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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mulg Force 5

This Weekend I played in a very special tournament called the Bryan Carroll Invitational. It's called that because Bryan invited us over to his place for a day of Warmachine while his wife and kids are out of town. I played Edoomy, Mulg, and Janissa together for the first time and it was Magical. Undeated magical. I managed to play Circle (Kormac), Trollbloods (Grissel), Cryx (PDenny) and Legion (PThagrosh) and got the Caster Kill each game. My favorite moment was against PDenny, as she popped her Feat and hit Mulg with Crippling Grasp, then giving Mulg seven inched of movement so as to move forward and engage Denny, then while under Wild aggression managed to score a hit on her and with Boosted damage killed her in one shot.


Mulg is a Beast, I really like how he's been playing. He's super tough, especially when buffed, hits hard and accurately, has reach and adds some magic denial to the army. I'm sold on him and I'm sure my opponents are going to hate him soon.

Janissa turned several games in my favor with well placed walls and moving enemy jacks out of combat with Tectonic shift. In my first few games she felt like she might be spent on more whelps or maybe Saxon Orrick or a Pathfinder, but in games where I felt out threated by range or my bad positioning, her Rock wall covered my boys and deflected several attacks. In one game it let me aggressively advance toward a very scary infantry based army, granting me the first strike as opposed to being charged/slammed by long riders first.

Epic Doomshaper feels like coming home, even though I've only played him for a week now. His spells get feel like a "Best of" list, I loved Iron Aggression and Full Throttle, so Wild Aggression is something I'm very familiar with, while I've used Refuge with Kara Sloan and Hoof it with Grissel, so the after combat movement is also something I've got experience exploiting. Primal Shock is sweet and easy to use as it his other Direct damage spell. Agitation is going to take a little skill to use correctly, as every time I've used it, it was just before I killed at least one of his (my Opponent) beasts and solved the fury problem for him. Doomy's free Dire Troll Animus is also something I'm really happy with, although I found out he can't cast Transmute on himself and get the Speed Bonus of Difficult Terrain, as he did not have the animus on him at the start of the activation, when you check. His Feat is pretty sweet for firing off the Big trolls, +3 speed and free charging is pretty sweet.

I've Recently Started to play Monsterpocalypes and I'm really impressed be it. I'm still not sold on the collectible aspect of it, but it does have small sets. The Small sets seem to make it easy to get the models you want, so I'm hoping it's not going to be too expensive. That aside, I'm very happy with the game play. I've played about four games and I'm thinking it's more complex then Warmachine. The Dice resource system with alternating unit/monster turns really makes me think, then think, and then think some more. Learning and remembering the Icon system is also a challenge, but I found a wedsite the shows all the stats with all the ability rules, so it's a lot easier to figure out what everything does. Here is the site if you want to check out some monpoc stats. It's so very satisfyingly when you slam a monster though four buildings, crushing both yours and his units and then finishing the smash with him ending the slam on a nuclear reactor so he takes some radiation damage too. 

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Mulg makes me happy.

I just got Mulg and have started painting him. That's my primer + Detail drybrush. I tend to drybrush a color on my models before I really think about painitng a model. The drybrush is slightly heavy and is intend to A) allow details to stand out, so I can plan my paint job better, B) it makes the model much more table top ready and C) it allows me to use thinner paint for base coating, while letting the black primer show though in the cracks and crevices.

I've played a couple games with Mulg and I really like him. His slow speed is a bit of an issue, but it's so worth it with his Reach, armor 19 and 35 damage boxes.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Warstorm!

I just wanted to post a mini review of the Facebook game "Warstorm". Warstorm is a Collectable Crad game owned by Zynga and it's very similar to Magic the Gathering, but the game plays it's self, the players only contribution is to deck design. You make squads of 7 cards and once you start a game you pick the required number of squads and the game starts. Once the game starts the only thing you can control is play speed and pausing, otherwise the cards are randomly drawn and played for you. This my sound like a big negative, but it's really well done and fun to watch. You root for your cards and watch the game unfold. Games are quick and because of the nature of the automatic game play, you can play against your friends regardless of if they are online or off. Numerous awards track all your wins as you work to unlock power cards.

While this game is free to play, you can spend money on it to buy booster packs, campaigns, prebuilt squads or singles, but the prices are very cheap compared to current card games and you never have to figure out how and where your going to store your cards. I've played this since last winter and I've spent maybe 150 dollars over that time (10 and 20 dollars a pop), but when playing the WOW TCG a few years ago I was spending close to 1000 every other month trying to stay current. If you have played and enjoyed CCGs in the past, I highly recommend Warstorm.

Check out Broken Zealot!

The Broken Zealot Painting Blog is the blog of one of our local gamers and I've been following it for quite a while. It's one of the reasons I started up Ninjahut, so go take a look.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Foodmachine Tournament wrap up

We had 13 people show for the Foodmachine event that ran this weekend. Over 250 cans where collected for the Second Harvest Charity.

Asside from the two guys who each brought 60+ cans and had that many rerolls, the only really suprise was the faction turnout, We had two each of the Hordes original factions and one each of the first five Warmachine factions. Only Elfs and Minions where not represented. I was a little surprised that we had more Hordes then Warmachine, I think that's only happened before at the Genesis event.

My List:
Army Name: Grissel 25
Trollbloods
25+5 points, 25 models

Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller +5 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points

10 Kriel Warriors 6 points
* 3 Kriel Caber Thrower 3 points
* Kriel Warrior Standard & Piper 2 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
Saxon Orrik 2 points
Stone Scribe Chronicler 2 points


My Second list was the same expect with Madrak and Fell caller instead of Grissel and Saxon.

