Paint it Blue

Battle Royale: We're men now..

2009-09-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

Today was the day! Ahknas and I had our first ever 1000 point battle!

Ahknas could not take it for another day without that 1000 point battle, because he has been thinking about it for years! So today our dream became reality! Bitter reality...

I had lot's of fun thinking of the insane combo's that might be possible with 2 casters. Luckily the choice was already made easier by Ahknas and Sunflowers as they gave me epic Kaya (and a woldwatcher) for my birthday a while ago! (Thank you again! Sunflowers painted Kaya, and Ahknas Laris)

After drooling over lightning tendrils + against the odds, Regrowth + Brutality + Ravagers or Wolf Riders, Family pack WW-SPAM with Krueger and Baldur, I finally decided to choose Kromac simply because I never played him before and an area of effect with stealth and no spells sounded too cool not to try :)

My list ended up like this:
Kaya the Moonhunter
Kromac the Ravenous
Megalith( It's a 1000 points so why not?)
Pureblood Warpwolf (Tried him out a while ago and I just love Ferocity!)
Woldwatcher(Have to test my new mini!)
Woldwyrd(Arcane killer is just too awesome, especially since Ahknas likes Arcane shield :) )
Gnarlhorn Satyr
Blackclad Wayfarer(for the teleport tactic)
Sentry Stone( It's sole purpose in every game: Annoyance)
Shifting Stones x2 (For the teleport and as a nice charge blocking wall)
Tharn Ravagers(5)(with the Shaman) I think I always field these guys, Love the fluff!
Tharn White Mane
Wolf Riders(4)

From my memory I'll reproduce Ahknas' list:
Epic Stryker( Mr. I love Ilmater-ritual and become a melee powerhouse)
Nemo (Gotta love a 5 Focus Centurion, and some extra focus because you can..)
Squire
Ol'Rowdy
Lancer x2 (Lantern goodness)
Centurion (Mr. Muscle)
Storm Lancers(4)
Major Katherine Laddermore
Black 13th (Cheese trio)
Ayana&Holt(Always annoying)
Gorman di Wulfe
Rhupert Carvolo(Warbards rock!)
Journeyman Warcaster 2x(for when about 16 focus a turn isn't enough, let's just up it to 22 :P)

First things first: Sorry about the lack of battle pictures! I was too excited about the game, that I simply forgot!

A short summary goes like this:

I win the start-roll, I choose to start. After a bit of choas planning on my side we finally start. I pretty much run towards him and cast Mist Walker. Ahknas advances his army and kills a few of my guys. (Shabby positioning on my side) Then I see a small opening... and I see an old geezer. So I decide to have my assassination run with Laris and get in there with a Brutality-Kaya. With only a few focus on him, this was going to be easy...

*Chooo choooo* The Fail Train is coming! I rolled extremely crappy and I think I didn't even get him halfway.. It didn't take Ahknas long to kill Kaya afterwards. Luckily my honour was saved a bit, because I could get a charge in on Stryker with the Megalith:8 damage on the sucker. Not the best result but considering 18 def and 24 arm, acceptable. Afterwards Stryker pummels the Megalith like a madman! Mr. Lith was hurt bad, but Ahknas called in all the other forces he could gather to shoot at the Megalith, but the Fail Train had arrived at Ahknas now, missing a lot attacks/no damage. The next turn I regenerated the Megalith and killed Stryker, but by then the Game was already played. Ahknas has won our first 1000 point battle!

I was thinking the battle over later on though, and I forgot that Kaya had besides the Against the odds (+2) bonus also the Brutality bonus of +2 MAT. I think that would have made the difference between winning and losing. But oh well, I should pay more attention to what I'm doing!

All in all, it was a nice game, too bad the game was decided when the Train arrived. But it was still fun to see a different game mechanic with 2 casters, and I'm happy I got my maximum distance assassination attempt :)

Doc. Killingsworth vs. Doc. Ahknas

2009-09-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

I finally graduated last Friday. It's been a roller coaster ride ever since. A magnificent rain filled party ushered me into the grown-up world of the working man. I had already started working as a doctor a few weeks ago. But now everybody calls me doctor. It has made me realize that I really enjoyed studying medicine but working as a doctor is way more awesome. As a tribute and a much deserved gift to myself I bought Doc Killingsworth.

Love his bedside manner.......

Prayers have been heard! I hope..

2009-08-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

You guys have all seen it on the PP site most likely. Yep, it's true there are plans for a videogame!

