Battle Report: Sturgis vs Syntherion

Yet another fun game with Sturgis last night. Super quick because I'm pressed for time.

My list: Sturgis, Stormwall, Squire, Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), Stormblade Captain, Journeyman, Gun Mage Captain Adept, Tarin, and I chose the Arcane Wonder Objective. (all same as before to practice for the tournament)

The game: My opponent fielded Tier 4 Syntherion, Assimilator, Cipher, Corollary, Diffuser, 2 Galvanizers, Transfinite Emergence Projector, Attunement Servitors, and 2 units of Optifex Directives. He chose the Bunker Objective.

We played the SR2015 Destruction scenario. I lost initiative and got selected to go second, so I picked a table side that had elevation to work with. By my second turn things were getting ugly. The Stormwall got the drop on the Assimilator and destroyed it, also clearing Directives and nearly wrecking the Objective. Stormblades took a beating and got mostly wiped out by the Projector and various jack attacks. Sturgis counterattacked and with Tarin's help started clearing out all the light jacks. By the end, Syntherion had taken lots of damage from several attacks all around, including a few points from feedback off Sturgis' weapon. At that point I was up 3-0 on control points and he needed a damage roll spike to pull out an assassination which didn't come through.

Lessons learned: Sturgis with Arcane Shield on him is a nice buffer. I'm also getting better at using his all his features. This last game I hit almost everything except his 2 attack spells and his Riposte. I've become a big fan of using his chain attack flash and Teleport spell to fly in and pop back out. I've also found that jamming the Stormwall forward as much as possible on my first activation is generally a good idea. Last night I also tried to play to a death clock with moderate success. I definitely need to be able to play faster, but playing to a 35 minute clock last night was a good practice for me. At this point I feel about as ready as I can be for the tournament.

Games this year: 4

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #71

This week, I love this hobby.

This was a kick ass week. I got lots of stuff done. Strangeways and the Storm Tower both completed, along with my second set of 3 Stormpods. I started a Harrier. I got the 3 Halfjacks assembled, primed and base coated. I also re-primed eHaley which took a bit of willpower. Darius got some assembly work started and the Rangers all got assembled. And finally, the Stormwall is taking shape with the legs mostly done and attached to the base which really helps my motivation in getting more work done on it.

I also did a bunch of general maintenance on my painting desk, including cleaning and organizing it a bit. One other key thing I did was to take an accounting of my stock of Tau Ceti bases to make sure I'd have enough for my remaining Cygnar pile. The answer of course is no. More for my own sake, here's what I still need to order: 20 small bases, 5-ish medium bases, and at least 10 large bases.

I also finished listening to the Dark Convergence book. I have to admit that although this wasn't my favorite, I did very much love all the story time that Nemo gets. Definitely helped focus my painting efforts as well.

Per my update from last week, I'm now going to keep track of the progress on models for my Darius tier list each week at the close of this post.

Darius Tier List Progress:

• Darius - assembling
• 3 Halfjacks - in progress
• Stormwall 2 - in progress
• 3 Stormpods - completed
• 6 Rangers - assembled
• 6 Mechanics - primed
• Storm Tower - completed

Stormsmith Storm Tower

For some reason I just love painting Stormsmiths in any form. This unit was no exception. The only frustrating part was trying to get the gunner and tower lined up when pinning them to the base, but that wasn't a massive problem.

Captain Arlan Strangeways

I was not really excited about painting Strangeways. The model isn't very exciting to me from a visual point of view since it's not a very dynamic pose. I get that he's a crusty mechanic, but still, he could be looking a bit more exciting. Anyway, I tricked myself by starting him in parallel with the Storm Tower when I base coated them. Then it turned into doing the glow together with them. Then the armor. And before I knew it, he was done. Then I read his stat card and got excited. I probably should have read his stats thoroughly at the beginning.

Battle Report: Sturgis vs Kaelyssa

Another fun game with Sturgis last night.

My list: Sturgis, Stormwall, Squire, Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), Stormblade Captain, Journeyman, Gun Mage Captain Adept, Tarin. (same as the other night) And I chose the Arcane Wonder Objective.

The game: My opponent fielded Kaelyssa, 2 Banshees, Sylas, Skeryth, 2 Destor Thanes, Arcanist, 2 Mage Hunter Assassins, and Lynyssa. He chose the Bunker Objective.

We played the SR2015 Destruction scenario. I chose to go second to have the advantage of a hill near the middle of the field. Things started off rough with a Banshee destroying the my Objective at the top of turn 3 and Kaelyssa dominating the zone after feating to score 3 CPs. And then Sturgis feated, dragging in jacks and Kaelyssa toward the Cygnar front line, giving me the range I needed to overcome stealth. At that point there was some pretty serious wrecking that rolled out and by the end of it all, the Ret forces were completely tabled.