I did ok, My list was a power house, but I lost on tiebreaker on two games. I always felt my Trolls where taking control of the game when Dice down would be called and I'm just shy of reducing two units below half, but my Kriels are one model under half and lose there points value. I really enjoyed running the Kriel Warriors with UA and 3 Cabers. I had a Single Caber for months but it's just not the same as three of them. That unit can hit harder then most heavys on single targets on a charge, with Heroic Ballad buffing them.

I was cleaning up terrain while the Final placings where being announced, so I'm only sure on First Place.
Congrats to Sean and his Trollbloods for taking Game Kastle's first Foodmachine in a fury of fellcalls.
I think Henry came in 2nd with Khador
and Lat came in 3rd with Menoth








Thursday, November 11, 2010

Terrain Explosion!!!

So some time around 2000, I helped set up and run a Warhammer 40,000 tournament called "Brainbasha", it was our local attempt at a Bay Area grand tournament. Anyway, ten years later and I just receive all the terrain we made for the event.

Here are some pictures of the new terrain.



I'm organizing a Steam Roller this weekend, so the terrain arrived just in time.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Better late then never!

Almost a month since I last posted, so time to get this going again. I've been playing around with Both Cygnar and Trolls latily. I finally got my last two Caber Tossers so I can field a full unit with all three Cabers. I Proxies them the other night with Grissel and a Ton of different buffing units. Kriel Warriors are my new Voltron, they form up like a Blazing Sword. The Cabers did most the damage needed to kill a Kodiak and Beast 09 thanks to being P+S 18 with two attack each (Grissel's Heroic Ballad). For the longest time I felt my Trolls had issue with high armor (only heavy beasts seemed to counter them, but they tend to die quick easily, but with the Caber tosser madness, I'm no longer worried about Khador jacks.

I've been also playing Epic Nemo and a game with Ashlynn (not really Cygnar, but I used Gun Mages). ENemo is really starting to Grow on me. Fail Safe is a Jailhouse repair, but a lot of the time it's all I need, plus with ENemo, you can allot focus to a Crippled Cortex after you throw Failsafe on it. It's very cool. All his other shenanigans are also very useful. Energizer makes me happy inside every time I use it. I love advancing my shooting jacks with Energizer then standing still for an aiming bonus, or standing still for an aiming bonus then using energizer to back away a few inches.

Also an update on my stuggle with using Rough Terrain correctly, some pointed out that you can always measure form the back of your base to the edge of the rough terrain, instead of placing a spare base outside of the terrain like I suggested.

I'm helping Organise a Foodmachine event for later this month. If you hadn't heard, Foodmachine is a Charity event where the players bring canned food in and donate it, with each can granting a Reroll to be used in the Tournament.
Here is a link to Game Kastles event page, the tournament should be near the top of the screen.
http://www.gamekastle.com/index.php?m=events#event195715

Monday, October 11, 2010

Rough terrain

One of the most common mistakes I have made and I see other make is how they move though rough terrain. 
Rough terrain effects you as long as your base is in the terrain, but I usually see people declare there movement intention, measure how much rough terrain there is between the active model and open ground then double that distance to see how much movement was wasted moving though the rough terrain. This is however incorrect, as this does not take account for the length of the models base. A 50mm base is almost 2"s long (I think it's a few MM short). This means a large based model must add two more inches to the distance travels, costing the model 4 more inches of movement.

This pictures shows someone measuring 3" of rough terrain when 
attempting to leave the terrain.

The picture Below shows the Ironclad correctly including his base length to the measurement.
So the the Ironclad moved 5 inches to get completely into open terrain, this cost the Ironclad 10 inches 
of it's movement.
I recommend using extra bases or models that are not in the game to help measure out the real distance spent in rough terrain. I hear Litko and other businesses make plastic colored bases that might be easier to grip and cheaper to use then the beveled bases Privateer uses for there models. I have a fair amount of extra bases from Privateer and then gluing something easy to grab to it's top. I'm not sure what I'll use, but when I've figured it out, I also plan on painting them with standard facings and using them for stand-ins for models that can't be placed where it should because of modeling problem (large weapons or super cool dynamic poses that lead to models that are larger then there base).

I'll post photos when I finish making those marker/bases.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Mangled Metal summery



The gunline.

So the Mangled Metal tournament I've been organizing happened today and we had a great turn out. 18 players competed today and more appears after the tournament started, to watch and play pick up games. I ended up getting some many questions during my first two games, I decided to drop to the bottom of the pack and play the newer players and help them have a good play experience.
My Two Lists where:

ENemo
3 Chargers
Centurion

Kraye
2 hunters
Centurion

I'm first two games however where tense,

First round I played Eric, a old friend of mine. I played ENemo Vs. Goreshade the Bastard. Shadowmancer does a great job of Hosing 3 Chargers. I managed to get an Assassination kill while I was losing the attrition battle. This was a tight battle, Goreshade was running the Deathjack and Reaper, and the Reaper is pretty sweet in Mangled Metal.