I don't understand PP though, they promote a grand surprise on August 14th. Okay fine, I get a little excited what it could be; silly thoughts like a new Hordes faction go through my head. A computer game! Awesome, even though the spoiler movies earlier this year made it only a half surprise. But still I'm loving the idea!

But I pity the guys who went to the grand presentation. I didn't had the "uhh"-counter on but it was pretty extreme. I have never been to GenCon before, but I expect a good presentation of your grand announcement. You go there and you know what you want to say and how you're going to. This was just an interview with 3 guys of the gamers industry. If you want people to go nuts, show them a in game movie at the end. We already saw one earlier this year! Only a snippet of a teaser trailer would do! Usually PP are hype-masters, but this time it was a bit disappointing.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea and I want to know everything about it! Hooray for computer games, but I hope they upgrade their marketing tactics next time! When we know a bit more, except for "fast paced tactical action game", I'll share my ideas on what the game should have.

Preparing for the Benelux Masters

2009-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

I have had trouble getting my self to paint lately. My new job has made me realize that I spent an awful lot of time on warmachine. Not that, that is a bad thing.... I did however decide to concentrate my warmachine efforts on the upcoming masters tournament starting on the 31th of October. It is a 2 day event with the first day consisting of 4 games of 500 pnts and the second day only 3 games of 750 pnts.
I have already decided upon my final list for the 500pnts matches. Caine has been my most reliable caster killer and his def 17 often forgives me my mistakes. Last tournament I managed to win 2 out 3 games and accumulated most vp's. The match I lost was pure bad luck combined with overconfidence. In practice games I have been undefeated. Not that it matters much. I am just really fond of current Caine list.
art by 101louise

The list is really simple:

Caine
Stormlances x 5
Major Kate
Black 13
Aiyana + Holt
Ogrunun Bokur x 2
Journeyman

How I play this list:
I start of the match by casting arcane shield on the Stormlances. That will ensure that my opponent is busy trying to kill armor 20 cavalry. Black 13 pick out solo's or big targets for the chain attack. The ogrun are often my go to guys to slam stuff or just pulverize big things. Meanwhile Aiyana and holt drive people crazy with their 19 def (I love invisibility) and cast harm/mageblight when the opportunity arrives. Caine just stays out of trouble picking of solo's and small models before flashing back to safety.

The list is of course really cheesy. No warjacks, mostly auto-includes (journeyman, black14, A+H) and is pretty difficult to defend against. Caine does not mind if his army dies and will just wait for a cast kill opportunity. I will however have trouble with vlad and goreshade. I am thinking about a second list. But for now its fine like this.

The first day of the masters will see my Caine hopefully kick ass. Unfortunately I have no idea what to field for 750pnts. I have really only failed at that point level. Maybe tomorrow will bring me some new ideas.

Back from the dead

2009-08-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

So, I went on vacation. Visited Poland and stayed a short weekend in Prague on the way back to Holland. My pal Kirdamo was nice enough to look after my blog. Awesome posts and I hope he will continue to write stuff for the blog. I will probably have to nag a bit more but I can always hope...

Now, back to business. When I left 3 weeks ago on vacation, the store I play at had a small group of regular warmachine players. This Friday however when I came back the scene had totally transformed. I counted at least 8 new players. This makes me totally excited of what is to come the next few months. I love playing new armies and can't wait to play some battles against less seen factions.

Me = Happy

Dirt, Dictators and Death

2009-08-06T03:34:00.000-07:00

Time for a little different kind of game: roleplaying games!

Last year I said to myself: "It's okay to throw all the birthday money into RP books!" and so I did. Now I am the lucky and proud owner of all the Iron Kingdoms RP books! I've been scanning through all the books, but I have never actually played in the IK setting. But still I love it, and here's why!

About 8 years ago I was playing some shooters on the pc and my all-time favorite was and is Counterstrike. One round, One life! No respawns, no kamikaze, fighting for your life(and money) ! And that's exactly what I love about IK. When you die, you die. (Thanks for the biology lesson, Drago) Normally in the D&D games, you can always get resurrected, but in the IK there is no mercy. If you act stupid or simply face a foe too strong, you die. Only in a very rare case you can convince the priests to retrieve the soul from the afterlife, but this can have dire consequences for both the victim as the priest!

