Line 'em Up, Get Some Paint

I've heard so many miniatures players tell me that tournaments are what prompted them to paint most, if not all, of their armies. Sh'ya right, I thought, that'll never be me. I'll have an army painted because I'll be continually working on it during my free time. Riiiiiight.

I started this blog with lots of pictures of the painting I was doing, eventually finishing up my 350 point list. Then there was the league to prepare for, and then, and then... well, I've done precious little painting the past month and a half. Until this week, until the past few days to be specific. And what was it that prompted me to get going with it? The tournament in April. Uh-huh. That'll never be me.

Whatever the motivation, I still have that painting bug and a desire (perhaps a "need") to have a fully painted 500 points for the tournament. S'okay I'll nod my head to the tournament painters and cross the line to join their ranks. As of yesterday (Friday, actually) I have two weeks to get everything done. What's sitting on my table right now? Well, I'll post my tournament list later, but in the generic, I've got a warcaster, 4 solos, a heavy warjack and a unit lined up and getting some paint. You'll be getting pictures of my progress as I approach the end.

Red

Them thar hills

How does the saying go? Sometimes you get the hill, sometimes the hill gets you? Errr, no, I think that was something else.

Sometimes I feel like a bad man. For the second game of week 5 Call to Arms, I played Airport again. We rolled the scenario Where the Wild Things Are, which has the victory condition of "last heavy jack or beast standing." In almost every other league game I've played, I tend to be fairly forgetful when it comes to the primary victory condition. Today I couldn't help myself. I took a 500 point list that had a unit of 7 long gunners, a Defender, and a Hunter, no melee units, no trenchers, everything shooty. Airport had an Irusk list with a Kodiak in it, so we each had one heavy jack; he rolled his up on the hill in the center, a position which ordinarily I would be envious of. But that large based heavy jack on a hill giving me everyone that I could get in range LOS to it, well, it's hard not to take unfair advantage of that. Cygnar takes the win.

I feel bad because those types of games are anti-climactic. Boomhowler and his boys were knocking on my front door, and I knew if I didn't take out the Kodiak, my long gunners would be trashed the next turn. But the long gunners did their job, meting out some devastating CRA, and it's because of that, that I am painting my unit of them for use in the upcoming tournament. Long gunners paired with trenchers in a Haley list...should be fun.

Red

Calling all Cygnar players...

Some advice please? I'm not a huge forums denizen, more of a lurker really, but I might do a search there to see what they say on this... See, I've got this 500 point tournament coming up, and I'm driving myself nuts putting a list together that's a hundred different variations of itself.

My question concerns the UA's. In a 750 point game I would say no problem, go ahead and take them. I'm specifically looking at the trencher UA and the long gunner UA. I'd like to take a unit of both for the tournament. I've really come to like using both in the same list. The long gunners doing what they do best, standing back and shooting everything to hell and back, while the trenchers advance up one flank behind their smoke just enough to get their bayonet charge off.

The trencher UA gives them some interesting options, like Cautious Advance, but the UA is an expensive add on, the points for which I could spend on the GMCA or Strangewayes. My trenchers are an expendable unit I like to use to tie up and engage enemy models to slow their advance up the table. I like the trencher UA in my Stryker force when I can cast Snipe on them, dig them in and leave them be until they're read to charge. But with Haley, who I'm using in the tournament, the 10" range means I'm going to have to get them in on a charge quickly, on the first or second turn.

The long gunner UA has the suppressive fire order, but I can't see myself using that much when I'm going for as many VPs as I can get in 3-round caster kill games. I like the ranking fire ability, but I'm only going with a minimal unit of long gunners and will probably be stringing them out in a line, not ranks. The standard makes them fearless, but let's face it, if anything gets into melee with them, it's pretty much over anyway. The only thing that I really like is the Fall Back ability. It could give the long gunners another round of shots and keep them from getting engaged at all. But is that worth the 29 points just for that? It's mighty tempting...

So I guess I'm thinking of a minimum unit of trenchers and long gunners without the UA's for either, spending the points instead on solos, the GMCA and Strangewayes (to back up my jack).

Whoo-ee. That's a lot of painting to do. And only two and half weeks to get it finished. Biggest challenge I've faced thus far...