My second round, I play Henry, a very skill player. I played Kraye versus Borka with a Bomber, Prye, and Implaler. This match sucked becasue Windwall owns my list, I did send in the Cent with Full Tilt and under the Horsepower feat, and he killed the Keg Pgy and almost killed the bomber. Almost is not really that good aginst Hordes as the Bomber got healed enough and buff by the pyre troll, who also walked up and Arm locked the cent's shield. The bomber still didn't kill the cent but did leave it with 3 damage left. No longer having a plan, I charged Kray in to the Bomber and missed it three times in a row (on a Cav charge too), then the Two hunters shot at the bomber (now out side of windwall) and missed. After that my opponent cleaned me up. Some where in there I also killed the pyre, but that was partiality due to the Impaler frenzying and hitting him.

Third Round I played Mahir, a local player that's been playing since the start of Mark 2. He's a solid Cygnar player. He played PNemo to my ENemo. This list was PNemo, Hammersmith, Ironclad and Lancer. I played ENemo the rest of the day and I didn't want to give newer players a weird introduction to Cygnar, due to Kraye's Cav special rules. But that worked out well for me, I really enjoyed playing ENemo. In out game we both maneuvered/stumbled into a Voltaic snare/Galvanic Bolt war. The Good news for me was that I brought guns to this immobilize battle. Also I now love "Fail Safe", it's my Jailhouse repair skill. One of my Chargers got it's cortex wreaked by an Ironclad, so I cast Fail Safe on it, popped ENemos feat, filled it up and watched it finish of the Ironclad after the Centurion failed to scrap it. This keep the Charger operational and ended up getting me the kill on PNemo.

Round Four I played Eli and his Protectorate force. He played EFeora with Blessing of Vengence (the character Arcnode), Castigator, and Repenter(3 Rof missile lancher light). I played Enemo again. This was a tight game with me feating on turn one for a 3 charger salute on the Blessing of Vengence. It survived, but lost both arms, I missed a few shots, and Nemo spammed buffs. The Cent gets Fail Safe as a default and everyone had some energizer fun. Eli spammed Bonded Repenter rockets all over the place and started fires, the Castigator joined in and pretty soon all my jacks where ablaze. His jacks where high enough army that I was having problems killing them and while attempting to do so, Feora rolled up, popped her feat after spamming more rockets at my battle group, Feora Sprayed Nemo with her flamer thrower and missed, then hit him with a boosted convetion and moved fire on to him with his feat. After her feat turn Nemo had 1 health left, and rolled for the fire to go out and it did, until we remember caustic flames don't go out and then we roll dice -4 on Nemo and the roll of 3 on the two dice meant he lived! So I alloted 3 focus to two chargers and gunned Feora down.

I had a great time, I think everyone else had fun. Best turn out in a long time for Warmachine/Hordes event in quite a while.

First place went to Lance playing Skorne
Second to Rich playing Circle
Third to Henry playing Trolls
Fourth to Johnny playing Legion
Fifth to Jeff playing Legion
 (at least I think that's it, we also had random prizes and I was cleaning up while Jeff our TO was handing out the Awards).
But It looks like Mangled Metal should have been called Fang and Claw because Hordes rocked the house.

I think the Faction break down was.
3 Cygnar
1 Cryx
2 Menoth
3 legion
4 Circle
2 Trolls
1 Skorne
Two armies I seem to have forgotten. I have pictures so I should be able to figure it out in a little while.

Edited
Here are some pictures.



Tuesday, October 5, 2010

More Mangled Metal thoughts

So I've been thinking about Mangled Metal and played a few test games with GoreShade the Bastard, two slayers, a Deathripper, and a Stalker. It was interesting to play, The Banethralls from Goreshades feat are very useful but I'm not as happy with Shadowmancer as I'd have hoped.

I think I'll test out Cygnar tonight. I'm going to be playing Kraye with two Hunters and a Centurion. I figure this list has insane speed and maneuver elements, I should be able to grind down my opponent with Light Cav Hunters, while the Full Tilted Cent can keep up with a Running Kraye (if I'm getting boxed in or in a Danger zone). The Cent waits until he can get the charge on the Caster or last Jack, then I pop Horse Power for the kill. Also if the Cent is engaged I can call a ride by, kill the target then fall back 8". Mage Sight allows me to attempt to deal with Stealth. I can generate a fair amount of shooting, but not really enough to justify using Guided Fire, unless Kraye is also shooting.

I'm trying to Figure out who my second caster will be, after Kraye, they all seem to pale. PHaley is my current choice, as she's very tough to Spell kill and can counter high speed rushes, but I'm not sure what Jacks to support her or what I'm trying to do to win.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Thoughts on Mangled Metal

So, I've been thinking about lists for the upcoming Mangled Metal/Fang and Claw Tournament. I hadn't really giving this format much thought before. I'd played in a lot of mangled metals in the past but even the tournaments I played in tended to be a pick up events where I was not planning on playing in it. My big fear is Karchev and other casters that can kill Jacks/beasts and take a beating. So When building MM/FaC lists I think you want to focus on 2-3 heavies and a beatstick Caster. I was originally going to play my Trolls in this event, but after looking over my collection of beasts and casters, I think I'll go with my Cygnar or Cryx instead. For Trolls I have  a few casters I'd consider for this type of scenario, but I'm lacking the beast support I'd want. I'd run Borka with two Earthborns, but I don't have dups of my Earthborn and I've only got one game with Borka. Two Earthborns are the core of all my Theorymachine lists, although I was also looking at a Mauler/bomber combo, but with out an Axer or Impaler, I felt the threat ranges where two small. Also Beasts tend to be slightly more expensive then jacks and a little less durable, both these factors have swayed my choice to Warmachine armies. With Cryx I can run Denny with two Slayers and two arcnodes, or Coven with the same or swap out the Slayers for a Deathjack. Cygnar takes a little more effort and if I had a third Ironclad, I'd run them with Estryker, instead I think I'll run Ol'Rowdy, Ironclad, and Charger. Maybe Siege with Defender, Hunter, and Charger.

