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

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

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

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

Stormguard

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

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

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #111

Sleepy. Just highlights.

Finished Ace and the Foundry.
Work moving on Stormguard (as pictured).
Started Batman project. More on that in a separate post.
Painted numbers on Murder Ponies to keep them straight for damage marking.
Primed the gators for the Vault.

My pCaine paint target is completed! I'll figure out a new paint target next week.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - painting
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - done
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - done
Tempest Blazers - done

Battle Report: Caine2 vs Axis

So much shooting at so many targets.

My list: Caine2, Ace, Squire, Gun Mages (6+UA), Tempest Blazers (5), Black 13th, Jakes, Avenger, Gun Mage Captain Adept, Stormsmith, Eiryss1, Tarin, Acosta, Reinholdt, Bunker Objective.

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

I won the initiative but due to terrain I opted to choose sides, which meant I ended up going second. This was actually ok with me since with my volume of guns I expected to be able to leverage my 1st turn well. As it turned out, that was exactly true. Top of 1, Axis' force surges forward. Bottom of 1 I unleash a massive volley of shots and take a pile of models off the table, including a full unit of Angels. Top of 2, Obstructors are able to push forward and either shield wall or charge, causing some consternation for me, but other than losing a single Blazer and Eiryss, I was unscathed. Bottom of 2 I then lay into a bunch more stuff and take even more enemy troops off the table. Unfortunately I end up leaving my zone uncontested (except for Caine sitting in the back corner), and the enemy zone only had Acosta in it (after he made a big charge against the objective). Top of 3, Axis feats and pushes in with his force, destroying my objective and scoring 2 points. He would have scored 3, but by some miracle Acosta survived the charge from the Inverter and managed to dodge away from it. At this point I have 17 minutes left of my clock and I decide to go for the assassination. Axis is sitting in a forest with 4 focus, so I needed a plan. First my Gun Mages moved up and Thunderbolted a Foundry so that it was within an inch of Axis. Then Jakes Energizes the Avenger forward 3", at which point the Avenger takes a boosted shot at the Foundry, hits, and knocks down Axis. At this point I use Ace to hit another Foundry with Shadowfire to clear the LOS and Caine moves up, feats, and unloads all of his focus shooting into Axis and dusts him on his last shot. Boom!

Lessons learned: Having a whole list built around delivering Caine2 assassination is pretty amusing. It's a fun list because it's a toolbox of ranged assassination.

Games this year: 9

Enigma Foundry

This was actually painted for my buddy Lance who plays Convergence. I thought it would be fun to try out a Convergence model and he needed to paint 4 of these for his Axis tier list anyway, so I offered to paint one of them for him. I will say that this happens to be one of the most obnoxious models to assemble in the PP line. However once I had it assembled, and then broke it, then fixed it again, then had it break again, then got it fixed and attached to the base properly, it was actually quite fun to paint! The base is a Secret Weapon resin base that Lance gave me as well for it. I hope he enjoys it!

Ace

This one was a really quick paint job. So much so that I decided to go crazy on insignias on it, as I think would be fitting for Caine's pet jack. Beyond that I'm just going to let the pictures tell the amusing story of this sweet sweet sculpt.

Gun Mages (new style)

This is my third (and final) set of Gun Mages. I would never have painted a 3rd set, but there were 3 compelling reasons. First, this is the new sculpt of the models, which I do like better. Second, I needed a set that matched my Cygnar color scheme as both previous sets were painted to be used as mercs with Ashlynn. And third, they came with the Cygnar all-in-one box, so I had them anyway. So now they are speed painted and done!

Gobbler Tinker

Now this model is one of those rare conjunctions of highly frustrating and highly entertaining. The entertaining comes in the form of the huge amount of character that the model has. The frustrating part comes in the form of getting it put together. Once I finally got it assembled, I painted it separate from the base but had fortunately got a base prepped with holes already drilled for the pins. And even then while I was trying to get it on the base, I managed to bust it apart in two different places. However I managed to get it back together and on the base properly. I will say though that it was worth the effort. The myriad of sculpted details on this model make it really fun to paint. From the wagon full of random parts, to the characterful expression on the Tinker's face, it was all very fun to paint. I'll admit that there are some secluded parts of the model that didn't get painted properly but they are also pretty hard to see anyway. I highly recommend painting this model.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #110

Crazy good week for playing and hobby time.