Red

Wilds, Retaliated: reflecting on the league

The current league tour is wrapping this week, and as this was my first time organizing one, I thought I would take a moment to reflect back on my experience.

I came into this with only two goals in mind. One: for the participants to have fun. Two: to be organized. My teaching experience created some overzealous organizing I think, which is strange in retrospect because my desk and classroom at work are seldom organized very well at all, but I wanted to have things where people could find them easily, hence the binders...

One binder had the league rules, extra copies of the maps, and extra copies of the scenarios. The other binder had my homemade league tracking sheets, and copies of the weekly dispatches, as well as a leaderboard sheet on the front cover that I updated each week. I needed to make a lot of materials myself as we were slow getting in the league kit.

Our kit should be in next week, interestingly enough, but that is our fault for not getting our retailer signed on with Privateer so we could get the materials. Our FLGS was thinking we could order the kit from our distributor, but no. Anyway, all that's important is that our pins and awards will be in. And because now that we are signed up with PP, it is easier for us to do other official events, like an upcoming Monsterpocalypse tournament in April.

The terrain wasn't the prettiest, but it was functional. Terrain is always something to continue to work on. Next time the goal is to paint and base some of the stuff I had created this time, though from what I've experienced in the past two tours, the next one will probably have all different terrain.

And speaking of the next one, Liberation of Umbrey, well that sounds too cool and interesting. I mentioned in our group that if no one speaks up to organize it that I would be willing to do it again. I can think of at least two or three people who might be pulling out their Khador lists that they haven't played in a while...

Red

Yes Quarter, and other stuff...

After the game last night my mind has been buzzing on a number of different topics.

First, the latest issue of No Quarter came in, finally. I've only had a chance to scan through it so far. I look forward to when I can sit down and actually READ it. There's a strategy article for the Khador players, but if it's anything like the Cygnar article last issue, it probably won't be very informative. I think where the article failed was that in trying to cover the full spectrum of the Cygnar faction, very little was actually said that was worthwhile. I can't remember which issue it was in, but the very first Circle strategy article that was published, when Hordes Primal came out, was a much better article in my opinion.

Next week, Frank is going to bring his Monsterpocalypse stuff to show us the game. He is wanting to become a MonPoc press ganger for the store, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of that game played in the future. I bought a starter and a couple of boosters when it first came out, but I haven't yet had the chance to play, so I'm eager to try it out next week.

Those who read my last post may have noticed a comment about my playing Haley last night without using TB in the final round. A confession: I actually didn't use TB at all during the game! Shock, I know. But I discovered that if I didn't rely on saving so much of my focus for that spell, there's so much other stuff for her to do. Anyway, I have more to say on that, but I think I'll save it for another future post.

Red

Taking Out the Heavy Armor, or Not

I couldn't resist taking my Haley Defender list again tonight. Even though I had a couple of new lists created that I wanted to try, I've had so much fun with this list that I couldn't pass it up, especially knowing that this is the last week of the league. The scenario we rolled was Shattered Lines (the same one Airport and I played a couple of weeks ago).

I was facing Shane's Gorten Searforge list, and I've always had a tough time against Gorten because there's a lot of high armor. To put it as succinctly as possible, there was a lot of carnage on the table. By the end of the game I had taken out a full unit of Forgeguard, 3 Bokurs, and Gudrun. Shane had taken out all my trenchers, both stormsmiths, Thorn, JWC and Watts of the B13. I also put some good dents in Shane's gun bunnies, plus got a good hit on Lug (and Brun too), and then once on Gorten. The shot on Gorten could have been more devastating if I had hit with the Defender's second free Blitz shot, but only one shot met its target.

Here's the trouble with my Haley list that I've noticed so far... it hits hard in the early game, but the longer the game lasts, the more I tend to break down. Notice I said ME, not the list, but ME. With Haley having the imitation bond with the Defender (which I really love) I have to be a bit more aggressive with Haley, have her move early and put her more out front where she can target a model and then have the Defender follow up with his shot on the same target. So there's not as much "turtling" as might normally happen with a Haley list (that is, if I understand the concept of turtling correctly). What this means is that I get into an assassination frame of mind; I get impatient; instead of waiting it out, I try to go for the kill a little sooner than perhaps I should. I don't know. Maybe there's nothing wrong with that, especially with a tournament coming up, but I really think my impatience has led to my downfall in the last several games I've played.

