Stitched Together

Most of my gallery posts have been brief, but this pair deserves a little extra attention. These models were amusing to paint mostly because they practically tell a story all by themselves. I spent a lot of time doing little patches of crosshatching in order to imply the canvas fabric to the look of the surface. I then buried that under many layers of thin washes. I was specifically aiming to create a bit more texture to the canvas so that it contrasted well with the metals and especially with the spilling intestines.
Then there was the basing. These represent my first "puppet" models based. I'm hoping that it's self-evident what I did, but here's the explanation. The base is a carved control which then has strings running to the models' arms. The string is actually thin fishing line which I then coated with SWW Amethyst as added some pink highlights to.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #134

Technically I'm still on weekend, just long, but here goes...

Lots of progress in the last 2 weeks. My 2 Stitched Togethers and 2 Waldgeists are painted and just need to be put on bases. Speaking of which, I worked out basing schemes for "Puppet" and "Swampfiend" types in Malifaux and not only prototyped them, but also created extra bases for most of my current backlog of remaining Neverborn. In addition to that, I got the Black Blood Scion and Mysterious Effigy primed. And to top it off, I've started painting my Nephilim Bolt Thrower from the Legion battle box.

On a more personal note, I feel like my muse is really strong lately. It's especially comforting given all the stresses in my life right now. Painting has been an important outlet for me to work out frustrations and just get out of my own head.

Hellmouth

Both Hellmouths! Done! I painted the chitin so that it had a different tint on each unit to keep them straight.

Resource: Kuku Kube

If you haven't tried this and wondering how sensitive your eyes are to color, this site is a great way to test it.

Malifaux Mini-Campaign: Week 1

Because sometime you gotta just play an alternate mini-campaign when of your buddies goes on vacation! Super brief notes. Not interesting to anyone!

My starting Arsenal: Widow Weaver, Doppleganger, Black Blood Shaman, 3 Terror Tots. Bounty: Escort Mission.
Lance's starting Arsenal: Datsue Ba, uh some other stuff, and, uh, some bounty.

Weekly event: Forbidden Text
Strategy: Turf War
Deployment: Standard
Available Schemes: A Line In The Sand, Breakthrough, Assassinate, Vendetta, Plant Evidence
Schemes chosen (both of us): Breakthrough, Plant Evidence.
My outcome: Loss, 7 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Texts. 7 total scrip. Injury to 1 Terror Tot (need to re-flip). Completed bounty challenge 1 time.
Lance's outcome: Win, 8 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Texts. 8 total scrip. Injury to something.
My aftermath: Hand - 3 Masks. Barter - 13 Tomes.
Lance's aftermath: Hand - 12 Crows/13 Crows. Barter - 9 Masks. Injury - 9 Tomes.

My aftermath and purchases:
Purchase: Jet Pack (5 scrip)
Remaining scrip: 2

Games this year: 48

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #133

Can't believe how much I've done in the last 2 weeks!

No picture tonight. I finished a pile of stuff, which I won't recap here obviously. Ironically I don't have a lot of stuff in progress. The Widow Weaver and 2 Stitched Togethers are primed and ready for paint, but I haven't started them. I've assembled 2 Waldgeists, Black Blood Scion, and Mysterious Effigy. In general, I'm in a bit of a holding pattern.

Terrain: Sign Post

What it is: A Neverborn sign post, warning intruders.

How I made it: Balsa wood, plastic skulls from some ancient skeleton kit, and a random base from my Secret Weapon Bag-o-Crap. I made sure to put a magnet in the resin base so that I can bring it in my small model transport case and add it to whatever game I happen to be playing at. I also drilled a number of holes in the wood in order to accentuate that it's been at the center of battles. There's even an exposed pin painted to look like a nail.

What I learned: It's amazing how a small piece of terrain like this can get done so quickly. This took me maybe 3 hours total effort and that was just because I was enjoying the project rather than trying to rush through it.

Rules for Malifaux: Severe and Soft Cover.

Malifaux Campaign Week 2 (game 1)

Again, not really sure how to do a proper battle report yet, but here's notes from the first game of week 2.

Additional week 1 cleanup: Gaki Injury flip: 8 Tomes

Weekly event: Swamp Creatures (7 masks)

Game 1:
Strategy: Turf War
Deployment: Flank
Available Schemes: A Line In The Sand, Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Vendetta, Make Them Suffer
Lance Crew: Anna Lovelace, Hannah (Unnerving Aura upgrade), Datsue Ba, Jaakuna Ubume. Schemes: Vendetta, Make Them Suffer.
My Crew: Nekima (Quick Reflexes skill), Lilitu, Lelu (Clockwork Seeker equipment), Iggy. Schemes: Make Them Suffer, Breakthrough.
My outcome: Win, 10 VPs, +2 scrip for 1 Silurid. 8 total scrip. No injuries. Completed bounty challenge 1 time.
Lance's outcome: Loss, 4 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Silurids, +2 scrip for crew rating difference. 8 total scrip. No injuries.
My aftermath: Hand - 9 Crows/8 Tomes. Barter - 2 Rams.
Lance's aftermath: Hand - 9 Tomes. Barter - Red Joker (+6 Rams).

