The Steamworks

Improving Your Game - Part 5 (Board Control)

2012-02-07T23:05:00.000Z

Board control is an interesting concept and can be achieved in a number of ways. This can by through having dangerous models or by moving models around or limiting enemy movement.

Certain models exude danger: the Deathjack, Mulg, Beast-09. You'll notice that these are mostly large models that have a big presence when you put them on the table. They're designed this way and most players can instantly identify the threat something like Mulg will bring to the table. This presence is further enhanced by the model's rules. Everyone knows that the Deathjack or Mulg or a Warpwolf Stalker can ruin just about any single model in the game, so you don't want to put your models on the receiving end of their attacks. Now we're seeing where the board control comes in.

When you put down a model, it exerts a certain radius of 'threat'. Anything entering this 'threat' becomes a valid target. The more threatening or destructive a model is, the more board control it exerts on your opponent. No one in their right mind will place a caster within 14" of Mulg with eDoomshaper unless they can absolutely guarantee (and I really mean guarantee) their caster cannot be attacked/killed. So utilizing this theory of threat you effectively control the board within your models threat range.

What happens when multiple competing threat ranges overlap? So my Mulg+eDoomshaper combo can threaten 14", but your Molik Karn+eMakeda can go 15", that's when I surrender the board control to my opponent unless I can nullify their assault. Whomever has the longer threat range is exerting more board control on that area of the board than their opponent. Certain factors such as attack power come into play here too though, my ARM 21 Mulg is going to laugh at your POW 10 infantry even though they exert a larger threat range. Because I effectively nullify your assault, that part of the board is really mine.

Certain feats and abilities change the way board control works. eDeneghra's feat instantly drops your opponent's board control to nothing as long as they can't move, so you now control the entire board except where models are physically placed and their respective melee ranges. This harkens back to the idea that threat range is the greatest factor for board control. Look at the way Pygmy Burrowers works, because my Burrowers nullify your threat by digging and do horrific damage when they surface, they exert a good degree board control.

It's worth talking about abilities that literally effect the board: things like suppressing fire or pillars of salt. These are usually templates that either stop your opponent moving through or limit where they can move. You are in effect channeling your opponent's army in a more direct fashion than using threat range by saying "you may not move here" with your templates. Of course this is cancelled if the opponent can ignore whatever type of template you put down but you get the idea on how it works.

So what can you do with board control? Well, the first thing you can do if you have more board control than your opponent is dictate where combat will happen. Denial casters typically support this sort of play, though some casters enter a sub-genre of denial most people would call control: casters such as Rahn or eKrueger fit into this category. Once you can dictate where combat will happen, it becomes a matter of when it will happen. Once you control the where and the when then you pretty much have the game in the bag unless the dice let you down.

Booking Face

2012-02-07T22:53:00.003Z

I've been glancing at this blog's traffic and noticed a vast increase of views received from Facebook. I'm very curious to find out who's made a link to the Steamworks on Facebook, please feel free to make a comment to let me know who you are.

Bigger = Better?

2012-02-06T18:56:00.001Z

Plenty of spoilers this weekend from TempleCon - namely the big colossals reveal for Warmachine. My first thought on the reveal was time to give up on the Mercs. I find the Mercenaries have some serious issues with heavy armour, discovering that there will be heavy armour models with massive damage grids really didn't do it for me. However, the two fully-painted/assembled colossals we've seen so far look awesome: the Conquest for Khador, and the Stormwall for Cygnar. We can also see artwork for the Judicator (Protectorate), Kraken (Cryx), Hyperion (Retribution), and the Galleon (Mercenaries). If you hadn't already guessed, colossals are on the same size base as a battle engine (110mm).

Important spoilers about colossals:

Colossals are warjacks
They have Reach
Colossals have two new power attacks - one is a thresher attack in the left or right arc, the other is a slam that does not require the 3" movement first

Colossals is also the name of the next Warmachine book, which will only have 1 new warcaster for Mercenaries (General Osram, a Rhulic caster); everyone else is getting new epic warcasters. What we know so far is that eVyros, e2Kreoss, and e2Vlad are all mounted, whilst e2Nemo comes with an assistant, Stormchaser Adept Finch. I wonder if we'll see e2Magnus...

I will admit to being utterly flabbergasted that Jamie P won the TempleCon Masters, though I will give him my begrudging congratulations. Personally I was utterly mystified by Will Pagani's choice of pBaldur t4 but I can only shrug, they were the ones at the top tables, I was busying being on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The 3 list/4 round format does interest me however, and it's one that I'd like to utilize in the future for some of my events.

Even with the colossals reveal, I can't help but stare at my Mercenaries and have visions of glory if I got a decent standing with them at the UK Masters this year. I'd have to buy a ton of infantry models though, something I'm quite resistant to when I could just run my current lists. And the idea of Magnus running a Galleon... mmmm... If only he had Incite instead of Calamity. Actually I'd have to buy too much stuff to bring Mercenaries to the UK Masters - I think I'd run eMagnus (Bad Seeds), Gorten (Highborn), and Damiano (Steelheads) if I had to choose.

Having taken almost 6 months to paint Mulg, I can't even comprehend the amount of time I'm going to need to paint the Trollblood colossal. It's like some sort of uberMulg.

Road Works & Improving Your Game - Part 4 (Know Thy Enemy)

2012-02-03T00:01:00.000Z

Acting much like one of the Ten Commandments, 'know thy enemy' is vitally important in Warmachine and Hordes. There's a lot of things that will ruin your day simply because you didn't know they existed. Just look at spells like Rampager or Domination, or eHaley's feat.