Oh, I just realized I have a ton of Merc Jacks, maybe it's time for Magnus to come out of Retirement. Bart's Theme list drops Mariners down to 7 points each, allowing him to run two Mariners and two Buccaneers. So many choices, I don't know what to do. To make it even more fun, my Khador army is currntly a bunch of Jacks and Casters, with only a min winterguard as infantry and only a Wardog for my solos, but that matters little in Mangled Metal. Sigh, life was easier with I was just looking at my trolls, now I'm a kid in the Candy Store.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Steamroller? What Steamroller?

I help organize our local store's monthly Warmachine tournament and we have had a bunch of new players show up on league night lately so I figured it's time for a Mangled Metal event. Normally I'm a bit of a fanboy for official tournament rules like Steamroller, so even when I'm not happy with the current state of that rules set, I try to follow it anyways as if gives everyone a common ground of understanding, everyone uses the same rules. But as I looked though the Steamroller Doc for the Mangled Metal rules, I just realized how many events I've been too or even helped run that are not supported by Steamroller. Also I realized Mangled Metal is not listed in the steamroller rules. Both the Genesis and Resurgence where not steamrollers and I'm always seeing people use Mangled Metal or "progressive army size" as a tournament format, but that's not supported as a Steamroller format. It never occurred to me, to not run a Steamroller if I was able too. So the next event I'm helping run will be Mangled Metal.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Stuff and things

I've been playing Lotro a bit and I'm really enjoying it. Also I started to play some Warstorm once again, it's a facebook game that's sort of like an automated Magic the Gathering, it's pretty entertaining.

On to Warmachine stuff. What's up with all the Infantry machine players I keep running into. Jacks or Beasts are where the game gets good. Most Hordes players know this or at least have to take beasts so I'll focus more on Jacks, even though a lot of what I'm going to say applies to them too. Jacks are tactically very flexible, power attacks and focus allocation are very good and powerful effects, add to that the fact that most heavy jacks are very hard to take out and you have a winner. All Jacks have powerful anti infantry tech once you figure in multiple attacks, slams, and throws. Heavy jacks get trample too, making them even better against infantry and making it that much harder to protect something from a close heavy. Head butts allow for amazing melee or shooting follow up attacks. Maybe people just don't know how to use Jacks, but it scares me when I look across the table and see multiple heavy jacks or beasts.

Also, anyone know how to beat Karchev in a 15 point mangled metal? He hurts my head.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Lord of the Rings Online (LotRo) is now free to play.

Lotro went free to play a few weeks ago so I decided to see if my old Dwarven Minstrel was still around. Turns out he is. So I've been playing a bit this week. If you play Lotro on Fireroot server, look up Iolar if you get a chance.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

This is not a real post.

I'm just posting this as a link to my other blog, "The Game Trainer". I just posted some thoughts on dice probability and what that means to me.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wednesday!

It's Wednesday!

That's about it.

Also I've added linkage to my army photos on Dakka Dakka. These are a photo inventory for me, so you will see some pretty unimpressive figures primer straight black or even (gasp) unprimed. the links should be right here on the side ---------------------------------------------------------->

Also here is a link to a Chess clock discussion I started on Focus and Fury. Focus and Fury is the most wretched hive of scum and villainy on the internets, so view them wisely.

So my take on trying to improve on both Chess clocks and timed turns are as such. Both ideas require some testing and refinement. For Chess clocks make the secondary or Tertiary tiebreaker be based on having spent less time then your opponent, giving the faster player an advantage in the match and really discouraging stalling. I would allow for a margin that gives players some leeway, like if your times are both 5 minutes apart or less, no one gets this tie breaker. (first guess, maybe 5 minutes is too short). That last sentence looked confusing, so what I mean't was you have to use less time then the slower players total time plus 5 or more minutes to win this tie breaker. This could also favor the second player a little, if he missed his next turn do to "Dice down", the extra time the first player spent could give the second player this tie breaker.

For timed turns I would add a turn limit, you play for 5 turns max, but set up the time restriction to allow for this, unless people are running very far behind schedule . Don't allow control point or VPs to end the game, use them only as first tie breaker. The game only ends after turn five or at Caster Kill (Die down would only be called after a very generous time limit . Something like; Total turns times turn limit plus 10 minutes more for extensions and 5 minutes more for to avoidDice down being an issue.
So
N+X+E+5
N being the total number of turns BOTH players are expected to play (I think 5 is a good number, so N would be 10 for my event)
X is the timed turn limit, 10 minutes are 35 points, 12 minutes at 50.
E is equal to both players extensions, usually 5 minutes each, for a total of 10.
So dice down in a 35 point event would be 115, versus the 80 minutes Plus 2-12 minutes that are used now. That may be too much time, but most games should end before that time, but cheap scenarios wins would be gone unless they can also hold ground, not ending the game at turn two or three.

Comments are welcome. . .

Monday, September 13, 2010

Tournament wrap up

So the Saturday tournament happened and while I mostly enjoyed my self, my first game was frustrating.


I played my Grim list all day and I enjoyed the list very much. Grim is a sweet caster and running 50 points of beasts with him was fun. We had an 8 player turn out, so no one was getting byes, but we have had much better turn outs before. The faction line up was two Khador, two Circle, Menoth, Merc, Cygnar, and me playing Trollbloods.