This is completely in line with the grim and harsh life the peopl life in Immoren. There's a war going on so there is no time for festivities! There is no such thing as a safe spot. If you don't come across a Khador patrol, then you'll find a infernalist sect. There is so much going on that you have endless possibilities for adventures.

The books contain a lot of background information. A lot about religion of course as it shapes the setting for about 40%. So you get to know more about Morrow and Menoth. But Dhunia and Thamar are also represented. They also spend a lot of attention to their world view, about the calender and the different moons. Being a scientist student, I couldn't help but drool at the science part. Of course it's a lot of work to actively track the moon positions during a campaign, but at least they give you the chance now. You also get a view at the every day life behind a world of waging war every day, with the labor jacks and mining jacks.

I could go on for ages, but I'll spare you guys! I just love the cold grim setting, nothing is for free and your days are numbered. It makes you feel content when you actually achieve something, and hey when you die afterwards at least you died as a hero! And your new character can be a secret admirer of your old character, which helps shape your own world within IK.

But one word of advice: Don't go in the woods! You never know who you might run into!

Artwork by Matt Howerter

Miss Freeze vs. The Rock

2009-07-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today I played a nice friendly game against a friend in the crappy-but-will-have-to-do-game-store. I was pretty excited about playing against him again. He's fairly new to the game, but a wargaming veteran and knows the rules probably better than me. My idea was to have a throwing slamming mayhem and usually I always throw in my tharn ravagers, but I figured they would be silly without a White mane killing something(not enough points) so I decided to go with the Druids. Ahknas every now and then "subtly" hints that I should get them because he thinks/knows they are awesome, so why not check them out?

I wanted to make a brick of the following:
Baldur
Gnarlhorn Satyr
2 Shadowhorn Satyrs (Proxied with Wolfriders)
Druids and Overseer Buddy(Proxied by Bloodtrackers and a Wayfarer)
Feralgeist (Proxied by a fearsome Mannikin)

With a nice healing/anti magic crew, and the warbeasts would slam and throw the warjacks all over the place, of course they would all be chilling in Baldurs private grove of coolness. Almost like the cave at the Playboy Mansion, except for the aggressive slam and throwing etc.

We both got our armies out on the table. Still smiling both, until he mentioned he had the same army as last time.. I forgot about it, but this was his list:

Sorscha and her doggie.
Destroyer
Beast-09
Man-O-War Demolition Corps
Widowmakers
Greylord Ternion

Ahknas told me stories about the Beast so I was very careful coming near to him, and I remembered that the Widowmakers were also a force to fear. Sorscha.. well.. Untouchable and fear had a baby and called her Sorscha.

Anyway I won the roll and started the first round, completely not thinking about my "tactic" I misplaced my druids. Since it was a friendly match anyhow I don't really care, and I just tried to make the best of it.

Nothing really special going on in the first round. I marked the druids for a quick and clear overview. I always hate it when I have to look for models where they are and what is happening, hopefully you like neon-green!

I ran the Druids into the forest because I wanted to push them all around, and at least they'd be safe in the forest. I cast the Love Grove next to the big rock to have a nice wall in front of me. Sorscha simply advanced a bit and cast some cloud effects on her beloved Demo corps.

Round 2:
I advanced a bit further. Ran my shadowhorn towards the healing squad. Walked the Gnarlhorn in the new Love grove a little bit further awaiting what Miss Freeze is going to do. Hopefully come closer so I can throw things at her and get her knocked down!

She got close alright! She ran all the way down with her dog to peek at my behind! I forgot about the great speed of Sorscha, but now she was so close to me and the Gnarlhorn and so far from the Beast and Destroyer that I had to go for the kill! Beast-09 charged my shadowhorn knocking out his spirit and mind. I was hoping for the coolness of the failed charge attack. But no, after the kind words "Just have to throw high then!"(hopefully successfully translated) those dice fell on the table are hard as I've ever heard. In slow-motion I saw the dice slowly choose their sides.. Double 6's. Critically freezed.

Round 3:
I moved a bit back and hoped to knock Sorscha down with earth spikes targeted on her doggie. I misread it a bit, but the conclusion was that it failed anyhow. I couldn't resist going in with the Gnarlhorn, knowing it would be his death sentence with the Man-O-War in his back. I killed the doggy first, for all kinds of bonuses he gives. Then with my immaculate knowledge of the rules I wanted to instantly throw Sorscha away, instead of hitting her first... Plan failed: Big time. So now my Gnarlhorn way standing there, just trying to tap Sorscha on the shoulder. This calls for the feat, because I don't want to end up in the stationary void!

