Thursday, March 31, 2016

Countdown to LnL2016: 10 weeks

Making progress here.

Logistics:
Travel - I need to take my car in for service before we drive up
Hotel - check
Food - I need to make sure I have a plan for bringing snacks and drinks with me, especially for Unbound.
Model transport - I need to make sure to bring a sturdy cookie sheet for during events, and that I can easily transport all my models.
Shopping - check (no budget! going crazy!)
Gaming equipment - check (part of my packing list)
Tokens - check
Repair kit - check (part of my packing list)

Events:
Masters - Registered! Need to finalize lists, and ADR (if applicable)
Unbound - Need to finalize a list, and also tweet a picture of my army to PP to help seed that I can play Jason Soles this year.
2nd Unbound - Playing an extra 200pt Unbound game with PPS Bryan. Need to make sure I'm all set for that.

Remaining Paint Queue:
Storm Lances
Stryker3
Trench Buster
Blaize
Gallant

Monday, March 28, 2016

Captain Jeremiah Kraye

Getting closer to a complete set of Cygnar casters. Kraye is a model I actually painted once before for a friend. It was a little odd to paint him again honestly, but I am stoked to have him in my stable (pah dum bum).

Sunday, March 27, 2016

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #115

I am so pumped for Lock & Load!

Last week's mad push to get Laddermore done in time for #miniaturemonday really broke my painting funk. I'm charging again in my paint queue and feeling pretty good about my push towards LnL. I will admit that I broke down and bought a second Stormclad just because I love that jack. I do feel like it will make a good ADR sideboard option for my Striker2 list too, but mostly I was stress shopping, and I had to backorder the Trench Buster so I needed to be able to walk out of the store with something new. However, here's what else got done this week:
Finished Kraye
Got the Stormclad assembled
Started working on Storm Lances, Blaize and Gallant
Started assembling Stryker3
Got more 50mm Tau Ceti bases drilled and magnetized

I also connected with PPS Bryan who I played Unbound with last year and we're planning to play a rematch this year. I'm super stoked because that Unbound game was one of the highlights of LnL15 for me. Getting to play again against such a worthy and gracious opponent is a real privilege. It's gonna be epic!



Paint Target: Complete All Cygnar
Storm Lances - painting
Blaize - painting
Gallant - painting
Stryker3 - assembling
Stormclad - assembled
Trench Buster - backordered

Friday, March 25, 2016

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Goreshade3

Nothing quite like getting ambushed and still surviving.

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), 2 Stormblade Captains, Bunker Objective.

My opponent: Goreshade3, Skarlock, Sepulcher, Darragh Wrathe, Necrotech, Scrap Thrall, Bane Riders (5), Mechanithralls (10), Soulhunters (5), Withershadow, Bunker Objective.

Scenario: Recon, 60 minute death clock.

I won initiative! So naturally I opted to go first, just for the practice of it. I have to also say, I didn't read Goreshade3's card, or the Sepulcher's card prior to starting the game. So around bottom of turn 2 when my opponent says "I think I can kill you" and I ask how, he shows me Goreshade's feat and I suddenly got very nervous. So here's what happened. Stryker was at the back end of the zone, B2B with Rowdy and my Objective. The Soulhunters charged, with one in particular running through behind Stryker. Mechanithralls ran forward and engaged some key Silverlines. Then Goreshade advanced, feated to make Stryker and Rowdy stationary, and Siphoned Stryker 3 times. After that the Bane Riders advanced to try and clear out enough of the Silverlines but came up 1 short. At this point the Sepulcher was pretty jammed for making a charge due to it's close proximity to the objective and the Bane Riders and remaining Silverline being in the way. So instead it advances and tries to take out the Stormclad but comes up just short due to its last melee attack missing. At this point I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I proceeded to execute precision model elimination to clear out 5 Mechanithralls from the path to free up Stryker. At this point I roll for Overpower and get a wonderful 15 bonus STR, for a mere 9 damage. A single landed charge attack then finished off the focusless Goreshade in a single hit.