Time to review my progress for this week. Trimmed, assembled and primed Stormguard. Repaired the Enigma Foundry and got it primed properly. Base coat work on Ace and Enigma Foundry. Finished Gun Mages and Tinker. Oh, and I bought Storm Lances, despite my desire to reach fully painted, in order to support the new LGS which is just a mile and a half away from my home.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - painting
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - done
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - done
Tempest Blazers - done

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Synthrion

Re-rack and roll out again!

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

My opponent: Syntherion (tier 4), Axiom, Corollary, Cipher, Assimilator, Diffuser, Galvanizer, Emergence Projector, Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex, 2x Optifex Directives. Bunker Objective.

So after the first game finishing quickly, we picked things back up and my opponent swapped to his Synth list. Again it was the Recon scenario with deathclock, but this time I won initiative and decided to go first. There was a bunch of jam and the Axiom laid out a lot of ranged death upon my troops. However on my third turn I managed to press in hard and clear the zone, allowing two important things to happen: destroying his objective and letting Stryker dominate. The counter attack was not as successful as I was expecting though, with Axiom failing a trample attempt due to the landing zone not being big enough. This made things very awkward for Synth and on my turn I was able to easily clear the zone again and dominate for another 2 points, winning the game. As a coup de gras though, I ran the assassination attempt with Stryker and handily put Syntherion into the dirt at the same time. I'd like to note that on this game I ended with about 8 minutes left on my clock as well, so I was really happy about my time usage as well.

Lessons learned: Going first and having advance move on Stormblades from Stryker2 is really nice for getting the drop on scenario. Also playing for scenario is something I'm starting to get better at, however I still need more practice. I probably need to re-think my objective selection with this list as well.

Games this year: 8

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Lucant

Sometimes foolish decisions result in beautiful destruction.

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

My opponent: Lucant, Corollary, Axiom, 2 Emergence Projectors, Enigma Foundry, Obstructors (10), Reductors (6), Optifex Directive. Bunker Objective.

We played the SR2015 Recon scenario with deathclock, and I lost initiative which meant I got to chose the side with the hill just outside my deployment zone. The first round was pretty much as expected, with everything running towards each other, my own forces trying to fan out as much as possible so that the battle engines wouldn't be able to spray too much down. Then instead of advancing and spraying down at my wall of troops, Lucant opts to feat and jam the Axiom and one battle engine right up into my front line. My counter attack was vicious, with a unit of Stormblades wrecking the battle engine and then Stryker using overpower to roll up and chop down the ARM 24 Axiom handily after rolling +14 for STR. However it left Stryker in a dangerous position and Lucant was able to drop 2 boosted spells onto Stryker who only had 4 health remaining which ended him pretty easily.

Lessons learned: Remember Stryker's feat! If I'd remembered it, Stryker could have moved back 3" and that would have made all the difference for him surviving. Beyond that, I was just very happy with how my army performed. Just a matter of more practice.

Games this year: 7

Captain Allister Caine

This model was a bit of a challenge to get put together, but painting was overall quite easy. The pose is lovely and despite being meant for the custom base, I found that it did fine on a flat generic base. Not a whole lot more to say on this one overall though. I'm almost out of Cygnar warcasters to paint a this point.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #109

Hobby halt for Valentine's Day.

Great week. Finish Caine2 and Sloan. The Gobber Tinker is nearly done as well, as can be seen here. And the final unit of Gun Mages is started, although not terribly far along yet. Got a big batch (23 30mm and a 120mm) of Tau Ceti bases painted up for future Cygnar models as well. Painting up the 120mm is basically wishful thinking that the Hurricane will come out before I get bored of Cygnar (hee hee). I also got Ace assembled and primed. At the same time I was attempting to prime the Enigma Foundry but it decided to explode and fall to the cement floor of my garage. I picked up the pieces and I'll assess the damage later. *sigh*

I also painted this terrain piece. It's one of the Secret Weapon Miniatures' Archeo-Tech Obelisks. It's was a breeze to paint. I didn't go for amazing quality obviously, but I did aim to make it match my newer style of mercenary bases just because I like the look. It was a fun and quick side project while painting other things.