Anyway, putting Haley out front tonight once again gave me a big LOSS. Gorten got in the first shot with his double barrels, but Brun charged in to get the kill (uh, yes, that means I did not have TB up, shame on me). But Shane is a great player and I always enjoy our matches. And a loss in a fun game is still a win in my book! (OK, maybe not, but you know what I mean...)

Red

Call to Arms final week, and two new lists

So many choices... lists, lists, it's all about the lists. I love Armies of Immoren (except for a few little quirks that bug me, like being able to save my list after printing it and then I get an error message) because it's really easy to use. This isn't a review of the program, however, except to say that it's really fun to come up with a new list the night before each game night.

Since this is the final week of Call to Arms Retaliation of the Wilds, I came up with TWO new lists. One with Haley and my PK's, which will feel completely different not being a shooty unit, and the second list has a completely new warcaster for me, Seige! Of course, I may decide to go with my Haley Defender list again, because despite my complaints after last week's game, it did perform very well for me, and it will be a while before I form another 'jack bond again. I won't go into the details of new lists right now (I'll save that for the battle report).

Like I said, choices, choices, choices...

Red

At last, tournament update!

I finally got the scoop on the April 11 tournament (slightly edited from the email I received from the Fort Wayne Bodgers group)…

Registration begins at 10:30, first round begins at 11 a.m. Jason, our PG, wants to try to get in 6 rounds, so we could be playing until 6:00 p.m.

500 points. One list.

Our FLGS will match the entry fees and provide gift certificates for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

Three rounds per game, or 1 hour, whichever comes first. Players will have a chance to "even up" on turns at one hour.

No special scenarios--just "caster kill" (but see below regarding scoring tournament points).

There will be a point system for determining tournament winners. You will receive 5 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, and one for a loss. IN ADDITION to this, you will ADD your victory points to these points. So if you lose, but score 2 VP from your opponent, the TO will record 3 tournament points. If you win and score 11 VP, Jason will record 16 tournament points.

This format sounds intriguing. Not sure about 6 rounds, though. Maybe if I were allowed to take two lists that wouldn't sound so ... long. Still, I am very psyched for it. This will be my second tournament. The first one in September I was so horribly bad at the game, but it got my feet wet for competitive play. I don’t even expect to win a game at this one since we have so many knowlegdeable players who have been at it a long time, but at least I feel more confident knowing the rules, and more importantly my list, and it will be a fun day.

Oh, and here's a link to Books, Comics & Things (Georgetown store) where we'll be playing.

Red

Variations on a Theme

I remember having a brief conversation with Airport some time ago about not liking the variant Haley sculpt, about how much better I liked the original, with the spear pointed back and up, instead of holding it in front of her and down. Some time later I actually saw the variant model and thought, "now that looks cool; guess I'll have to redact my previous opinion."

I wasn't going to order it online because I didn't really need one when I already had the other...that is, until I found the variant sculpt at the FLGS recently and snagged it. It wasn't easy to put together. Haley's variant torso didn't fit very well onto her legs and the positioning of her spear was awkward to glue and hold, and too thin to use putty on. But I finally got her together.

She's going to get primed this weekend, and even though I have a fair amount of paint on the original model (nowhere close to being done yet, though), I think I'm going to paint this one and use it in the upcoming tournament, the sculpt has grown on me that much.

I also found the variant Journeyman Warcaster, but painting her is going to have to wait.

And on other model construction news, the unit that's taken me the past two-plus weeks to put together, my stormguard, are finally complete as well. Having to glue and hold each of those pikes just made me want to tear my hair out, so I ended up using a small bit of putty on each wrist to help hold the hands and pike in place while I glued them together. Eventually they'll be primed too, but not this weekend. The weather is very nice today in northeast Indiana, and although I'll get many figures primed, I still have a bunch to do in the coming weeks. And then, man, will I have a lot of painting to do.