Shaking for anything is done during Control phase. Including jacks and beasts. I need to make sure I remember that. Also, models with a magic melee weapon can make free strikes against Incorporeal models. Not super common, but something to remember as in this game where Stryker's reach magic weapon could have made a free strike against the Incorporeal Soulhunter that ran through him to position for Goreshade's feat. Also also, when there's terrain pieces on the table (like unnecessarily tall hills), swap them out for flat terrain. The 2D Terrain from Broken Egg Games is both lovely looking and extremely functional. It may not add that ambiance to the game that 3D terrain does, but it is dramatically more functional in-game, and let's face it, Warmachine is a game where positioning and functional terrain becomes key to a tight gameplay experience.

Games this year: 14

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Countdown To LnL2016: 11 weeks

Down to 11 weeks now and I need to start solidifying my plan. I'm going to use these weekly posts to make sure I'm all organized and ready for what I hope to be the best Lock & Load yet. I'm not going to sort it all out in this week's post, but I'm using the weekly posts to make sure I'm getting these things checked off.

Logistics:
Travel - I need to take my car in for service before we drive up
Hotel - check (already got a reservation)
Food - I need to make sure I have a plan for bringing snacks and drinks with me, especially for Unbound.
Model transport - I need to make sure to bring a sturdy cookie sheet for during events, and that I can easily transport all my models.
Shopping - I need to have a budget and bring an extra credit card.
Gaming equipment - I need to make a list of this. Extra tape measure for example
Tokens - I should make up some spell tokens ahead of time

Events:
Masters - Need to finalize lists, and ADR (if applicable)
Unbound - Need to finalize a list, and also tweet a picture of my army to PP to help seed that I can play Jason Soles this year.

Remaining Paint Queue:
Kraye
Storm Lances
Stryker3
Trench Buster
Blaize
Gallant

Goals:
Play Masters!
Play Unbound!
Play in Iron Arean!
Go drinking!
Don't play board games! (Sorry PP, just not interested this year)

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Major Katherine Laddermore

Lots of pictures! Few words! Enjoyed this model! Done!



Monday, March 21, 2016

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Thagrosh2

Old buddy Mike came to visit and brought models!

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), 2 Stormblade Captains.

My opponent: Thagrosh, Blightbringer, 6x Blight Wasps, Croak Raiders (10), Gatorman Witch Doctor.

Scenario: Outflank, 60 minute death clock.

Again I lost initiative and ended up going second. I didn't think this would be such a big deal, but 6 units of Blight Wasps can really move up the table fast! With the Outflank scenario this was especially a problem. By my second turn my left flank was completely pinned in melee outside of the zone. Fortunately Stormblades are awesome and I was rolling pretty well, so I managed to clear a large swath of the little beasties in short order. Mid game though I hit a snag: a combination of Croak Raider oil and a Blightbringer direct hit with a cranked damage roll put 14 damage on Stryker, which basically left him with no option to use Overpower and in a dangerous position near the center of the board. At this point I had to beat a hasty retreat and use a forest to get Stryker in a bit more safe of position. The Stormblades and Stormclad then had to start doing a bulk of the clean up work, especially since Rowdy was quickly running out of boxes. Once the Blightbringer went down, it forced Thagrosh's hand. A sac-strike from the Witch Doctor nearly took Stryker out (and on average dice should have), but fortunately came up 2 short. At this point I pressed the battle home with charges on Thagrosh from 2 Stormblade Captains, 2 Stormblade infantry, and then Stryker himself to finally finish the job. I breathed a sigh of relief because this one came down really close!