At this point I'm honestly not sure why I'm tracking this paint target except that it nails finishing up another unit and gets me closer to fully painted. But that list is getting shorter and shorter anyway.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - primed
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - painting
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - done
Tempest Blazers - done

Captain Kara Sloan

Nothing fancy to say on this one. Closes out another Cygnar caster for my collection.

Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Madrak2

And then dice happened...

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

My opponent: Madrak2, Mulg, Pyre Troll, Axer, Fell Caller, Fennblade Kithkar, Stone Scribe Chronicler, Fire Eaters, Fennblades (10+UA), Krielstone Bearer (4+UA), Long Riders (3).

This report is going to be abbreviated because I'm sleepy, and the game was last night and I'm not remembering it all clearly. We played the SR2015 Outflank scenario again (cause we were lazy) and played a loose deathclock (more on that below). I lost initiative of course (because I seem to always lose it). There was rushing forward on both our first turns, followed by a running of Fennblades into melee and then Madrak feating to clear a lot of troops. Then at this point I had a potential assassination run, but an unfortunate snake eyes roll by a Stormblade Captain left a whole unit of Stormblades pinned by a single Fennblade. From there things just continued to be an uphill battle that I would only win through a protracted attrition battle. Now I should note that I'm a little torn on how to report this one. By clock, I won this one handily. However at the beginning we both agreed we'd just use the clock as a guide but not play strict. In the end, I was losing on scenario and failed an assassination run, at which point I conceded.

Lessons learned: Stryker2 is amusing because he's always threatening. Madrak2 is tough to kill because he's always going to be camping a couple fury and can sacrifice nearby warrior models. In hindsight I think I could have won this one if I'd played things a bit differently and not had rough dice for a big chunk of the game.

Games this year: 6

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #108

What a horrible week. Migraines suck.

Pretty busy week, but not a lot actually completed. The Gobber Tinker, Caine2, and Sloan are all in progress, along with a piece of terrain. I also finished assembling the Sacral Vault (man was that a lot of candles) along with an Enigma Foundry (which I'm painting for my buddy Lance). Hopefully this week will result in a lot of completed stuff. Odds are this week will also result in an influx of new models since the new LGS branch will be opening just a couple miles from where I live.

On a side note, as I was writing up my battle report yesterday and recording the game in Steam Genius, I noticed that so far I am 0-5 for this year. How sad. Last year overall I was 20-16. Not amazing, but interesting none the less.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - primed
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - done
Tempest Blazers - done

Battle Report: Saeryn and Rhyas vs Axis

My list: Saeryn & Rhyas, Zuriel, Seraph, Bloodseer, Shredder, 2x Blightwasps, 2 Shepherds, Blackfrost Shard, Hex Hunters (10+UA), Bone Grinders (6).

My opponent: Axis (tier 4), Corollary, 2x Inverter, 4x Enigma Foundry, 2x Obstructors, Reductors, 3x Clockwork Angels, Optifex Directive.

My list above was essentially a "stuff I've painted but haven't played" list for Legion. I tried to turn it into a legit list, but it still had some issues. I'd probably drop the Wasps for something else next time.

We played the SR2015 Outflank scenario again (cause we were lazy) and played to deathclock (more on that below). I lost initiative so of course the Axis jam was fully on. I'm going to fast forward the game though to where this picture was taken. I jammed Rhyas right in and slayed 2 fully loaded Foundries which caused no end of chaos for Axis. On the next turn, the nearest Inverter totally failed to knock her down or even hit her more than once, which triggered a pile of Riposte attacks. Unfortunately the second Inverter slammed the first over her and that left her in a bad situation where she ended up getting killed by Obstructors of all things. This all happened after Axis feated which left Saeryn unable to properly counterattack. I chose to press forward and mop up more stuff, including getting Zuriel in to destroy the other 2 Foundries. Axis then moved around trying to dominate the zone but with the clock running low things were getting frantic. At this point that he clocked over to me I had 3 minutes on my clock and was losing on scenario 0-4, so I went for it. Saeryn gets slipstreamed by the Bloodseer (which moved in to engage an Inverter and prevent any countercharge, then she charged forward and feated to put Rhyas into melee with Axis. Unfortunately he was camping full focus putting him at ARM 23. I swung a bunch of time but unfortunately it wasn't enough. At this point I clocked out and essentially lost on time and scenario, if not assassination.