Speaking of painting, I am using the next few weeks to finish painting several models at once so I have two fully painted 500-point tournament lists ready for April 11. Many of these I've talked about working on in previous posts, like the Thunderhead. In addition to that I've got a Lancer, Thorn, the Black 13th, the variant sculpt of Haley, and one stormsmith to paint. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Red

Frustration Time!

I wanted to cry. To curse. To ram my freaking head into the wall.

Yet again I will utter the mantra: I could have won. Two games now…I could have won. It hurts, man. Sometimes it hurts.

I was playing my Haley Defender list (see last post) and Frank was playing his Borka Bomb list. I like playing Frank, and we tend to show up at our FLGS before the others, so we often play against each other. Our scenario was One Shot, One Kill, which served me much more than it did his Trolls. To make it short, Borka was out in the open. TWO rounds I had LOS on him from multiple models. And I still couldn’t get it done.

There was a high point to the game. My beloved trenchers. Did they ever come through for me tonight. They got the bayonet charge order right into the Troll Champions. I wasn't sure it would work, but they took down three of the five. Very nice.

I decided to sacrifice one of my stormsmiths, since they were having little effect in the game anyway. I had moved Haley out to take a pot shot at Borka, and then moved the stormsmith in front of her to block LOS and gain screening benefits. But I’ve never played against a Borka list before, and he lobbed a bomb at the stormsmith with a direct hit…then it bounces…right back on Haley, auto hit. Rolls a freaking 27 damage! But after that Haley’s still got 2 boxes of wounds left. The next round I forget to activate her first and take another shot so that the Defender gets the +2 bonus for the Imitation bond and the Defender ... misses. Borka still stands, making leering drunken faces at me.

Next round, the sniper on the Troll tower shoots and takes out Haley for the win.

Damn. Did I say it hurts. Yeah, I thought so…

Red

Haley Defender 500

So, last week after my first game, Haley forged a bond with her Defender heavy warjack. I didn't use a Haley list in my second game, so I definitely want to bring her and the Defender back for week 4. Here's my list...

Captain Victoria Haley
Defender (bond: Imitation)
Thorn
Squire
Journeyman Warcaster
Stormsmith (x2)
Black 13th
Trencher 6-man unit

500/500 pts 19 VPs

To get the benefit of the Imitation bond, I'm probably going to have to play more aggressively with Haley than I'm accustomed to. I'm thinking of putting Thorn and the trenchers out front to intercept (Thorn Arcane Shielded) and then Haley will chain lightning on Thorn to hit whatever she can. Umm, note to self... keep Trenchers away from Thorn! Haley, Defender and B13 will hang back and take shots at whatever else they can.

Red

PK's built!

Thank you, Privateer, for making some beautiful models that can be constructed fast. I finished putting together my Precursor Knights in one evening. My Stormguard, well, they're still coming along. I should have their pikes puttied and glued in the next few days.

I'm not doing too much building or painting tonight. League night is tomorrow and I need to formulate a list...

Red

Call to Arms week 3, game 2

So, Airport and I got in another game yesterday. It was a slugfest. And it was a helluva lot of fun. I had 'em. I was THIS close to winning the game, but it was a day full of rotten die rolling on both our parts. A lot of noteworthy things happened which I'll get to if I can remember them all...

We played a 500 pt battle, and the size of this game is one I've really come to enjoy. I'm very glad that the upcoming tournament is only going to be a 500 pointer.

Airport fielded Irusk, and I played a Stryker list against him.

Commander Coleman Stryker

Thunderhead

Lancer

Squire

Journeyman

Black 13th

Trencher 6-man unit

497/500 pts/17 VPs

It's an expensive list, but I am a slow player, and I was hoping that having fewer models on the table would expedite my game play. It did, for the most part, but after the first few rounds, I slowed down quite a bit as I mused over my tactical decisions. I won't have the luxury of doing that during a tournament match, so I really need to use these league opportunities for practice. I have no delusions of grandeur of winning anything in the league; my only goal is practice, practice, practice...