My aftermath and purchases:
Total scrip prior: 11
Purchase: Metal Plate (3 scrip)
Remaining scrip: 8

Games this year: 47

Terrain: Gallows

What it is: A gallows, for hanging criminals.

How I made it: Loads of coffee stirrers, balsa wood, hot glue, and some twine. Also I painted it using P3 Umbral Umber, P3 Beast Hide (drybrushed), and then P3 Hammerfall Khaki (drybrushed).

What I learned: Originally I tried staining the wood, but there was 2 major problems. First, the stain doesn't really work on coffee stirrers and balsa wood. Second, the stain caused some of the hot glue to detach, which meant a lot of fixing. Also, wood stain smells horrible and takes a long time to properly dry.

Rules for Malifaux: Ht 1 models can walk under unimpeded. Ht 2 models can walk under as severe terrain. Walking up the steps requires no additional cost for climbing, but anywhere else must pay 4" to go up before moving onto the platform. The platform is a vantage point. targeting between above and below the platform is not blocked.

Terrain: Water Tower

What it is: A water tower! Shocker!

How I made it: Lots of balsa wood, wooden dowels, coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks, hot glue, and a single empty food can. I also used some simple craft foam to make the bands around the giant barrel.

What I learned: This actually was inspired mostly by a tutorial or youtube video I'd seen a while. I will say though that I learned using hot glue is much easier for this type of construction that normal glue. Shockingly easier.

Rules for Malifaux: Soft Cover while in the ground area contained by the posts. Beginning a Wk action at the base of the ladder allows for getting to the top in a single 1AP.

Terrain: Angel Statue

What it is: A weeping angel status to watch over those about to die.

How I made it: Very simple. I bought a "Doctor Who Angel" statue, hot-glued it to a small empty can, and then painted it. I used some of the ModelMates weathering paints to quickly speed the process as well, which they worked great on.

What I learned: Honestly, this was a super simple project. Mostly I just learned that there are Doctor Who Weeping Angle christmas ornaments.

Rules for Malifaux: Blocking, Impassable, Hard Cover

Alps

Nothing fancy. Just wanted to make them stand out.

Terrain: Serene Fountain

Here's the first of a recent surge of terrain building for Malifaux. I've been horrible about taking in-progress pictures, so these are less like tutorials and more like post mortems.

What it is: It's a peaceful looking fountain. It's not meant to be spooky or daemonic or evil or anything like that. Just a nice peaceful centerpiece to a town.

How I made it: I started with a form for the well from a mission kit I got at Michaels. Sorry, no link for it as I can't find it listed anywhere. It came in 2 halves and had the basic stonework pattern to it. I then put it together and attached it to a piece of chipboard, using some clay to attach it down. I then built up some styrofoam blocks and plastic tube to create the fountain part, and added some mixed grain sand around the outside edge. Next I primed and painted it up, putting a little extra effort into the bronze tubes to give them a weathered look. After that I added moss and grass and such, putting a little extra highlighting on all that stuff. The falling water was the tricky part. I used some fishing line and glued it at both ends (inside the tubes and to the bottom of the well), and then applied a liberal amount of gel super glue to the lines and let that dry. Next I poured Envirotex into the well part and let that dry for 24 hours. After that I applied a thin layer of uneven super heavy gloss gel and let that dry overnight to give the water surface a much more uneven look.

What I learned: Here's a really great video tutorial by Terrain Wench of doing pool water effects that I highly recommend. I learned a lot from this. Some key things that I would do differently in the future are as follows: First, I would do a much better job of sealing up the bottom edge of the pool, since a fair amount of Envirotex leaked out and made a mess. I was somewhat prepared for this, but in hindsight I should have just gone the extra mile to make sure. Second, I would change the angle of the water pouring out from the fountain pipes. It just doesn't look quite right unfortunately. Third, I would use Terrain Wench's tip and pour the Envirotex in multiple layers, do a very minor amount of swirling of wash medium to make it look more uneven. Other than that though, I am really quite happy with my first attempt and animated water effects. I'm already dreaming up ideas for more such projects.