Lessons learned: First, operating the Twins is tricky business. They have independent control areas which affects how leeching can be done, plus if one is killed then there's a surplus of fury on the table usually. And since they are a unit, it's extra tricky (kinda like Haley3 is). Beyond that though, I really enjoyed playing them. I'm sort of excited at the idea of playing them again sometime. I'm also much more sold on Zuriel now having played him.

Games this year: 5

Bone Grinders

So these were speed painted. Seriously, I cranked them out really fast. I used a trick from my buddy Bryan on this. I did basic base coating of the flesh, leathers and fur, and then drybrushed those parts, then washed the whole thing with SWW Sewer Water. Then I did details like metals and bones and such. The whole unit probably only took me 5 hours tops. I'm pretty happy with the result, the time spent, and perhaps most importantly getting these done after them sitting in a blister for at least 3 years.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #107

Apparently it's flu season.

Technically this is a staged photo, but it does portray what my desk is like right now. Bone Grinders are nearly done. I realized that I need to drill and prep a bunch more Tau Ceti bases for Cygnar, so I got them cleaned up and found my drill/bit/magnets for that task. Also have the Gobber Tinker prepped for painting, and got the Gun Mages and Sloan ready for priming. No additional work on the Sacral Vault unfortunately. In general this felt like a slow week, but not a stagnant week. Work has been exhausting and really drained my energy. However painting definitely seems to recharge me more than anything else right now.

I'm still sort of aiming at this pCaine tier list, but it's going to be a while before I get there. I'm more focused on finishing up my unpainted minions first.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - assembled
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - done
Tempest Blazers - done

Battle Report: Absylonia2 vs Calandra

No photo. Very brief battle report. Just for my own tracking purposes.

My list: Absylonia2, Blightbringer, Carnivean, Seraph, Stinger, Shredder, Warspears (5+UA), 2x Shepherds.

My opponent: Calandra, Bomber, Impaler, Horgle, Pyre, Slag, Chronicler, Fennblade Kithkar, Fennblades (10+UA), Fell Caller Hero, Long Riders (3), Fire Eaters.

This was a poor showing on my part. Quite honestly I was so mentally tired I probably shouldn't have played. I completely misinterpreted a piece of terrain on the table and thus picked the wrong side. Then chose to put Abby centrally forward but not in B2B with the Fortified Blightbringer, which would have prevented her being knocked down by Calandra's Force Blow and then being killed handily.

Lessons learned: Remember my features, and don't play when really mentally tired. *sigh*

Games this year: 4

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

This is a really nice model to paint. I'm a little ashamed at the shortcuts I took on some of the smaller details. However it's done and I had a fun time playing with colors on this one, trying to find something that struck a balance between appearing natural and magical at the same time.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #106

So very very tired.

So first up is progress on Eiryss2. She's my last remaining mercenary model to paint so I was eager to get her started. However what I discovered was that it's a really nice sculpt. A little challenging for sure, but absolutely gorgeous detail. I'm spending more time on it than I had anticipated but enjoying every minute of it. She won't turn out as a competition level model by any stretch, but I am going to use it as an opportunity to paint to a higher standard than I have been lately.

Next is my progress on the Sacral Vault. This kit is a real beast. I mean seriously, it has a ton of parts to it. However the real tricky part is getting everything prepped for priming. I want to paint the two pushing gators separately, and of course I got a Secret Weapon Bonefields base for this model since it seemed appropriate. And that means all those parts need to be separate for the painting process. This means I needed to have a plan for how to handle the assembly work once the parts are painted and yet still have everything come together nice and stable. To handle that, I got everything carefully positioned on the base to my liking, then used some painter's tape to secure the Vault to the base. After removing the two pushers temporarily, I turned the Vault and base upside down and drilled holes for 3 pins that go through the base and into the wheels. Then I repositioned the pushes and drilled pins for them too. You can see how all those pins stick out the bottom of the base in the next picture. Those pins are obviously not glued in yet (I'll do that later) but I wanted to make sure everything test fit nicely. At this point I basically just need to finish all the tiny pieces, which is something like 40 candles, skulls and such.