I played Johnny and his Khador first round in a Killbox mission.
Johnny is a local player and a good friend of mine, but we both got a little heated in this game. I felt he was wasting my time during my turns with slow tough rolls and having to fish a dismounted Fenris out of his minis bag when I killed the Dragoon (this caused me to lose activating a few models and stopped my Earthborn mid attack, but I forgot about the time extension) . So when I tried and failed to get the Caster Kill on EButcher, I knocked him down, attacked a bunch at range but I didn't have the speed to get the Earthborn into finish him. So I resigned to losing, but Johnny started his turn, Walked the butcher up to Grim and started to swing, I said nope, you where knocked down and didn't shake it off, then you moved you caster, so you forfeit your attacks. He got very frustrated by this and said he conceded, I told him to get the Judge and see what he said. The judge ruled that what happened happened and there was no take backs, but he could still spend focus for extra attacks. The Epic Butcher then slaughtered all my beasts and my caster. :(  After the Tournament I thought about that and realized you don't forfeit your initial attacks, you forfit your actions, so you can't buying attacks. So I should have lost, if Johnny shook off the knockdown, but he but lost anyway. I'm a little bitter, but I failed on my turn because I didn't plan it well, so that's my bad. (I feated that turn to set up the caster kill, then had Grim shoot the butcher with the net gun, instead of my rifle, where "bait the line" would have gotten the Earthborn to the Butcher, additionally if I used the rifle I won't have moved up into the butcher's threat range.
* * *
My second game was against an old friend from out of town, Matt playing Epic Magnus. We played convergence that round. Basically did a turn two feat with EMagnus picking both player's table edges so I could only do lateral movements, he also ran the Halbardiers up to pin my models in place. But I just took free strikes and Shot Magnus down on my turn. The assassination run required me to puzzle out some stuff and kill a few models, but worked well and gave me the game. Matt's a good player and will be great once he gets more games in. 


* * * 
Round three had me playing my roommate, Rich with his Circle. We played Incursion and it was a slow grind, with him out maneuvering me and slightly out dicing me, I seemed to always leave models alive with 1 or 2 health, then he would swing buck and kill my beasts. Skin walkers are a huge pain to clear out, and while I was killing two or so a turn, He had ten of them. I managed to kill his Stalker and maybe his Pureblood (I can't remember if I sealed the deal on that, after my turn two he seemed to always be 2-3 hit points from death), but his Warp wolves with Epic Kaya are amazing. Just when you think he's going to have to commit, Kaya pops her feat and then the warp wolves house your models, then port back to Kaya.
* * *
Picutres added

Trolls on the March!

Round 1: That's pretty Butch! 
A large Chunk of Johnny's army.

Round 1: Pregame list reviews, as Johnny 
and I prepare for our round one match off. Grim vs. EButcher.

Round 2: That's a lot of Fury on the Board.

Round 3: I call this one "Chuck vs. the Ten skinwalkers" This 
was a shot of the first turn as Rich starts moving the 'Walkers out.
EKaya vs. Grim

'Walkers, Texas Rangers
Walkers in Round 1 face off aginst Cygnar.
EKaya vs. EHaley

Round 2: Who let the Dawgs out? Circle on Circle Crime.
Kormac vs. EKaya

Round 26: The Steelhead's Wicker Battle Barge

Round 1: This is Kay-Door!
Evlad vs himself
.



First Place when to Lance (Circle), then I think Adrian (Menoth) then Bryan (Khador).

Friday, September 10, 2010

50 point Tournament tomorrow at Game Kastle.

So the event is pretty standard except we are using preset missions and survival scoring for ranking tie breakers.

Warmachine Tournament 50 point Steamroller 2010 
Three Rounds 
1st round: Kill box 
2nd round: Incursion 
3rd round: Convergence 
Survival Scoring for Standings tie-breakers. 

This is what I'm going to play:
Army Name: Grim 50
Trollbloods
50+6 points, 18 models

Grim Angus +6 points
* Dire Troll Blitzer 9 points
* Dire Troll Bomber 10 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Pyre Troll 5 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* 2x Troll Impaler 5 points each

4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
Troll Whelps 2 points
__________________
Army Name: Grissel 50
Trollbloods
50+5 points, 28 models

Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller +5 points
* Dire Troll Blitzer 9 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* 2x Troll Axer 6 points each

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
Stone Scribe Chronicler 2 points
Troll Whelps 2 points
5 Trollkin Champions 10 points

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Warmachine Vs. Hordes

Hey all,

So I've been thinking about Warmachine and Hordes now that MK2 has been around for a while and how the two sister games work. As we all know they are compatible but have different play styles and nuances. Hordes allows your Beasts and Warlocks to be very active, but I feel that support elements such as feats, spells, and models are weaker then the Warmachine counterparts. Warmachine has more powerful effects and models but the limits of Focus mean your caster and jacks are not as dynamic as Hordes. This is the balancing point.

Warmachine models feel like they are 10% - 15% stronger then Hordes models, but that's because you have to rely on their unboosted stats more. In Warmachine you only have around a half dozen focus to power your Jacks and cast spells, so you need to utilize your infantry more and your spells need to be more influential as your cost to cast them is much higher then in Hordes.

