'll have to hope that magic can drop a rank or two, and that my wounds from combat can do enough damage.

I'll be giving this list a try as soon as I can. I want to make a list with 3 or more monsters work, so I'm going to try a few things. This is a good starting point though, I hope.

Skorne Thoughts: Master Tormentor Morghoul

2010-08-26T13:00:00.001-04:00

Master Tormentor Morghoul is the Skorne starter box warlock. After running him, I think I have the hang of his basics, so I'm going to put some thoughts up and gradually go through the other Skorne choices as I try them out, to see if I can hit some of the combos. Hopefully I'll have some thoughts up that a new Skorne player could read and find some use in.

Stats:
To start, his statline is pretty good. He's faster than almost anything in the Skorne army (with base speed, at least), which is nice because his spells have short range, and you'll need him to get to places to assassinate various things. MAT 8 means he's going to hit regularly, and DEF 17 means he's not going to be taking many hits in return. His CMD is only 8, however, which is pretty low. ARM 13 is also terrible- he's going to take a beating from blasts.

Attacks:
His only weapon is a pair of Rippers, a low P+S weapon which let you make two attacks for every fury you spend. That means base (with his 5 Fury) he can put out 12 attacks. Not too shabby. His weapon also has Inflict Pain, letting him add or remove fury from warbeasts that he hits. He'll be able to use that on his own beasts, if fury management is becoming difficult, but it's going to be handy from time to time to either overload the opponent's beasts with Fury, or starve the warlock by taking the frenzy off it. I'm not sure I'm going to get a whole lot of use out of that, but it's certainly worth keeping in mind.

Feat:
His feat, Pain & Suffering, is certainly interesting. Against Warmachine, it will stop models from spending focus, which will actually make an opponent's caster HARDER to kill the turn after, since they'll be forced to camp the focus. Still, it does help shut a caster down, as well as makes opposing warjacks less effective. Against Hordes, it's even more effective. Enemy models can't be forced, which can cripple warlocks for a full turn as they struggle to find fury to leech. In addition, models can't have damage transferred to them, which could be a fatal ability to lose if the opposing warlock is in danger. With only 5 Fury, Morghoul doesn't exactly throw this ability over a large area, meaning he'll have to be up with his army to make full effect of this.

Spells:
Abuse: I love this spell, and it fits him being a Paingiver nicely. For a small amount of damage, he makes a warbeast move faster and hit harder. Adding to the stats means that your beasts can run farther, and makes your beasts more effective for some of their power attacks as well. The spell has a short range, but that's not a big deal, since Morghoul will need to be up with his army near the front lines anyway.

Admonition: This spell will help keep models safe. If you are trying to protect a model from being charged or if a model is getting set up on, having this spell cast on the model can move it 3", which is far enough to get them out of melee range, as well as protects them from the free strike. It's not a great spell, but since it's an upkeep, it gains some utility. You could also have it on Morghoul himself to keep him out of danger.

Torment: It's a POW 12 offensive spell, but the additional effect is fantastic- a model damaged by this spell loses Tough, it can't be healed, and it can't transfer damage. That's a perfect spell to set up an assassination. Tough isn't terribly reliable, but negating it completely is a fairly noticeable loss. Ten inch range is far enough to keep Morghoul safe against most models, as well.

Special Rules:
Anatomical Precision: A great ability that hugely enhances Morghoul's lethality against living models. It's much better than some other similar abilities, like Penetrating Strike, because you get to see the result of the dice roll before it takes effect. With a P+S of 9, you're not likely to break higher ARM numbers, but the chance of rolling boxcars and being able to take that over having this go off just makes this warlock even nastier in close combat. Combined with Overtake, Morghoul can fairly reliably march through units.

Maltreatment: Deal a small amount of damage to a warbeast, and get another point of fury. This effectively gives Morghoul 6 Fury to work with during his turn, and can really help keep your Fury managed.

Overtake: Great for killing units. Combined with Anatomical Precision, you just need to hit. He's AMAZING at killing low DEF troops if they have one wound.

Perfect Balance: This ability helps his survivability a lot. Combined Ranged Attacks don't work against him, meaning most shooting is going to struggle to hit his DEF 17. He ignores free strikes, so he can move away from models that are actually scary to be in combat with. I don't think combined melee attacks are a huge concern, but it's nice to be able to ignore that as well. The free stand up is awesome as well, anything to save you a few fury points, since you don't have a whole lot to start with.

Sprint: Combined with Perfect Balance, this allows Morghoul to walk in, slaughter a unit of troops, and move and hide, away from danger. He's not very tough, so this could save his life.

Synergies:
Titan Gladiator: Abuse is a great spell to use on the Gladiator, as it makes his slams go farther, and hit harder. Even without the slams, that's two P+S 18s and a 17. That's going to hurt. Admonition can also help with the Gladiator's mobility. The Gladiator's animus helps beasts that Morghoul takes keep up with him, as well as giving them the Pathfinder they would need to keep moving with Morghoul. Not really a bad match, truth be told.

Cyclops Savage: Abuse is alright for giving the Savage a good 13" threat range and lets him hit harder, but there are probably going to be better targets for the spell. Prescience doesn't really provide too much help to Morghoul, since you're likely better off spending fury for the two extra attacks, instead of either boosting to hit or boosting damage. The Savage's usefulness with Morghoul really depends more on what else is in the army.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: No real synergies. They do make Abuse better though- +4 STR is downright nasty. They can also heal the damage Morghoul's abilities cause.

Tier Thoughts:
I will have to come back and flesh this out as well, after I have experience. His tier list focuses on Paingivers and Cataphract Arcuarii, plus fairly basic warbeasts. He allows your army to start closer to your opponent, and with the name 'Big Game Hunters' seem to be about pulling models close, and using your cheap warbeasts to pound them.

Thoughts:
With 7 warbeast points, and a solid spell to work with warbeasts, he certainly feels like he could be a beast caster... unfortunately, with 5 Fury, this just isn't going to work.

With short ranges on his spells, and a bunch of abilities for wearing away at models he's in combat with, Morghoul is clearly meant to be up close to the front line, where he can act as an infantry/solo assassin. His feat can really hurt the opponent's caster/warlock, but he'll probably need his army to deal the killing blow. If your opponent has taken some damage, however, he's certainly capable of finishing the job. He's very mobile, and can certainly get to the pieces of the enemy army that he needs to, but he's not too tough, so will need to be careful.

Overall, a pretty basic warlock, with few tricks and fairly simple style.

Dark Elves in 8th, Shooting List

2010-08-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Alright, time for another Dark Elf army list. My last list was very close combat geared, depending on the power of the Black Guard to deliver my damage. This time, I'm going to focus more on the shooting part of the army.

The list:
Dreadlord w/ Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Cold One, Sword of Might, Dragonhelm, Pendant of Khaeleth, and Crown of Command
Supreme Sorceress (lvl 4) w/ Lifetaker, Darkstar Cloak, Lore of Shadows
Master (BSB) w/ Repeater Crossbow, Armour of Darkness, Pearl of Infinite Bleakness
5 Dark Riders w/ Musician, Repeater Crossbows
5 Dark Riders w/ Musician, Repeater Crossbows
10 Crossbowmen w/ Musician, Standard, Shields - 125
10 Crossbowmen w/ Musician, Standard, Shields - 125
21 Crossbowmen w/ Full Command, Shields - 256
5 Shades
- Assassin w/ Manbane, Rending Stars
5 Shades
- Assassin w/ Manbane, Rending Stars
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
Hydra
Hydra

That's a fairly respectable amount of shooting, and the role of the shooting aspects of the list are fairly obvious. The other things may not be, however.

The Dreadlord's sole goal is to tie up a unit, or something scary. This army has a lot of shooting, but you're not going to be killing an opponent's army in a single turn. Units in the game overall seem to have gotten a bit faster in this edition, which means that your opponent could be on top of your army very early in the game. You need to worry about armies getting into close combat with you before you may have had a chance to wear them down with shooting. The Dreadlord will buy you some time.

The Hydras serve a similar role, but they are primarily there to break units after they have taken some shooting casualties. If a unit is down a few guys, a Hydra may be able to break it on its own. At the least, the shooting should (hopefully) mean there are fewer attacks coming back at you, which allows the Hydra can hold up a unit as well.

The Sorceress is taking Lore of Shadows. Every spell in the Lore, save Steed of Shadows, helps you out here. The signature spell will keep your opponent out of combat for longer (slowing them down). Enfeebling Foe will keep your crossbowmen alive longer should your opponent get into combat. The Withering will add to the effectiveness of your shooting. Penumbral Pendulum and Pit of Shades will add some extra damage. Okkam's Mindrazor will make even your lowly crossbowmen scary in close combat. Of course, you don't have a lot of magic defense in this list (which I may have to find a way to add), but I'll play a game or two beforehand. Hopefully I can put enough shooting out to buy me a win.

So there you have it. I'll revisit this list after trying it a game or two, and see if it really is at all effective. Anyone try anything similar?

First game of Hordes!

2010-08-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well, Ben and I played our first game of Hordes last week to learn the rules, and to get a feel for the mechanics and our armies.

We played with the warpack armies, both to make it easy and because we are trying to make the game fit during our lunch break.

My army (11pts):
Master Tormentor Morghoul
-Cyclops Savage
-Cyclops Savage
-Titan Gladiator

Ben's army (10pts):
Chief Madrak Ironhide
-Troll Axer
-Troll Impaler
-Troll Impaler

I really had no idea how either of the armies worked, so this was going to be a great learning experience. Ben definitely had more shooting than I did (since I had none), but I held a slight edge in combat ability. Ben's battle report can be found here.

We didn't take pictures, mainly because we're trying to keep the games quick- when we can play longer, more involved games (on weekends or weeknights) I'll throw pictures on here.

We had to improvise on the terrain, so the center of our board was a 'carrot patch/forest' (a bag of carrots), and there were several other things, but they didn't factor into the game (since we had small armies).

I started the game, with the Titan dropping Rush on himself, then advancing through the carrot forest, followed by Morghoul. My Cyclops advanced around the carrots to set themselves up for some Abused/Rushed charges on the trolls.

Ben moved forward a bit, and both of his Impalers took shots at my Titan, damaging it. The Axer moved to block my Cyclops from threatening his warlock, and then Madrak moved a bit forward and cast Stranglehold on the Gladiator, holding it in place next turn.

I charged my Cyclopses (Cyclopi?) into his army- one into Madrak, one into his Axer, causing significant damage to the Axer (Madrak transferred damage from himself into the Axer), who lost his Body Aspect. Future Sight really adds to their reliability! Both Cyclops were Abused, but I forgot to add the strength bonus (which really wouldn't have mattered overall, I suspect). The Titan stayed put.

With significant effort, Madrak and the Axer combined to kill one of the Cyclops, after the Axer Regenerated some of his damage. The Impalers tried to shoot at the Gladiator again, with no success.

Turn 3 started with my Abusing my Titan (crippling my Spirit), and popping my feat, preventing Madrak from Leeching fury and forcing his beasts. Then I sent the Titan slamming into one of the Impalers (sending it 7"). The remaining Cyclops hit Madrak once or twice, doing some damage.

Ben took some swings at the Titan, almost killing him, and the Axer couldn't bring the other Cyclops down (some pretty poor rolling on his part).

I began turn 4 by sending Morghoul into Madrak, prepared to unleash the beating. 12 attacks later I had almost killed Madrak, then the Cyclops finished him off. One failed Tough roll later, game over!