I'll let Airport give the specifics of his force (and his unique perspective of the game) in his blog, but what I remember of his list: a full unit of Iron Fangs w/ UA (I still say the IFP are one of the nastiest infantry units in the game; with that high def and arm they have a lot of longevity), the Behemoth, as well as the Man-o-war demo corps, the Greylords, a Manhunter, etc. Very troop heavy which is what works best with Irusk. Airport is unsure about the MoW, but I believe they are a psychological unit. Put them on the table and your opponent feels compelled to deal with them first, while other units get into a more favorable position. That's exactly what happened. The MoW scared me, so I dealt with them first, while his Iron Fangs were expertly moved and utilized.

I forget what map we used, but we played the Scattered Lines scenario. With a small number of models, it was only somewhat inconvenient for me to deploy my force; units/solos/battle-groups had to be 8" apart from each other. Being troop heavy, Airport had the more difficult task of deploying his units. The primary victory was a simple caster kill condition. I lost the deploy roll and Airport decided to go second.

I spent the first turn moving into position. In week 3 Cygnar has the Feral faction advantage, which I gave to my trenchers (feral trenchers, that just makes me chuckle). I deployed them behind a forest and moved them into it on the first turn. This was one of the first times I had used the trenchers as a flanking force, and I felt they would have done adequately if I could get them in range. Stryker's snipe would have helped, but I had othe plans for it. The Black 13th took some long shots, but fell just a hair short, like 1/4" short. This game would be full of missed shots that were -that- close. Stryker sniped the Thunderhead, and then it stepped up onto a hill and took out one of the MoW's and wounded another one.

The events and the order in which they occurred will be a bit fuzzy here, but essentially this is the way the rest of the battle unfolded...

Airport gets major props for taking out the Black 13th. This was the first time I had ever used them. They are nasty, and definitely a unit I want to paint and take with me to the tournament. But I totally misplayed them in this game. I got them too close, tucked behind a sandbag wall and the IFP charged them. With reach, the IFP engaged them from the other side of the sandbag wall and pinned them. Lynch went down. Watts and Ryan were still standing. They had to swivel around to get into melee (they have the gunslinger ability) which meant that the centermost IFP got a free strike on each one, but couldn't make either. Both Watts and Ryan would take out one IFP each. The next round would see both of them fall to the Iron Fangs' CMA.

Other mistakes... I keep mishandling Stryker's feat. I should have popped it a round sooner than I did. In some games I forget about it completely. I used his Earthquake spell a little better this game, but I still need to work the timing of it so that more units can attack the knocked down models. Also, I kept the Lancer pretty close to the Thunderhead, which helped me take out the final Demo Corps model and Manhunter, but it really wasn't in position to utilize the arc node very well. I forgot to upkeep some spells. I ended up casting Snipe twice on the Thunderhead at full focus cost because I forgot to upkeep it. Ouch! Last thing that comes immediately to mind is Cygnar's signature ability, Disruption, something which I am constantly bugged about not be able to use against Hordes armies. Do you think I used it? You might, but you would be wrong. Very handy against Behemoth, if I had remembered I had it. Ugh!

At some point in round 3 or 4, Airport's force was still spread out enough, and Irusk moved up just enough, that most of my units could move an inch or two and get LOS on him. I decided it was now or never. The trenchers - there were only 3 of them left - were just a hair out of range for their CRA shots. The re-sniped T-head on the hill fired a boosted lightning coil and hit. The next two shots would be auto hits because of sustained attack, I spent the focus to make those attacks. This severely wounded Irusk, but he survived. I moved Stryker up, and took a pistol shot which hit and wounded him some more. Irusk was down to 3 life! I remember trying to move Junior up to take a shot at Irusk and noticed that my hands were shaking! Alas, Junior missed his shot and Irusk would survive...

The game would go on for another round, or two, after that even. Manhunter moved up for an attack on Stryker but could not damage him enough to take him out. My lancer would take him out the next turn. The behemoth was engaging the Thunderhead, giving it a righteous pounding, and reducing it to scrap. The next turn the behemoth would close and give Stryker the boot.

It was a long drawn out battle, but it was a lot of fun. I felt I had my chance, and took it when it happened, but it was just not to be. I don't mind losing those kind of games. Sometimes the dice fall your way, and sometimes they don't.

Red

The whole metal vs plastic thing...