Lessons Learned: I'm getting really efficient with applying Stormblades to problems. I've played them so many times now and their utility is just so valuable to me. Worth every point. On the flipside, getting hit by Croak Raider oil and then by a Blightbringer direct hit is bad business, even when camping 6 focus. Stryker took 14 damage in a single hit from that! The real key there was that although Stryker is hard to hit with ranged, Rowdy is not, and being in B2B basically simplified hitting Stryker with the AOE. That's an important lesson I won't forget.

Games this year: 13

Sunday, March 20, 2016

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #114

Another light week for hobby, but heavy for games.

I'm writing my roundup post early since there's a risk that I'll crash early tonight. This week was chaos, with getting 3 games in but also I've been working hours and then this weekend I contracted a head cold. So things are really slow for painting. This will probably make 2 #MiniatureMonday's in a row that I won't tweet a newly painted model which really pains me. However there is some hope for the future: season 2 of Daredevil just released on Netflix so I'm much more inclined to get my butt at my painting desk to watch that and paint at the same time. In the mean time, I'm just going to update the in-progress status of my remaining Cygnar models.

Paint Target: Complete All Cygnar
Kraye - painting
Laddermore - painting
Storm Lances - primed
Blaize - primed
Gallant - primed
Stryker3 - trimmed

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Syntherion

I am loving Stryker2.

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), 2 Stormblade Captains, Arcane Wonder Objective.

My opponent: Syntherion (tier 2), Corollary, Axiom, Assimilator, Diffuser, 2x Emergence Projectors, Dispersion Optifex, Optifext Directive, Attunement Servitors, Bunker Objective.

Scenario: Fire Support, 60 minute death clock.

Once again, lost initiative and my opponent opted to go first. This gave me the side selection which helped me a bit. This battle was really like 3 parallel battles taking place. On each flank was a CoC battle engine facing off against a unit of Stormblades, and in the center was the Axiom and Assimilator facing off against the Stormguard and Stryker. This really set the tone of the whole game as we were both trying to collapse the flanks in order to take control of the center. Despite the huge amount of slaughter of my Stormblades, the battle was going my way, and as I pressed forward with Stryker, Syntherion ended up with his back against the killbox. Bottom of the 4th I did some math and went for the assassination, rolling an incredible 16 bonus strength with Overpower and then Stryker rolled in and put Syntherion in the dirt with a single charge hit.

Lessons Learned: Stryker is incredible for assassination when he can get the vector on his target. Also the CoC battle engines are really great at clearing out my Stormblades. However even just a couple Stormblades can still cause considerable damage. Also I'm still very happy with the swap out of the Lancer for the Stormblade WA's. Now I really need to start thinking about ADR sideboard options I think.

Games this year: 12

Friday, March 18, 2016

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Morghoul1

I am loving Stryker2.

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), 2 Stormblade Captains, Bunker Objective.

My opponent: Morghoul, Marketh, Bronzeback, Brute, Gladiator, Willbreaker, Zaadesh, 2x Savage, Krea, Paingiver Beast Handlers (6), Meath Thresher.

Scenario: Close Quarters, 60 minute death clock.

Once again I found myself going second. The first round was just moving forward and then things started to get a little bit contentious on the second round. However top of 3, Morghoul jammed in right next to Stryker (who was dominating my friendly flag), and feated, which made things really tricky. Unfortunately for Morghoul, Rowdy and the Stormclad both managed to land hits on him, and then with Stryker's feat, an additional hit came from Rowdy by sheer luck. This pretty much spelled doom for Morghoul for, while he was able to transfer the hits, his beasts were pretty blown out. After that it turned into most mop up. My opponent actually timed out, and at that point I was up 3-0 on control points and thus won.

Lessons learned: Going with max weapon attachments for the Stormblade units is a much better option than the Lancer. Also, Stryker is darn survivable up front when Rowdy is able to stick right with him.