Lessons learned: Sturgis' feat can be useful, but it requires conscious thought the whole time. With only 2 models in the list that are in support roles (Journeyman and Squire), it's important for almost all my list to be doing work every round if possible. I also need to get quicker at playing this list so I don't lose on deathclock at the tournament.

Games this year: 3

Gastone Crosse

This is my second of the Kickstarter sculpts now. I can honestly say I like this one way better than the normal sculpt. It's a bit more dynamic and the details are nice and crisp. My real disappointment here was my execution on the face; I just don't feel like I did it proper justice. As noted in last weekend's roundup post, I also re-based my old Vanguard to match Gastone here since most of the time that's what I'll pair with him I bet. Now he just needs some table time!

Blighted Bather

This was an amusing model to paint. If I'd opted to not fully assemble it I could have easily spent way more time on it and done a much better job. However once she was fully assembled it became difficult to hit all the tucked away spots with a brush. Still though, It really was a fun model to paint and will make an amusing alternative to the normal one. I might even get a couple more grunts for the unit and then I can field 2 minimum units.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #70

Less productive this week.

I finally wrapped up Gastone and the Blighted Bather. I also managed to re-base my Vanguard to match Gastone and the Arcanist Core just to match as well. This gives me a cohesive basing scheme for my new mercs.

Also got Absylonia2 assembled. I have to say that was one of the most obnoxious models to assemble that I'd done in a long time. Hopefully it all holds together.

In an effort to give myself a more focused goal, I'm looking to build out a Darius tier list. In order to complete the tier list beyond what I have painted today I need the following: Darius, Stormwall, 6 Rangers, 6 Mechanics, Storm Tower. This obviously is a lot of stuff to get done, especially since Darius and Stormwall both come with extra models of their own. Nevertheless, this is now my primary painting focus for the next few weeks so my weekend roundups will focus more on the progress on that queue of models.

Sentinel

And done!

Charger

Another jack for the done column. Looking forward to trying this with Jakes.

Commander Coleman Stryker

This is the battle box sculpt which I have to say I am not at all a fan of. I may very well end up getting the alt sculpt and painting it just cause this one is so obnoxious. However I'm counting this in the done column and moving on for now.

Battle Report: Sturgis vs pSorcha

Sometimes you just get a bad match up...

My list: Sturgis, Stormwall, Squire, Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), Stormblade Captain, Journeyman, Gun Mage Captain Adept, Tarin. (same as the other night)


The game: My opponent fielded pSorcha, Conquest, War Dog, Kayazy Assassins (10+Underboss), Mortar Crew, Drakhun (no dismount), Eiryss2



We played the SR2015 Incursion (3-flags) scenario. I can honestly say there wasn't serious dice failures overall except for Sorcha not being able to roll 4+ on 2 dice to destroy Stormpods twice in a row. What really happened was I just had a horrible match up. The Kayazy having stealth meant the Stormblades and Stormwall couldn't touch them until it was too late. The Conquest having access to boundless charge made for a longer threat range. Sorcha's feat managed to completely stall the Stormblades and effectively lead to them being taken out of the game. And finally, there was a wall positioned such that Sorcha was able to hide behind it, leap out to do stuff, then wind rush back behind it. I also played real poorly my first 2 turns of the game.

Lessons learned: I have a little more respect for Sturgis' feat having used it a couple times now, especially when coupled with Teleport to get back out of harm's way. Also having half my points tied up in Stormwall means I really only have 2 "fire teams" available to me which means I can't adapt as easily. More on that another time though.

Games this year: 2

Commander Dalin Sturgis

This is actually the Kickstarter limited edition version of Sturgis which personally I really liked. This sculpt has a lot of nice crisp detail to it. I could have easily spent way more time on this model if I wasn't keeping it in my paint scheme for the army. It even had just the right amount of flat surfaces for me to get some freehand insignias. A very happy addition to my Cygnar force.

Battle Report: Sturgis vs eXerxis

Game #1 of the year!

In prep for the 35pt "rotten tomatoes" tournament at my LGS at the end of the month, I'm attempting to get a little practice in with Sturgis to see if I can make him work. The game last night made me feel pretty good about him.

My list: Sturgis, Stormwall, Squire, Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), Stormblade Captain, Journeyman, Gun Mage Captain Adept, Tarin.
The theory here is that Sturgis keeps his Arcane Shield on the Stormwall all game, and then Sturgis and the Journeyman bounce back and for between Snipe and Arcane Shield on the Stormblades as they activate. This gives them effectively RNG 10 attacks (and RNG 16 for the WA's) on their activations, and then ARM 18 on my opponent's turn. Tarin and the GMCA are there to pick off annoying solos, and Tarin of course also helps eliminate LOS problems for the Stormwall.

The game: My opponent fielded eXerxis, Karn, Krea, Brute, Reptile Hound, Venators (6), Beast Handlers (4), Thrulg and Saxon.