...is a debate I don't want to have, but I will have to dabble a bit in it today. I completely understand where each side is coming from. I love the weight of the metal models, so much so that some time ago, before I began playing Warmachine, I glued metal washers to the bottom of the bases of my Space Wolves and Eldar armies for 40K. I wanted my plastic minis to feel heavier.

But I don't really like putting metal models together. I know, heresy! It feels as if I've been putting my Stormguard unit together for forever and a day. I didn't want to, but I ended up having to putty the top half of the armor to the legs. I thought I could just glue them, but it's been very frustrating doing that. Perhaps I have lacked the patience of late to sit there and hold the pieces until the glue begins to hold. And let me tell you, Stormguard are nowhere near as difficult to put together as many other models! Let me NOT go into my raving diatribe about putting my Tharn Bloodtrackers together over this past Christmas break.

So a part of me is looking forward to the availability of plastic models as they are much easier to put together. When Privateer posted pictures of the new Bastions, enough people responded that I didn't feel I had anything new to add to the chorus of voices out there, so I didn't. But I will say now how nice they look, and I am very anxious to see some plastic Cygnar models someday.

On a not quite related note, I find myself coming to the end of the construction phase of my Cygnar models soon. I had purchased quite a few miniatures a couple years back after my first demo of the game (and they sat in my game closet until I started to get serious about the game in August), and I have purchased some of the new stuff from Legends. All I have left to build now are my Precursor Knights unit, the trencher cannon crew (and finish my Stormguard of course...they're almost done). Then I have a whole lot of painting to do. But never fear, there are still things for my Circle list to build, and I have a few Cryx models I acquired before the holidays (that's a topic for another post).

Red

Just another brick in the...

Week 3 of Call to Arms really was a “retaliation of the wilds.” My game last night was 750 points, Cygnar vs. Trollbloods, Haley against the new eDoomshaper. In our group seldom do I know whom I’m playing against ahead of time (a point I’ve made a few times previously), and despite my recent cries of “trenchers are better than long gunners,” I have to say had I known I'd be playing against Trolls, I’d have taken long gunners, as I’ve always had the most success with them against Trolls. What I desperately lacked last night was something with range that could stand back and focus on punching through their high armor (especially the Earthborn's armor of 21). Similar to playing against Khador, last night’s game was like slamming up against a brick wall. The high point for me though, was Haley forging a bond with her Defender and I got Imitation which will be very useful in future battles. Anyway, a more detailed report is forthcoming as I get time to write it…

Red

All Along the Watchtower

Here's a photo of my hastily built City Fight 40K buildings with Haley and the Thunderhead for scale. As I mentioned earlier, one of the new league scenarios, "Tagged," requires two watchtowers, so I am using these since they're the closest thing I have that'll work. Two of them actually measure out to the 2"x2"x4" structures that "Tagged" requires. The other two are 2"x4"x4" and will have to do if we have more than one table playing that scenario. Obviously they are not primed or painted (someday!) since they're barely just glued at this point. Tomorrow is the next league night and hopefully I will keep myself healthy enough to get in a game. Expect a report of some kind later this week.

Red

Snooze, you Lose

As I mentioned earlier, I was feeling pretty cruddy this last week, and stayed home a couple of days from work while I got to feeling better. Snoozed quite a bit actually. And I do feel better, finally, but it was a strange little bug with a few new symptoms I wasn't expecting. I ended up NOT getting my league game in, and I don't know if I'll be able to make it up by squeezing in a second game one of these next few weeks or not. Perhaps Airport and I can meet one upcoming weekend, and he can enact his revenge for my weak attempt at a victory! =)

Week 3 has, I believe, the first occurrence of the 2"x2"x4" watchtower in one of the scenarios. All other terrain has been accounted for thus far except this one. Looking at a 40K City Fight sprue I had tucked away, I noticed that the building panels are just this size, so I am in the process of putting a couple of these together. They'll do in a pinch. When they're done later on tonight, I'll try to post some pictures.

Red

Shooting from Two Different Fronts

Telly and Skif grew up on opposite sides of the streets in Caspia. Telly Montaine was the son of a well to do civil engineer, and Skif Ranswicke was more accustomed to pulling his drunken father out of ditches than drawing up blueprints for them. But young boys care little for social status when looking for a playmate and the two of them turned the neighborhood off Ironhound Way into their personal stomping ground.

