Digital overload

So as I am now able to post  again I just want to bring to everyones attention that right here in our fine state of Maryland there will be a three day con going on. Yes it is a con specifically for video games but yours truly will be heading the events for warmachine and hordes along with some demos possibly for monpoc. With the help of some of my fellow brothers in black it should turn out to be a good event. The event will take place may 27th through the 29th. For any additional information you can google digital overload or visit there website at http://digital-overload.com/.

I hope to see some of you there supporting your favorite game that is Warmachine/Hordes.

15 Pt Slow Grow, Feora vs Karchev

Our local press ganger is running a slow grow league for current league (forgot the name). It’s a wonderful idea as it gives people the opportunity to paint up some models and then use them on the field. I had the chance this week to participate in one game and it was against Bill and his Karchev crew.

My list                                               Bill’s List

Feora2                                                 Karchev
-Crusader                                           -Behemoth
-Redeemer                                        Reinholdt
TFG min w/ UA                               MoW Shocktrooper min unit
Choir min
Vassal Mechanic

Starting out the game, Bill was surprised to see how many models I could cram into a 15 point list. There are a lot of models but the list is a bit spread thin. Only one hard hitter, one model to take care of stealth and solos, a unit to take control of objectives and finally my support. Feora can usually get the job done herself sometimes but cracking the high arm of Karchev could be a problem.

I didn’t realize all models had to be painted… Whoopsie, my bad Darren. Any how, here’s the setup and the scenario is Killbox. One we’re all familiar with. I go first and put Ignite on the Crusader and then cast Escort. Everyone runs up except for the TFG, they simply walk forward and shield wall. I had some benefit from the league that gave them +2 speed for one turn.

End of round 1, Karchev tows up the Behemoth and it shoots its bombards and manages to take out one TFG. Even in shield wall. Boo shield wall… 😛

End of Round 2 and its not looking good for me. Since I walked up with my TFG and didn’t run. They didn’t get the jump on the Shocktroopers. Instead, Iron Zeal formation and they ran forward. The Crusader followed behind them, hoping to get a charge on the Behemoth. My Redeemer hits Karchev and does really good damage thanks to Battle from the Choir. The AOE takes out Reinholdt.

His turn, Shocktroopers charge and take out the TFG Captain. Karchev tows up the Behemoth, Karchev kills a TFG blocking the charge to the Crusader. Then the Behemoth makes a smoking wreck of the Crusader.

End of Round 3 and it’s game over. Feora’s desperate attempt to take out Karchev Fails. I managed to Fire Step into charge position, feat,cast Ignite on Feora, and then charge Karchev. In the process, I ate a free strike from the Behemoth and it did 5 damage on her. I only gained 3 extra focus from the feat but it wasn’t enough to take out the man in the machine. His turn, he casts a spell that gives him boosted attack rolls and Karchev annihilates Feora.

It was a good fun game, the only model I destroyed was Reinholdt. That’s not saying much but it was fun to get in a game. Next months list should be a lot of fun to play.

It’s been a while

It’s been a good three months since my last post, my wife and I were blessed to purchase a home. With that comes a lot of work and not a lot of time for Warmachine. I hope to keep this blog updated at least twice a month with painting updates, some occasional battle reports, and maybe even maybe a custom made table. I have a really good idea to make a custom table but it all depends on time constraints.

The southern MD Warmachine/Hordes community has been steadily growing though. Wednesday appears to be the regular gaming night as our local Press Ganger told me there was a lot of folks at the store last night. If my calculations are correct, there were about ten people that showed up to play. It’s encouraging to see and hopefully the store will be able to get a good stock of Warmahordes models in. Right now it’s a little on the scare side.

Wrapping up, I’d like to say a good farewell to the Iron Agenda podcast, it was my favorite podcast out the bunch and they’ll definitely be missed. Them and Lost Hemisphere Radio definitely helped me keep up with all the Force books and new models coming out.