Healing squad did their job on the frozen shadowhorn. And the other shadowhorn came to the rescue and threw the Beast away. Shadowhorns got to stick together, you know!

We made a little mistake here with Sorscha here, because we let her charge without having LoS. It was cool though to see her having a go at hitting and then wind rushing out of there, ending her movement just as close as she started to Baldur.

Round 4:
I decided Baldur had to regroup with my beasties so I could throw something at her, preferably my own warbeast with Earth's Blessing so there can be immediate Sorscha bashing. I'd also set up for the forest teleport for complete safety.

The Shadowhorns took care of the Beast. (I sure showed him! I countered his Double 6's with double 1's. He was shaking in fear of the 1 1) Afte bering fully healed by the druids.

Sorscha windrushed, advanced, popped her feat and did some damage with a spell. I was doomed, next turn I tried to save Baldur from more spells with the druids, but all Baldur needed was a nice hard hit in the back of his head in the Love Grove. So remember guys, watch out when you're in the Playboy Cave alone, because you never know who pops up!

Sorscha artwork by: nutmaeg

New kid on the block

2009-07-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

New guy in town! Ahknas asked me to post a bit here, so I thought let's introduce myself:

Ahknas and I, Kirdamo, are in the same gaming group, and I'm usually the victim of his new ideas for tournament armies. Try as I might by proxying the worst combo's in Circle to counter his list, I can never manage a walk-over even though I knew his list before assembling mine! I really like our games because usually they are really exciting, fighting to the bitter end to see who won the bloody victory. I think overall Ahknas the leader in the unofficial ranking(we don't keep track) , but hey that metal is hard for my furry friends!

That's right! In some gaming groups they are all gathering to nail Circle. Here Ahknas and I try to think of ways to make Circle better. I think that kind of says something about my tactical skills... I love the game and over the top army lists. "Because I can..." is the most used argument for making my list. So not really wise, but it is really fun!

Anyway even though half of my 1000 point Circle force is unpainted, it's still very tempting to buy a big load of cool mini's, but then again a new guitar is also really nice. Maybe this one?

Anyhow, I'm glad Ahknas asked me to post here a bit, and I'm excited to post stuff. If only my muse could come soon.. Maybe when I'm asleep she'll give me a great idea to post here!

Ol' rowdy WIP: testing out his base

2009-07-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

I decided Ol' Rowdy needed a similar base to his pal Epic Stryker. So, here are some pictures before I primer this monster of tin. Not much more to show for now.

Trencher cannon crew WIP

2009-07-19T02:57:00.000-07:00

It is always a daunting task to start painting a new unit. The trencher even more so. With 10 models in a normal unit. 2 extra models for the unit attachment, 1 grenade porter, a trencher chaingun crew (2 models) and a trencher cannon crew (3 models). That's 18 models to paint, not counting the 2 grenadier light jacks waiting for a paint job too.

I actually really want to play the trenchers soon. So after much hesitation I started on the trencher cannon. Model wise they are a bit off. The cannon crew consists of 3 chubby guys and a rather pathetic looking cannon. They even look a bit comical on the battle field. I decided to primer them white. In order to really make them stand out. It's been 4 years since I last tried white primer. I am a reasonable painter at best and white primer seems to accentuate my worst qualities as a painter. 4 years ago it resulted in a disaster, making my long gunners look like some toddlers project. .....and NO...I will never ever post pictures of them.

I have almost finished 1 of the trencher cannon crew models and will start on the rest soon. Here is a taste of what is to come:

A Thunderous Summer: Tournament results

2009-07-13T01:49:00.000-07:00

The tournament yesterday was a lot of fun. The people were really friendly and it felt like playing at home with friends. Before we could start we had to solve the issue of an uneven number of players. Usually the pressganger has a spare army to play with, for these occasions. He was unfortunately not able to come to this tournament. Without hesitation Wishal was cool enough to give up his place to help out judge the event. That was a really awesome gesture.

We played 3 rounds of 500pnts assassination. First round was me against Steven. Last tournament he kicked my ass with Vlad and now it was time for revenge. He took Sorscha and if it wasn't for some awful die rolls he would have beaten me again. Not really a fair win but I was glad to win anyway. Especially after I got surprised by Eiyriss in the second turn (Arghhhhh....)