A friend of mine - Colin - and I were chatting about this series of articles just after I'd published the first one (I actually wrote all of these in the same day, but chose to space them out over several days) and he said "Always ask for your opponent's cards." I agree with this and feel the need to emphasize this point: ALWAYS ASK FOR THE CARDS. Once, Jim went off in a giant nerdrage when he killed Colin's Farilor only to discover that the standard bearer was the one who brings mage static to the Legionnaires. This could have been avoided by having a quick glance at Domination. Of course now Jim will never, ever, forget that the standard bearer is the one with mage static, which neatly segues (pronounced SEG-WAYS) into the next paragraph.

If you don't instantly gather a vital piece of information whilst glancing through your opponent's cards, be sure to remember what surprised you. Store that little gem of information and ensure that no one will ever be able to catch you out with it again. I'm never going to forget that pVayl can cast Rampager on my warbeasts immediately on turn two, so I can guard against by simply having Banishing Ward up earlier than usual. Sure it cost me the game in the last UK Masters but it's never going to happen again. I took my mistake and learned from it, in doing so I have removed a vital tool from any pVayl player's arsenal.

Having an academic knowledge of what something does only takes you so far, until you experience it you're likely either to fail to comprehend the threat or misunderstand it. When the unexpected happens, be sure to remember it and file that information away. Uniting academic knowledge with practical application is science at its finest.

So what have we learned from this series of posts so far:

Space is important.
Know threat ranges.
Everything in your list should have an easily identified purpose.
Know what enemy models do.
Learn from your mistakes.

These are the basic concepts required to improving your game. There are more advanced concepts, but those will be explored in later blog posts. I think the next one will concentrate on board control.

Road Works & Improving Your Game - Part 3 (List Composition)

2012-02-02T00:01:00.000Z

We're now into part 3 of this series of articles, where I'm going to talk about list composition and the virtues of knowing your enemy.

List composition is perhaps THE deciding factor in the majority of number of games. If your list has parts that doesn't work, then you're doomed. Certainly your opponent may commit some horrible blunder and hand you the game, but generally if your list is terrible then things are going to go badly.

So what constitutes a good list? Well that's a complex question to answer, the simplest answer is a list that works. Quite simply you want to build a list that either supports your caster or one that your caster supports. Everything in your list should have a function or easily stated objective. The mistake that I often see in new players is that they take units that serve no purpose or are completely unsupported by the rest of the list. Now, nearly every unit and model in the game can be supported in some way, this is not to say that certain things do not suck. Don't think that just because you brought some sort of buff that a terrible unit will magically become better. It will become better but a really solid unit with the same buff will become an amazing unit instead of a merely 'Not Bad' one.

As part of list building, we return back to asking yourself how serious are you about the game? Are you a hardcore Steamroller tournament player? Do you just like to have the odd fun game once a month and don't care whether you win? Do you only play with models you like the look of?

Seeing as most people who are reading this article are more likely wanting to branch into Steamroller games or are already participating in them, they no doubt want to bring the most brutal list they can possibly envisage. Just remember, no one turns up to a tournament for the wooden spoon. So, looking at the SR2012 document I can see that most scenarios involve two zones at varying distances apart. This means you have to bring an army that can function in two parts to at least hold two zones. Look at your army and ask yourself 'how can I contest two zones with what I have here?' If you can't figure that out, it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Once you've figured out how you're going to control two zones, now you're going to need to bring something to deal with heavy armour since fighting against heavy armour with POW 10 weapons sucks goats. What models in your army do this well? For Hordes, it's warbeasts, for Warmachine it's weapon master infantry. Why not warjacks? There are numerous and lengthy debates on this but it boils down to fury being better than focus. I'm sure someone somewhere is spitting out their tea at such a comment but this isn't really the place for a continuation of the debate, feel free to reopen one of the bajillion threads about it on the Privateer Press forums instead. Regardless, the big question you should be asking yourself is whether you have brought enough to deal with all the enemy's high armour models.

There are certain lists that build themselves organically, mostly the horribly effective themed forces such as eKaya. Most factions have a couple of lists that just form around a caster naturally and so your list building is pretty much done for you. Other lists are discovered through blood, sweat, and tears. I didn't build my pDoomshaper list overnight. I've tweaked that list to its current state over two years of game play and it's still a work in progress.

To go back to an earlier statement on this post, every model/unit in your list should have a purpose. This is usually linked directly to the style of play the caster was designed for: assassination, attrition, or denial. For example, if your list is based around assassination, then you want models/units that facilitate your assassination run or at least set up other models/units for that run. There's no point bringing Man'o'War Shocktroopers in your Strakhov list when Uhlans are much more in line with his style of play.

All this writing about list building moves into the realm of 'net-decking', where someone merely lifts a list from a tournament write-up or find it on a forum somewhere. With the exception of those lists that build themselves, just don't go there. Let's use Jim's UK Masters 2010 eKrueger list as an example. Jim did horrible, horrible things with that list despite what the terrible Boosted Damage interview afterwards may make things look like. Armies were crushed by that list. After that UK Masters, a number of people tried out the list and discovered it did not work for them and then complained bitterly on the various forums about it. The list worked for Jim. Don't expect a list to achieve similar results in your hands as it did in the original author's hands.

So, having utilized Jim as another example, it's time to bring in Barry for comparison. Once again, I'm sorry Barry. Barry likes Errants and calls them his tarpit unit. He's not been getting great results with them as a tarpit unit though so he should be looking at them as something else: a ranged unit with hunter? Weapon master infantry? Whatever he thinks they should be doing, they aren't doing that at the moment. The same goes for his Bastions, they aren't achieving the results he's looking for. Are the results he's getting with these units a consequence of listening to other peoples' opinions or his own experiments?

I believe Barry is picking the wrong units for the playstyle he wants to achieve, so it's an issue right at the list building stage. This in turn amplifies any mistakes he makes during a game, costing him games that should have been a lot closer and making him look worse than he perhaps is.

Building on every model/unit in your list should have a purpose, all the objectives you set out for your models should suit your playstyle. Taking units that don't naturally perform for you will only lead to what appear to be embarrassingly awful decision making during a game. However, it's up to you to find what works for you.