I definitely like Skorne so far, but I haven't really gotten into them enough to get a feel for the faction. Next game should be more telling, since we'll be playing at 15 points, and actually have some variety. I'm quite looking forward to it!

Contact Information!

2010-08-24T16:00:00.000-04:00

Hi! I have a new string of posts starting up tomorrow, with various tactical thoughts, battle reports, and painting/modeling updates.

Before then, however, I've added an email address on the right, below the 'About Me' block.

Feel free to send me comments, questions or suggestions. I'm hoping to add some new things to the blog, so if you have anything you'd like to see that isn't done well enough, please let me know!

Have a great week everyone!

Witch Coven Tier 4 List

2010-08-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

The Witch Coven are next on my run-through of some of the Tier 4 lists, and will be the last for a bit (since I'll need more experience with some of the other casters before I can say for sure how I'd run them... I may take a shot at regular Goreshade, however). Seeing as how I'm going to be running my Skorne more soon, it will have to wait.

The Coven are strange to play for a few reasons. First, there are three of them, which means you'll get three activations out of your caster, which is very handy for some things, like your upkeeps and other spell-casting opportunities. In addition, they have the Perfect Conjunction rule to let them cast a lot of spells (it makes all their spells cost only one or two focus apiece). They are a bit more difficult to use, but they are VERY effective as a warcaster.

First, a look at the advantages:

Extra Soulhunters and extra Warwitch Sirens. Combined with a later tier bonus, extra Soulhunters could be quite effective.
Soulhunters begin the game with a soul token! It's much easier to get more soul tokens once you have the first, so this is great.
You can re-deploy a model/unit. This isn't an overtly strong ability, but it's a nice-to-have. You can keep vital pieces out of danger, or put something closer to where it needs to be after seeing where your opponent has put his army.
Advance Deployment for Helljacks. Another nice-to-have, as you'll be able to get your Helljacks into the action much quicker.

So not amazing benefits, overall, but having any bonuses helps some if you can take advantage of them. Unfortunately... Soulhunters are very expensive, and don't really benefit from the Coven's spell list. Combined with Darragh, they are pretty cool, but they aren't going to be killing casters on their own (they're only really effective at killing infantry). That leaves us looking at the jacks in the army as our primary focus.

Army List:
The Witch Coven of Garlghast
Defiler
Defiler
Deathjack
Seether
Seether
The Withershadow Combine
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren

The obvious focus here is on jacks, and getting them up and doing some damage. Hopefully, you'll be able to beat your way through your opponent's army before they can take too big a chunk out of you. With the Coven's spells- it's not even necessary to beat through them- you can walk through them!

Let's look at some of the parts of the army.

The Witch Coven of Garlghast: The girls can't do the job on their own, but will certainly make the job easier for your army.

Curse of Shadows, Veil of Mists, and Ghost Walk all help your jacks get into position, or at the least bypass models or terrain your opponent will have in front of your targets. You'll be using these spells a lot to get those jacks into and past your opponent. At 2 focus apiece (with Perfect Conjunction), they aren't going to strain the Coven's casting ability. The Withershadow Combine will make even that easier to swallow, since they can upkeep one of your spells for free.

Occultation will help keep your jacks alive as they move up. Throwing Stealth on the Deathjack will provide it some defense against ranged attacks.

Stygian Abyss is a fairly basic damage spell, and if the Coven have nothing else to do with their focus for a turn, this isn't a bad way to spend it. The critical Shadow Bind is probably the more helpful use of the spell, but POW 12s can still hurt if done enough.

Infernal Machine is the key enhancement that the Coven will provide, and since they'll have 3 activations, you can spread this around to every one of your heavy jacks every turn. Speed 8 and MAT 10 for all 3 of your warjacks is going to make your opponent very nervous every turn, especially with all the focus you'll have (since your jacks generate 4 on their own).

Warjacks: I chose two Seethers and the Deathjack. The Deathjack is an auto-include for most Cryx armies it seems, since he's very focus-efficient, and can even cast some of the warcaster's spells. With this build, all three of your warjacks get Advance Deployment, and all three can run/charge without taking focus from your caster. They are also all very scary in close combat, especially with Infernal Machine to make sure they hit. Use Occultation, Veil of Mists, and terrain to keep them protected, then Infernal Machine + Veil of Mists, Ghost Walk, and Curse of Shadows to destroy your opponent's army.

Two Defilers are also included, since the Coven badly need arc nodes- they are too fragile to ever be close to the army's front line. The spray attacks will help against infantry, since you don't have many ways to tear through them otherwise. Of course, RAT 5 isn't exactly tearing through infantry, but you could certainly hurt them.

Units: Unfortunately, the constraints of the tier requirements really take a lot of points, meaning you don't have the points for units. That's a shame, since your unit choices for this list are actually really good. Bane Knights really fit the theme, since they have Ghostly built in. They, as well as Blood Witches, are great for killing infantry, which you don't really have otherwise in this list.

Soulhunters are a theme of this list, and they are fantastic at killing infantry, but pretty poor at killing anything else. If this list were for 75 points, I would certainly include 2 units just to take advantage of the free soul tokens and Darragh Wrathe's ability to give them Incorporeal during their activations (again, a theme of this army). At 50 points, however, they are just too costly to fit! Of course, I don't see myself playing 75 points anytime soon :(.

The Withershadow Combine is another of those choices that seem to be an auto-include in Cryx armies. They have a lot of abilities, and if you play Cryx you're probably familiar with them. They may even create an extra Helljack or two with this list.

Solos: There were a decent selection of choices here, but only three made the cut.

Necrotechs are very cost effective, and provide some ability to keep your jacks up and running (as well as a way to benefit after killing your opponent's jacks). With two Necrotechs, all three of your jacks can repair throughout the game (assuming the Deathjack has living models to murder). Scrap thralls have some infantry killing ability as well, so certainly aren't a bad feature.
Pistol Wraiths are one of my favorite choices, but really don't add anything to the list. You can actually kill heavy warjacks, so freezing them doesn't really help. You'll want some infantry killing power, but these guys can't provide enough of it to justify their cost.

The Skarlock Thrall is another great choice, but I couldn't really see any spell that it would cast that I wouldn't be able to cast otherwise. It didn't really fit a need, so I skipped it.

The Warwitch Sirens are there to provide focus for your bonejacks to get them into position. You have an 18" control range with the Coven, so having your bonejacks far away is ideal- hopefully your opponent is far away from your caster, after all. They could also venom enemy infantry, which will come in handy (although if opponent infantry are that close, you're probably in trouble).

Darragh Wrathe is a necessity for tier 4, and although he has some nice abilities, the main benefit he adds to this army is likely to be either Beyond Death or Hellfire. If I had the points to take Soulhunters (which I would at higher points), his Leadership bonus is really fantastic, extending the places your Soulhunters can go. Throw him into a unit of infantry to kill one or two, and hinder the unit's damage potential.

Overall, the Witch Coven's theme list has some interesting potential, but I don't really see it fulfilled at 50 points, since you can't take advantage of the Soulhunters. At this level, I think this list will perform fine, although your only benefit is Advance Deployment on the warjacks, and a single re-deployment. Worth it? We'll see.

8th Edition Empire

2010-08-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

While I'm figuring out what the heck I'm going to do with my Dark Elves, I really should decide on how I'm going to run my Empire.

I don't really want to run pure (or even primarily) gun line if I can help it. I think it's very boring, and such an army doesn't take a whole lot of skill to play. What's the point if it's neither fun or challenging? Unfortunately, Empire DO need the use of some of their artillery. It's a major part of their army's capability and flavor. So I'll have to include some.

Here's the list I'm thinking about (for 2500 pts).

Wizard Lord (lvl 4) w/ Rod of Power, Holy Relic (Lore of Life)
Captain w/ Pegasus, Lance, Full Plate Armor, Shield, Pistol, Dragon Helm
Captain (BSB) w/ Armour of Meteoric Iron, Wyrmslayer Sword
Battle Wizard (lvl 2) w/ Dispel Scroll (Lore of Shadow)
32 Halberdiers w/ Standard Bearer, Musician
-15 Swordsmen
33 Spearmen w/ Standard Bearer, Musician
- 15 Swordsmen
12 Knightly Order w/ Great Weapons, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame
30 Greatswords w/ Standard Bearer, Musician
- 15 Swordsmen
Great Cannon
Great Cannon
Mortar
Mortar
Helstorm Rocket Battery
Helstorm Rocket Battery

This army competes competently in every phase of the game. For shooting, I'm still running 6 war machines, and am likely to get a lot of firepower out there. For combat, I have 3 good blocks with support, plus the Knights who may add some power to whatever fight they join. During the magic phase, I have two wizards who hopefully will support my army.

The Captain on Pegasus' primary goal will be killing war machines. Secondary task will be going after mages.

I have a few concerns with this list, primarily the low Leadership (8), but I'm hoping I can by. We'll have to see. A few games trying the list in the new edition will give me some insight on how this army should change.

Let me know what you think!

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 8: Black Guard List

2010-08-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

To start off, I'll admit that the list is pretty much a copy of the one listed here. That's not because I copied it (although I did agree with the combination of items on the Black Guard, so I adjusted to match), but because it is good advice, and it's what I consider the best choices for a Dark Elf army, myself. With that said, Stelek is pretty much spot on.

Here's my army choice for 2500 pts. I don't own nearly enough Black Guard, but I'll build towards it, definitely.

Supreme Sorceress (level 4) w/ Sacrificial Dagger, Pendant of Khaeleth (Lore of Fire) - 320
Sorceress (level 2) w/ Focus Familiar, Pearl of Infinite Bleakness (Lore of Metal) - 185
Master (BSB) w/ Halberd, Blood Amour, Black Dragon Egg - 154
5 Dark Riders w/ Musician, Repeater Crossbows - 117
10 Dark Elf Crossbowmen w/ Standard Bearer, Musician - 115
10 Dark Elf Crossbowmen w/ Standard Bearer, Musician - 115
10 Dark Elf Crossbowmen w/ Standard Bearer, Musician - 115
30 Dark Elf Warriors w/ Shields - 210
Assassin w/ Extra Hand Weapon, Rune of Khaine, Touch of Death - 151
20 Black Guard w/ Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame, Crimson Death - 330
20 Black Guard w/ Full Command, Sword of Might, Banner of Murder - 335
20 Black Guard w/ Full Command, Relic Blade, Razor Standard - 350

I think this is fairly standard. The BSB will hope in the middle-most Black Guard unit, and he'll keep those three units around for quite a bit. Both Sorceresses go into the Spearmen. The Assassin really can go in any of the Black Guard units. After trying the one scenario a few times, I may drop some upgrades from the crossbowmen (depends how many banners I'll actually need). We shall see.

You'll have a lot of overall capability in this list. 70 Crossbow shots, very offensive magic, and fantastic close combat ability combine to give you a very good shot to compete. Your opponent's army will take a lot of casualties coming in to fight you, and once they get there, your Black Guard are more than enough to handle the task of beating them back. Also, depending on the scenario, you can even be more aggressive. Those Black Guard can advance into your opponent's face to force them to deal with them on your terms.

I'll work on posting some other army lists I think will be effective in upcoming days, as well.

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 7: Lores of Magic

2010-08-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Dark Elves are a bit limited in which Lores they can take, but they get enough choices to make things interesting. First, however, we need to talk about the spell all Dark Elf wizards know.