List Tweaking – Part 2

In my previous post, I discussed my first initial High Reclaimer list at 35 points. Now the time comes for the first set of changes and possibly last ones. I’ll explain why I replaced each piece but first, here’s the original list and the new one.

Old                                                              New
The High Reclaimer                                      The High Reclaimer
-Reckoner                                                    -Reckoner
Idrians min unit + UA                                   -Crusader
Knights Exemplar                                         Min Choir
Exemplar Cinerators                                    Vassal
Rhoven & Honor Guards                              Rhover & Honor Guards
Vilmon                                                          Idrians min unit + UA
Vassal                                                          TFG max w/ UA
Rhupert                                                       Rhupert

Basically, I swapped out the Cinerators for a full unit of TFG+UA and Knights Exemplar + Vilmon for a Crusader and min Choir. I felt I needed more speed with my core infantry (TFG) to help contest objectives at the first turn. I can run them and pop Iron Zeal if I need to. I lost a lot of hitting power with the Knights gone but the addition of the Crusader should help alleviate it some. Also, sacrificial lamb is now a worth while spell and I have cheap troops to use it on, the TFG and choir of course.

That’s my list for now and it’s more of a wave army than my first one. Hypothetically, the Idrians hit first, then the TFG and Reckoner, and lastly the Crusader. Hopefully it won’t come down the High Reclaimer getting in the mix as that’s a sure sign of doom.

This is a shameless request, but if anyone wants to test this list out for me and let me know how awful, good, or ok it is, that would rock. I don’t know how much play time I’ll have between now and Oct. 16th.

List Tweaking – Part 1

Since I don’t get to play in a lot of tournaments, preparing two 35 Pt lists for an upcoming steamroller event is a lot of fun. For other people it might not be a big deal, print up a couple of lists the night before and then show to the event and play. I even imagine certain players have their go to list, you know the one they’ve used time and time again and can play with ease. This is where I would like to eventually end up, have a nice list that you know well and can use in tournaments, while your secondary list is the experimental one.

The list I’m working on is The High Reclaimer at 35 Pts. Over the past few weeks, I’ve managed to tweak it a couple of times. The final list will be one of my two that I take to a 35 Pt Steamroller tournament on October 16th at the Blood & Steam weekend, in Glenn Burnie, MD. Gratuitous shout out I know

For the core of the list, I know I wanted to take at least one unit w/ advanced deployment. I learned my lesson the hard way in the Resurgence event, when I took the High Reclaimer with no advance deployment troopers. I hardly contested any control zones and my army was slow like a tortoise. My first choice here, Idrians, they’re a good target for the High Reclaimer’s feat if they prey the enemy caster/lock. Plus, they’ll benefit nicely from the smoke and be even more of a pain to deal with when they go to ground.

Second up, I needed some hard hitting weapon masters that could absorb damage and could be brought back to life w/ the feat. Cinerators were my first choice due to their high arm and can’t be trampled. The flame burst on their swords should help deal with infantry swarms as well. Knights Exemplar were also added due to their high damage output and their assassination vector.

Next up, I needed a Warjack and looked no further than the Reckoner. It really needs no introduction and Choking Veil stacks nicely with the High Reclaimer’s Burning Ash spell.

Rhoven & Honor Guards were another choice, these guys seemed like they were made for the High Reclaimer in MKII. Rhoven’s commander ability helps out since the High Reclaimer has the silent oath thing going on, add on the fact that you can revive the Guiss & Cassuis for some nice charges from unexpected places and its a win win.

Vilmon is in the list for his hard hitting ability and for being good on objectives. His fairly expensive but he brings redundancy as another Commander.

Suppport Units were now needed, I looked no further than the Piper of Menoth, Rhupert Carvolo.  Throw in a Vassal and now you’re cooking. I wanted to go trooper heavy and thus no choir this list.

 The final List

 The High Reclaimer
-Reckoner
Idrians min unit + UA
Knights Exemplar
Exemplar Cinerators
Rhoven & Honor Guards
Vilmon
Vassal
Rhupert

So there you have it, my first draft of a 35 Pt High Reclaimer tournament list. It has a few things that make you go huh, like a bunch of fearless troops with two commanders. Add in Rhupert to give the Idrians fearless and the need for commanders is completely nulified.