Now, there's more to list building than that, but it's really for more advanced play and I'll cover common techniques at advanced play in another blog post at some point in the future. I was going to include 'Knowing Your Enemy' in this article, but this article just kept growing so I've decided to separate the two.

Road Works & Improving Your Game - Part 2 (Threat Ranges)

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000Z

So at the end of part 1 I informed everyone of the importance of space around your caster. You are no doubt attempting to spread your models out away from your casters more now. Of course you don't want to be too far away or else your army will lose the benefits of your caster. You don't want to be too close to the enemy or they can still threaten your caster.

A natural progression from the idea of space is threat ranges. It is vital to know how far the enemy can threaten you. I repeat: IT IS *VITAL* TO KNOW HOW FAR THE ENEMY CAN THREATEN YOU. In almost every game I play against Jim he asks 'how far is Mulg's threat range?' It's 11" + Goad range Jim, I've told you at least 19 times now. It is important that he asks me this question however, as Mulg is a dangerous model and knowing the range of his attacks helps Jim decide how to position his army or which models to expose. At the start of each game you should be looking at the enemy models and working out their threat ranges.

Once you have a grasp of your opponent's threat ranges you can start to formulate tactics towards dealing with their models. Does the opponent out-threat you? How will you deal with that? Do you out-threat your opponent? What will you attack first?

The idea of threat ranges intrinsically affects the way lists are constructed. My Trollbloods are almost never going to out-threat my opponent, so I have to construct my list to include parts that will absorb or nullify my opponent's threat range. Just look at my pDoomshaper list from a few posts ago: it contains a Bouncer for the Bump animus and Shield Guard, Janissa is there to provide a handy wall to block non-Reach models, and I included Whelps because they can be spawned in charge lanes. The list looks at my threat range, assumes that it will be shorter than my opponent's threat ranges, and then brings the tools to help nullify that disadvantage.

Conversely, an eKaya list will almost always out-threat the opponent and so there are almost no defensive models in her lists except for the Skinwalkers required by her themed force. Why are there none of these defensive models? Well, she doesn't need them as she will be attacking first and aiming to eliminate the key figures in her opponent's army before they can be utilized.

So, let's now combine the ideas of space and threat range. The amount of space that your army, rather than your caster, needs is usually based on threat range. Most good players will attempt to maneuver their armies so that they are outside the enemy's threat range but within their own. There are a variety of techniques to achieving this; such as using a denial feat or simply having faster models. If you are on the short end of the threat stick however you need to be capable of dealing with your opponent's assault. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you are, always be aware of just how far models can threaten your caster. The height of embarrassment in this game is losing your caster so that you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. That and the turn 2 caster kill...

If we examine general list composition, armies that are going for increased threat ranges typically have smaller model counts, as they attempt to apply maximum pressure to tactically vital parts of the opponent's army; and buffs that increase threat range are usually only for a few models. Armies made to absorb charges however, tend to be larger model counts, having a degree of redundancy to account for models lost during play.

Having covered the idea of threat range, part 3 is about list composition and knowing your enemy.

Road Works & Improving Your Game - Part 1 (Space)

2012-01-31T00:12:00.002Z

For some reason there is no parking on my street this week as there are road works happening on the main road. Why this has caused the parking in my tiny cull-de-sac to be suspended is a bit beyond me, and I am somewhat wroth about the measly single day of warning that we received. However, I have already moved my car across the street to a spot that seems ripe for it to get stolen, so at least I won't get a parking ticket or have my vehicle removed by... whoever... the council I guess. Normal car thieves are another matter.

I've been watching a lot of Day[9] tv lately. For those of you who don't know he's a Starcraft 2 commentator - probably the most popular one outside Korea - but he does a daily webcast about helping people improve their Starcraft 2 playing skills. Having a small background in e-sports (I hear Jim sniggering at the very idea of e-sports) it's interesting to see the depth that the game can provide and how different strategies can rotate around each other. It's very similar with Warmachine and Hordes except there's no benefit (yet) to having an immensely fast playing speed and the game doesn't get patches (errata) as often.

So, taking a page from Day[9], how do you become a better Warmachine and Hordes player? Well, firstly you should decide how far into the game you're willing to go. What type of army build are you planning? What is your preferred style of play? Have you read up on the latest Steamroller documents? Most importantly, are you aware of the important errata?

I'd originally written a lengthy document of differences required between infantry swarm lists and infantry-light lists, but it ended up being somewhat bloated and lopsided due to my personal distaste of infantry swarms. Not a good place to start when trying to instruct other people who to improve their game. So we'll start where I started.

Now I was taught how to play by Jim Lawrence, and for a brief period of time early in my wargaming career, he was my sole opponent for reasons neither of us really could comprehend. Jim frequently places very highly in the national tournaments and he's fairly well known in the tournament circuit, so he's a good pivoting point for this topic. Early on I adopted the stance of thinking 'what makes Jim good at this game?' and I'd sit and analyse what he did whilst sticking all my own choices under a microscope. Just open up my early blog posts from 2008 (has it really been 4 years?) and you can laugh at my horrible, horrible mistakes.

Those horrible, horrible mistakes deserve to be analysed but are less important than 'what did Jim do to win?' Early on, Jim would just horribly kill my caster with something I'd never seen before, rather typical of a more experienced player teaching a new player. Unlike most people I did not go off in a huff, which is generally an important part of improving your game. What these games quickly taught me was that there are some basic concepts that really have to applied as much as possible.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to utilize Barry Kelly as a contrast to Jim now - sorry Barry. Barry has been having a hard time of Warmachine and Hordes lately and been losing a lot of games. He certainly has the wish to improve but appears to be failing to put it into action. This is mainly down to Barry's lack of understanding of the basics whilst attempt to utilize advanced play.