Power of Darkness: This spell, and having all your wizards know it for free, is what makes Dark Elves so potent magically. You gain 2-4 Power Dice for a spell you are very likely to get off several times during the game. Your regular sorceresses can cast it on two dice with a low chance of failure, and your Sacrificial Dagger sorceress can do it with one, adding the extra if she rolls only a one or two. You can cast it throughout the magic phase to keep it going, well after your opponent has run out of dispel dice and spell defense. Even a poor Winds of Magic Roll can be somewhat mitigated by this. Also, with the FAQ, most of the negatives have been taken care of. You CAN attempt to cast spells you normally couldn't succeed on in order to get rid of the dice in the pool. It's a huge boon to your magic phase.

Lore of Dark Magic: This is the Dark Elf lore, and its primary benefit is going to be that all the spells are easier to cast because of the new magic rules. A level 4 wizard can cast even the hardest spell in the Lore on a 7+. However, the spells themselves really aren't good enough when compared to the other Lores you could choose. Also, with no Lore Attribute, you're missing out on the handy side benefits of the magic phase.

Chillwind is still a nice spell since it stops a unit from shooting, and the range is just right to be useful. Doombolt is a fairly basic magic missile, and Bladewind operates as another direct damage spell, with the ability to drop Champions as well. Lore of Fire is a better option, overall, if you're trying to go for damage, however. Word of Pain is handy because it can shut down a unit's shooting, and make them terrible in close combat. Soul Stealer is short ranged, and I've found it rarely to be useful enough to give too much consideration. Finally, Black Horror (our big spell) is difficult to find a role for, since its best against low Strength models... that we are generally alright with dealing with. I'm not sure there's any need to take the Dark Magic lore in the new edition... especially with the new toys you get from the other Lores!

Fire: The main purpose of this lore is causing damage. With two direct damage spells, two magic missiles, and an augment and hex spell that cause damage, it’s designed to put extra wounds on units that draw the wizard's attention. For your level 4, I actually think this is a good choice. The damage spells will take a few models off various units, allowing your Black Guard to handle them easily, and in addition, the non-damage spells are great.

Cascading Fire Cloak is probably the least useful of the spells in the lore, but will make rushing into combat against the unit a little dangerous for your opponent. Fulminating Flame Cage is a great way to kill a good amount of models, or freeze a unit in place (if they don't want to risk it). Flaming Sword of Rhuin will make your Black Guard even more dangerous in combat, or alternatively it will make your shooting more effective. Flame Storm is probably the weakest of the top level spells in the game, in my opinion, but even so, combined with the other spells in the Lore, you're going to kill a lot of models.

Metal: Lore of Metal makes a good choice, because it offers Dark Elves something they can sometimes have problems with: heavy armor. The Signature Spell does the majority of the damage in this regard, but there are a few other spells here that help out in various ways. Plague of Rust will permanently reduce an opponent's armor save, which combined with all your armor piercing is going to add up quick. The Enchanted Blades of Aiban isn't going to be that big a help to you, but an extra +1 to hit is rarely going to cause you to complain. Glittering Robe will make your units a little tougher to kill, which is a huge help with T3 and normally 5+ armor save. Transmutation of Lead will help you a little with breaking armor as well. I'm not that excite about Final Transmutation, but it can be pretty handy for occasionally tearing chunks out of a unit (if you're lucky).

I look at Lore of Metal as a good supplementary lore. I don’t think it's good to put on a level 4, but a level 2 may be well off taking this. Some of the spells are useless against some armies (like Daemons and Skaven). If you're facing one of those, you're going to have a lot of spells that just do nothing. Even so- having a wizard take it will probably help more often than not.

Shadow: I think the Lore Attribute is going to very rarely help you, which is a shame. The spells are pretty good all-around though. Not a useless spell among them, no matter what army you face (although Steed of Shadows is pretty weak).

Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma is one the weaker of the spells, but is certainly capable of providing benefit. Reducing WS is going to help against a lot of armies, reducing I or M will be useful against others. It's really going to depend on the army you face to determine which to use, of course. The Enfeebling Foe will be useful against almost every army, since it increases the survivability of your costly and fragile troops once they get into close combat. Watching an enemy need 6s to wound elves would be classic. The Withering will help a different way, by assisting your troops in killing foes. There's very few times that you'll find that spell pointless. Penumbral Pendulum is interesting, but I'm not sure how effective it is without giving it a shot. If your foes are coming to you, I could see it taking a toll on advancing troops. Pit of shades is fantastic, of course- you can use it combined with the Miasma to wipe out entire units. Okkamm's Mindrazor makes your units TERRIFYING. Strength 9 Black Guard? It’s another spell that will provide a lot of use. Just wait until an opponent is in combat with your crossbowmen enhanced by this.

This Lore makes a good choice for either a primary caster, or a secondary one. Some of the spells are a bit high on the casting values, however, so a level 2 may struggle to get them off.

Death: The Lore Attribute of this Lore partners well with Power of Darkness to keep your magic phase running longer. You won't get too too many dice with it, but even two or three dice are enough to get another spell off. Unfortunately, all but one of the spells that deals damage targets only a single enemy model (and not a unit), limiting the amount of wounds you're likely to cause. The spells here are short ranged, which Dark Elves can negate with the Focus Familiar. They are also great for sniping models out of units, which is actually pretty handy. I suspect the spells are too unreliable to see much use however. Purple Sun of Xereus is the big spell here, your level 4 has about a 90% chance of getting the spell, and it is very nasty, but the rest of your spells aren't going to be useful enough to make it worthwhile overall. I think this is probably the weakest choice for your Dark Elf sorceresses, but I may be willing to revise my opinion after a few games.

To start, I'm going to run my level 4 with Fire, and my level 2 with Metal. I will occasionally switch to Shadow on the level 4 to try it out though.

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 6: Magic Items (Magic Standards)

2010-08-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

Finally, magic banners. Keep in mind, a few Dark Elf units can take them as well as the BSB: Warriors, Corsairs, Witch Elves, Executioners, Cold One Knights, and Black Guard.

Banner of Nagarythe
It has a nice ‘fluffy’ feel to it, but it's so expensive and hard to imagine it’s going to be any more useful in 8th than it was in 7th. That's to say, don't expect to see it.

Hydra Banner
I've always liked the Hydra Banner, but it doesn't provide any help for supporting attacks, and with models being able to step up and continue fighting, you don't need 5 or so extra attacks in the first round of combat- you need more attacks throughout the length of the entire combat. Not useful.

Rampager's Standard
You're going to be at the mercy of the charge rolls in 8th, but this is too many points to help fix that. In addition, there's not much benefit for charging except on Cold One Knights... but who is going to put a BSB in the Cold One Knight unit? There are better choices.

Wailing Banner
Having a banner in a unit that can cause either Fear or Terror may be nice, however, for the rare chance of it working (and the ability to ignore it from others), but I'd just go with the Fear banner Dark Elves have. I don’t see Fear/Terror being very potent in 8th, but doing it for cheap would be handy (as in one of the other banners).

Ranger's Standard
Strider is a handy ability, and it's likely to save the skin of some of your models occasionally, but for the points you're better off being cautious about your movement. I will probably give this one a try at some point, however, because there is likely to be more terrain on the board, and I'll want a way to take advantage of my opponent's reluctance to enter some. We'll see just how much this is actually worth it.

Razor Standard
Dark Elves get a much cheaper version of this banner in the Banner of Murder, but having a second unit with this ability could be very useful. You're able to give AP to multiple units of Black Guard, for instance. Armor Piercing is fantastic, especially for units like Black Guard. I'd really consider taking this.

Dread Banner
Although I don't think Fear is going to be all that useful, it may be handy from time to time to be immune to it, or at the least, to give your opponent a chance to be WS1. I don’t see it happening or helping that much over the course of your games, however, so I don't know that I would bother spending the points on it.

War Banner
Dark Elves (and most armies at the moment, I think) get this for only 25 points. I'm going to bet that you won't see this taken as often- your primary source of Combat Resolution is going to come from wounds, given both the amount of infantry on the table, as well as the amount of attacks you’re going to see from each side in a combat. I think you're going to be better off taking a banner that will either increase the amount of attacks you send out, or at least the quality of the attacks. Pass unless you really have need for more banners somewhere.

Standard of Slaughter
My thoughts on the above are still valid here, added with the fact that this is more expensive, and only useful if you get the charge. With charges being a bit more unreliable, this is probably not getting used again.

Standard of Hag Graef
This was a favorite banner for Dark Elf armies, especially for using on Black Guard since they could take it without buying a BSB. Since all combat is in Initiative order, it's hard to see much use. ASF + Higher Initiative gives you free rerolls for all rolls to hit... but your Black Guard are Initiative 6 and reroll all to hit rolls anyway, so you're only going to be taking it to deny ASF to other units (mainly High Elves). There's only a few more things your Black Guard are likely to face that this comes in handy- Wardancers, other Black Guard, Greater Daemons and Slaaneshi Daemons, and characters. Is it worth taking this banner solely as a counter to that? I'm thinking not- at least not on your Black Guard units.

If your BSB is taking it, there may be some point. There are a few options in this case. Executioners with ASF are actually pretty scary, but won't have enough attacks to be dangerous. A Death Hag BSB in a unit of Witch Elves is VERY scary, but will be very vulnerable to ranged attacks. Other than that, I'm not sure there's a role for the banner anymore. I don't like catering armies to handle specific things, and as this is a choice to handle such things, I'm not taking it.

Sea Serpent Standard
If you're taking a unit of Corsairs, you want to take this. Immunity to Psychology plus an extra attack really makes them a more effective unit.

Banner of Murder
This one will probably be in every army you take, somewhere. Even Spearmen with this are pretty dangerous. Armor Piercing is very nice ability, and with this you can get it on a unit for cheap.

Banner of Swiftness
Don't really see a need for this one. Dark Elf units are M5 or higher and going up to M6 really doesn't add all that much in the way of threat or utility.

Lichebone Pennant
I think you'll have an easier time getting MR from a Talisman, which can be taken by a few champions in a dark Elf army anyway. Otherwise, you'll have your characters able to provide the MR. Skip this.

Standard of Discipline
Not really much help in a Dark Elf army. Your Leadership is fine across the board, and Black Guard backed by a BSB aren't likely to break or fail any leadership tests. This is handier for other armies.

Banner of Cold Blood
This was useful for Cold One Knights to help combat Stupidity, but for now most of your combat units are likely to be Immune to Psychology, or at least have a high enough Leadership that your BSB reroll is going to keep them around. Another pass.

Banner of Eternal Flame
A Fantastic Banner. First, it causes fear in a lot of different things for cheap. Although I don’t think Fear is very useful overall, it's a nice side benefit. It negates Regeneration and deals extra damage to Flammable targets which is awesome. It also makes the unit AMAZING against buildings. It's also available at a very reasonable cost. I'd take it in every list.

Gleaming Pennant
Spend the points to get a BSB and ignore this. You're not going to have many units that are far away from your BSB with Dark Elves (given the units that can take banners). Any unit that would be off alone is probably well protected enough from Leadership tests, as well.

Scarecrow Banner
Fear, as I've said, is not going to be that big a deal these days, although it may be a nice ability from time to time. Causing Fear against a small subset of the models out there (even smaller than otherwise) is just not worth it. Take a better banner instead.

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 6: Magic Items (Enchanted Items)

2010-08-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Wizarding Hat
Why? I'm glad they included this item, simply 'because', but don't expect to see it used. Especially not by Dark Elves.