Hordes allows the Warlock to have access to all his fury and have his beasts run at full steam. This means they can boost to hit and damage a lot more freely, while the caster can throw spells like a mad man. Hordes support models are in the same ball park as Warmachine figures, but they just don't quite match up on a point to point comparison, unless you start applying buffs and spells. Someone might try to tell me that Troll infantry is amazing, Trollkin are tough and has a ton of ways to buff them to outrageous levels. This is true, but all those buffs come at a price in points that is not insignificant and while they appear to have tough for free, the medium bases are a pain to maneuver around.

Just saying....

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

I got my Trollbloods Book!

I got a copy of the Trollbloods book last night, I friend picked it up for me at PAX. I'm pretty happy with it, the main story is sweet, with a few characters I didn't expect to see and some very cool fights. The new units are all pretty cool, but now I'm sad as I have to wait months to get all the cool stuff. PDoomshaper's theme list has unlimited 3 point Rune Shapers!


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Odd is better then even.


When playing agonist a Hordes player, you want to roll Odd numbers when you roll for hit location. This gives you the best shot a crippling an aspect of the Warbeast. Even hit locations mean you have to crew though about 60% of that anspect with out being able to cripple it (unless it's almost dead and you roll all the way around to finish the beast). It's not that big a deal, but if you have models with the sniper ability almost always call the odd numbered spirals. 

Gencon masters results from Bell of Lost Souls

Hey guys,

Head on over to BoLS for their Gencon Masters results.

Congratz to
Jason Flanzer (Khador) - 1st place
Chuck Elswick (Cryx) - 2nd place
And everyone else in the top 16.


Great Job!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Pax + Rockband + Warmachine = Heavy Metal

So I guess Tycho from Penny-Arcade wrote a Warmachine song for Rockband. It's supposed to be released on Xbox live sometime soon, and all the profit will go to Child's Play (Penny-Arcade's Children's hospital charity).

I wish I could understand the lyrics, but I do like the sound of it.



Here is the link...
Warmachine Rockband

Edit: now with Lyrics



WARMACHINE (Rock Band Song Lyrics)

In a Kingdom of Iron
Under the dome of the sky
Warmachines begging for battle
And battle is their reply!
A Warcaster is more than a wizard, more than a soldier, and more than a man
Bound to their steam-powered warjacks, pneumatic nightmares which sunder the land
You can run! But can you outrun your doom?
You can hide! But you're hiding in your tomb!
In a Kingdom of Iron
Beneath the vault of the sky
Corvis has made you a weapon
On which Cygnar can rely.
You've been instructed, almost reconstructed, by Lieutenant Allister Caine
See how he bristles with his Spellstorm pistols, to burst with cerulean rain
Watch them flee! From your furnace of coal-fired hell!
Mystery! See them blister as you form the spell.
(acoustic breakdown)
The Cryx fixed their gaze upon thick stands of pine
Where your column walked solemn through lands lost to time.
Their necrotechnology, their psysiognomy,
dichotomies beyond rhythm or rhyme.
When Corruptors fire Bursters, it couldn't be worse.
Helljacks attack and your soldiers disperse.
You've seen light, a green light, an Yngwie Malmsteen light:
the blight which powers this demonic hearse.
(Rock times.)
In a Kingdom of Iron
Under the dome of the sky
Surrounded by ruination
You're waiting.
Waiting to die.

Friday, September 3, 2010

The Left are is not as protected as the Right.

On this Warjack damage grid, at first it looks like all systems are equally protected, as least as far as left side versus right. However the truth of the matter is that the left arm is much more vulnerable then the right. If you hit column 1 for 7 damage, the left arm would be crippled, but not so on column 5, the cortex would take a point and the right arm would survive with one box left. Now image what would happen if column 6 was hit for say 10 damage, that would fill column 6, 1 and go four damage deep on column 2, once again crippling the left arm, but 10 points on column 4 would fill that column and leave 4 damage for column 5, almost crippling the cortex, but with out other damage, is no where near destroying the right arm.

Just something to think about.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Last night's Warmachine night.

Well I don't know what happened with the Summer Ramage, I don't expect much as it turns out no one else entered except me. I was hoping some late comers would show up and make it a competition but no one joined.

Oh well, someone (Pascal) did show up and we played a 50 point game. We didn't play a mission.
Pascal was running PButcher, Wardog, 2 Kodiaks, a berzerker, 5 man Demo Team, Max Winterguard with Officer/standard, Kovnik Joe, Greylord Terrion, 2 Man Hunters and Yuri.

I ran Grissel, Runebearer, Mualer, Earthborn, Axer, 6 Scattergunners, 10 Kriel Warriors with 1 Caber, Piper/Standard, Cronicaler, 6 Kriel Stone Bearers, Eldar, Fell Caller, and 6 Pyg Borrowers.

We Matched up with me going first and him setting up placed WInterguard on the left flank across from my Scatter gunner and near the center of the table where my Caster and Beasts where. My Warriors faced off the right flanks against Yuir, 2 Man Hunters, and the Demo Team. This Jacks and Terrion where alined across the center of the table from my Caster, beasts and support models. The Pygs started infront of the Scatter gunners.

Turn 1:
I went first, had the Pygs burrow and move towards the center of the table. Everything else advanced/ran up.
He cautiously advanced gaining ground but not risking getting charged first. This Manhunters and Yuri used some Ruined castle sections to advance behind.