The most fundamental basic of the game is keeping your caster safe. Since my first UK Masters - where I did extremely well - I have the bad habit of leaving my warlock totally exposed and in the middle of nowhere simple because so many people would trigger Protective Fit back then. This is stupid because everyone now just ignores or nullifies Protective Fit and then my warlock dies horribly. It's only recently I broke out of this habit through conscious effort and analysis but that's for a later blog post - back to Barry and Jim.

Now let's discuss how Barry and Jim use this concept. Typically Jim's caster is miles away but in some position central to the board. He has a solid grasp of just how far models can go to threaten or even attack his caster at most times. He doesn't crowd his caster in with friendly models and typically gives them room to move if they must go somewhere.

Barry on the other hand doesn't grasp how threatening enemy models are and frequently has late game problems once his army has become porous. When attempting to move in for the kill Barry will put his caster well within comfortable range of enemy figures or crowds his own models. A more advanced concept for protecting your caster is that the DEF of nearby models will almost certainly effect your caster. If the surrounding models have a lower DEF than the caster, their mere presence increases how vulnerable your caster is.

So, what do we learn from this comparison? Jim keeps his caster back and leaves space around them; Barry brings his caster forward and crowds them with friendly models in an attempt to protect them. So space around your caster is vital, as is knowing just how much space to have between your caster and any threatening enemy models. Space around your caster is important!

Think about how much space is needed around your caster when you move them. Can something get to them? Do they have enough room to move without activating other models first? Be aware of the concept of negative space, where you've crowded in too many models into too small an area. Models in proximity have an immediate effect on one another, whether it be through accidentally dropping DEF values or simply getting in the way. Think about the space you need.

Since this article seems to be expanding much faster than I expected, I'm going to divide it into separate parts until I've covered as much as I'm comfortable with. Thus concludes part 1.

Morton's Fork

2012-01-24T23:42:00.002Z

I really should get back into the habit of updating this blog and keeping abreast of all the various WM/H events in the UK. Unfortunately I'm not much in the writing mood these days - nor in the painting one either it seems - so I haven't been logging my various games or what I've learned through them.

Tonight I had a 50 point game against Barry and his Protectorate troops, I pulled out my usual pDoomshaper list since that had a War Wagon in it and I said it was going to tank him horribly. Also I did not have time to repack my case before heading to the club as I'd arrived home later than expected. So it was either Doomshaper (either one) or my Borka list designed for maximum rage inducement (could that be rage induction?). Seeing as the eDoomshaper list doesn't have a War Wagon, it wasn't much of a choice in picking pDoomshaper.

I recently had a discussion with Jim while we worked where I mentioned that I need to train myself to play an attrition game. Typically I get bored of the current situation on the board or attempt to dive down my opponent's throat when there's no real need to do anything. Tonight's game was the first one where I attempted this new playstyle and unfortunately Barry got a massive tanking.

Adopting attrition tactics was a bit unusual for me as I mentioned before and forces you to adapt to the weaknesses in your opponent's army. I looked at what Barry had put down and saw the following important pieces of information:

Menite warjacks have no pathfinder or any way to get it (besides Amon.)
Most of his infantry did not have Reach
Errants have pea-shooters.
Most of the rest of the army lacked pathfinder and would rely on the Piper.

The Covenant also made an appearance and there wasn't any way I could really do anything to it, so I just ignored it and operated on the assumption that Protectorate models can't be knocked down or made stationary. I couldn't tell you if forcing Janissa back with the no spells option on the Covenant would have worked since then I would have just dropped that giant knockdown template in the middle of Barry's army and taken my sweet time dismantling it piece by immobile piece.

There are certain key concepts that I'm working out with the new playstyle at the moment:

If you don't have to move forward, don't.
Only attack your opponent with little or no repercussions.
Present your opponent with horrible, horrible choices.
~~Mock everything they hold dear and crush their spirit!~~

That was also my first taste of SR2012 and I rather like the addition of Kill Box to the standard scenarios, I haven't tried the other Artifices yet, but I'll give feedback on those once they've been tried.

Headhunter

2011-12-19T23:24:00.000Z

Trying out the wide variety of warlocks I have using the same template list has been... difficult. Most of the time I'm finding them unusually exposed or a little counter-intuitive to how I want to play them. I'm having particular difficulty with Grim Angus and the stupidly long range on his gun. I'm not sure why, but he's just not playing how I'd like him to play. I'll muddle through a few more games and see whether he opens up for me though.

For all the good the Impaler does, I think it's something of a trap. You're taking a light warbeast that generates fury like it would end world poverty and has a 50% chance of doing almost nothing in the entire game. I have a similar problem with the Bomber, I'm not getting production value out of the fury that's being generated. It works with eDoomshaper, but that's due to Refuge and I honestly don't care if it frenzies most of the time or there are whelps being spawned left, right and centre.

I picked up eGrissel (or Grissel2? With the next layer of epics I think the number terminology may finally come into effect) while I was Christmas shopping with Hannah on Saturday, she might be worth a spin. I like the idea of taking her against Menoth to force their issues with pathfinder. I'll certainly have a think about it before my game against Ricky's Retribution tomorrow. Or just bring my Mercenaries and rocket him to death.

Drunken Antics

2011-12-08T01:56:00.001Z

Well, Barry read my blog post before our game but didn't see the one I posted on Tuesday so he clearly wasn't expecting Borka and the Wall of Tough. He brought along Reznik and pretty much an all warjack army, which I promptly jammed up with my tough, insanely hard to hit, high armour, medium bases and thus won on scenario without much hassle. I'm still disappointed in the performance of the list in general however, and the number of cards I had out. There were a LOT of cards.

As Family Reunion goes, it's good at jamming people up, but really... if you don't destroy everything in your initial charges, you are well and truly boned. The list feels very vulnerable to something like bile thralls.