Rules for Malifaux: Ht 1.5", Blocking, Impassable, Hard Cover

Terrain: Malifaux Style

In an effort to get our Malifaux games to the next level of awesomeness, I'm embarking on a terrain quest. Terrain is far more important in Malifaux than in any other miniatures game I've ever played. Coming from Warmachine predominantly, but also Dropzone Commander, Warhammer, 40K, and so on, terrain was essentially window-dressing and an afterthought. For Malifaux though, it dramatically swings the balance of the game. After playing the first couple games of our campaign, it became painfully obvious to me that I needed to do some research as well as some terrain building. The first step was to tap into my primary resource for Wyrd stuff: A Wyrd Place, the completely awesome Facebook group of Wyrd players. This is hands down my favorite miniatures game Facebook group due to the positive attitude and helpful nature of everyone on it. In addition to getting several good insights, I got links for some excellent resources. First I'll share the resources, then the remainder of the post will be a summary of all the stuff I took away from all the helpful comments and resources that I read.

Fantastic pinned post on the forums - Has great visuals. Fantastic first place to start.
Terrain is a Big Deal in Malifaux - Great article on Pull My Finger. Incorporates stuff from the forum post along with other great material.
Chronicles of Breach Fighters - Fantastic Facebook page of battle reports, showing lots of table configurations. Perhaps even more fantastic just for the ideas of terrain pieces to build.

What I learned from all this...
* Always discuss the terrain up front before starting the battle to ensure no confusion later on.
* Terrain should cover 30-50% of the table. Test this by collecting it all into one solid section at the start.
* 3 important types: Cover (to curb shooting), LOS blocking (to curb casters), slow/block movement (to curb melee). Balancing these is important.
* Don't use hills, except near the edges of the board. They don't fall into any of the 3 important types and end up introducing elevation. Elevation itself is tricky, and will need house rulings to be workable.
* There should be little to no direct LOS from 1 deployment zone to another. Maybe 1-2 narrow lanes.
* Terrain in the center of the board is good, whereas along the edges is not as useful.


Now it's time to build some terrain! I'm finishing up a bunch of pieces (which I'll post during the coming days), but doing this research was helpful. Next I'm going to take a close look at which of the 3 categories each of my existing terrain supplies fall into, and see how much board coverage capability I have. In the mean time, here's some ideas I have for more terrain projects:
* Sign posts
* Low hedges
* Gravestones / open graves
* Archway opening to a graveyard area
* Large spooky tree

Black Blood Shaman

Strange model. Not entirely happy with it, but it's done. A little too bright with the reds perhaps. Anyway, it's a freaky sort of thing and I'm looking forward to fielding it.

Malifaux Campaign: Week 1

We started a Malifaux campaign! I'm documenting the progress of it on my blog. The week recap posts will mostly just be notes rather than narritive. I'm also just trying to get a handle on how to track and report this stuff since it's our first games of Malifaux in years, and it's our very first time using the campaign format.

Starting crews:
Lance: Anna (leader), Hannah, Datsu Ba, Gaki. Decaying Aura upgrade.
Me: Nekima, Lilitu, Lelu, Young Nephilim. The True Mother upgrade.
Henry: McTavish, Lenny, Rooster Rider, 3 Bayou Gremlins. I'll Love It And Pet It upgrade.

Week 1:
Event: Fate Favors The Bold

Game 1: Reckoning (standard deployment)
Henry, Assassinate + Murder Protege, win, 7vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=11. Card hand: 11 Crows, 2 Rams. Barter card: 3 Tomes. Injury on Lenny to resolve.
Scott, Make Them Suffer + Murder Protege, loss, 5vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9. Card hard: 2 Tomes. Barter card: 6 Crows. No injuries.

Game 2: Squatter's Rights (standard deployment)
Henry, Breakthrough + Make Them Suffer, win, 10vp, 2(?) bonus scrip, total earned scrip=12 (but capped by weekly max to 5). Card hand: 13 Rams, 9 Masks. Barter card: 2 Masks. Injury on one Gremlin to resolve.
Lance, Make Them Suffer + Frame For Murder, loss, 6vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9. Card hand: 3 Masks. Barter card: 12 Masks. No injuries to resolve.

Game 3: Reckoning (standard deployment)
Scott, win, 8vps, 4 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9 (but capped by weekly max to 7). Schemes: Cursed Object and Breakthrough. Card hand: 2 Rams, 7 Tomes. Barter card: 9 Masks. No injuries to resolve.
Lance, loss, 6vps, 4 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=7 (exactly hitting weekly max). Schemes: Assassinate and Cursed Object. Card hand: 5 Tomes. Barter card: 3 Masks.