Turn 2:
My army advances, the Pygs appear, ready to charge all the Jacks and some Demo teams. My Warriors advance up with the +2 speed buff and engage a Manhunter and Yuri and one lucky hit kills Yuri and hurts the one of the other Man Hunters. The Pygs get buffed by fell caller for +2 mat, the Cronicaler give them Heroes Tragedy. They Charge up and I figure out on can charge the Wardog, so I figure you not and charge. I didn't think about how I'd be in the Butcher's Reach and have to test for terror, but that's what happened and my unit broke. So no borrower attacked :(. My Scatter Gunners shoot up the Winter guard but only kill one or two guys thanks to Bob and Weave and Iron Flesh. Grissel Pops feat and buff Earthborn with rage, Kriel Stone pops the +1 str Buff and then he Charges the two Kodiaks, that lined up to protect the Butcher, He Scraps one and puts over half damage on the second one (go 6 pow 20 attacks!). Mauler buffs the Fell caller, who then charges into the last Kodiak and Kills it in one attack. Everyone uses Hoof it to maneuver to safety or  engage threatening Targets.
He works a lot of his units trying to get the Pyg Borrowers out of the way, but tough rolls and Heroes Tragedy punish him for it. By the end of his turn they are wiped out and the manhunters manage to kill two Trolls Warriors. The Butcher Feats and charges the Earthborn and kill it in two hits. His Winterguard kill most the scattergunners and a few kriel stone bears scribes. The Berzerker kills some warriors that engaged it with the Hoof it moves, while most the Demo crew stand up from being knocked down from Killing the borrowers.

Turn 3: The Butcher is exposed and in Charge range of Grissel but no one else. So I use Charge of the Trolls on her from the Cronicaler, Ran the axer to engage him, Had Grissel Charge and buff her self (I should have had the Mauler Buff her, or used the Runebear first). Grissel Beats him down to 3 hit points and slams him knocking him down, but he's still camping four focus and my only ranged play was to have the mauler throw the axer at him, and I did, but at pow 13 (I forgot to use his Rage) against armor 22 would require me to roll a 12 on the unboostable colateral damage roll. I rolled a 9, making for a perfect Zero damage.
Then it was his turn and the Butcher killed her in 2 swings.

It was a good game, and one I'd probably had won if I had a little more experience with Trolls and Grissel.

UPDATE: Just reread the cronicaler and noticed that he can only buff units, so when I used him to buff Grissel with "Charge of the Trolls", she was not a legal target for that buff. The +2 to hit from that really helped me "own" the Butcher, so with out it, I don't know if I had that much chance of killing the butcher, even with the mauler buffing her. Maybe if I had the Runebearer, reduce here spell cost and then if I hit the "Butch" with Calamity first, but that would still cost 3 focus with a boosted to hit roll.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Off to tuesday night Warmachine.

I'm going to try and get some more games with Grissel tonight. Also I'll see how I finished in the Summer Rampage. Woot!

This is my Trollblood thread on Focus and Fury:
http://www.focusandfury.com/forum/index.php?topic=1373.0

Random Cool Picture

Monday, August 30, 2010

Steamroller 2010 Appendix

Pages 21-29 are full of optional rules to make for exciting events or to tweak the game for a particular community. If you have a lot of new players who also play or used to play 40K you might use the "No Caster Kill" rule so players can keep playing after there caster is killed. Or Accelerated Time limits in a venue that is available only for a short period of time. You can Mix and match this rules for different challenges to game play.
I really like the idea of Survival Scoring for tie breakers instead of Strength of schedule, if might have some broken meta game consequence down the line, but I think it's great as it's something you can influence in game (requiring some skillz) and also that does not favor Assassinations or Scenarios over one the other, like assassination scoring where number of Caster kills is the first tie breaker. If you have a group that doen't favor caster kills or that love caster killin, you can challenge them by rewarding or punishing scenarios.

Here are a few ideas for zazzy event formats, because sometimes even the best things are lacking a little Zazz.

Deadline: Causul time limits first round, normal time limits second round, accelerated Time limts on the third and final hardcore time limit for the rest of the event. If you lose a game, you go to the next higher time limit (ie get more time).

Grand Melee: Two rounds of 50 points games then three rounds of mangled metal. Game play should be under 6 hours, so I think this could be a blast to play in and get plenty of experecne with you warcaster and Beasts/Jacks.Additionally add the "Survival Scoring" and a Thematic scenario selection, like this:
First Round (50 points) : Overrun
Second Round (50 points) : Incursion
Third Round (15 points Mangled Metal/Claw and Fang) : Convergence
Fourth Round (15 points Mangled Metal/Claw and Fang) : Destruction
Fifth Round (15 points Mangled Metal/Claw and Fang) : Kill Box
And you have a neat "Battle Campaign" themed tournament that should have some very interesting game play.

Grinder: a Reverse Progressive format where you start with 50, then go to 35 and finally play the last rounds as 15 mangled metal. The Zaz is that it represents the lose of resources over a battle/war. My only worry about this format is that with one a single 15 point game, one bad match up is to telling. Larger games mitigate the advantage that overspecialization give in smaller games. Stuff like All Stealth armies or Khador can ruin some people's day as they require specized units to counter well (high p+s vs Khador or anti stealth tech vs stealth when you have much shooting) In Grand Melee you get three games at 15 points, so one horrible match up is not the end of you run.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sacramento Beatdown

Just got back from my beating in Sacramento. I opted to play Grissel Bloogsong in the Event.
Here is the list.