Beyond that, it hasn't been very busy on the painting desk this week. Finishing the Black 13th gets me a bit closer on my pCaine tier list target, but that isn't going to get finished anytime soon. I'm pretty committed to getting my mercs and minions wrapped up before working on anything significant for Cygnar.
I'm also trying really hard to hold back from picking up any new models for now. There's something working on my side though: My LGS is opening another store even closer to where I live! Soon there will be an extra-local LGS. In an effort to show my support for that store, I'm holding back on any purchases until they open. Of course once they do open, then the backlog of stuff I want (Ace, Blightbringer) will instantly get purchased I imagine, which will ruin my fully painted status for Legion.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - assembled
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - done
Tempest Blazers - done

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team

Ok, these weren't as bad as I was expecting them to be. In fact they were actually kind of pleasant to paint once they were assembled. The sculpted detail is pretty crisp and easy to pick out.

Savio Montero Acosta

I don't have enough time to write a proper post for this model, but let me say that this was a wonderful model to paint. Great pose. Great detail. Really enjoyed painting it. Highly recommend painting this one even if just for fun.

Lord Commander Stryker

Continuing to fill out my stable of painted Cygnar casters. Although I like the pose of this model, it was a little tricky to work on. First was the problem of not using his epic base since I wanted to keep him on my existing basing theme. That caused some weirdness with his footing on the base. Next was the tail of his coat which is flat and pretty uninteresting. I tried to paint it appropriately, but it basically felt very boring. Third was the lack of decent sized flat spaces on the armor for insignias. I essentially just crammed in as many as I could all over his armor without making it look silly. I really wanted to reinforce the sense of it being prototype armor per the original fluff.

Battle Report: Absylonia2 vs Axis (again)

My list: Absylonia2, Blightbringer, Carnivean, Seraph, Stinger, Shredder, Warspears (5+UA), 2x Shepherds.

My opponent: Axis (tier 4), Corollary, 2x Inverter, 4x Enigma Foundry, 2x Obstructors, Reductors, 3x Clockwork Angels, Optifex Directive.

This was sort of a refined rematch from the previous game. We played the SR2015 Outflank scenario again, and our lists were basically refinements from the previous game. I should also note that we played to deathclock during this match. Fortunately I won initiative again and opted to go first. I surged forward and tried to be in a good position to push harder into each zone. Axis' force then surged forward. Next I opted to use the Carnivean to get a deep strike and got a lucky assault spray damage on a Foundry and took it out, then used Slipstream to pull it back. On the other side I pushed forward with Warspears covered by the Blightbringer's aura for bonus ARM. There was a fair amount of killing of Axis' troops, but against this list it's just a matter of trying to overload the Foundries' ability to put them back on. The follow up was not so bad, with a key Warspear getting taken out and allowing Axis to score a scenario point. This turned out to be a key point later on, but more on that later. I then pushed forward further, nearly taking out a second Foundry with the Carnivean, taking out more Angels, and more troops. Unfortunately in the next round an Inverter (aided by Axis' feat) managed to take out the Carnivean. After lamenting my choice to not Slipstream it back again I realized that the right zone was starting to collapse on me, and while my Warspears were doing an admirable job of holding the other zone, they wouldn't last forever. I was also down to a little less than 8 minutes on my clock, and Axis' feat had hit most of my force. At this point I played pretty fast, pushing further into the left zone with my Warspears and Blightbringer to make sure I couldn't lose on that side, and then blocked off the Inverter with a Warspear and my Succubus on the other flank. I also put Abby into a somewhat dangerous position, especially given that my Shredder had been taken out by Angels in the previous round, robbing me of my precious Tenacity animus. So what was I to do at this point? I charged into the center with Abby, then teleported to the Blightbringer's cloud for the ARM bonus. I hit the clock and had just barely 2 minutes left. The reason I had to go down this path was not just deathclock, but also because I was down on scenario points. Although Abby was sitting on 4 fury, it wasn't enough and after a Corollary headbutt to knock Abby down, Axis finished her off with a series of nasty rolls.

Lessons learned: Well, I didn't lose due to countercharge! Also, Abby is badass, and the Seraph is just a must I think. In hindsight, I also need to make sure I'm remembering the Blightbringer's aura since I believe I spaced and forgot the bonus to Abby's ARM during the pummeling from Axis. Oh well!