My unit of champions did its job, but it wasn't quite all that I wanted. My main problem is that Borka typically only leeches 3 fury off his warbeasts at the start of his turn. This makes running multiple damage buffing warbeasts quite difficult as you end up with a massive excess on the table and can't leech enough to get the best performance out of your battlegroup. I get away with this on Doomshaper/Calandra because I can usually drain off 5 fury and whatever else that happens to be near a whelp. So that heavy I needed to smash something? Totally fine with a 7 fury warlock, totally boned with a 5 fury one.

What does this mean? Am I going to end up with Calandra/Doomshaper/Doomshaper as my trio of lists? DAMN RIGHT I AM! Maybe... Next up for testing is eGrissel I think, with her single Axer and the Sons of Bragg.

Reinforced Concrete

2011-12-06T14:18:00.001Z

So, the final stretches of the SR2012 draft document are underway apparently. I've only glanced through it if I'm honest, but I'm not happy with the phrase 'artifices'. 'Supplemental Rules' or some such name which is easier to grasp might have been a better design decision, but I have faith in Hacksaw76, he has been tried and tested before and come out swinging. Not many of you will remember the early days of Steamroller and the level of broken those scenarios brought to the table. Those days were the Dark Ages.

Personally I dislike the idea that these artifices are mandatory, and it is optional to remove them, rather than the other way around. My biggest gripe is Reinforcements. These function basically as models with Ambush but only along a certain length of the board. It just screams of additional paperwork to me, but I will admit that ambushing models/units are immensely fun. Bad Seeds Saxon Orrik remains my hero. That said, the rules are still in draft, and may change. And like I said, I have faith in Hacksaw to produce a good scenario package.

I've come to realize that most of my Trollblood lists now all conform to the same basic layout. There are some slight variations with each warlock, but the basic premise is the same:

1.) 3 heavies. When I can manage it, never leave home without 3 heavies. Certain lists get by with two, but those lists usually forgo a Bomber in favor of a War Wagon - pDoomshaper and eGrissel for example.

2.) 2 Axers. Always, with only one exception - eGrissel since I was thinking about bringing the Sons of Bragg with her instead of the second Axer.

3.) KSB+UA. There is never, ever, ever a reason NOT to take the Krielstone in a list. Ever.

4.) Whelps. With so many warbeasts, I'd be insane to leave home without them.

So my lists now look something like this:

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls (pDoomy)

+ Mulg the Ancient

+ Dire Troll Mauler

+ Troll Axer

+ Troll Bouncer

Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)

+ Stone Scribe Elder

Janissa Stonetide

War Wagon

Feralgeist

Reinforcement: Dire Troll Bomber

Borka is my notable exception, but his list has yet to be tested. I think I'll use it tonight against Barry and his hogs. It will be an exercise in making a grown man cry as I attempt to buff Boomhowler & Co to ludicrous levels. I only wonder about the list's hitting power.

The Axe Speaks, Just Once

2011-11-28T18:29:00.001Z

I attended Alan Kennedy's Bitter Conflict tournament on Saturday, which was a nice change for me as I was there as a player, not a Press Ganger. The tournament used a Divide & Conquer format (multiple lists each list must be used at least once) - in this case, two lists, each had to be used twice. Seeing as I'm missing all the lovely Steelheads I'd need for Damiano, I opted to bring my Trollbloods instead. Unfortunately I can't bring along a War Wagon (booooo!) but I fell back on my old favorite in both his forms anyway: Doomshaper.

Fairly recently I came to the conclusion that infantry is a waste of time, unless you're playing against other infantry. All that happens is the infantry dies. So I ditched all my infantry that wasn't the Krielstone Bearer & Friends and brought along extra warbeasts. I'm not sure how I'm managed to muddle through for so long without using two Axers in all my lists. In every game I've run dual Axers (and not been killed instantly) they've been rockstars, without exception.

My games in the tournament were pretty easy for the most part - I made a very risky gamble against Jim in game two in an attempt to kill his Stalker, but I failed miserably and Doomshaper was dead in about 10 minutes of game play. Not exactly my finest moment. Oh well. I noticed a heavy proclivity towards clumping up infantry in the Livingston players, which did them no favors when my Axers or Bomber appeared. I really must reiterate my warning about Shield Wall - don't use it. Or maybe I'd change it to "why are you bringing infantry?"

Oh yes, I came second. Go me.

Rawhide

2011-11-15T22:56:00.001Z

The War Wagon. It is awesome.

That is all.

Actually that would have been better off as a comment rather than a post of its own, I shall have to remedy this.

I got to test it out against Martin tonight and although it died horribly early on in the game due to Martin's insane dice, it still got to knockdown an obscene amount of stuff and generally reveal what it might possibly do if left to its own devices. Finally I have a replacement for those bloody Nyss Hunters! I suspect I'll still have problems against Satyxis Raiders but I'm going to have to figure out a way around them in some other fashion (hello Borka). My pDoomshaper list is now complete.

Having had such a long hiatus from the game it was really fun to put pDoomshaper back on the table and have a list that rocked face. Unfortunately Martin was very reluctant to shoot Mulg, which made Mulg sad. Mulg comforted himself by smashing a Phoenix to bits and getting a critical smite on the last hit to slam it over Vyros for 12 damage. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. It made up for my Mauler getting killed instantly by two Mage Hunter Assassins (max damage on both of them, wtf?) early in the game.

I have also concluded that my battlegroup with a Bouncer is MUCH better than my other battlegroup. How did I live without the Bump animus? It's just so incredibly useful, especially on something like the War Wagon. Trollbloods... we're back in business.