One day on a scrap hunt, the two boys found some discarded tubing in one of the peripheral warehouse yards. “I can show ye how to make a simple rifle wid’ dis,” Skif said. “My dad used ta be a rifleman for the Rail back in the day, and he showed me how to make one.” Excited over the potential for shooting at things, the boys spent the day searching for the requisite parts, and then the following week shooting bits of stone at birds and cats … and through windows.

Fortune, an often capricious and seldom shining mistress, has a way of taking these moments and twisting them inside out. Ten years later it was Telly sucking muddy water from the shallow troughs at the bottom of a trench, dragging the bodies of his fallen comrades about and covering his ears to protect them from the sound of detonating Skyhammer rockets. From somewhere down the line, his sergeant was giving the order to advance and rush the Protectorate front line. He grabbed a smoke grenade from his bandolier, gripped his military rifle, and climbed out of the hole, wondering if his old friend was still out there somewhere sniping sill sparrows and window panes.

…

As the orange sky diminished on the horizon amid lingering tufts of Khadoran mortar smoke, Skif finished cleaning the ammo wheel to his repeating long rifle and chanced a quick look beyond the Northguard parapet he pushed his back against. Cleaning his gun was a habit that branded him a bit of an oddity with his peers (though not so with the veterans), since most of the other long gunners in his unit simply swapped the wheels out for new ones. In his opinion they had come to rely a little too heavily on the requisitions officer instead of maintaining their own supply. He had always preferred to upkeep his own weapon and ammo, and the attitude of the others galled him. If his dad had ever given him one thing besides love of drink, it was this, care of the tools of your livelihood. What would happen if a cylinder got wet on the field, which was an eventuality given their swampy environs? “Not too easy to hand over your weapon for fixin’ when ye’ve got a Khadoran pike thrust through your chest, eh?” he thought to himself.

The bombardments would be steady tonight, as they had been the past several nights, and his unit would have to be ready come the morn. He wondered how his old friend Telly was doing, if he was still alive…

Is there anything more iconic in the Cygnaran military than trenchers and long gunners? I’ve had the opportunity to play with both, and although long gunners certainly appeal to me, trenchers suit my style of play a little better I think.

Perhaps this is because when it comes to long gunners, they’re best deployed and left alone. In one tournament game I played, there was enough forested terrain on the table that I had to keep moving my long gunners to get LOS, and of course moving them takes away their advantage of the dual shot (and aiming). In another game, I played on a city fight type table, and I got a good LOS down one street in the beginning, but once my opponent got wind of that and kept his units from that avenue, it became a game of running them around to get good LOS again. Long gunners will always be a non-contributing factor in that kind of a game.

One of the reasons I love trenchers is that they’re made for running around, slogging it out, making mad dashes with their bayonets. Advance deploy? Maybe, but maybe not. There are plenty of options with them and I’m having loads of fun toying with the tactical decisions involving this unit. What I hope to do here is discuss this more as I grow into playing and learning the game … and perhaps reveal a more of Telly and Skif’s story too. Stay tuned.

Red

Curse of the Bleee-yurgh!

Last weekend my son had the stomach flu. For several days. A little concerned, we called the doctor, and he reassured us that he would be okay, but also warned us that the parents would probably be next to get it. Several days went by and I thought I was safe. Nuh-uh. Yesterday at work I began to feel it. I rushed down to the FLGS to drop off the week two leader board for the league (because our league kit is not in yet, so I'm printing the standings myself), and then made a hasty retreat home...just in time. But I'm starting to feel a bit better now as I stay at home for a day. But no league game last night. Boo. Maybe later this week?

Red

Shock and Awe

Haley wrinkled her brow in frustration. She had been here, on this battleground before. Not in a dream or a vision, but in a very real sense just earlier this week, and she rubbed her sore muscles in memory of the encounter with Baldur’s forces. The Circle had stonewalled them on that day, both armies backing off in the end, and when the scouts returned last night with reports of a Khador encroachment in these northern borderlands, the bile in Haley’s guts gurgled in agitation. She had already witnessed the death of too many of her trenchers on these blood-stained fields and she didn’t relish the thought of losing more this soon. Then someone cleared their throat with a respectful but distinctive cough, and Haley spun around. It was Lieutenant Durant.