My aftermath and purchases:
From game 1 barter - Clockwork Seeker (for 5 scrip)
From game 2 barter - Quick Reflexes (for 4 scrip) for Nekima
Bounty - Map It Out (for 4 scrip)
New Hires - Iggy (for 0 scrip)
Remaining scrip = 3

Lilitu

This was a delightful model to paint. Since I've picked up Malifaux with sincerity in recently, this is the first model where I really felt like I had poured myself into. In contrast to Lelu, I toyed around with the skin tones toward a more blueish tone for the highlights. I also tried to push the overall contrast a bit further, and especially used her hair as a way to pull attention towards her face by having the lightest portions right around her face. Just overall I really enjoyed painting this model so much.

Lelu

Lelu here is half of a pair that I painted at the same time (the other model being Lilitu). Thematically these models are meant to be paired, and so to accent that, I decided to use some color accenting of their flesh tones. Lelu's tones start with the basic blue/purple tones, but then I highlighted upwards towards a more red tone to represent his anger. Inversely, Lilitu got a bluer highlight tone to represent her colder calculating nature.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #132

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Finished Lelu and Lilitu. Got my Alps and Stitched Togethers primed. Got started painting on the Black Blood Shaman (pictured here). Went through my terrain building supplies and got organized in the hope that I will start building terrain in the next couple weeks. Got my wet palette refreshed with a new sheet. Now for sleep.

Interview with Mike McVey

Go read this interview with Mike McVey. Right now. It's fantastic.

Nekima

I'm not really sure what to say about this model. It was a bit intense for a Malifaux model due to its sheer size. It was also a little awkward to paint because of the wings. Even getting it assembled was tricky because of the position of the arms and sword. However I will say that I like the pose of this older metal version of Nekima better than the new plastic one, simply because she's huge and regal. I'm eager to see her swat gremlins tonight!

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #131

Oops. Missed a couple weeks.

Sort of a mediocre week for hobby progress. Painted Jakes, although I'm not sure how soon I'll be playing her. Also finished the 3 Daydream and Nekima. Nekima was a bit of a challenge and I got stalled a couple times getting her done, but I pulled it off. Pics of her to come tomorrow when I have more time to post. I also got 3 Alps and 2 Stitched Togethers assembled, along with just some general organizing of remaining unpainted models. Speaking of...

In the process of sorting through my remaining unpainted Malifaux, I did something extremely rare for me. I found my old metal Mysterious Effigy model. I was trying to interpret it and finally just decided it was unreadable visually. So I opted to toss it into my parts bin and get the new plastic version of it. The plastic one is very nice in comparison. It still pains me a bit to do this. However having looked through my existing metal models and at the new plastic sculpts, if there was a single model to do it with, this was the one. As my friend aptly put it, "the old sculpt looks like Picasso throw up".

Another task I wrapped up was swapping the bases on my Neverborn models that have the type "Spirit". All of them happened to have Incorporeal which is a very relevant thing to remember, and I decided that the best way to represent that with a visual reminder was to use the translucent purple bases that Wyrd sells. The only problem was used straight as is the bases were too bright. So I opted to hit them with a matte coat, then a purple ink wash to darken them a bit. I like the result. The Dreamer one was the tricky one since I needed to re-paint the glowing fire effect on the bottom.

Here's a shot of the newly updated bases in among the other traditional ones.

And finally I have this little experiment. I did a primer undercoating of black and then white, and then did 3 washes of various sepia colorings and control levels. This was just to test out how easy it may (or may not) be to do a western style look (a la sepia colored old photographs) on a model. The results are, well, less than exciting, but as a proof of concept they did show that it's feasible. I'd obviously need a more interesting model for the overall look and way more work, but the effect is interesting. I might fool around with this a bit more later when I pick out a more appropriate model to test on.

Captain Allison Jakes

Back to fully painted for Cygnar, again! No idea how soon I'll get to play her given all my life/work chaos, but hey, she's done! I really like what a great job they did of taking her from journeyman to full warcaster in this sculpt. Still has the look and feel of a female swordsman, but gives her more bulk to emphasize her higher power and status. Great job again PP!

Daydreams

Back to Malifaux painting! These little guys were super fast to paint, primarily because they are so little. Seriously, the tallest of the bunch is 7/8" tall. Perhaps that's what made them so much fun to paint though. That and that they are so darn cute. Anyway, this starts to build out my Dreamer crew which I've been meaning to get rolling for some time now.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #130

Back in action!

Daydreams are almost done. Made some bases, including ones for Lelu and Lilitu, which needed to blend Nephilim/Nightmare/Woe elements, which was tricking. Assembled and primed Lelu, Lilitu, Nekima and Capt Jakes (not pictured). Primed both Hellmouth units. Cleaned my desk. Most importantly, I have my muse back! Now though, it's bedtime.

Proteus (resculpt)

Such a sweet model!

Scythean 2

This used to be the old Proteus model. But I painted Scythean bits and broke off the old Proteus bits and re-attached.

Battle Report: Caine2 vs Sorcha1

Caine 2... still a thing.