Games this year: 3

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #105

Shiny happy week.

Got more painting done on Stryker2 and Acosta. Also ended up playing some Diablo3 due to the 2.4 patch releasing. In addition I have my Bone Grinders prepped for priming and played 2 games.

I cataloged my remaining unpainted stuff in an effort to get myself psyched. I'm so close to fully painted and the prospect of reaching that excites me. My goal is to close out mercs next, followed by minions. However I'm sure I'll crank out a few Cygnar along the way. I'm still sort of aiming at this pCaine tier list for now though so I'll leave it as my paint target for the time being.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - assembled
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - painting
Tempest Blazers - done

Battle Report: Absylonia2 vs Axis

My list: Absylonia2, Blightbringer, Carnivean, Proteus, 6x Stingers, 2x Blight Wasps, Shredder, 2x Shepherds.

My opponent: Axis (tier 4), Corollary, 2x Inverter, Galvanizer, 4x Enigma Foundry, 2x Obstructors, Reductors, 2x Clockwork Angels, Optifex Directive.

We played the SR2015 Outflank scenario. Fortunately I won initiative and obviously chose to go first. If I hadn't it would have been a disaster since Axis' army deploys so far forward. The battle was a slugfest, with me ripping huge chunks out of his army every round and him putting most of them back out for the first 3 rounds. I ended up timing out on the deathclock first but we kept playing for fun. There's no other way to describe the game than grindy. In the end I was loosing on attrition, but he just couldn't get a grip on Abby. I managed to jam in and prevent losing on scenario temporarily and be set up for an assassination run. Unfortunately on my following turn when it was time to execute, I moved a Shredder up which then allowed Axis to trigger counter-charge and charge away from Abby. DOH! At that point I conceded.

Lessons learned: So yeah, countercharge. I forget about it all the time. I really need to start remembering it. I will say that after playing Abby a second time, I really enjoyed her. This was a good match up since she had plenty of targets to trigger Conferred Rage with which really kept my army rolling hot. I do however need to get better at holding her feat back for just the right time.

Games this year: 2

Battle Report: Nemo3 vs Doomshaper3

No picture for this battle. The report is 3 days late too.

My list: Nemo3 (tier 4), Finch, Stormwall, Dynamo, Thunderhead, Stormsmith Stormcaller, Mechanics (6), Silverline Stormguard (10).

My opponent: Doomshaper3 (tier 3), Glacier King, Earthborn, Mauler, Axer, Fire Eaters, Whelps, Krielstones (4+UA).

We played the SR2015 Outflank scenario. Henry won initiative, and in my opinion, especially given the scenarios and the lists, that dictated a huge amount of the battle. He jammed forward which put the Glacier King close to the center line. I moved forward cautiously trying to cover my heavies with Stormguard lined up to prevent charges, and my Stormwall on the other flank dropping pods hoping to block charges on that side. Then the Fire Eaters basically turned the entire game for Henry with assault charges, clearing stormpods and all the relevant Stormguard so that the rushed Earthborn was able to charge Dynamo. At that point the Glacier King was jammed pretty hard in the center of the board and Doom3's feat was up. My only real counterattack options were to pray for crazy dice and charge in, or go for the assassination, which is what I tried. Here's how that played out, with numbers commentary so that you can get an idea of what the math looked like between the two feats...
Doom3 was under the effect of both his feat and the stone's aura and the Glacier King's concealment area. This put him at effective 15/17, untouched at 16 boxes, with 1 less die on damage rolls and healing d3 after each hit. He also had 2 Fury on him for transfers.
Nemo allocates 2 focus to the Stormwall and Thunderhead each, which with Finch's bonus gives them 3 each.
First I charged with my Stormguard into the Fire Eaters. They got 4 hits, killing 1 of them. This allowed the leader to then drop the 5" AOE effect on Doomshaper (and his UA) that gives +2 to any lightning damage rolls against the affected models.
Next Nemo3 feats (granting an extra die on all lightning damage rolls) and moves just enough to have Doom3 in range for his lightning strike. He boost to hit (6 RAT vs 15 def) and hits, and then boosts damage (10+2+4d6-1d6, or 12+3d6, vs 17), and rolls 1-1-4, which then gets healed leaving Doom3 at full. Lightning bounces into the UA who gets snuffed handily.
Next Finch moves up and makes an attempt at Doom3 with her tuning fork but misses on the attack rolls (RAT 5 vs 15). If miraculously she had hit, it would have been effective 12+2d6 vs 17.
Next Thunderhead moves up and takes a boosted shot but misses (RAT 6 vs 15). If he'd hit, he'd have sustained attack, meaning he'd get 3 hits of effective 16+2d6 vs 17.
It was at this point that I actually just conceded the game, but here was the remaining of the potential attacks.
The Stormwall could then march forward, lining up on Doomshaper for the big guns, and take 2 shots. These not being lightning makes them unfortunate, but it was RAT 6 vs DEF 15, so my plan was to boost one but not the other, hoping for average rolls on the attack to hit both times. That would have been 2 boosted damage rolls of effective 16+2d6 each.