“Report,” Haley muttered, trying to hide the exhaustion in her voice.

“Santeel thinks there’s widowmakers in the woods ahead.”

“Thinks?”

“Signal calls most likely. He claimed it sounded like the mating chirp of an ice thrush.”

“So?” she almost barked at him.

“Skirov ice thrush, according to Santeel.”

Haley nodded. Santeel was the sergeant of her rangers who had spent some of his formative years in the hinterlands on the Rhul and Khadoran borders.

“There are no ice thrushes here,” Durant continued and waited for the fact to sink in before giving her the bad news. “He also spied Zoktavir. The Butcher's leading them.”

She cocked her head and made an obvious effort to steel her resolve. “If he’s waiting for me to make the first move, then we’ll make the first move. Gather your men, lieutenant.”

Durant saluted, spun on his heels, and made a hasty retreat from the command tent….


Khador is the immovable object of Warmachine. They’re not very fast (most of the time), easy to hit, but hard to take down due to their high armor. They can be a tough opponent for Cygnar because I don’t usually have trouble hitting things, but I have a lot of POW 10 stuff that bounces right off of them. So against them, I figure I need CRA or something that can lower their armor, hence the Hunter light warjack and trenchers. No long gunners? At some point in a future post, you’ll get my rant on why I think trenchers are better than long gunners.

Airport and I are probably at a disadvantage when it comes to league play because we both tend to determine our army lists prior to going into the battle. This means that sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot, because typically in league play you roll for map and scenario and then you choose your list. During the Caspia-Sul Incursions last year, I hosed myself one week because I had chosen to field a full unit of trenchers and the scenario called for cobblestone streets where my trenchers could not Dig In. Had I known this previously, I might not have chosen them. Hard to say.

The scenario we rolled for in yesterday’s game turned out to be Engines of Destruction, which requires the winning army to occupy a center point on the table with a jack or beast by turn three. Airport had decided to field an all-troops Khador force. Oops. When he read the scenario description he said, “I’ve already lost this game.” Without any jacks to win the primary victory condition, he had until the end of turn three to kill my caster. OR he would have had to take out both my light jacks so I could not have controlled the center of the table either.

I sent my Hunter out AD, hidden partially in a forest off to the side of Map 1 and I deployed my trenchers as far out in their advanced deployment zone as possible. In the first turn, my grenadier ran up behind my trenchers, still not on the center hill by the end of turn one. The trenchers fired at the front line of Doom Reavers, but they were a just a bit too far out of range. I think my sharpshooter took out one of them. My hunter popped out of the forest, took out one of the Man-o-war demo corps, and that was it for me.

All I remember from Airport’s first turn was those Doom Reavers. I wasn’t thinking of their 6” move, 12” run, and 2” reach. He deployed them back a little bit, but with more than enough room to charge right in and take out three of my trenchers. The rest of his army in the back slowly moved forward.

Haley moved up and fired at one of the doomies, cast Chain Lightning which took out several doomies, cast TB and popped her feat. Note to self: next time, pop her feat FIRST so that she gets the benefit of it too! The grenadier had popped up on top of the hill to claim control (this happened unknowingly on my part, and was not part of some grand scheme; my plan was only to get my grenadier up so it could benefit from being in base to base contact with the trenchers who had camped on the hill).

By the end of turn two, Cygnar had damaged Drakhun, taken out another Man-o-war and eliminated the unit of Doom Reavers. Most of the Khadoran army was still too far back to do much by turn three (not with the forward models being affected by Temporal Barrier), and Airport could not pull off that fast of a caster kill, so I ended up winning the scenario. Like I said in the post last night, winning this way left me with an odd feeling of incompleteness. I guess because so many of the games I’ve played in the past have come down to caster kill, a scenario victory seems out of place. Feels like cheating in a way.

But the next tournament’s in April, and many of the steamroller battles can be won in a similar fashion. So I guess it’s a feeling I better get used to, huh?

Red