My list: Caine2, Ace, 2 Hunters, Junior, Hunter, Strangeways, 2 Gun Mage Captains, Mechaniks (6), Stormblades (6+UA), Bunker Objective (not relevant).

My opponent: Sorcha1, Behemoth, Decimator, Reinholdt, Koldun Lord, Drakhun, Iron Fang Kovnik, Widowmaker Marksman, Widowmakers, IFP (10+UA), Kell, Eiryss1.

Scenario: Hold The Line (mk3 book), 60 minute death clock.

Super fast synopsis cause I'm exhausted. I won the roll, chose sides to avoid Sorcha being parked behind a wall. Managed to position carefully to avoid too much alpha striking. I actually lured the dismounted Drakhun and Kell to hit the Storm Strider too, which gave it two power tokens. Then after clearing the jam of infantry, I took a run on Sorcha who was sitting on a hill. The Storm Strider with 2 power tokens and Fire For Effect, combined with 2 fully boosted Hunter shots put her in the dirt. The win is a bit of a glitch though because my opponent totally forgot that he had Fog Of War up which would have changed everything, including my whole plan for the round. Nevertheless, I'm putting this one in the win column.

Lessons learned: Caine2 is totally a thing. Maneuvering and applying pressure is also pretty important. I did a much better job this game of using premeasuring to help me out.

Games this year: 44

Battle Report: Name2 vs Issyria

Another pointlessly brief double battle report. No pictures. Just tracking for my own purposes.

My list: Nemo2, Squire, Dynamo, Centurion, 2 Ironclads, Reliant, Storm Strider, Mechaniks (6), Stockpile objective.

My opponent: Issyra, Chimera, Imperatus, Mechanik, Lanyssa, Magister, Artificer, Aspis, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, Sentinels (10+UA), Electromancers, Destors (3), Heavy Rifle Team, Bunker objective.

Scenario: Extraction, fake 60 minute deathclock.

Despite having brand new casino dice, I got peed on again, but I did do a decent job of holding my own for a while. In the end though, I was getting attritioned out faster than I could deliver attacks simply due to a lack of the number of attacks I could produce. I felt like I was prioritizing targets correctly, but I just could do enough. Probably should have had a unit of infantry in there.

Lessons learned: Nemo2 is amusing, and there's some great synergy like him giving elite cadre bonuses to Storm Striders (since they are "Stormsmith" models). However in Mk3 his feat is just a bit more underwhelming now since Power Up is already granting 1 focus to everything.

Games this year: 44

Remaining Cygnar casters to play in Mk3: Caine2, Darius, Haley2, Haley3, Nemo1, Siege, Stryker2, Stryker3

Battle Report: Kraye vs Madhammer

Fake battle report from my phone. Played a game the other day at a Warmachine BBQ. I ended up losing and it had some to do with a very well placed and diced Avalancher template. But more than that, I feel like I just got beat by a superior army list that I didn't have answers for. Primed Press Gangers that run into my front line is brutal. Lists are below. Needless to say I lost this one by assassination.

Games played this year: 43

War Room Army

Cygnar - B1

Theme: No Theme Selected

75 / 75 Army

Captain Jeremiah Kraye - WJ: +30

-    Squire - PC: 5

-    Centurion - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)

-    Dynamo - PC: 18 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)

-    Stormclad - PC: 18

-    Firefly - PC: 8

Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4

-    Firefly - PC: 8

Savio Montero Acosta - PC: 6

Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10

-    Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 5

-    Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner - PC: 2

-    Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner - PC: 2

-    Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner - PC: 2

---

GENERATED : 07/28/2016 10:15:53

BUILD ID : 2022.16-07-07

This list isn't quite right but I'm working from memory...

War Room Army

Mercenary - New Army

Theme: No Theme Selected

70 / 75 Army

Durgen Madhammer - WJ: +29

-    Ghordson Avalancher - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)

-    Ghordson Basher - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)

-    Ghordson Driller - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 3)

-    Grundback Gunner - PC: 6

-    Grundback Gunner - PC: 6

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4

Ragman - PC: 4

Press Gangers - Lass & 9 Grunts: 12

Press Gangers - Lass & 9 Grunts: 12

Horgenhold Artillery Corps - Gunner & 2 Grunts: 6

Herne & Jonne - Herne & Jonne: 5

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 8

---

GENERATED : 07/28/2016 10:24:14

BUILD ID : 2022.16-07-07

Kryssa, Conviction of Everblight

Finally got her finished! She'd been sitting on my desk simply waiting for more dullcoat spray to arrive (which finally did) and so now she's really done. Other than the weirdness of attaching her cloak, this model was pretty nice to work on. The cape is a little strange, and without a 360 view of her on the PP website yet, it was hard to figure out. I'm pretty sure I did it just slightly wrong based on the gap between the cape clasp and the back of her armor. However any further shifting would have made her left arm just seem crazy bent backwards. Beyond that though, the sculpt is actually pretty good. I was suspicious of these new plastic models and the detail, but I have to admit that Kryssa came out very nice.