Lackadaisically Speaking

2011-11-14T18:09:00.001Z

Lackadaisically. I like that word. Almost as much as I like 'flabbergasted'. Unfortunately there is not often the opportunity to use both words in the same sentence. Though I'm sure my grammatical nonsense is intriguing, it is not what this blog is here for. I apologize to my (18) regular readers for my chronic lack of updates - this was unfortunately due to my utter disinterest in Warmachines and Hordes. Luckily for this blog, I have regained my interest enough to put fingers to keyboard and craft another incredulously amazing blog post.

Domination. I have perused the various spoilers being bandied about the internet, having not had time to purchase a copy of the book yet. I'm still mystified as to why people want their new bathrooms in this very specific time period before Christmas, but who can argue with increased work? Being a Trollblood player I of course blatantly ignored all other spoilers as clearly inferior to any information concerning my faction.

War Wagon. I am most pleased with this model and its rules. I would have liked an additional spray, but having played against the Khador Gun Carriage a few times now, I can see the potential for Great Things from the War Wagon. I'm planning to proxy it tomorrow (a CD with a cart and 2 long rider models Blu-Tac'd to it) to see how it performs in place of my Nyss Hunters in my pDoomshaper list.

Other Stuff. Honestly, I'm not fussed about anything else. I am quite content with my War Wagon - as long as it does fairly well tomorrow. I've come to the conclusion that most of my infantry choices are a waste of time. Winterguard and boosted sprays are of no concern when my entire army is ARM 20 and has 22 damage boxes. Unless the infantry serves a very specific function, I have replaced it with a warbeast of the appropriate point cost. I can hear cries of despair already, shouts promoting the use of Dygmies and boosting them to broken levels. Well, they suck. I'll take the Axer please.

Borka's new themed force has some VERY intriguing possibilities, and I don't mean 3 units of champions. I speak of Boomhowler & Co. As faction models. A unit with Iron Flesh, ARM 18, 4+ Tough, and Feign Death. Now that's a unit that demands respect, I sense a truly rage inducing unit. Putting that unit and all the support Trollbloods bring to the table should come with a health warning for your opponent. Do not use against opponents with high blood pressure.

After my dismal showing at the UK Masters last year, my faction choice this coming year purely revolves around how fantastical I find the War Wagon. If it's awesomesauce on toast, then I'll bring my Trollbloods, otherwise it's time to improve my street cred (commonly referred to (once upon a time) as 'kudos') by taking Mercenaries.

Character Restrictions

2011-08-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

Having heard some feedback from the GenCon Masters utilizing character restrictions across multiple army lists, I'm really quite intrigued. Currently the restrictions don't change any of my Mercenaries lists - though I'm still deciding on the third list - but I'm hearing reports of people switching faction at the requirement. Just think, you won't see Nyss Hunters or Kovnik Joe or Tartarus or the Deathjack in every single list... It sounds a little bit like heaven.

With the standard 3 list format, that means I'm looking at 3 ways to get damage boosts. So... Gorten, eMagnus, Durgen, Aiyana & Holt, and the Ragman form the choices for Mercenaries. Of those, I'm of course taking eMagnus, he's my favorite warcaster and I've pretty much tuned my Bad Seeds list to run as well as it can. There's currently a two point slot to fill but I'd like to see if my Chain Gun Crew can work first. Otherwise I'll fill it with... something...

So, that leaves four choices more. Gorten I'll discard right away due to his small focus stat. It would only drive me up the wall, regardless of how great his feat is. Durgen... well I have the miniature, I have Kayazy Assassins, I even have Reinholdt. His list does lack pathfinder though. A possible issue. I'd also have to stock up on Rhulic heavies as I currently have... none. As for Aiyana & Holt, I dislike their miniatures intensely, but I'd be willing to use them in a Shae themed force. That themed force is extremely tempting, but does require buying a LOT of pirates. If I had money to burn, I'd like to pick it up. Finally we come to the Ragman. He frees up every other caster available really. I'd really like a good, Thamarite themed army but I'm afraid I'd be stuck with Fiona and her stupid canon cultists.

Meanwhile however, I'll be testing out Constance Blaize in all her infantry swarming/warded glory over the next few weeks to see if she can stand up on her own. That army list certainly punishes casters who like upkeep spells, and has a large portion that cannot be targeted by spells. I'm a bit wary of anti-infantry casters or models, but we'll have to see what the first few tests unveil. At least all but 2 models have arrived and are now assembled! I'm missing Rocinante and the Precursor Knight leader model at this point. I can't wait to see my entire army rampage across the board with Crusader's Call going.

Brawltastic

2011-08-04T23:04:00.001+01:00

I'd normally run the yearly two day event during Conflagration but as the QMU is not attached to a shop and I just don't see GUGS outside of university time I believe it's much easier if I just keep going with the Tartan Brawl. I'm going to attempt to book the second Tartan Brawl on the 10th and 11th of March 2012. Saying that, I'll have to pick up prize support much quicker this time around.

Not happy with the way Constance's armour has turned out, I think she may be in the queue for some paint stripper. Then again she looks fine from a distance, so I might just do her at tabletop quality for now and pick up a new Constance once the rest of my army is painted. I'll just console myself by painting another Sword Knight.

Weapons of Mass Constuction

2011-08-01T23:46:00.001+01:00

I've discovered a very useful offline army constructor - mkII FCU (Force Constructor Utility). It's pretty sleek, though there are a couple of issues when you attempt to add attachments or warjacks and haven't selected what you're adding it to. What is best about it though is that it seems to be constantly updated. It already has the new eHaley and pSkarre themed forces from the latest No Quarter in it. It can't print your army lists out unfortunately but it can export all the information into a text format (or HTML or BBL) that you could paste into a word processor. It's certainly on a par with iBodger, though it isn't as mobile, but it's nice to have available while I work on other projects online (like my impending GW2 journal/blog).