Lessons learned: Doomshaper3 is ball-busting. The Glacier King is super legit. And most of all, the Fire Eaters have assault with their 6" sprays which is a real flexible option for them. Perhaps the real takeaway though is that I'm just not prepared enough to deal with jam lists and I need a lot more practice against them. I will say that I really enjoyed playing Nemo3 and I'm looking forward to playing him more.

Bonus analysis: So yeah, failed due to key roll failure unfortunately. But let's look at the math overall. Assuming all average rolls (and rounding down 0.5's) for all of the above, and taking out Finch since on average she would miss, it turns into the following net damage amounts: 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4... for a grand total of 23 (not counting that the last d3 heal would not actually happen though). Even if one of the Stormwall big guns had missed, it still would have been 19. The assassination run plan was sound, but I needed slightly better than average dice, and for Doomshaper to not make a Tough roll. It was bad.
Now as a thought experiment, let's take out Doom3's feat, but keep Nemo3's feat. Those damage rolls suddenly turn into averages of 9, 6, 6, 6, 9, 9, for a total of 45.
Now let's take out Nemo3's feat but keep Doom3's feat in. The average damage rolls now turn into: 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 4, for a total of 8.

Games this year: 1

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #104

Fantastic week! Except for the whole going back to work thing.

Well my DZC collection is now fully painted as well. Now on to Cygnar to catch up on. As you can see pictured here, I've got Stryker2, Acosta, and the Black 13th on my desk right now all in progress. The Black13th models are just crazy small in comparison.

I've packed away a bunch of models as well. All of my trolls and menoth are packed away. I also threw a few blisters for models that I've classified as "never going to paint" into that storage as well. I've removed them from my collection on this blog more for psychological reasons to myself than anything else. The models I packed away include:
* Arkadius and Carver - Because I'm never going to play a pig army.
* Kreoss3 and Durant - Because I'm unlikely to pick Menoth back up anytime soon.
* Triton A2s - I'm actually looking to find a new home for these with the local DZC community since they are extra that I can't really use.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - assembled
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - painting
Tempest Blazers - done

Remaining DZC models:
2 Triton A2s - selling
2 Phobos - done
2 Odin - done
2 Enyo - done

Reliant

Finished! Nothing especially amazing. It's been a while since I finished Cygnar warjack.

Enyo

Enyos done!

Odin

Odins done!

Phobos (take 3)

Last Phobos done!

Neptune (take 6)

Last Neptune done!

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #103

First roundup of 2016 is late, but off to a good start.

Lots of progress in the last couple weeks. My remaining DZC models are almost done. My Reliant is started. I've got a few models ready for priming tonight too. I'm hoping to have all my DZC stuff closed out by the end of this week. After that, it's time to focus on my remaining Cygnar and see how much of that I can get done before new releases start hitting. Having the pCaine tier list target will be key to getting a big chunk of that done.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - painting
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - assembled
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - assembled
Tempest Blazers - done

Remaining DZC models:
Neptune - done
2 Triton A2s - selling
2 Phobos - done
2 Odin - painting
2 Enyo - painting

2015 Wrap Up and 2016 Resolutions

[Disclaimer: This post contains fluffy, introspective nonsense... Just like last year's did.]