Fozzrik's Folding Fortress
Not really sure what to think of this. I'm not sure there's going to be many good uses for this, although for some crazy shooting army this might actually be a pretty good item choice. 100 points is hard to swallow though. You could use it to cut off some movement path, I suppose.

Arabyan Carpet
For the same cost, you can take a Dark Pegasus, which has its own advantages, and lets you take other magic items. Don't bother.

Deathmask
Sadly, just not so good anymore. Terror doesn't work as well these days, and since BSBs can let you re-roll the test, it may never work. Don't spend your points here.

Hydra's Teeth
Too many points to be useful. You'll need to spend those points on making your character more useful in combat if you're already in range to use this.

Crystal of Midnight
You're very likely to see a wizard of some sort out there, and since most wizards aren't Ld 10, this may actually be worth its points. It's a bit random though, as it removes a random spell if it even goes off. I'm going to say you're probably not going to use this, but might be a nice trick to throw in from time to time.

Crown of Command
I love this. Ld10 and Stubborn for your Dreadlord means he can go out on his own and cause some damage without fear of being run down by combat resolution. There are a lot of builds that this comes in handy for. It even makes running a Dreadlord on a Dragon potentially useful!

Black Dragon Egg
Given the new rules for breath weapons, this seems to be everyone's new favorite item. I'd recommend throwing it on a character on foot if you can fit it in. It's a decent amount of free hits at a high initiative. Combined with a combat with another monster in it, or the Armour of Blood, it's going to be very valuable.

Potion of Strength
This is the one from the Dark Elf book, which is 10 points more than the one in the BRB. Good bet, you'll choose the other one. However, this item gives you the benefit of choosing later on in the turn, AFTER you know that you're in combat already. Is that worth 10 points? Probably not.

Gem of Nightmares
With the changes to fear, I just don't see a point anymore. Don't waste your points.

Healing Potion
A handy item, but too costly to take in most armies. Your Dark Elves are not likely to lose wounds in small enough number to get a chance to use this.

The Guiding Eye
It's not an exciting ability, but if you really want to run a huge shooting block, it's certainly worth its points. There are some army builds I could see finding a place for it, but not many.

Feathertoe Toric
A pretty costly item for a benefit that isn't likely to come up much. Will be worthless in most games.

Ruby Ring of Ruin
I actually quite like this item. It's a good points value, and even though the rules for bound items have changed, it's a 2/3 chance to get a free spell off that can chip away at your opponent. If I have room for this, I will probably take it from time to time.

Terrifying Mask of Eee!
Like the Deathmask (but so much cheaper), it's just not worthwhile in this edition.

Potion of Strength
Cheaper version of the formerly Dark Elf-only item. There are a lot of times where the extra strength comes in handy, so I would suggest throwing it on a Dreadlord (with an extra attack item) if you think he's likely to get in combat. 5-6 Strength 7 attacks can put a hurting on big things.

Potion of Toughness
Although it makes your character harder to kill for a turn, you have better ways to accomplish that task. Don't take it.

The Other Trickster's Shard
Pretty nifty item, and worth taking on a hero character from time to time. Against Daemons it's going to be VERY frustrating.

Ironcurse Icon
Very inexpensive, but almost worthless. If you really have nothing better to spend the points on, you may as well take it.

Potion of Foolhardiness
Not much use- you have good ways to make yourself resistant to psychology for the game. Not a big concern for a Dark Elf player.

Potion of Speed
Dark Elf initiative is generally high enough that this item won't get the jump on any opponents. Not useful.

On vacation!

2010-08-07T10:00:00.001-04:00

I'm off to Vegas for a few days (my first time there), so I'll be away from the blog for a bit, but have no fear, I have the remainder of the Dark Elf posts coming up throughout next week!

My spare room is now fully unpacked. That means once I'm back, I'm going to be working hard on assembling/painting some miniatures. Looking forward to it!

Everyone have a good week!

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 6: Magic Items (Arcane Items)

2010-08-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

Although many of the Arcane Items are cool, its important to keep in mind that you're going to be a little limited due to only taking a sorceress or two in your army.

Book of Ashur
Not really going to help you much. Especially not for its points cost. Pretty poor item.

Black Staff
Not very good with the changes to bound spells. I guess you could use it to have a single sorceress cast Power of Darkness more than once (maybe?), but it's going to be easier to cast the spell yourself, and since you're pretty likely to get it off these days, this item is just a waste.

Feedback Scroll
You're paying a high amount of points to try to damage an opponent's wizard. I don't really think it's worth it- the points spent here are better spent on trying to get more offensive magic out of your own sorceresses, I think.

Scroll of Leeching
This scroll is kind of cool, but I don't think it's going to be powerful or useful enough to warrant its cost. You certainly won't be putting it on one of the 1-2 sorceresses you're taking.

Sivejir's Hex Scroll
Pretty funny, but another scroll that's just not worth taking. Players likely will be running higher level wizards to take advantage of the bonuses provided by their level, meaning you're not likely to see this work.

Power Scroll
I'm not sure. A lot of players are talking about running this on a cheap flyer, flying next to your opponent's lines, and then throwing every die you can at a spell for it to go off, hoping that the miscast causes additional damage to the unit near the wizard. I don't like it. It feels against the spirit of the game, but I bet people end up seeing that. I personally can't see myself using it, but if you're interested, do it on a Supreme Sorceress (on 7 die, this trick will always work) with the Pendant of Khaeleth. You'll get it off, and likely survive the miscast to go and cause havoc later on. There are a few ways to stop flying sorceresses before they can pull this off, but there are other ways to get it to work too. Of course, it's possible that it won't do enough damage to warrant trying this. Hard to say at the moment.

Wand of Jet
Not so good. Use the Sacrificial Dagger instead.

Forbidden Rod
Has a pretty good chance to kill any Dark Elf sorceresses that tries to use it. Dark Elves have their own ways to generate more dice as well. I would skip it.

Staff of Sorcery
Might be worth it, but I think Dark Elf magic users should be equipped more offensively. Especially higher level magic users, who are going to be more effective than a level 2 Sorceress with this item at dispelling spells.

Trickster's Shard
Not worth it. You want your spells to go off, not try to salvage something useful after it's been dispelled. Use your points to get a better item.

Focus Familiar
Still a great item. Some spells have very short ranges, and using this you can extend your ranges without having to try for the harder-to-cast versions of those spells. This is definitely a top 2 Arcane Item for Dark Elf players.

Darkstar Cloak
A free Power Die is actually handy since it's hard to say how many you're going to get each turn. Power of Darkness is the better alternative here, of course, but if you're running enough Sorceresses, you may as well take this. Probably not for normal sized games.

Sacrificial Dagger
I'm convinced this is going to make Dark Elves THE scary magic race. There's a few benefits- it's a free die to every spell that sorceress casts, for the cost of a single Dark Elf soldier per spell. You get to see your roll before choosing to use the item as well. That's key. You can make sure to successfully cast those 'off by one' spell rolls, you can be very efficient in casting Power of Darkness, and you can see your risk for Irresistible Force/Miscasts. It's just a great item made even better by the changes to the magic phase.

Earthing Rod
A onetime help on the miscast table. No thanks. Take some protection from the results instead.

Dispel Scroll
Only taking one hurts, but it's still helpful to take it since magic is SO powerful now. You never know when someone will roll a 20-something on a spell without IF, and this is your only protection. Worth taking.

Power Stone
Not necessary if you're a Dark Elf since the Sacrificial Dagger and Power of Darkness give you plenty of dice.

Tome of Furion
Not bad, but it's hurt by the fact that there are better magic items you could take.

Sceptre of Stability
First, it's Arcane, which is sad because you have better Arcane Items. Second, you have the Seal of Ghrond, which is more useful over the course of a game. I don't see much place for it.

Channeling Staff
Alright, 15 points to slightly increase the chance that ONE of your wizards generates a die through channeling. Don't take it.

Scroll of Shielding
This is actually pretty useful, but I don't think you're going to see it widely in Dark Elf lists because there are plenty of good Arcane Items here. Perhaps if you're running Sorceresses solely for defense, but it still wouldn't be the first item you take. Not likely to see use.

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 6: Magic Items (Talismans)

2010-08-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

Black Amulet
This isn't a bad item, but is it really worth 25 more points than a Talisman of Preservation for a chance to do more wounds occasionally? I don't think so, personally.

Talisman of Preservation
For 5 points cheaper you can take the Pendant, which is usually better. However, this is always usable which is a nice feature at times. Certainly not a bad choice, especially if the Pendant is already being used.

Obsidian Lodestone
Pretty good, and probably going to be pretty standard for at least one character to take. 3 Null Talismans is the same points with the same effect, so you could protect two units from magic using this.

Ring of Darkness
It's only going to be useful with the Glittering Scales if you're going for that sort of build. Other than that, it doesn't provide that much help against shooting, and will only help you in close combat slightly.

Pendant of Khaeleth
A fantastic item, made even better because it's a great defense against suffering miscasts. I would expect to see this in every list for one of the characters.

Talisman of Endurance
Inferior to the Pendant and really not a good value for the protection it offers.

Obsidian Amulet
I don't really see much point of this, honestly. If you're going to get the protection from MR, why not get MR(3)? If you don't have the points, then I suppose this suffices.

Seal of Ghrond
A good choice in 8th edition, given how dispel dice are generated. You're going to love having an extra dispel die from time to time, and you aren't really paying all that much for it. Will find its way in a few lists. Since Magic Resistance changed to a ward save, you're going to need to find other ways to power your dispelling ability.

Pearl of Infinite Bleakness
If you have a Sorceress with the Sacrificial Dagger, you'll want to include this. Keeping the unit from running for whatever reason will be a huge help, especially later in the game when your greedy sacrificing is causing panic checks.

Ring of Hotek
They've changed this item so that it only affects wizards casting their spells within a specific range (instead of targeting). Overall, I think this change is better for the game, although this really hurts the utility of the item. Unless you are running the build that people occasionally tried in 7th (Master on a Dark Pegasus, Ring of Hotek, and Cloak of Hag Graef with a crossbow and lance), I don't think you're going to see this make any more appearances.

Dawnstone
Taking this with the Armor of Darkness provides some pretty great protection for cheap. Of course, if you lose your armor save, you're screwed, but even an armor piercing weapon will still provide you enough of a chance to use this. I could see taking it from time to time.

Opal Amulet
I don't think this is going to be worth it. One-time protection just isn't going to cut it when you're going to see a lot more attacks coming at you.

Obsidian Trinket
If you're only looking at MR(1), it's probably not going to be worth it... for a character. On a unit it's kind of cool, but generally you're better off taking a weapon for that unit if you can.

Null Talisman
Just read what I wrote about the Obsidian Lodestone, Amulet, or Trinket to see what I think for this choice. Overall, you'll probably see it.

Talisman of Protection
A 6+ Ward for a character really isn't going to protect you much. Pass.

Seed of Rebirth
A 6+ Ward for a character that you can negate easily is going to help you even less.

Dragonbane Gem
A fantastic addition to your defensive load if you aren't already taking a Talisman. Partners very well with the Armour of Eternal Servitude.

Pidgeon Plucker Pendant
Oooooh, a very specialized 5+ ward save! Probably not much use in this edition. Utterly worthless against a lot of armies.

Luckstone
Even though it's 5 points, I don't see it ever getting used. You need better things if you want good protection.

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 6: Magic Items (Armour)

2010-08-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

Onto Armor!

Armour of Living Death
You can turn your Dreadlord into T4! Oh wait, that's still pretty low. This is not the way to keep your Dreadlord alive. Especially for its points cost.