Second round was against my all time nemesis Sunflowers. I hate her Legion with a passion. I took out my Alten Ashley and Lanyssa. I was sure to win this match and for a while it seemed that way. After utterly destroying her forces and leaving her with only Rhyas surrounded by swordknights it seemed only a matter of a few hits. My swordknights did their best but it was not enough. Rhyas survived, charged away (what no free strikes....arghhh) and chopped of Sieges head (what!!? She has reach!!?......arghhh). Damn rookie mistake of putting him just that 1/4 of a inch to close.

Third round was against my pal Arnout. A pretty new player to the game. He is really good at overall tactics but does not get to play that often. In the end my advantage was that I know a lot about trollblood tactics and he has no experience with cygnar. We had an all out slug fest with his trollbloods refusing to die. In the final turn a combination of my feat and swordknights/lancer killed of madrak.

So:
Round 1: Sorsha vs Siege (WIN)
Round 2: Rhyas vs Siege (LOSS)
Round 3: Madrak vs Siege (Win)

I collected most victory points (49) and was awarded second place. Sunflowers won her first tournament!! Making it a (almost....damn Rhyas) perfect day. I really like playing at "Gamers of the West" and was surprised at how amicable this tournament was. I will definitely go the next one (august 16th). Even if its just to get revenge on Sunflowers......

Some tournament pictures:

wait for it....wait for it.......BRrrrrrrrreeeeeeeAACH!

" Dude, I wish those khadorans were better tasting...

Champions vs. Widowmakers......muhahhaa

Sorscha vs. alternate universe sorscha: red dwarf style

Lanyssa preparing to strike!

All the participants getting their moment of fame with store owner West

Warjack upgrades!

2009-07-11T04:47:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I succumbed to my urges and ordered Thorn and Ol' Rowdy. These guys are going to make me very happy. They came in last Saturday. It took me some time to assemble these monsters but they are ready for action. Of course no primer and paint yet but that will definitely come soon.

I always feel like a little kid in a toy store whenever I get to assemble new stuff and this time was not different. If all goes to plan I will try them out in a 750pnt battle against Trollbloods this Wednesday.

Practice results

2009-07-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

I tried out my new Siege army against legion, circle and trollblood. I had 3 very close wins. Winning for a change, is awesome. It did make me think. I was not wiping stuff of the board. The battles were pure attrition with me counting way to much on the breach feat turn (half armor) to kill stuff. So, I made a list of what worked for me and what did not.

Awesome:
1. Black 13
That 77 points well spent, they can do it all. Kill beasts and units. But I only used blaze shots and ones in a while a long shot.
2. Lancer
Perfect way to angle shock wave. People keep forgetting it can run up to 12inch. The flank bonus it gives my sword knight is perfect to.
3. Journeyman
Kept Sword knights alive. Did some shooting too.
4. Squire&Reinholdt
They take Siege from mweh to LEGEND........wait for it...DARY

Mkay:
1. Lanyssa
Can do 1 great thing and then dies horribly
2. Alten
Two of the games (circle and trollblood) were against armies with only 1 beast.
3. Swordknights
They just did not performed as usual in the last 3 games. Putting them into the tower of power (for 19 defense) makes people just leave them alone.
4.Bokur
Did his job. Not bad but not amazing either.

I am thinking of making a second list. Kicking Lanyssa out for Rhupert. The 2 inch extra does a lot more than lanyssa's situational hunters mark(+5spd charges at target hit). Taking out ashley for Eiyriss. Or I should just rethink the whole list. Maybe I am just getting carried away. I did win 3 times. But the way I had to rely on some lucky rolls left me with a bad taste in the mouth.

to be continued.....

Under Siege: IK style

2009-07-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

I had not played with Siege for a while now. I took him to the Dutch national championship last year. He performed pretty well. I won 2 times and the 2 games I lost were really close. 6th place overall and that's pretty decent if say so myself. I decided to focus on other casters for while. Until now that is.....
Siege has a few tricks that can make him really tricky to deal with. We all know the tower of power (stacking foxhole with higher ground) but he is much more than that. The things I like most are the groundpounder attack and shockwave. Playing domino with a unit and shooting invisible solos is just hilarious. His pow 14 weapon is as good as it gets for cygnar. My play style does make me highly dependent on the caster to also be able to perform an assassination. Therefore Siege is right up my alley. Next Sunday will give me an opportunity to test siege again at 500pnts, in a local tournament. The list I am taking is as followed:

Markus "Siege" Brisbane
Squire
Reinholt
Lancer
Swordknight (10) + UA
Journeyman
Black 13
Alten Ashley
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Ogrun Bokur

I know I have no heavy jack in there. I really wanted to play the lancer to arcnode schockwave and rift. The swordsKnights + journeyman + higherground + foxhole is just to nasty to pass up. Armor 19 and Defense 19 Swordknights!!!!!! Leaving little points to fit in a heavy. Comparing a heavy jack in points to lets say ogrun bokur+lanyssa+alten made me wonder why even take one. I will probably regret not taking some high armor, high power guys but for know I am happy with my choice. As the tournament is coming nearer it seemed a good moment to finally finish the paint job of Siege. I am not really happy with him. I messed up all the metal bits and he looks really dull. The only thing that I am happy about is the face. Ah, well, next time.........

Ogrun Bokur: Costner who?

2009-07-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

I vividly remember reading the fluff of the Ogrun bokurs for the first time. As soon as I put the book down. I began to think of ways to use them. One of these fantasies was adding 2 bokurs too my journeyman-hunter-gmca squad. The idea of 2 bokurs protecting my precious solo's was just to awesome not to act on it. I even went as far as ordering 4 bokurs for 1000pnts battles. Yes, I own 4 of them. Have I ever used 4? No.......

I have never played a 1000pnt battle. But as soon as I do, my 4 bokurs will hit the table. As a Cygnar player I am always looking for something that is not way too expensive for what it does. The Bokur fits that bill. Actually its pretty undercosted. Why?

- able to put 15+4d6 on a charge
- potentially 4 hits
- can perform slams
- only 39 pnts

I painted my bokurs in the period that I really stank at painting. So I decided to give 1 of my bokurs a few touch-ups and a well deserved base. It's OK, I would have rather started from scratch.

Megalith: life after prozac

2009-06-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mavwick started a thread to "celebrate" Megaliths joyous composure. I sure love a good Photoshop thread and this one made laugh really hard. I especially liked the platoon spoof. So, here is a taste of what has been produced so far:

(made by: Thakapn, Evewalker, Humeriousdiscord and Mavwic ks)

Horsepowered lawnmower

2009-06-26T02:10:00.000-07:00

Major Kathrine Laddermore is one of the most beautiful sculpts for Cygnar. I had painted her well over a year ago. But there were still lots of unfinished parts on her. So I gave her a custom base, touched up the real battle damage and painted what was left.

She is a monster in MK1 well worth her points. Especially against low armored infantry. She even takes Lancers to the next level. If I can spare the points there is no reason not to take her. MK2 has been hard on her. I don't think she will see much play time. To expensive and not special enough. Time will tell of course, I personally haven't tested her in MK2 yet. So, I might be wrong.

My first Circle model

2009-06-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

Don't worry I haven't deserted Cygnar. It's just a model I borrowed from a friend. I like most beasts and had been wondering how much work painting a beast would be. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Doing flesh/skin is so much more rewarding than armorplates. I am actually kind of sad to have to go back to jacks from now on.......

Finally my own Character jacks

2009-06-22T00:47:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy week. With work taking all my free time away. The "precious" free time I had were spent reading Legends (again). I love how Cygnar got so many new toys. The character jacks are awesome and I needed to get my own soon. It seems a pity to buy essentially the same model. Therefore, I was contemplating modding one of my Ironclads/lancers. But in the end I was to lazy to begin. So, I finally broke down, looked at my wallet and ordered Thorn and Ol'Rowdy.

Bigger is better

2009-06-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

So I was just checking out this thread on the PP forum and was shocked by how huge some stuff has become. Good thing I play Cygnar cause some of those new miniatures wont ever fit in my case. I don't know how the new retribution stuff compares to this but I wont be surprised if the new myrmidons dwarf my ironclad.
I always like it when people take the effort to make comparison pictures. I used to just save them on my PC but posting them here has its benefits....

The pictures were made by Icknaybob, CaptainSpud and InvaderZahn.

A new faction?

2009-06-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about a new faction for a long time. Money and time are my foremost reasons not to start one. Seeing all the unpainted stuff I have left of Cygnar makes me wonder if I will ever be ready for a new faction. I was hoping to sort of have a second faction by teaming up with Sunflowers for a new faction. Until recently Sunflowers was excited about the new retribution army. With elves being her favorite class to play in D&D it seemed a perfect fit. Unfortunately the recent spoilers of the Retribution have been quite underwhelming. To me it seems that the studio paint scheme is not helping people like the new faction. So I was happy to see people start photoshopping to give me some inspiration and maybe like the new faction.