Games this year: 11

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Countdown to LnL2016

It's now 12 weeks until Lock and Load 2016! If you didn't see it, they have posted the schedule here. The happy news for me is that Unbound is once again being featured, which means it's on like Donkey Kong! I've been painting a ton of Cygnar since last year's Unbound so I'll have a lot more options for this year's LnL. I'm really looking forward to LnL this year, especially since I plan on playing in Masters as well if I can get into it. The next 12 weeks need to focus specifically on my remaining painting queue as well as getting more dialed in on my Masters lists so that I'm playing well to time.

#soexcited

Sunday, March 13, 2016

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #113

Weak week.

I was gone most of the week on work, so this week was mostly just what I got done yesterday and today. Just assembly on a bunch of stuff. No painting. *sigh* The status of stuff is below.

Paint Target: Complete All Cygnar
Kraye - primed
Laddermore - primed
Storm Lances - assembled
Blaize - assembled
Gallant - assembled
Stryker3 - trimmed

Sunday, March 06, 2016

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #112

Rain. Work trips. Things are grinding to a halt, fast.

This week's roundup comes in the form of headlines...

Finished Stormguard... Hooray!
Lance gave me Blaize... Yay?
Assembled/Primed Kraye and Laddermore... Sweet!
More thoughts that I typed up earlier... Yawn.

Some other thoughts. Things I wish PP would do: Add Objectives to WarRoom. And Unbound support to WarRoom. Make cards for Tier Lists. Sell updated cards. Sell stickers!

So I still don't have a Blightbringer. Here's why... I'm taking a break from serious Legion play and expansion. Although I like the Blightbringer, I feel like it's still in a category of just not quite good enough for my play style. However I do think it's good and will likely get one eventually. However for now I'm enjoying Cygnar a ton and focusing my attention on that as well as reaching fully painted.

New paint target is sort of silly...

Paint Target: Complete All Cygnar
Stryker3 - blister
Kraye - primed
Laddermore - primed
Storm Lances - trimmed
Blaize - blister
Gallant - blister

Saturday, March 05, 2016

Stormguard

Nothing fancy. Quickly painted. Seriously closes out a lot of my remaining Cygnar.

Friday, March 04, 2016

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Axis

Someone remind me to not be stupid please.

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Lancer, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA), 2 Stormblade Captains, Bunker Objective.

My opponent: Axis (tier 4), Corollary, 2x Inverter, 4 Enigma Foundries, 3x Clockwork Angels, 2x Obstructors (10 each), Reductors (10+Transverse Enumerator), Armory Objective.

Scenario: Incoming, 60 minute death clock.

I lost initiative and my opponent opted to go second, choosing the side that didn't have as much rough terrain in front of the deployment area which was important for his swarm of infantry and also somewhat jammed up my swarm of infantry. I went first and at this point I would like to mention how much I love the Advanced Move bonus for Stormblades that Stryker2 grants. I surge forward and end up in a good position. Then Axis' force surges forward, with 9 Angels all coming up one flank. At this point I didn't have a great caution option, so I rushed in with assaults and charges. This was as much a positioning effort as it was to inflict casualties. The retaliation was brutal, with half of my infantry being wiped out. At this point things were looking rough, but I opted to jam Stryker right up close near Axis, with Rowdy in B2B with him for added protection. Axis flinched, feated, and backed up. At this point he had 90 seconds left on his deathclock and I had 9 minutes. What I should have done was back Stryker up into my zone to dominate for 1 CP and then just camp focus and let him clock out. Instead I decided to push the train forward and go for the kill. Unfortunately my dice had a bit of a failure so I shifted to trying to destroy the objective but because the Armory objective has that sacrifice ability, I failed. At this point Axis rolled up and managed to finish Stryker off.

Lessons learned: Play to scenario when it's a smart option. Also, the Lancer is simply not adding enough value in this list so I'm planning to swap it out for 3 WAs on both Stormblade units instead. On the plus side, I'm doing well with death clock now and really like using it for every game. One last lesson is to not bunch up when there's sprays in the enemy forces. Those Reductors with the UA mini-feat were brutal on my Silverlines!

Games this year: 10