Armour of Destiny
Not bad... but you'll get more mileage out of running the Armour of Eternal Servitude with the Dragonbane Gem. If either of those are taken (and the Pendant of Khaeleth is already taken) THEN this becomes useful. Not a bad choice for throwing on a BSB however, since he's not likely to be the primary person to get the better items.

Trickster's Helm
It's a cool item, but for its cost I don't think it's going to be much help. Dark Elves are T3- you're going to be getting wounded so easily anyway that re-rolling isn't going to save you.

Armour of Silvered Steel
Take the Armour of Darkness instead. 20 points cheaper for a 1+ save. That's a ton better (and cheaper).

Armour of Fortune
It's not bad, but not great. 5+ isn't a high enough ward save to get excited about, but it's fine for its points. Given that you're not taking tons of characters, I would find better ways to equip them. Also, for non-flaming attacks, the Armour of Eternal Servitude is better.

Armour of Eternal Servitude
It's pretty fantastic, especially since you can combine it with the Dragonbane Gem to get good all-around protection, for a very reasonable cost.

Helm of Discord
This is kind of a cool item, honestly, but it's useless against some armies, and not really great against most. I bet there are armies out there that could make good use of it, but I don't think Dark Elves are one of them.

Glittering Scales
Unless you're trying one of the builds with the Ring of Darkness, this item isn't worth it. If you are trying one of those builds though, please let me know how it's working!

Shield of Ptolos
It's not very difficult for Dark Elf characters to get to 1+ armor save, or even to 2+. Designed for other armies.

Cloak of Hag Graef
This only helps if the character is on his own (or in a small enough unit), and if you're doing that, you're better off with the Pendant, or some other protection. No thanks.

Armour of Darkness
Still a great buy. 25 points nets you the best armor save you can get. Combined with the Pendant, you're VERY well protected. Makes a great item for your BSB, Dreadlord, or any combat hero.

Shield of Ghrond
Basically, you consider yourself to be Toughness 4. As I've said, that's really not enough protection, especially since you can't take other magic armour if you take it. Don't take it.

Spellshield
Better ways to get Magic Resistance. Don't take it.

Gambler's Armour
A 6+ ward save isn't worth spending 20 points on. Again, don't take it.

Blood Armour
This wasn’t a good item in 6th, but is not a terrible choice in 8th. Most people are saying that the Black Dragon Egg will work with this, and as far as I can tell, this works. That means this is a VERY easy way to get to a 1+ armor save. Coupled with a high Initiative as well as a halberd (a great choice for Dark Elves these days), you are going to get a great armor save for very cheap. Consider taking it.

Dragonhelm
I really like this, because it's a great counter for the Lore of Metal and pairs fantastically with the Pendant of Khaeleth. If you're trying to get good protection on your character, this is a good addition.

Enchanted Shield
If Dark Elves could pay 5 points for this, it would be great. Since they have to pay 15 for now, it's really not worth it. You can get a plain shield, and pick up the Dragonhelm for the same benefit, and a ward save against flaming attacks.

Charmed Shield
Not a good choice, even for its points. You aren't made much more survivable by having a single chance to ignore a hit.

Dark Elves in 8th, Part 6: Magic Items (Weapons)

2010-08-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

Well, there are a lot of magic items in the new edition, so to save people from having to read one post with a wall of text, I'm going to break this up somewhat.

First, I'll start with weapons, and each category of magic weapons will follow.

One thing to keep in mind is that you have units that can take magic items: Black Guard and Cold One Knights. It's probably worth throwing a cheap item on them if you take either of those units, so that you can make them more effective (and give them a way to handle ethereal models).

Executioner's Axe
Always Strikes Last is a huge deal when you're a T3 model on foot. Being able to do multiple wounds is nice, but even if you're using the ASF banner so that you can strike at I8, you're still not likely to get many swings. This weapon is of course even less useful given all the infantry you'll likely see. Ditch it.

Giant Blade
Brings you up to S7, which is where you want to be to go after some of the big things in the game. A little costly, but it still leaves you enough points to take a magical armor (Armour of Eternal Servitude is a good choice) plus something small to give you some options. You can also take a mount, which can get you where you need to be.

Sword of Bloodshed
More attacks are going to be very handy in this edition. Combine with a Potion of Strength on your Dreadlord to really lay into big things. Of course, for 25 fewer points, you can take a Hydra Blade, which isn't reliable, but probably more cost effective. I likely won't be taking this.

Sword of Ruin/Obsidian Blade
I wouldn't bother with these, as you actually have fairly effective means of breaking through armor saves. Your KB assassins, Hydras, and Black Guard w/ AP attacks should do a fine enough job in that role.

Web of Shadows
Not worth it. 50 points to do a bunch of weak hits to a single model just isn't going to provide any benefit the army doesn't already have.

Chillblade
It's a fairly worthless item. It's only really helpful against characters (it's actually WORSE against single-wound units) or Monstrous anything, but it's not very likely to work against either. It's a lot of points for a slim chance to stop something from attacking.

Ogre Blade
Strength 6 is going to be very handy as well, but this is a pretty expensive way to go about it. For 15 points less, you can get the Crimson Death, which actually performs slightly better. Leave it out.

Sword of Strife
As good as the Hydra Blade for 5 points more. You'll probably take this over it, because it's more reliable, but if you need the 5 points for a combo or whatever, the Hydra Blade is a fine replacement.

Heartseeker
This is mostly pointless, as you already re-roll to hit in the first round of combat. You're paying the points here for the chance to re-roll wounds. With S4, that's handy, but you're better off paying the points for more attacks usually, or more bodies in a unit.

Hydra Blade
This is cheap enough to stick on a hero with something else. It's great if you take a Potion of Strength, and it's random enough to be annoying at times, but overall it's a good value, and it's probably going to be very handy for a cheap hero when you're going against all those units.

Caledor's Bane
It probably won’t to see much use. It's better than a lance for a lot more points. Negating Scaly Skin is nice against certain armies, and worthless against others. You also have to be mounted to use it. Perhaps with some of the Dragon Lord builds it may come in handy, but that will take a few games to determine its utility.

Fencer's Blades
WS10 is interesting. Combined with the Ring of Darkness and Glittering Scales on your Dreadlord, you will make it very tough to hit you in close combat (as well as provide the unit with protection against shooting). They'll need to be WS 9 or 10 to hit your Dreadlord on anything but a 6. Of course, what role could he really fill? Who knows? I'd pass unless trying it out actually shows some merit.

Dagger of Hotek
Kind of pointless. If you're really concerned about getting ASF, you're better off taking the Banner of Hag Graef.

Lifetaker
This is still pretty fantastic, especially now that the shots count as magical attacks. It's worth giving to your Sorceresses even. Put a Supreme Sorceress with this and the Guiding Eye (and maybe a Focus Familiar) in a unit of Crossbowmen (of decent size) and you'll have a fantastic shooting unit with a VERY impressive single turn of shooting at some point. Throw this in any list somewhere, just to take advantage of the easy magical shots.

Sword of Anti-Heroes
This will not be much use. Players are not going to be running multiple heroes in the same unit these days, and the benefits of meeting a single hero in unit are pretty light.

Crimson Death
Still fantastic. Your Dreadlord or Master can take this to strengthen up their attacks and still have plenty of points for other magic items (combines well with many of them). You could also put this on a Champion in a unit of Black Guard for three attacks that always re-roll to hit. Another Magic Weapon that will get a lot of play.

Deathpiercer
Still pretty effective, as Killing Blow is still really helpful, but I don't know if there's a good way to get a character wielding this delivered effectively. I'll give it a shot from time to time, however.

Whip of Agony
An inferior Crimson Death, but this lets you take a shield to be only S5. Armor Piercing means you're still doing a good job on breaking armor though. If you've already given the Crimson Death to someone, this is a fine choice.

Spellthieving Sword
The effect of this sword will so rarely be useful; I can't see ever spending the points on it.

Sword of Swift Slaying
Again, for the most part, you're better off taking the Banner of Hag Graef instead of this if you're so concerned about getting ASF. I don't really see much point, since you're pretty high Initiative to start, so this is another item that won't get much play.

Berserker Blade
Really not a bad choice. Our Sword of Battle is the same cost, so with this you gain Immune to Psychology with only a small drawback. There's potential here, especially for various 'hard to kill' lords (since he can ignore a lot of Psych effects).

Soulrender
Not bad, but you'll need to combine it with something to provide either ASF (Banner of Hag Graef) or protection (Pendant of Khaeleth) to get the most out of it. It's affordable though, and it's probably worth it if you can afford ASF or the protection.

Sword of Striking
I'd skip it. You have hatred to help with hitting, and there are not too many cases where you'll really need the +1.

Sword of Battle
We have to pay 20 points for this instead of the 15 that's listed in the BRB. I'd take the Berserker Sword instead.

Sword of Might
Another item that's cheaper in the BRB. Only worth taking if you badly need a magic weapon, but even so it's probably not worth it. Most times, take a Halberd instead.

Gold Sigil Sword
Moving from I7 or I8 to I10 isn't going to get you going ahead of many things in the game. Skip it.

Relic Sword
A fairly good item, but only really helpful against T6 or higher models. It's a cheap magic weapon, however, and you will need some magic weapons to handle ethereal models, so might be worth throwing on a character if you don’t have it covered otherwise.

Shrieking Blade
Eh, Fear isn't as good as it used to be, so I don't think it's worth taking.

Tormentor Sword
Cheap magic weapon, but Stupidity is not likely to provide much benefit, especially since you'll be in combat with the target anyway, which means they won't be testing for stupidity until either they've broken (and hopefully been run down), or you've broken (which is bad).

Warrior Bane
Don't bother. Better than the Tormentor Sword for cheap magic weapons, but I don't see it being useful enough to warrant inclusion. But only 5 points! If you need a magic weapon somewhere, this makes a good second choice (behind the Relic Sword).

Biting Blade
Dark Elves have to pay 10 points for this instead of 5. Sad. If you need a cheap magic weapon, this also can come in handy... but you're probably better off taking a slightly more expensive option.

Our July Competition Results

2010-08-02T13:13:00.002-04:00

Alright, the competition's basic rules (and competitors) are here, near the bottom. The winners for this month:

Painting: Ben wins this, since he is the only one who put any paint on his models. Pretty embarrassing for the rest of us ;).

Playing Games: With 4 tournament sized games of Warhammer, plus competing in a campaign, Frans takes this category.

Blogging: Because I can't do anything but TALK about games, I end up winning here.

Construction: Our closest category by far. Frans and Rob both assembled a lot of models, but the point for July goes to BK! With a lot of models for both Warmachine and Warhammer, he narrowly edged out the competition.

My spare room is mostly set up... mostly. That means I'm hoping to start competing in some of the other categories too. You can bet that our group isn't going to make it easy on any of us to get these points!

Scores so far:
Ben: 1 (1 Painting)
Frans: 1 (1 Playing)
Steve (me): 1 (1 Blogging)
BK: 1 (1 Construction)
Rob: 0
Nathan: 0

Time to start working on August!

Warwitch Deneghra Tier 4 List

2010-07-26T17:00:00.001-04:00

Well, the second of my three main Cryx casters is regular Deneghra (the last is the Witch Coven, who I'll get around to eventually).

Deneghra's tiered list is a little weird. Its very jack focused, which is not how I usually run her, but it gets some interesting advantages.