Constance Blaize and Damiano have now both been assembled, though my bajillion other models are still ahead of them in the painting queue. Unfortunately neither of their lists are quite ready yet as some things just weren't in stock or I forgot to order them. I'll try to rectify that later this week. As for assembling these two warcasters though:
Damiano is easy to assemble and has a surprising range of poses you can use. I'm really quite pleased with how the miniature is built and how solidly it all sticks together. Constance on the other hand is something of a nightmare. She's no Mortenebra but honestly, what hassle. All the joins are tiny and nigh-unpinnable. I've done the best I can with green stuff and superglue, but realistically she's going to have bits break off at some point in the future.

As I've *finally* managed to get my friends in Aberdeen interested in the game, I'm assembling the Warmachine battle boxes for them. So far I've built the Protectorate and Khador ones, with the Cygnar one lurking conspicuously in the background. The plastic warcasters are actually really nice - at least Sorscha and Kreoss are - and the heavies are simple to build. Not so for the light warjacks. Goodness gracious (I never thought I'd say that) they are a royal pain in the arse. Go metal for lights people! Ignore that plastic stuff, it's such a hassle. Or pin it like it was metal. That would probably work better. The lights also appear to be made of several thousand pieces each - buyer beware!

Constant Variables

2011-07-22T20:08:00.001+01:00

I've now ordered my complete Constance Blaize army list for 50 points except for a Cygnar heavy warjack box that will be Gallant, Harlan Versh and Rocinante. I'm really looking forward to trying this list out, it combines lots of anti-magic with Steelheads and being able to boost attacks in strange places. It also fits my Cygnaries theme. However, it is infantry heavy and I'm already having a hard time painting through my Bad Seeds force.

Meanwhile I'm tweaking away at my Bad Seeds list. I get the feeling it needs another melee heavy or that I need to be able to prevent the Nomad from dying... ever... I could drop all the 'extras' I bring to support the list - the Trencher Master Gunner, the Sentinel, and shrink the Sword Knights down to a minimum unit and then bring along a Mangler. It's very tempting as I've been sorely missing thresher attacks lately, but then again I could also just shrink the Sword Knights down to a minimum unit to bring along my shiny, new Trencher Chain Gun to keep my warjacks free of non-Reach infantry. Time for some experiments.

I also received a bunch of new models for my Trollbloods from Firestorm Games this week. I've become somewhat addicted to ambush so I picked up a minimum unit of Bog Trogs, along with a Feralgeist, another Axer and Grim Angus. Unfortunately I'm not going to be playing my Trollbloods in a good while as I test out the Mercenaries. I'm really looking forward to trying out Constance.

Apple Seeds

2011-07-10T01:27:00.000+01:00

All the testing for my Bad Seeds force is pretty much done now, it's just on with the painting. I got a few more games out of it and discovered it's all about the Obliterator Rocket assassination. Any time the enemy warcaster sticks their head out - unless they have a truly monumental DEF (>18) - you can typically blat them. The Trencher Master Gunner and a Ranger easily pushes the Renegades into a realm where a model's DEF is mostly irrelevant. I killed a DEF 18 pKreoss (Defender's Ward and on a hill) with the rockets and my Defender while he couldn't be knocked down (Covenant).

I've also figured out how the list deals with heavies - eMagnus stabs them. It's just setting things up so that he can swoop in, hit something with Calamity and then cripple some systems with the armor piercing attack. It's focus intensive and it takes a bit of work to keep eMagnus safe from the aftermath of such an assault, but it works. Even the Behemoth went down, I was most chuffed with that. Granted that eMagnus prompted died after that, but the technique was pioneered!

Now it's time to just get on with the painting and see which caster to test out next (*cough* Damiano *cough*) and then which models to pick up for them. I think Gun Mages are probably a safe bet regardless of caster though.

Painting Schedule

2011-07-02T22:59:00.000+01:00

My Trencher Commandos and Saxon Orrik arrived this weekend, so I'm a happy camper. The Commandos are surprisingly few pieces - half the unit consists of single piece miniatures! Saxon Orrik comes in a mere 2 parts, so I'm planning to build all of those on Sunday and get the Defender base coated.

On the painting front, the Rangers look to be ludicrously easy to get painted, I'm discovering a new-found love of cloaks - they cover up those three thousand pouches and bags other models have. The first base coat is already on them and I expect to plough through them pretty quickly. Kell Bailoch's face has some issues, it reminds me of Freddy Kruger for some reason but I'm not sure why the face doesn't respond to shading or pretty much any painting technique; it's just a big pink blob. The Sword Knights are easy enough to paint but are time consuming, I've only properly finished one so far and another 3 are in the early stages of painting.

So that's the Bad Seeds painting list so far, I've still got miles to go but it's slowly getting there. Once that list is done, then I'm on to rebasing and finishing all the Steelhead models I possess. As I mentioned in some blog post back in yonder time, I was rebasing my Mercenaries from a grass/snow base to a desert theme. Unfortunately I never got around to redo-ing all the Steelhead stuff, but at least I only have to paint 1.5 halberdiers and 1.5 cavalry figures to have the basic Steelhead tactical group finished. I'm working on giving Stannis Brocker a base that's more dramatic than the normal bases, if only I could get hold of Kraye's rock on the cheap...

I'm still thinking on my third Mercenary warcaster after eMagnus and Damiano, and I remain rather stumped. I keep thinking one of the Rhulic warcasters would be really nice to have, but what I REALLY want is a warjack caster. I know (or at least I saw a post by Jason Soles) saying that we could expect a new Rhulic warcaster before the end of the year, but I don't know what we're going to get with that. It will probably take that long for me to pick up all the Steelhead models I need anyway, so I may as well adopt a wait-and-see stance.

Temporal Issues

2011-06-30T17:13:00.000+01:00

More testing of Bad Seeds I'm afraid, not much else has been going on at my end. I'm currently house/dog-sitting for Jim and the dog requires an awful lot of walks. It seems that every time I sit down to do something, I need to be somewhere else or get back to the house to walk the dog. At least I've done a fair amount of painting across both my armies - though actually completing models has been somewhat lax. Janissa is almost done and I finished Orin Midwinter. I'm pretty sure Kell Bailoch and Janissa could be done in a single sitting, it's just finding the time right now.