Army Name: Grissel 25
Trollbloods
25+5 points, 17 models

Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller +5 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Troll Axer 6 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
Stone Scribe Chronicler 2 points
6 Trollkin Scattergunners 5 points
* * *

I like this list, I think it's got some juice to it but I really should not have tried to learn how to play it in a time turn event. I played one game with either Grissel or the Chronicler before today. It showed with all but my forth (and Last) round game ending my Feat turn before I had finished moving my army, those losing the area wide "Hoof It" and leaving my army hanging in the wind, well that's not quite true, one game I was housing my opponent but I feated, smashed some stuff then "Hoofed it" to safety and away from the control points giving him two turns of Command point harvesting and the game win. I started to feel like the feat heralded my doom. However it work like a charm in the four game, I understood the rules and didn't have to reference anything and I understood that I needed to speed though my turn. When used well that feat is magical, All my units in her 12" control radius gain an extra melee attack, fearless, and can get a free advance with no free strikes at the end of the turn, plus no enemy spells or enemy orders in the control area. Wow, that's pretty sweet.

I'd like to thank the Sac crowd for being very cool and proficient in the rules and tactic of Warmachine. That's a club that has game. Jimmy (the PG) rules tight events, with cool preset terrain, on the spot rulings, and timely action (I.e. getting the events going and making sure everyone is on the same page). I look forward to the next time I'm up there.


Grats to Bobby (cygnar) for 1st
Porkbun (Circle) for 2nd.
Dustin (Khador) for 3rd
and Maxin(Trollbloods) for 4th

Oh and Scattergunner are made of magic and win.

Friday, August 27, 2010

25 point Tournament in Sac this Weekend

I think I'll be playing Cygnar this weekend at the Warmachine/Hordes tournament in Sacramento at Great Escape Games.
Should be Fun.

Here are some of the lists I'm thinking of Running

Army Name: ENemo
Cygnar
25+6 points, 8 models

General Adept Nemo +6 points
* 3x Charger 4 points each
* Sentinel 4 points
* Thunderhead 12 points
* Squire 2 points

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point
* * *


Army Name: Haley 25
Cygnar
25+5 points, 15 models

Captain Victoria Haley +5 points
* Charger 4 points
* Hunter 6 points
* Thorn 8 points
* Squire 2 points

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4 points
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points
6 Steelhead Halberdiers 4 points

* * *


Army Name: Haley 25.1
Cygnar
25+5 points, 14 models

Captain Victoria Haley +5 points
* Grenadier 5 points
* Hunter 6 points
* Thorn 8 points

Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points
6 Trencher Commandos 6 points
* 3 Trencher Commando Scattergunners 3 points


Thursday, August 26, 2010

I just finished taking photo's of all my Trollblood Minis, Click HERE. I hope you like them.

I just uploaded the Trollblood, my Cryx, and my Merc at DakkaDakka.com Photo Gallery



Recent Tournament lists

In an attempt to get more info on this blog, I'm going to start posting army lists I use for different Events.

Here are a few from the past:

This is the list I ran in Genesis, where I won the Troll blood coin and came in 2nd over all.
_____________________________

Army Name: Genesis 25 - Ray Snyder
Trollbloods
24+7 points, 12 models

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls +7 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* Runebearer 2 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
6 Trollkin Scattergunners 5 points
***
Army Name: Genesis 35 - Ray Snyder
Trollbloods
35+7 points, 27 models

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls +7 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* Runebearer 2 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
10 Trollkin Scattergunners 8 points
***
Army Name: Genesis 50 - Ray Snyder
Trollbloods
50+7 points, 35 models

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls +7 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* Runebearer 2 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
Lanyssa Ryssyl 2 points
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
Troll Whelps 2 points
10 Trollkin Scattergunners 8 points
Viktor Pendrake 2 points
_____________________________
This is the list I used Last Week (Aug 21) at Olde World Games in Vacaville
I lost all my games, but at least one loss was due to shenanigans and the first round was a horrible match up for me. However every game was fun and all where classy opponents.

Army Name: Vacaville 15
Trollbloods
14+6 points, 4 models

Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain  +6 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* * *
Army Name: Vacaville 35
Trollbloods
35+6 points, 21 models

Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain  +6 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* Runebearer 2 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
3 Trollkin Champions 6 points
Viktor Pendrake 2 points
* * *
Army Name: Vacaville 50
Trollbloods
50+6 points, 29 models

Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain  +6 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* Runebearer 2 points

2x Fell Caller Hero 3 points each
6 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 4 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
6 Pyg Burrowers 4 points
5 Trollkin Champions 10 points
3 Trollkin Long Riders 7 points
Viktor Pendrake 2 points
* * *
_____________________________
Both these events where Progressive lists, in other words you start is a small army and each round you add more points to the previous army. It's a tricky but fun format. I look forward to try it out in reverse where you army get smaller each round instead of Bigger.

_____________________________
This was a Standard 35 point Steam Roller at Game Kastle on the 28th of July (I think, what ever it was the July Steamroller). I think I went 2-1 but might have been worse, possibly 1-2.

Army Name: Madrak Beats
Trollbloods
35+6 points, 18 models

Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain  +6 points
* 2x Pyre Troll 5 points each
* Troll Axer 6 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
6 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 4 points
Totem Hunter 3 points
5 Trollkin Champions 10 points
* * *
Army Name: Doomshaper 35 Point List.
Trollbloods
35+7 points, 17 models

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls +7 points
* Dire Troll Blitzer 9 points
* Dire Troll Mauler 9 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Troll Axer 6 points

6 Kriel Warriors 4 points
6 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 4 points