Here is what I found on the PP board till now:
(thanks to Sybermacer, Bobbaferret, Maskedman, Xas, Spiralingcadaver and others)

Revenge of the Nyss

2009-06-05T04:57:00.000-07:00

Ever since Metamorphosis I have been wanting to play Lanyssa Ryssyll. I really like the sculpt and especially love that big cape. Reading battlecollege didnot help me much with tactics though. It's hard to justify a miniature with pure 'hate' abilities for 1 faction in a list meant for all factions. Anti models remind me of magic. I would get really irritated if someone played anti-red cards just for that chance he'll end up against red. Same goes for Lanyssa, I don't want her to be just in there for her anti-legion stuff. Although I will probably enjoy seeing Sunflowers face when this mini hits the table. Taking all her abilities in to account, I am pretty sure I'd be able to use her effectively against any faction.

Lanyssa-->

Positives:
+ Hunters mark. Free charges at spd +5 against target!!
+ Pathfinder. Making her pretty mobile
+ Sorrow. Her sword has brittle as ice (double damage!)
+ Nice Defense
+ anti legion tricks! ....

Negatives:
- if hit, dead
- Point cost makes it hard to choose her over other same cost toolbox models
- magic ability of 7, ok pretty decent but will probably not be enough against warcasters

Neutral:
Ice bolt. Damage spell that's OK at best
Prowl. That will only be effective if I tune my list toward that

Alten Ashley: Out of the Shadows

2009-06-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Alten is all painted up. Thanks to a tip (Elliott!) the photos came out better than my normal ones (love that tungsten setting). I had a lot of fun painting Alten. The face was pretty difficult and his right eye came out darker than it should have. In the pictures it gets accentuated but for table top its ok. I might come back later and fix it up.

Alten Ashley using camouflage

2009-06-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

The monster hunter made its way to the painting table. I don't really like the sculpt. His gun is way to big and he has a stupid shawl. But on the other hand I love his face and the fact he's such a midget No really, just put mr. monster hunter next to the piper of ord.

Ok, I almost finished alten. Only need to find him a suitable base, some washes left and fix up his sword. So I tried taking a quick picture but that Alten kept hiding in the shadows. I will finish him tomorrow and post some decent pictures (I promise)-->

Big game hunters!

2009-05-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have been indecisive about what miniature to paint next. With 50+ models waiting for some paint it is difficult to choose. I am hesitant to begin on any new unit because I still have stormguard and stormblades half finished. Finishing those units is not an option for now (totally bored with them). So, I have set my mind on painting some solo's. Not just the run of the mill solo's but my new toolbox models with special anti-hordes tricks. why anti hordes? No special reason except for annoying the hell out of Sunflowers and her ungodly legion army.

My new friends (updates soon!):

Squire: Cygnars favorite pet!

2009-05-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

I had speedpainted the squire for hardcore. Having already mass painted the resin bases it was fairly easy getting the squire ready for battle. I guess it took 10 to 15 minutes from basecoat to final highlights.
It is amazing what this solo/attachment does for Cygnar. Although I don't like to admit it, there is actually no reason not to take a squire anytime you play a Cygnar army. My journeyman has been forced to sit on the reserve bench for now.

So here it is:

Anastasia: La Femme Nikita

2009-05-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the tv series La Femme Nikita, I started painting Anastasia. Anastasia has already seen some battle action. Barring some untimely deaths, she perform pretty good. I was a bit afraid of making her look like some crack addict. In the end she turned out like Nikita. So, enjoy the pictures, again in substandard quality but that's becoming my trade mark :P

post hardcore relaxing

2009-05-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

It was a lot of fun playing hardcore for the first time. My results were abominable but I am actually pretty satisfied with my time management. I tailored my list to minimize the model count and the variety of models used. With almost 3 minutes each turn to spare I could have put a full unit in there to play. The "professionals" frowned when they saw my list but who cares. I liked my list for its pure simplicity and quirkiness. The list:

Kraye
Hunterx4
Defenderx2
Squire
Arlan Strangewayes
Field Mekaniks (4)

Oke the results:
Match 1: LOSS
I got killed in the second turn. Yes, I suck! I totally underestimated Ferox cav and their charge ranges. A 5-6-6 on the damage roll later and I knew Kraye was toast. Not much fun there but I deserved it for not keeping up to date with skorne units.