2015 was generally a solid year for hobby time. There was a pretty solid block where family stress smashed my motivation though and I fell into a Diablo3 pit for probably 4 months. If it hadn't been for that, this would have been a banner year for playing.

Last year's goals:
1) Get my Cygnar force up to 100 painted models - Success! Easily beat this goal.
2) Get caught up on all new Legion releases - Fail! But oh so close. I'm missing Blightblades. Otherwise I'm caught up on new things. I'm still behind on older units as well, specifically Archers, Swordsmen, and Grotesques.
3) Play 52 games of Warmachine - Fail! There was a solid block of 3 months where I barely played anything. If I add in my DZC games, I'd actually be closer, but still a ways off. Probably 44 games total.
4) Attend 1 convention - Success! Lock & Load for 3 years straight now! Not only that, but I played Unbound there AND got to play a game with Jason Soles which was hands down the highlight.
5) Not delude myself on other factions - Success! Other than the foray into DZC, I stayed very focused this year as my painting tally shows. Speaking of which...

Models painted last year:
Cygnar: 66
Legion: 16
Mercs: 7
DZC: 41
Looking at it from a size perspective (excluding DZC):
Small based: 63
Medium based: 10
Large based: 14
Huge based: 2

So this year I painted a total of 130 total models (89 of which were 30mm scale) compared to 85 the previous year. This year I was again very focused on what I was painting, with Cygnar being the bulk of it.

Goals for next year:
1) Paint arcs on all my Legion models - I love having arcs painted on my Cygnar. Time to bring my Legion collection up to the same standard.
2) Close out DZC - There's only a few left, but it would be nice to have it completed. I don't anticipate needing to add a whole lot of models to that force.
3) Get my Cygnar collection up to 95% painted - This is just so I don't lose steam and end up with a bunch of unpainted things sitting around.
4) Play 52 games this year - Gonna try this one again. If I can keep pace and not fall into "Murtaugh Mode", then it should be easy. I should note this is not limited to Warmachine.
5) Attend 1 convention - Again. Probably gonna be Lock & Load.
6) Paint a Batman model for my comics fixer - A friend of mine (who doesn't play miniatures games) is my fixer when it comes to comics. He has made amazing recommendations. He's a big Batman fan so I managed to get one of the great Knight Models versions of Batman and I want to paint it for him to premium quality as a way of saying thanks. 7) Play tighter games - More about this below.
8) Pack away old models - I don't want to get rid of anything, but there's lots of models I simply don't play anymore, and they are taking up precious case space. I think it's time to put them in long term storage.
9) Archive selected models - I've got a bunch of models I'm just never going to paint. For my own sanity, I owe it to myself to just pack them away in long term storage or find new homes for them.
10) Read another book about painting - I've already got a great book sitting on the shelf about the history of pigment that I'm very keen to read. I just needed some motivation.

Whew! That's a lot of goals. Some of those are pretty small though. I am a little concerned though because there's 3 big "distractions" from these goals that I can already foresee:
1) Diablo3 2.4.0 patch - Whenever it hits, it will definitely distract us with a big rash of playing.
2) Malifaux - The new campaign rules have us very intrigued, so I suspect that we'll play a bunch of that and I'll want to paint a new crew for it.
3) Unbound at Lock and Load - If they have it again, I will most definitely want to play in it and I already have a scheme in mind for it. But I'll save that for a future post.

On the topic of playing tighter games, there are 3 specific things I want to start doing in every game this year. First is use a tray to roll my dice to eliminate confusion and cocked dice. I think this is just a good practice in general and avoids lots of problems with hitting models as well.
The second is to not do any more rewinding of model moves. This is something that I've grown to dislike a lot. positioning is really important in this game, and as soon as a model is picked up and moved at all, it can completely skew things. Whenever people back things up, it always becomes a "I think it was about here and had a line to this" sort of thing, which usually benefits the person doing the moving. I'm going to start treating it more like chess where once it's picked up, it's committed.
The third is simply to play to a death clock in every Warmachine game, even if I don't enforce it on my opponent. I want to play faster and get used to making sharper decisions quickly. I find that mistakes breed better future choices better than spending lots of time mulling over options.

And that's it. Here's to a great 2015 and hopes for a great 2016. Cheers to all!