The game was a little wild. We played the SR2014 3-flags scenario. Karn took down the Arcane Shielded Stormwall in a single activation while affected by Ignite, Enrage, and X2's feat. After that I scrambled to not lose on scenario by putting Arcane Shield on Sturgis (via the Journeyman) and Stugis camped his focus after teleporting onto the far flag. From there it was just an attrition grind with the Stormblades managing to whittle down my opponent. In the end Sturgis continuing to camp focus and sit at ARM 24 was just insurmountable for either Xerxis or Karn.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #69

Tee hee hee...

So vacation happened, which completely shut down any progress for pretty much 3 solid weeks. However when I got back I found myself with a renewed enthusiasm for painting which is great. What follows is sort of a brain dump of all kinds of things.

First is progress. Pictured here is what's currently in progress on my desk right now. Gastone is practically done but needs a base. The Stormwall is getting some progress made in that the pods and legs have base metal coats done. The upper half of it needs a lot more prep work still. I also started working on the Blighted Bather just for kicks and she's probably about half done at this point. I also finished Stryker1, Sturgis, a Charger and a Sentinel, but they are still being sealed so no pictures yet. In addition I painted 8 more Cygnar bases and primed a few bases for mercs. I also started painting eHaley and then got frustrated and completely stripped her to start all over. I'll probably try to prime her this week and start again.

I also went through and took stock of all my current projects and their various states:

• Painting: Blighted Bather, Gastone
• Base Coated: 2 Fireflies, 3 Stormpods
• Primed: 6 Mechanics, Strangeways, Storm Tower, Bloodseer, Harrier, 2 Shredders, Neraph
• Assembling: Abby2, Stormwall, eHaley

Right now my paint queue of what I want to work on (in rough order) looks like this: Blighted Bather, Stormwall, Mechanics, and eHaley.


I also did a quick catalog of bases so I knew where I was at in terms of how many more Tau Ceti bases I need:

• Painted: 9 small, 6 medium, 2 large, 1 huge
• Unpainted: 12 small, 4 medium, 2 large
• Total unpainted models: 30 small, 7 medium, 11 large, 1 huge

For Christmas, my good friends Henry and Lance got me an assortment of Cygnar things that dramatically boosted my dragon horde of models: Darius, Dynamo, Tempest Blazers, Stryker2, Stryker3, and another Hunter.

And finally, I listened to Warlock Sagas Instruments of War, and Warlock Sagas Mutagenesis while painted this week. Both were very inspiring for painting.

2014 Wrap Up and 2015 Resolutions

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

2014 wasn't as busy on the personal and work fronts as the previous year was, but I still had a lot of trips and then of course the holidays had a pretty big block of non-productivity.

Last year's goals:
1) Attend Lock & Load (again) - Success! Had a great time, played a ton of games, and generally really enjoyed the entire trip.
2) Enter 2 painting competitions - Success! I entered KublaCon and Lock&Load. Easy to pull this one off. I will note that I didn't place in either of them which spawned a conversation with myself that went similar to this blog post by Meg Maples.
3) Get 90% of my Malifaux collection painted - Fail! Yeah, totally got distracted by prep for Lock&Load and then starting my new Cygnar force. It was an ambitious goal to say the least.
4) Start painting my Cygnar horde - Success! This was a slam dunk. In fact I made way more progress than I anticipated I would. More on that below.
5) Close out my random few unpainted models from other factions - Fail! Again it was an ambitious goal that was demoted by other things.

This wasn't as bad of a year as last year, but still not super productive...
Models painted last year:
Cygnar: 49
Malifaux: 19
Legion: 13
Mercs: 3
Circle: 1
Or looking at it from a different perspective:
Small based: 66
Medium based: 10
Large based: 8
Huge based: 2

So this year I painted a total of 85 models compared to 42 the previous year which is a huge surge in the amount I got done In all fairness, last year included 3 huge based models including the Archangel and Throne which were complex. However this year I started a whole new faction and designed the scheme for it which worked out fairly successful. Plus I painted the power generator pieces from Secret Weapon to match my Cygnar force.

Goals for next year:
1) Get my Cygnar force up to 100 painted models - I really love playing Cygnar, and I have a ton of models I really want to paint. This should be a slam dunk for me.
2) Get caught up on all new Legion releases - I've loved all the new models coming out for Legion, but I've fallen behind due to my Cygnar obsession. Time to get back on the latest releases. If I'm really ambitious, I may also try to paint a unit of Archers or Swordsmen.
3) Play 52 games of Warmachine - I've never set a goal to play a number of games before. This is mostly motivated to keep myself from falling into "It's late and I'm tired" mode and to get out and play more.
4) Attend 1 convention - It may not be Lock&Load, but I'm going to attend 1 convention for sure this year.
5) Not delude myself on other factions - Seriously, no silly goals about closing out models for other factions or games that I'm just not going to be as focused on. Like painting Dreadfleet, or Malifaux, or Protectorate or whatever.