Extra Warwitch Sirens plus Advance Deployment on them. Everyone seems to love these girls. They are basically mini-Deneghras, and get Power Booster to help out with Jack efficiency, as well as an extra venom attack for killing infantry or going in for the assassination. This is already a pretty good start.
+1 on the starting roll for the game. You'll already have a lot of Advanced Deployment/Movement. Going first means you can be in your opponent's face really early.
Free bonejack! Of course, you'll have to take 4 bonejacks just to achieve this, but how can you turn down a free jack? I chose a Ripjaw, since it's the most expensive. Also, it'll fill a role we'll need some help with.
Advance Move on Helljacks. Moving my jacks 6" forward to start the game and increasing my chance to go first lets me get some great threat on my opponent early.

Pretty good advantages. Of course, that really will depend on what we can take to take advantage of it.

My list:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Nightwretch
- Nightwretch
- Nightwretch
- Ripjaw (free!)
- Stalker
- Seether
- Seether
- Skarlock Thrall
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren

That looks pretty unpleasant. Let's take a look at some of the pieces.

Deneghra: Well she has to be there, since this is her list. Deneghra is the starter box caster, and will probably get the most play for any new-ish Cryx player. Fortunately, she's fantastic. Her feat can both allow your assassination run to work flawlessly, as well as provide your models some protection (by reducing your opponent's attack stats). If things are bad temporarily, you can always just walk away (ignoring free strikes), and with Stealth she gets some protection from ranged attacks.

Her spells are FANTASTIC. Parasite and Crippling Grasp will cause you to debuff multiple units (and on her feat turn, it's going to be even worse!). Ghost Walk is going to get your tools into place safely. Scourge will get you a bunch of knockdowns, and Venom is your primary way of killing things (2 focus for a POW 10 spray? Awesome). With your debuff spells (and the feat, of course) even that POW 10 is going to be scary. She can't completely win on her own, but her spells are going to make anything you take better.

Light Jacks: I took 3 Nightwretches, a Stalker, and a Ripjaw, which is free. You are required to take 4 bonejacks to get that free bonejack, but even if it wasn't required I could see taking that many bonejacks with her anyway. You need those arc nodes to get spells into position, and here we have 4.

The Nightwretches provide some moderate short range shooting, but on a target that's been Crippling Grasp'd, you can actually put out some damage. Of course, their primary role is as an Arc Node.

The Ripjaw functions as an arc node as well, but it also can deal some damage to heavy jacks, which is something this list needs. It's free in the list, so it's definitely worth its points! It can also help lock an opponent in place, which combined with the Pistol Wraiths could come in handy to set up an attack lane.

The Stalker is interesting. It's not an arc node, but can ignore spell effects that add to my opponent's DEF or ARM. That's only things that add to it- so if I am debuffing the model, those will still count. This means that I can kill most things that have been Crippling Grasp'd. Pathfinder + Spd 7 will help it get there in time to matter.

Heavy Jacks: I chose two Seethers here for one reason: focus efficiency. Not only do they and charge for free, but they generate a focus point on their own! Deneghra has a good focus value, but she'll be pretty strained with all the spells she's going to need to get off, as well as having to put some focus on her jacks to get them into position. Anything that helps out is great. These guys qualify.

Chain Attacks: Grab & Smash is kind of cool too- beat something and then two-handed throw it? That's some pretty hefty disruption. There are certainly potentials there.

Units: Well, I included a single unit of Mechanithralls here. They don't have a main role they are designed to fill- they can function as a good anti-infantry unit, or deal some damage to jacks. Really they are there solely for numbers. They may kill a few things, and for their cost that's really all you can ask of them.

Bile Thralls were another allowed option, but going anti-infantry isn't a problem with this army anyway, I'm guessing.

Solos: 7 Solos in this army, so they had better be good!

The Skarlock doesn't require much explanation. He gives me a free spell a turn. Even another casting of Venom every turn can add up to something useful. He might also try to throw a Parasite on something prior to Deneghra's activation if something dangerous is in range.

The Pistol Wraiths, strangely, are there to handle heavy jacks. Shooting infantry can really come in handy (to get some tokens), but I'm mainly concerned with freezing enemy jacks in place with Chain Attack: Death Chill. Other than chipping away slowly at heavy jacks, I don't have a good way to kill them. With the Pistol Wraiths, I might not have to. They can either move or take their action. They can try to move into contact with some of my things to hold it in place, but then you can just Ghost Walk whatever it was out of there. If the jack doesn't have a ranged attack, they really don't have many ways to use them once I chill them (other than killing the Pistol Wraiths while they are vulnerable).

Finally, the Warwitch Sirens. They, as said, act as mini-Deneghras, plus give some more focus assistance. Power Booster is handy primarily early on, to give a focus to your Bonejacks so that they can move up into range. Some turns, they'll even give some focus for your jacks to use for something more useful. They will be great when your army meets the opposing army, because they can cast Venom. Every one will be using a spray template that not only will do some damage (with Deneghra's spells), but also will cause Corrosion if they hit. That's death for most infantry, and if you get lined up on your opponent's caster on the feat turn, it's going to be a scary thing. At 2 points apiece, you may as well take as many as you can.

Necrotechs were another allowed Solo, but I didn't see much point. The jacks should be pretty far up right away, and while picking up the wreck markers would be pretty helpful, I'm not sure the byproduct from that labor would pay off in time. I'm expecting to put the pressure on quick, keep it on for a few turns, and then go for the kill.

Anyway, there you have it. Should be a fun army to run, I'm guessing. Thoughts?

Dark Elves in 8th: Part 5: Rare

2010-07-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

Small post, as we have limited selection, and there’s not really much to say.

Repeater Bolt Throwers: They do exactly what they did before- give Dark Elves some long range shooting threat. With the changes to how wounds are done to warmachines, however, they have become very vulnerable to any other form of shooting. Before, you could depend on the randomization of hits to provide the crew some protection. Now you'll have to hope your opponent doesn't roll a 6 to wound, because if he does, you lose a crew. These guys are very likely to bite it once your opponent has range to it. Still... you may want to take one or two, just so you have that ranged threat. Depends on your army, I suppose.

War Hydra: Last edition, this choice was so common that you would almost always see a player taking two. They were fast, breath weapons were awesome, and they could break units all by themselves.

Now... not so much. A single one might be helpful, but really they're only going to be useful for adding extra wounds to a combat. Basically, it'll function as another chariot. On the first turn it gets into combat (and assuming you haven't used the breath weapon) you'll be causing over 10 wounds to most troops. Combined with a ranked up unit to help combat steadfast, you'll have a good chance to break an opponent. Of course, after that the Hydra isn't quite so effective, but will still help stack up some wounds in combat.

In short, either one is somewhat useful, but neither are great. Given I'm running Black Guard mainly, I could see running either of these choices as support, but probably only one. Will have to work out the points to figure out exactly what.

Dark Elves in 8th, part 4: Special

2010-07-23T15:17:00.001-04:00

Now into the meat of the army: Special choices. With the ability to spend up to 50% of your points here (and of course, a limit of 3 of any particular choice), you'll be able to get a lot out of these units.

Shades: Still a pretty good choice, but you probably aren't going to be seeing any 'Shade Deathstars' given the new rules. Skirmishers took a bit of a hit, so they've taken quite a hit in utility. However, Shades are still very cool because they are scouts, which will come in handy for both occasional scenarios and to explore 'Mysterious' terrain.

There's not too much point to take a ton of points here, or even huge units- units of 5 or so will generally be all you need. They can hunt down lone characters, take occasional shots at warmachines, and hopefully get on your opponent's nerves. Throwing an Assassin in here will allow you to get it up closer to your opponent's army where he can do some damage. For now, I'd probably skip out on giving them any upgrades, but that's going to be a matter of your regular opponents, as well as personal preference.

Witch Elves: Witch Elves are probably the most capable close combat troops that Dark Elves have. On the first turn of any combat, they should be able to out-kill anything else in the Dark Elf army. Unfortunately, with no armor save, they don't have the staying power necessary to really be useful. They'll be torn apart with shooting, but will do a bunch of wounds if they get into combat. They are a pretty good choice... unfortunately Dark Elves have a better one. If you are running with a LOT of Special troops, however, these girls make a great unit once you've maxed out on other things.

Har Ganeth Executioners: No point in taking them. Striking last means they'll have to survive in order to fight back. T3 and a 5+ armor save means it's not likely to happen. For a single point more per model, you can take a Black Guard, who is vastly superior. That means you aren't likely seeing these guys again. Even running them as a flanking unit doesn't work, since they are sooo easy to kill, and again will be going after whoever they charge.

Really a pity, since they are gorgeous models.

Cole One Knights: Hard to say what their role will be. They aren't breaking units on their own, and now you'll need at least 10 models (at 27 points apiece) to break ranks. That's not horrible, since they are durable (2+ armor save), meaning if they hit a flank they are likely to survive. They also do a pretty good amount of damage on the charge. They suffer from Stupidity, which hurts them a bit, since you can't 100% depend on them. I'm not really sure. I won't be taking them for a while at least, until I can think of a good use for them. I certainly will take them once or twice to see if I can find a place for them.

Cold One Chariot: Another choice where it's hard to say- I don't really know what the role for chariots will be in 8th. It seems that their best bet will be to hit a unit late in the game, to help break already depleted units. Chariots are obviously tougher to kill, since they got rid of the strength 7 auto-kill, and Dark Elf Chariots are among the toughest. With all the extra attacks coming at them, they may be LESS durable overall. Regardless, Dark Elf Chariots will no longer be charging units on their own- they need to join in with at least one infantry units to help break an opponent unit. Probably not going to be used in most lists, but definitely not useless.

Black Guard of Naggarond: The Witch King's personal enforcers and bodyguards are certainly going to see a lot of play. I'm definitely not the only person to think so, either.

Black Guard are FANTASTIC. Not very expensive, good weapon skill, initiative 6, multiple strength 4 attacks, and their special rules mean that they are going to be chopping up a lot of enemies every turn. Stubborn and Immune to Psychology mean that your Black Guard are going to be sticking around throughout the game. With a BSB nearby, they aren't likely to break from combat, no matter how badly it goes. With Warrior Elite, they'll be re-rolling their to-hit rolls every round, unlike other Dark Elves. That means that even with a less than desirable to-hit number (as a result of items, maybe), you're still going to be hitting plenty.

They can also take a 50 pt magic banner (and there are several great options), as well as give their champion a 25 pt magic item (also several good choices). These are going to be your primary units (in the Special slot). They are just great against any unit your opponent is going to be bringing into them. Take at least one unit. Heck, take two if you can. The link I posted even says you should take three! Each unit has a max of 20- you certainly want to make sure each unit is full, along with a full command. That's 295 pts + up to 75 total points of magic items. Really, just a great deal and a great buy. I'll be fielding them- you probably will too.

Alright, overview of the Special choices done. Short synopsis, again: take Black Guard. Next up is a brief post on Rare choices, then Magic Items, then Magic Lores, then what my army list will end up being.

Dark Elves in 8th, part 3: Core

2010-07-21T15:50:00.000-04:00

Dark Elf core choices are overall pretty good, even in 8th, so you can't go too wrong with any.

Dark Elf Warriors: Good initiative and hatred, but not much else. However they are very inexpensive, so will likely be used as Sacrificial Dagger food for most Dark Elf armies. I would probably give them shields, even so, since they'll be slightly better at handling bow fire, but the other upgrades are likely not going to be used. Maybe a musician if you think you'll be moving, maybe a banner (for 6 points!) if you need it to have enough for Blood and Glory. You have the option of giving them a magic banner as well, but it's wasted on these guys. Take them if you want to run a Sacrificial Dagger, otherwise don't bother.

Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen: Same as last edition- lots of shots for a pretty good cost. 100 points nets you a 10-man unit of these, and since they can fire in two ranks, they aren't taking much space on your battle line. Not sure if I'd bother with shields most of the time, but if you need the points to get to the minimum core, it's a good way to spend them. Since you must have a certain amount of core, these guys make a pretty good choice, and they can do a really good job of causing some casualties on units as they advance towards you. As you'll need a certain amount of banners (to handle the Blood and Glory scenario) they may be a good place to put them as well (in this case, maybe give them shields). A musician may be handy since you don't want them running for long. I would probably skip out on a champion, however. A unit of 10 with a banner, a musician, and shields is a reasonable 125 points. Definitely take one or two units.

Black Ark Corsairs: I love corsairs. I remember putting them down during games against Sam (our Daemon player), and hearing him vocalize his hatred of them. They've always been very effective for me, and although they haven't really lost effectiveness, I think they've been overcome by units from the special slot (namely Black Guard). Their Slaver rule helps to run down units, but since other units are better for breaking opponents it's not likely to come up except as a supporting unit. Sadly, they just don't have much of a place anymore. Take Black Guard or Witch Elves instead.

Dark Riders: Still serve a similar, but reduced, role as in the previous edition. They are fast (and slightly faster because of their Vanguard move, as well as being allowed to take a Leadership test to march). They are still very maneuverable because they get free reforms. They no longer get the 360 degree line of sight for shooting, which is a minor loss, and now they aren't going to be breaking ranks since you'll need at least 10 to do so. I'll still end up taking a unit with crossbows and a musician, solely for harassment and occasionally hunting warmachines, fliers, or skirmishers. They are a great unit for going and getting behind my opponent for whatever purposes I need. They are still a fine choice, and for the same cost as crossbowmen, you get half the shots but a lot more mobility to them. In my case, they're also my only painted unit, so they'll have to be included ;).

Harpies: Our flying skirmisher unit, and formerly a staple of many Dark Elf armies. They don't count for our minimum core requirement, which hurts. I'm not sure they have much of a role anymore. March blocking is gone, so they aren't too handy for that (yeah, your opponent can fail a leadership test, but I don't consider that reliable enough a strategy to justify taking them). They aren't really any better for hunting down warmachines (Dark Riders and Shades can do it just as well). Skirmishers are a little weaker, since they actually have a facing as a unit. Shades are a bit more expensive, but they can do any role these guys can, and are more offensively potent. I don't see Harpies making many appearances in Dark Elf armies.

Assassins: Not really core, but they're listed in that section, so they get covered here. Assassins in the last edition were fantastic. They'd pop up, wipe out a rank of infantry, and would often turn the course of the combat all by their lonesome.

Now... that's not really going to work. Assassins are really going to be relegated to specific roles. I can think of two primary ones:

Character killer - Assassin w/ Extra Hand Weapon, Rune of Khaine, and Touch of Death (151 pts). You're looking at 5-7 attacks, always re-rolling to hit, and going first, and usually getting at least 1 killing blow result. That should do some damage. I'd also consider giving him Dark Venom to lose your Poisoned Attacks (since they can't KB) as well as REALLY take advantage of killing something in a challenge.

Scouting Assassin - Assassin w/ Manbane and Rending Stars (145 pts). Combined with a unit of shades, this will STILL provide a great amount of effective shooting.

I could see taking at least one, regardless. Probably the former, however.

So, with a 625 point minimum, what am I likely going with?

5 Dark Riders w/ musician, repeater crossbowmen - 117
10 Crossbowmen w/ standard bearer, musician - 115
10 Crossbowmen w/ standard bearer, musician - 115
10 Crossbowmen w/ musician - 105
25 Dark Elf Warriors w/ Shields - 175

Just enough. That gives us plenty of shooting, and plenty of bodies to power your spells!

Next up: Special!

Dark Elves in 8th, part 2: Heroes

2010-07-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

Continuing with my Dark Elf thoughts, let's look at the Heroes available to a Dark Elf army, and see if they are going to be useful in 8th. Although we have 625 points to work with, we don't want to spend all our hero points, since we'll need to stock up on rank and file.

Malus Darkblade, Scion of Hag Graef: 275 points for a 3 attack close combat model isn't going to cut it. You'll need attacks to break through the extra infantry you're likely to see, and he really can't do it, even with his special rules. Really has no place in 8th.

Shadowblade, Master of Assassins: Well, a special character that might have a role. With the changes to guess weaponry (i.e. getting rid of it) having an easy way to drop war machines will be handy. Shadowblade can do it, for half your hero points. I'm not sure whether he'll be worth it, since he's only killing one per turn, but if your opponent happens to line them up, he'll wipe them out. Shades + Rending Star assassins probably do the role better, however. They are also cheaper, and more versatile. That means he's not making the cut.

Lokhir Fellheart, Captain of the Tower of Blessed Dread: Not terrible, but for 100+ points more than a regular master for the same stats and only a few special rules to offset the difference, I'm not terribly sure he's worth it. The Merciless Slaver rule really could cause him to make up the difference in points VERY quickly, and Daring Leap can help extend Lokhir's survivability (since he only has a 4+ save and regen) - send him to a corner of the unit to help reduce the number of attacks coming his way. The big key will be his ability to kill things. Extra attacks per opponent's ranks will be a help with a more infantry-centric game, but if it's just 2-3 extra attacks I'm not sure it'll make up the cost difference between him and another master. I'm going to try running him in a list from time to time to see how I like him before putting the final judgment on him. For now, I'm guessing he's out.

Sorceress: A Hero-level wizard may come in handy for support, since I think going fairly magic-strong is going to be the Dark Elf's key to success. 185 pts for a level 2 w/ a few magic items isn't too pricey, but before buying one, we really need to examine their role.

If you're going 'magic heavy', you're probably running two level 4s (even just one would give you enough offensive ability, however). They are likely to be casting the majority of your spells, as well as using up most of your Power Die. That means the regular Sorceress would really only be helpful for casting a supporting spell of some sort, since she'll have to do it with few dice (although with Power of Darkness, she may get some extra to cast some higher spells). Lore of Fire would be a good choice here, since the signature spell is able to be cast at three different levels to suit the amount of dice you have available. Lore of Death isn't a bad choice either. I don't know that I'd bother running her with any equipment in this case. Maybe a Dispel Scroll or the Seal of Ghrond.

If I wasn't going magic heavy (or if I didn't take a Lord level wizard), I could see running a pair of Sorceresses effectively. One with Sacrificial Dagger and the Pearl of Infinite Bleakness would get a moderate amount of magic off, and one with a Dispel Scroll and the Seal of Ghrond would provide defense. Without a level 4 you're really hoping to remove enemy casters early for either of these to be effective.

I think the best and most balanced bet (as in last edition) will be to run a level 4 and a level 2. I'd give the level 2 the Seal of Ghrond almost always (the extra dispel die is going to be vital), but I'm not sure what else. I will have to look at the magic items fully (in a later post).

Master: There are tons of options here, and you're going to likely be taking at least one. The Master's role is entirely item-dependent, so I'm going to wait until I get to items to cover him more completely (mainly because I need to think more about it). You will probably want a BSB, given its current rules; of course the setup (and whether he takes a magic banner) will take some thinking.

Death Hag: More specifically, the Cauldron of Blood. I don't see why you wouldn't take this thing. With all the infantry you will probably be fielding given the new rules, this can act as a huge enhancement. Killing Blow, +1 Attack, or a 5+ Ward Save are all useful abilities, and having some flexibility to switch between them, as well as combining them with various augments or hexes mean that Dark Elves can have fairly potent infantry. I wouldn't bother putting Gifts on the Death Hag, since I really only view her as being useful in the Cauldron. Putting her with a unit seems to be too risky since she doesn't have a save without spending 30 points, and she's far safer and more useful with the Cauldron. I'll be keeping the CoB in mind when I start examining the infantry units we can take as well.

Again, not much useful information here I'm sure (since so much of heroes is dependent on their equipment), but I promise we'll come back and look at ways to kit these guys out usefully.

Next will actually be Core choices. Spells and Equipment are only really handy once we know what the rest of our army will be (and knowing what it can't handle). Will have it posted as soon as I can.

Iron Lich Asphyxious Tier 4 List

2010-07-16T13:57:00.001-04:00

So I REALLY love the theme lists in the Forces of Warmachine books. Not only do I love themed armies, but getting various bonuses for restricting your choices (as well as providing a reason to take some of these choices) is just too cool to pass up.

With that in mind, I'm going to start investigating them (as well as my 8th edition Dark Elves, which should continue on Monday), starting with my favorite Cryx caster, Iron Lich Asphyxious.
Let's take a quick look at the benefits of running him at Tier 4:

Mechanithrall units can advance deploy: Given that they get 2 attacks apiece, are fairly inexpensive, and Asphyxious's spells can make them terrifying to almost anything, having them get up the table faster (as well as getting some knowledge of where my opponent's threats are prior to setting them up) is extremely handy.
Cheaper Slayers and Corruptors: I've never used the Corruptor, but a decreased point cost may make it worth it. We'll see. I do love Slayers, however. Five point, fast heavies with 2 attacks backed up by a versatile caster? Very handy.
Free wreck markers: Because the list allows you to run the Cankerworm (who heals from wreck markers) and Necrotechs (who create things out of the wreck markers), starting the game with a bunch for no cost is very handy.
Faster warjacks on the first turn of the game: I will be running a bunch of Slayers, so letting them run 16 inches on my first turn is great.

This is the 50 point list I'd run, and I'll explain the pieces afterwards.

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Cankerworm
- Deathripper
- Corruptor
- Slayer
- Slayer
- Slayer
- Skarlock Thrall
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
- 2 Brute Thrall
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
- 2 Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls
Machine Wraith
Machine Wraith
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall
Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall

That's 4 heavy and 2 light wreck markers as well.

Asphyxious: Obviously, Iron Lich Asphyxious needs to be your warcaster for this army to be allowed. I'm fairly sure almost any army can be made around him, because he's so useful overall. He has a good debuff spell in Parasite, a good enhancing spell in Scything Touch, good direct damage with Hellfire, good crowd control with Breath of Corruption, and a handy utility spell in Teleport. His weapon is strong enough (combined with his spells) to put a serious beating on anything that gets too close to him, and on his feat turn he's going to spend 14 focus dealing some beatings.

Warjacks: Any non-character warjack is allowed in addition to the Cankerworm. That unfortunately leaves out the Deathjack, but it leaves more than enough choices for Asphyxious.

Obviously with the point reduction of Slayers, you'll want to take them. They are good melee jacks with 3 attacks to help clear out infantry, and potential to harm heavy jacks. Two open hands really come in handy from time to time too.

The Cankerworm is a requirement for the Theme List, and he's pretty cool- being able to take a weapon off of a wreck marker (once I destroy some of my opponent's jacks) is going to be a fun ability. Eating a wreck marker to heal is just an additional bonus.

The Corruptor is in there because he's a point cheaper than normal, and I can see him adding some utility. Burster will probably not get much use, but Distillation and Psycho Venom are going to be occasionally handy. RAT 5 will take some work to pull off hits though. Still, I can't think of a better army to actually run the model in.