Battle Report: Sloan vs Ravyn, Kryssa vs Helynna

Pointlessly brief double battle report.

Game 1:
My list: Sloan, Squire, Avenger, Dynamo 2 Fireflies, Reliant, Strangeways, 2 Gun Mage Captains, Acosta, Ragman, Bokur, Anastasia.
My opponent: Ravyn, Corbeau, Banchee, Manticore, Mechanik, Artificer, Voidtracer, Destors (5), Sentinels (6+UA), Electromancers, Dahlia, Skarath.
Scenario: , no clock.
My opponent's dice peed all over me again. The coup de grace was when a Soulless Voidtracer charged in an killed Acosta (needing a 10 to hit and 10 to kill), which ended up completely breaking my board control on the left zone. After that I got flustered and made scenario errors, despite the fact that I was winning the attrition war. We played it out after my failure to stop him from winning on scenario and I would have won eventually, but it was still a stupid loss on my part.
Lessons learned: Sloan's new feat is good, but she'll be focused starved during it. Still, it works lovely with Dynamo. Plus, I still love Fireflies. Lots.

Game 2:
My List: Kryssa, Neraph, Bolt Thrower, 2 Shredders
My opponent: Helynna, Manticore, Griffon, Chimera
This was mostly just a quick test to see how competitive the two battle boxes are. Honestly, I got super lucky on an assassination run. The Bolt Thrower managed to crit knockdown the Griffon out of the way, and then Kryssa was able to Quickness to the side and charge Helynna, promptly getting a crit and cranking dice rolls well enough to kill Helynna just exactly.
Lessons learned: The Legion battlebox is a pretty tough kit to use. It requires a lot of hit and run tactics, but if the opponent has decent armor, it's not going to go well. It really revolves around Kryssa getting a good assassination run using her feat. I like the idea of her using the Neraph animus to further pull models forward into range of other stuff, but even then it's pretty tricky.

Games this year: 42

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #129

Not going to be many weekend updates for a while. Family vacation is about to launch.

Joy of joys! Liquitex Burnt Sienna ink is a wonderful replacement for the old GW Chestnut ink that was ended years ago. I'm so excited!! I tested it out a bit and it's a pretty fantastic.

Ran out of dullcoat. Doh! Kryssa would be completely done except I need to spray her with dullcoat. It's on it's way though, so hopefully this week.

Got some progress done on the new Proteus, as well as the Scythean parts to convert my old Proteus with. That is going to be a real nerve-wracking conversion process for sure!

Arc painting progress:
Warlocks: 16/16
Heavy Beasts: 11/11
(Seraph, 2 Angelius, Typhon, Neraph, eCarnivian) Light Beasts: 10/10
Lesser Beasts: 24/24
Pack Beasts: 8/8
Solos: 13/13
Incubi: 10/10
Small Based Units: 34/34 (Striders+UA, Hex Hunters+UA, Legionnaires+UA, Blackfrost Shard)
Medium Based Units: 11/11 (Warmongers, Warspears+UA)
Cavalry Units: 5/5 (Raptors)
Artillery/Support Units: 11/11 (Scather, Spawning Vessel, Blighted Bather)
Total: -/153
No arcs needed: 3 (Lylyt3, Throne, Archangel)
Unpainted models: 15 (2 Hellmouths, 2 Shredders, Bolt Thrower, Neraph, Proteus, Kryssa, Scythean)
For some reason my model collection total is off for Legion, so that's now updated. Further proof that I'm more of a Cygnar player than a Legion player I guess.

From the Desk: Marking Arcs (part 4)

Latest update. This time I was painting Raptors and remembered I also need to paint numbers on multi-wound models.

Warlocks: 9/16
Heavy Beasts: 1/13
Light Beasts: 10/10
Lesser Beasts: 24/24
Pack Beasts: 8/8
Solos: 11/13
Incubi: 10/10
Small Based Units: 31/34 (Striders+UA, Hex Hunters+UA, Legionnaires+UA, Blackfrost Shard)
Medium Based Units: 11/11 (Warmongers, Warspears+UA)
Cavalry Units: 5/5 (Raptors)
Artillery/Support Units: 10/11 (Scather, Spawning Vessel, Blighted Bather)

Total: -/164

Realized today that Lylyth3, Archangel, and Throne don't need arcs. Duh. I keep updating total counts as I figure out stuff. Will post another update this evening.