As for Bad Seeds testing, the list controls the flanks like nothing else I've seen, but I'm still having trouble with heavy armour. Normally I'd swap out a Renegade and the Trencher Master Gunner for a Mangler (and thus run 3 heavies - Nomad, Mangle, and a Defender) but the dual Renegade threat seems to have undue influence on my opponents. Casters like pVlad do nothing but cast Wind Wall all day while the Obliterator Rockets are available. I think I may have to adopt a technique of concentrated firepower with all that ranged infantry the list carts around. Hit a target with Calamity, fill it full of holes. A bit focus heavy, but I think it could work.

Such a Slag

2011-06-23T17:42:00.001+01:00

Once again I tried out the Bad Seeds list, and it proved pretty good at what it does - shooting things. Continued problems with dealing with heavy armour though (except Kell Bailoch, he rocked up the box cars on damage) and the Defender continues to be utterly useless except as a damage soak. Perhaps it only really works against lists with 'soft' heavies? So, factions like Circle or Cryx maybe? I think I'm going to attempt to use the Mangler on Tuesday in place of the Defender and see if it performs better.

I've also been looking at my Trollbloods and what sort of lists with surprises could be made. Burrowers just give me a headache when it comes to scenario play, and I need some sort of ranged options that aren't the Nyss Hunters. So I thought I'd build up my pDoomshaper themed force once Magnus and his Bad Seeds are finished. All I need to get is 3 units of Runeshapers and a Slag Troll.

Why a Slag Troll? Of all the light warbeasts in Trollbloods (besides the Axer), the Slag Troll can really perform quite well in melee. If I lose a heavy, the Slag Troll can actually step up to the plate. Why not a Pyre Troll? I found that having immunity to fire to be strangely debilitating. My opponents wouldn't come forward and we'd engage in a staring competition between my force (with next to no ranged attacks) and their's (with all sorts of ranged attacks). Without such immunity I've found my opponents more willing to come forward and eat a Mulg to the face.

Runeshapers. I like them but the list does suffer badly against Circle and certain anti-magic lists. I'd probably have to cater a second list to deal with any armies that bring anti-magic to the table. There's something really quite pleasant about ARM 15/17, Steady, 5 damage infantry with Pathfinder. The extra walls in the themed force don't hurt either.

Rotten Apples

2011-06-19T01:04:00.000+01:00

eMagnus' Bad Seeds themed force gets the sticker of approval. I'm not entirely sold on the Defender in my list, it's very tempting to swap it to a Mangler, but I *know* I'm going to get an Obliterator assassination run off and require a third ranged attack to finish off the enemy caster, at which point my Mangler will be wallowing in a vast pool of useless. On the other hand, the Defender has been mostly useless in every game so far... I'll try it out a couple more times for good measure, and then swap it over to the Mangler and see how things work out. Not sure what to do with the extra point either, an extra Scattergunner?

The AMBUSHING SWORD KNIGHTS (which shall forever be mentioned with capitals) certainly do what they say on the tin. They both ambush and sword stuff. They do seem to be lacking in knightly chivalry however, but I don't hold that against them. It's surprisingly easy to get Flank off, I'm not sure why but there's always a Renegade on hand when they appear. It's never planned, it just happens to work like that.

What the list doesn't deal with is masses of heavy armour and it has a distinct power dip in radial scenarios due to way ambush works in those. In dual and certain centre scenarios, the list rocks. AMBUSHING SWORD KNIGHTS and Saxon Orrik can easily jam up or steal an objective, even more so when combined with Kill Box (the feat, not the scenario).

My goal is to have the list completely painted (and rebased where applicable) by the end of September. My main worry is the trencher models as they have a million extra pouches and miscellaneous random items (I'm surprised the 10' pole isn't in there) strewn about their bodies.

Eat Your Spinage

2011-06-16T20:09:00.001+01:00

My Bad Seeds list is soooo close to completion that I can taste the metal filings already. I've just ordered my Commandos and Saxon Orrik, everything else is assembled and based. There are ranks upon ranks of small based models lined up in orderly rows on my undercoating tray. I can't say how much of a pleasure it is to paint small based miniatures again, especially ones that wear lots of armour. Once the entire force is painted I'm going to take new pictures of everything for the photo album - though my painting techniques have improved drastically since my early Mercenary stuff.

I've been examining Rociante's artwork and I think I can duplicate everything except for his head. I have an antediluvian Mariner that is in pieces and if I chop the cannon a bit shorter and remove the existing Mariner hand, I should be able to attach it to a Nomad's shield hand (sans shield) and then put some fine chain on it. Voila, instant Rociante! Almost. Rociante's head is a bit harder to duplicate, but I'm looking into it. I think it's going to be a job for the green stuff.

The Riddle of Steel

2011-06-13T02:50:00.001+01:00

Right, Damiano it is. He's more Merc-centric, and I have a bunch of mostly painted Steelheads (including my infamous half-done cavalry), and his themed force is ludicrously easy to get as I have almost everything in it already. However, I do need double of everything I already own. Of course, having two sets of the Steelhead Trinity (Halberdiers, Heavy Cavalry, and Riflemen in this case) does make those scenarios with split objectives rather easy. Half the army to one objective, other half to the other objective; stomp face as needed. Time to start running some extra events methinks!

Once the Steelheads are all done, I'm not quite sure what to move onto next. I'd like something very thematic, preferably themed, so it might be time to wander into a Rhulic army. Gorten and a pair of Drillers would be nice to have, and probably Brun & Lug... All in good time however, getting all these new Mercenaries is going to take a while. Meanwhile, what is best in life?