The Deathripper is the only Arc Node I'm running (although the Corruptor can make temporary ones), which is very strange for my normal style. I think that with all the other things on the table, my opponent is going to be more focused on the scary things, and less focused on the arc node. And heck, if they want to take some shots at the arc node, that's fine too- just means the rest of my army is getting closer!

All these jacks, as I've noted, give me free wreck markers on the table to help power other parts of my army.

Units: Bane Thralls, Bile Thralls, Mechanithralls, and Necrosurgeons are allowed. As you can see, I only took Mechanithralls and some Necrosurgeons.

I'm not sure Bile Thralls really fit the theme of the army, and on top of that, I'm not sure there's much need for them. Yes, they're great for clearing out infantry, but I think I have enough tools to handle that. I'll re-evaluate after actually playing a game with the list though. Bane Thralls are one of my favorite units, but again, they don't have a role that I can't fill with something else. Also, neither of those two units gets a benefit from the theme list.

Mechanithralls are a great unit- they're so cheap! 2 attacks apiece give them a way to handle infantry, and their Combo Strike gives them an option against higher ARM models. Gaining Advance Deploy gets them up in the action faster (allowing them to keep up with the jacks). They gain additional help from the Necrosurgeons, who can potentially replenish the unit (as well as heal my caster). The Brute Thralls obviously add extra punch. 18 points for 32 models is a great deal- especially 32 models that will get my opponent's attention.

Solos: Moderate options here.

Bloat Thralls are one of the few Cryx artillery options, and hand us a way to deal with infantry, which may be a problem for this list, but I left them out for now. I think the list can handle infantry without their help. We will see.

I added two Machine Wraiths, not because I think they'll win me the game, but they are just so annoying to deal with sometimes. If I run against a jack-heavy army, I can hold two jacks down and force my opponent to waste focus getting them back, or force them to waste attacks damaging their own jacks to knock the Wraiths out. You can never tell what these guys are going to be able to screw over.

Necrotechs are a required part of the army, but are useful given the composition. Keeping my jacks healthy is a much needed skill given the number of jacks. Once the jacks are dead, spitting out a bunch of Scrap Thralls lets my jacks serve an extra purpose- those Scrap Thrall bombs add up! Starting with Wreck markers on the board means I can get Scrap Thralls out there early too.

Finally, there's a Skarlock. I take it in almost every army I'm allowed to.

Army Tactics: So I haven't played this yet, but I intend to shortly. This army has a bunch of models, plus the ability to create a few more. The jacks spearhead the assault, and should be able to either damage things in their way or disrupt my opponent's line. The Mechanithralls follow up, and swarm over my opponent's army, killing what they can. Everything else supports those waves. Asphyxious and the Skarlock support my front line with Scything Touch and Parasite (plus the occasional damage spell). The Necrotechs pick up a few wreck markers and send the Scrap Thralls forward (as well as repair jacks when they get to them). The Necrosurgeons keep the Mechanithrall units strong and heal Asphyxious from time to time. It should be a fairly durable army with a lot of threats.

I'll post some reports (and changes) once I get it in action.

Any thoughts?

Dark Elves in 8th, part 1: Lords

2010-07-15T15:02:00.000-04:00

Well, 8th edition is out, and is available all over to those who want it. Part of the fun of a new edition is that if there are significant changes, it's almost like getting a new army book for every army! That means it's helpful to go through your armies and try to figure out what's worth taking, and what might (or might not) work in the new edition.

Doing this for Empire would be easier, I'm sure, but unfortunately it just seems so tempting to run Empire as a gun-line given the changes to templates and the elimination of guess weaponry. Although that's not really want I want to run (I prefer to stay fairly balanced), it's going to actually take some more experience with the army before I can really tell what works (hordes vs. ranks, different infantry types, etc).

Dark Elves are a little simpler. That means I need to put some thought into them. So I'm going to write a few articles going over my thoughts on all the Dark Elf choices, and really try to determine for myself what I will be trying to build towards and running. Maybe my thoughts will be helpful to someone, or even better, maybe someone will have some thoughts that they can give me to enhance my playing!

I'm going off the basis that 2500 points is going to be the standard. I don't know if that's true, but it seems likely, and it's a perfectly fine place to start.

Today, we start with Lord choices. There are two things to consider with the analysis. First, I haven't played with these yet, so it's all theory. Second, I'm going to go through the magic items and spells as separate posts. That means I won't have much to say about magic item load-out on my characters quite yet.

Malekith, the Witch King: Let's start with the big guy. First, since we only have 625 pts for lords, he's going to be the only one we can take if we run with him. On top of that, he's not going to be able to afford a mount. That means Malekith on foot. He is a fairly powerful magic user (level 4 w/ both an extra power and dispel die), but he's twice as expensive as your other wizard choices. Due to a lack of mount, he's limited to a 4+ armor save and a 2+ ward against non-magical attacks, both of which are terrible, given how easy it is to get magic weapons or attacks now. Unbreakable and the ability to quell panic around him are very handy, but hardly worth the cost. Leave him at home.

Morathi, the Hag Sorceress: A better (but still pricey) choice. Level 4 with knowledge of all the Dark Lore spells, plus an additional +1 on all her casting is going to get all those Dark Lore spells off every turn (if you have the dice, of course). Of course, so would a Supreme Sorceress, minus knowledge of all the spells. 2+ ward save against magic (4+ against everything else) is nice, and there's no point to taking the more expensive of her weapon choices. Being able to buy an additional Enchanted and Arcane Item is nice as well... but she's already expensive. Another choice that will be better off left at home.

Crone Hellebron, The Hag Queen: First off, using her on her Manticore is out. No save of any kind? No thanks. She's not terribly overpriced, and does get 6+d3 Strength 10 attacks at Initiative 9. That's very killy. Sadly, with all the new infantry rules it's not going to be enough. Stepping up + attacking in ranks means that she's going to kill a lot, but get murdered with her T3 and no save. Making Witch Elves core is pretty cool (if you plan on using Witch Elves), and putting her in the unit would probably be alright, since the unit would kill a LOT with all those attacks. Heck, you could throw a Cauldron of Blood behind her and give the unit and her a ward save. That's a lot of points spent to just make her useful though. She's great for killing monsters or cavalry, assuming they are lower initiative than her, but it's probably not useful enough to warrant her inclusion. She's too vulnerable, and costs too many points.

Dreadlord: This is our basic combat/leadership lord. Decent overall stats, and not too terribly costly. His usefulness will really depend on his magic items. There are now a TON of options.

One build I always used last edition was the 'unkillable' lord. Of course, I didn't go the full way (didn't take the regenerating armor) but now he can be made even better: Dreadlord w/ Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Cold One, Sword of Might, Dragonhelm, Pendant of Khaeleth, and Crown of Command. For 280 points, that's a 2+ armor save, a reverse ward save, and a 2+ ward save against flaming attacks (to counter the Lore of Metal). He's stubborn on Leadership 10, also. This is apparently a common build on druchii.net, and its sole goal is to go after an opponent's block, and hold it up the entire game. If he's near a BSB, he's not likely to flee from losing combat, holding the block there even longer. I'll probably continue running this, since I loved it so much in 7th.

There are SO many different items and great combinations that it's hard to really know where to start. I'll try to cover things when I do magic items, but my likely Dreadlord build is there. Obviously his role changes, since he can't count on killing everything in contact with him, but he can make a fantastic assassin or do a fantastic job of delaying a part of the opponent's army.

Supreme Sorceress: Given how powerful the magic lores in the book are, and how important having a high level wizard is to competing in the magic phase, I think it would be a mistake to not take a Supreme Sorceress.

For 260 pts, you're getting a level 4 who has the potential to generate more power die through the Power of Darkness spell. Being limited to Fire, Metal, Shadow, or Death is hardly restrictive, as each of the lores has some significant benefits (and after I write about heroes, I'll try to decide what would be best to take her with). At her cost, you could easily run two, give them some upgrades, and have a very very effective magic phase.

Again, the choice of magic items is very flexible. The Pendant of Khaeleth (if I don't take my Dreadlord) is really helpful here, to protect her from miscasts. Combined with the Sacrificial Dagger, a single Supreme Sorceress can very effectively cause some serious damage. That would cost only 320 points, as well. For my purposes though, the Pendant is already taken, but the Sacrificial Dagger and the Pearl of Infinite Bleakness (common before) would only cost 310, and combined with a unit of Spearmen, would give me a fantastic magic phase. The Focus Familiar along with another item would be nice too, to get her out of the way and into some safety.

Again though, when I look at the magic items, I'll try to find some build ideas with her.

Not much help here, I realize, but I'd love to hear what lord builds people have been considering! Next I'll write about heroes, and after that our spell choices.

Skorne Deck + No Quarter 31

2010-07-08T10:05:00.004-04:00

I picked up both of these yesterday (along with the new Forces of Warmachine: Mercenaries book, but that's a topic for next post).

It's a very exciting time to play, that's for sure.

The Skorne deck is the easiest to start with: The cards are gorgeous, the warbeast circles are a bit bigger and easier to use, and the deck includes all of the minions that can work for Skorne (as I understand it, this is how all the decks are, so Trollbloods get a LOT of cards).

As I've said, I've never actually used my Skorne army, despite buying every model from the first book as they were coming out. No time like the present! If only I had the Hordes rules available so that I could see how (or if) they've changed the Fury/Frenzy/whatever rules. I can't wait to give these guys a try.

I will be posting my thoughts and my experiences with them as I get some play in. First up will be the starter box of Morghoul, 2 Cyclops Savage, and a Titan Gladiator. The hope is to play some small games during lunch with Ben as a starting point. After that, I'll be growing the point size as well as the variety of models I run.

No Quarter 31 is full of great information as well. Privateer Press has done a fantastic job with this magazine, and every issue from the first on has been worth picking up if you're into any of their games.

A few inclusions from NQ #31:

Rules for the Swamp Troll, Trollkin Skinner (for Trolls), Warpborn Skinwalkers, Wold Guardian (for Circle), Stinger (for Legion), Paingiver Task Master (for Skorne), Lord Carver, Gun Boar, War Hog, and Thrullg (for minions). I don't have the experience to comment on how good any of these are, but they are certainly all cool. The Gun Boar also has a rule called 'Bacon' that heals warbeasts when it dies. I'm not making that up. Thrullg is an interesting solo for my Skorne guys (he works for all the current Hordes factions), he's very anti-magic, but I don't know if I have many opponents who that's going to be useful against. Maybe Rob's Koldun Lord...
A long article on how to build a 'Jack Scrap Yard as a terrain piece. If only I had time to work on terrain, then I might be able to take a crack at some of these. They throw some very nice terrain articles in these No Quarters.
7 pages of tactical advice for Circle armies. No idea if the tips are any good, but they are probably a great start for people who need a tactical primer.
Rules for the first Minion Pact (similar to a Mercenary Contract)! The Thornfall Alliance is a collection of various Farrow models, with the ability to Advance Deploy. If nothing else, it gives a way to use Lord Carver plus his toys.
Theme force articles for the Witch Coven of Garghast (which I think is a pretty basic article), as well as one for Void Seer Mordikaar.
A sneak peek at the Warmachine video game, tips for creating swamp bases, painting the Rhinodon and using it in game, and how to collect and build a Cygnar army from 25 to 100 points by buying as 'precise and cost-friendly' as possible.

Overall, there's a LOT of great articles in this issue, and if you don't have it, you should definitely pick it up.

One edit: there's not much point in doing a Forces of Warmachine: Mercenaries post. It's covered fantastically here. Since I don't own a Mercenary army, I doubt I have much to add :).