From the Desk: Marking Arcs (part 3)

Yet more progress from yesterday that didn't get posted due to board game evening...

Warlocks: 4/17
Heavy Beasts: 1/13
Light Beasts: 10/10
Lesser Beasts: 24/24
Pack Beasts: 8/8
Solos: 10/13
Incubi: 0/10
Scather Crew: 0/3
Spawning Vessel: 7/8 (including Blighted Bather)
Warmongers: 0/5
Warspears: 0/6
Raptors: 0/5
Striders: 0/8
Hex Hunters: 0/11
Legionnaires: 12/12
Blackfrost Shard: 0/3
Total: -/165

I'll start collapsing unit counts down in the next update.

From the Desk: Marking Arcs (parts 2)

Progress from last night that I forgot to note.

Warlocks: 4/17
Heavy Beasts: 1/13
Light Beasts: 10/10
Lesser Beasts: 24/24
Pack Beasts: 8/8
Solos: 9/13
Incubi: 0/10
Scather Crew: 0/3
Spawning Vessel: 0/8 (including Blighted Bather)
Warmongers: 0/5
Warspears: 0/6
Raptors: 0/5
Striders: 0/8
Hex Hunters: 0/11
Legionnaires: 0/12
Blackfrost Shard: 0/3
Total: 56/165

Battle Report: Sturgis vs Garreth

Lazy battle report.

My list: Sturgis, Stormwall, Dynamo, Sylas, Journeyman, Firefly, 2 Arcane Tempest Riflemen, Strangeways, Stormblades (6+UA).

My opponent: Garreth, Imperatus, Manticore, Chimera, Elara, Griffon, Mechanik, Arificer, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, Nayl, Destors (3), Sentinels (6+UA), Lanyssa.

Scenario: The Pit, no clock.

Sometimes your opponent's dice just pee all over your plans. This was somewhat one of those cases. Despite having Arcane Shield and fancy plans, I got pounded pretty bad. After the second round, everything was going downhill too fast in the attrition game and I simply didn't have enough moving parts in my army to pull off an assassination. However this was one of my last games of fielding "new" stuff. Breaking out Stormwall was a good exercise.

Lessons learned: Stormblade melee ranges increased! Stormwall machine gun damages went down.

Games this year: 40

From the Desk: Marking Arcs

As a part of working towards my yearly goals, I've started painting arcs on my Legion models. I'm hoping to bang this out pretty fast, and to that end I'm going to use some short posts here to keep me motivated and track my progress. To that end, I've broken down all the models into groups for easy tracking. I'm sure I'll collapse this down more as I make progress. I'm also not including stuff that isn't painted at this point.

Warlocks: 2/17
Heavy Beasts: 1/13
Light Beasts: 7/10
Lesser Beasts: 24/24
Pack Beasts: 0/8
Solos: 0/13
Incubi: 0/10
Scather Crew: 0/3
Spawning Vessel: 0/8 (including Blighted Bather)
Warmongers: 0/5
Warspears: 0/6
Raptors: 0/5
Striders: 0/8
Hex Hunters: 0/11
Legionnaires: 0/12
Blackfrost Shard: 0/3
Total: -/165
Let's see how fast I can get this done!

Battle Report: Nemo3 vs Strakhov1

ZAP ZAP ZAP!!!

My list: Nemo3 & Finch, Squire, Dynamo, 3 Fireflies, 2 Storm Striders, Silverlines (10).

My opponent: Strakhov, Behemoth, Ruin, Juggernaut, Black Dragons (10+UA), Drakhuun, Widowmakers, 2 Manhunters.

Scenario: Mosh Pit (book), no clock.

So this battle exemplified everything that I love in a game of Warmachine. Both of our armies got to do their special things. We learned rules and our models. We got to punch each other in the face. Our dice both succeeded and failed us. There was much laughter. Overall, it was a blast. Rather than try to recount the battle, here's some highlights...
I managed to get a full stack of boosting on a Juggernaut! The Silverlines put their template on it for +2 electrical damage. There was a Firefly within 5" of it for +2 more damage. There was a Storm Strider within 10" of it for +2 to hit. And then Nemo feated for an extra die of damage. At this point a Storm Strider got to plug the thing with 2 effective POW 19+3d6 damage hits which left my opponent both laughing and crying.
Strakhov got to super missile both Ruin and Behemoth into my army, on 2 separate turns. They did crazy damage, although poor Ruin failed to take out Dynamo in a single alpha strike.
Overall the battle was great fun. As it wore on though, I was losing on attrition so I orchestrated an assassination attempt on Strakhov. After clearing a lane and engagement, 1 Storm Strider was able to aim at Strakov while gaining the +2 bonus from the other Storm Strider, thus needing 5's to hit. Unfortunately I missed with one of those attacks. That combined with a fully-boosted lightning strike from Nemo, on average dice, would have put Strakhov into "extra crispy" mode. Oh well, such is the nature of a game that uses dice. Still, despite the loss, I feel like I played pretty well and used my entire army to great effect.