Another glaring huh spot is only one jack which makes Sacrifcial Lamb a completely worthless spell. I plan to address these issues in the next post.

In the meantime, let me know what you think.

Blood and Steam Weekend

The fine Press Gangers of Maryland, DC, and Northern VA have organized a nice Warmachine and Hordes weekend. It’s a two day event at Games and Stuff in Glenn Burnie, MD on the weekend of October 16th-17th. There’s going to be several events during the course of the weekend and Sunday is the Blood and Steam Invitational. For those that don’t know, the Blood and Steam Circuit comprised of various stores throughout the MD, DC, and Northern VA area, where Press Gangers would hold tournaments. You got 4 points for a win and 1 point for a loss. The PGs then kept a database of the players’ point total and the top 16 get to play in the big finale.

Due to my busy schedule this spring and summer, I wasn’t able to make it out to any tournaments.  This one is a must and I’ve already signed up and plan to play in two events. One of them being a 35 Pt Steamroller using divide and conquer while the other is a 50 Pt, 2 player event where each person brings 25 points. Warmachine and Hordes can pair up so it’s going to be quite the fun. Now all I have to do is get a teammate. Hopefully, one of the Baythralls will show up as well and we can try to bring home victory.

This makes October a great place for all the folks in the Mid-Atlantic region! Here’s the list of big events going on:

The Mid-Atlantic Team Tournament on October 9th, just outside of Philadelphia.
Blood and Steam Weekend on October 16th-17th, in Glenn Burnie, MD.
The Warstore Weekend on October 22nd-24th.

I’m really excited about the event and want to thank all those involved for making it happen. On a side note, I’ve got some painting done during the last week and Severius, a Reckoner, and the Sunburst crew are close to completion. I’ll have pics up by next week. Thanks for stopping bye.

It’s been some time

It’s been a while since I last posted as a lot of stuff is going in my life. My wife and I were blessed to purchase a new home and needless to say, it’s taken up quite a bit of my time. I’m trying to get back into playing Warmachine and Hordes as the LGS near my home is doing quite well and it looks like it’s going to be in business for some good time. It has a much better location than it did before and it’s now only a 25 minute drive from my house as opposed to an hour.

With the hopes of playing more games, comes to the responsibility to paint some more. I really don’t like to play with unfinished models but let’s face it, almost everyone has unfinished models here and there. I still have a Paladin of the Wall that I bought some three years ago that’s only primed. I’m such a slacker I know.

Coming up this October is a chance for the SoMD Baythralls to participate in the Mid-Atlantic Team Tournament. So far, three of us have committed to it and there’s a chance to win a fully painted Retribution army. One of the requirements to be in the running for the Ret Army is to have yours fully painted, both lists. My main lack of painted models is my infantry and solos.

Thankfully, this past No Quarter has a good article on how to build and paint a 100 point army. It’s really good for Steamroller tournaments as it suggests using two warcasters and to start at 25 points w/ each one, incorporating models that both casters would use. I won’t be building a 100 point army as I’m aiming for the 50 point size but the principle still applies. Instead of working my way up from 25 to 50, I’m just going to post the first of my two 50 point lists. I’m definitely using Severius as my primary caster but I’m unsure who I’m going to use as my alternative. This list is definitely tentative as some models my change. Suggestions welcome.

Severius
*Reckoner
*Revenger
*Crusader
*Hierophant
Min Choir
Sunburst
Deliverers min unit
Cinerators max unit
Rhoven and Honor Guard
Vilmon
Reclaimer Solo
Vassal
Vassal Mechanik
Allegiant
Rhupert

I have no advanced deployment and that sort of worries me. The thing is, I doubt I’ll have the time to paint either Errants or Idrians but the Daughters come to mind. I would drop the unit of Deliverers and go w/ Daughters if my painting goes well. Speaking of painting…off I go.