Lessons learned: Ruin and Behemoth are dangerous. I love the Storm Strider still, especially with Nemo3. Dynamo is just crazy good all around. Most of all, I need to read my opponent's cards more carefully at the start of each game.

Games this year: 39

Colbie Sterling, Captain of the Bri

Limited edition sculpts are always a bit of a tricky thing for me. I want to paint them, but then I also want to do a top notch job on them. This one fell below the line for effort unfortunately. I somewhat speed painted her. It's not a terrible model, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it, and my effort certainly doesn't match what it deserves. Still though, I have a second one in the closet if I really want to try again.

Resource: Kuku Kube

I know, it's sort of a fad thing, but this test is sort of an interesting exercise to get a sense of how attuned your eyes are to spotting color and brightness. However if you try this, I recommend not taking it in the spirit of trying to score as high as possible, but more in the spirit of just knowing how well attuned your eyes are. Training your eyes to see color and contrast and brightness is a skill that can be trained to some degree. Knowing your current ability to spot color gives you a sense of how much room for improvement you have.

So give it a try! Kuku Kube

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #128

Belated happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans! And belated happy Canadian Independence Day to my Canadian brothers and sisters! And, uh, happy weekend to the rest of you.

Finished my Cygnar box! Finished the Gun Mage Riflemen! Got Proteus assembled and did gap filling on the Bolt Thrower and Neraph! Used lots of exclamation marks!!

I also finally got around to making some spare wall templates. I was going to order some out of clear plastic, but it turns out no one actually sells any, so a custom order from the plastics store was my only option which would have been unnecessarily expensive.

Got one of my Rules Digests spiral bound at a FedEx Office location. Totally worth the $6 I paid for them to do is, as it was done perfectly, and also given clear plastic covers. So much easier to use since I can lay it open flat now. Highly recommend doing this.

One last note to myself, I got a tip that Liquitex Burnt Sienna ink is a pretty close match for the old GW Chesnut ink that I miss oh so much. Need to see if I can find some.

Gun Mage Riflemen

Since they were FA:2, I decided to get 2 at L&L. I'm stoked to have these ready for play well before their official release date. So very stoked. As with my GMCAs, I decided having different colored models would make it easier to manage them, especially since there was no reasonable space for putting numbers on them.

Lancer (take 3)

Plastic Lancer from the Mk3 Cygnar starter box. More shock shields and arcnodes!

Battle Report: Caine1 vs Issyria

Running low on energy, so this write up will be sketchy.

My list: Caine1, Reinholdt, Ace, 2 Hunters, Gun Mages (6+UA), Hunter, Tempest Blazers (3), Strangeways.

My opponent: Issyria, Corbeau, Imperatus, Chimera, Destors (5), Heavy Rifle Team, Arcanist Mechanic, Artificer, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, Narn, .

Scenario: Mosh Pit (book), no clock.

Won initiative, chose to go first. Advanced, then enemy advanced, then I did some shooting. One thing I enjoyed was using a combination of Jack Marshal with a Hunter, and then Strangeways to give it a focus, and Caine to give it Deadeye. The net result is that with the Take Aim option, the Hunter becomes RAT 9 +3d6 to hit, and POW 8 boosted armor piecing with crit brutal damage. I managed to get the crit when shooting at Imperitus too, but unfortunately rolled really badly. Still, at 4d6-1 for damage, it put a serious dent in him. From there things got pretty grindy for me though. Fortunately my opponent didn't feat early with Issyria and I managed to keep things at bay. Then later when Imperitus got a run on Caine, dice bent in my favor and he survived by 4 points, after having spent 2 focus for damage drops. At that point I had to take a run on Issyria. There was a bit of luck and a Gun Mage managed to Thunderbolt shot Imperitus sideways 3", allowing Caine to then Thunderstrike Imperitus back into a Destor, which then freed a Hunter from melee engagement. Caine continued his run by advancing, shooting the Artificer down (to get rid of the +2 def against ranged), and then feating and popping shots into Issyria. If Caine hand't gotten lucky and finished her off, Ace and the freed Hunter were all set to finish the job. Still though, I was sweating that one and simply got lucky with my opponent's dice not rolling average.

Lessons learned: Caine1 is still awesome. Jack Marshalling is totally a thing. Issyria is scary. And most of all, between this list and the Stryker1 list, I've learned that balanced lists really are pretty important in order to have answers to lots of different questions. I'm honestly starting to believe that skew lists are actually more punished in Mk3 than they were in Mk2.

Games this year: 38