Match 2: LOSS (oke we ran out of time)
I faced a Darius army. That Darius is awesome. I should paint my one up. Kicking ass with 2 centurions that I had to kill 4 times. But in this game my dancing hunters sure made him go crazy. I even managed to get him down to 10 hitpoint. Unfotunately he got really carefull after that. I liked this game and am sure to play some games with Darius soon.

Match3: LOSS
Ahhh.....Kraye versus pVlad. Again a really cool match. My hunters killed the his 3 jacks (juggy, destoyer and Kodiak). The defenders just sat there doing nothing. After some turns I saw a small window of opportunity. Had a Hunter slam his Man-o-War into Vlad. Shot at vlad a few times (no damage) with hunters. The defenders were already dead. Charged with kraye. Did minimum damage with his pow 12 weapon. I knew it was a longshot. But I wasnot going to lose again by running out of time. Vlad ofcourse finished the job next turn. Fun, game though

MAtch4: LOSS (ran out of time)
KRaye versus Kraye. His kraye army was awesome. With a unit of trenchers, a grenadier, aiyana, a sentinel and some other stuff. We were running around in circles hiding behind pillars. I managed to kill a model each turn without suffering damage. Eventually we ran out of time. BUt he was definately going to lose if I had some more time left.

Conclusion:
0-4.
The results were bad. I had a lot of fun though. Learned a lot and know now that next time I can take what ever I want in my list because those 7 minutes were NO PROBLEM. If there is a new opportunity for hardcore soon I will definately take a unit of swordknights and maybe a full unit of lancers.

And here is my new hero:

Sneak preview

2009-05-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Finally a picture of my hardcore army. It's not really finished, need to paint the front arc lines but its pretty much done.

(forgive me for the bad pics as soon as I win the lottery a camera will be my first purchase)

Hardcore practice: Tournament in Rotterdam

2009-05-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

A half a year ago our local store decided to close. As of that day we had no store to play warmachine anymore. Since that time I have been playing irregularly in Rotterdam. I recently started working in Rotterdam and the fridays that I’m not dead tired are spent in the “Gamers of the West”. To be honest that’s like ones a month at best.
This Sunday the gamers of the west had a tournament,500pnt steamroller 4.0. I brought Kraye with some lights in order to practice for hardcore. I wont bore you guys with long descriptions of battles I totally failed in. So, here is the “short” version.

My list:
Kraye, 2x hunter, sentinel, charger, field mechanics, arlan strangewayes, Anastasia

GAME 1: vs. Legion (Sunflowers)
Scenario was pendulum. I felt pretty confident, thinking that Kraye and his lights would dance around her army. She brought Rhyas, Nephelim, Angelius, 2 shredders, Sheppard, forsaken and Warmongers+chieftan. I totally underestimated rhyas. She is a killing machine. In the hand of an experienced Angelius player this equalled total and utter humiliation. At least I got 11 victory point…..and killed Angelius.

LOSS
For the record: I HATE DAMAGE TRANSFERENCE (I hate not having it my self actually)

GAME 2: vs. Khador (Wizzbang)
Scenario was Moshpit. He brought 3 big warjacks (drago, beast09 and destroyer) with Sorcha+wardog and some widowmakers. His Beast09 was painted to perfection. Wish it was mine, looked exactly like the artwork. I had my hunters slowly kill off all the warjacks. But could not prevent Sorcha making almost everthing stationary. That was the moment that Morrow intervened and saved Kraye with only 1 hitpoint to spare. I felt sorry for wizzbang because he should have won. The next round I won on a technicality (moshpit points), felt like cheating….

WIN

GAME 3: vs Khador (Steven)
Scenario was Assination. Behmoth, widowmakers, shitload of manhunters and kazaky assassins. Should have won but did not. Why you ask? I just could not crack Vladimirs Defense/Armor. Kraye has no real solution for def 18 and armor insano. Back to the drawing board for that one.

LOSS

Overall:
It was a nice tournament. Friendly players and a knowledgeable tournament organizer. I ended up best painted (WOOOOHOOOOOOOO eat that sunflowers). My Anastasia blew away the competition. I was disappointed in Krayes (ea. my) performance. I need a good casterkill mechanism. Kraye is lacking with mat 6 and pow12. He needs something else that can do it. The lights wont fit that job however….

Just bases

2009-05-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

I finished all the bases that had to be done for the upcoming hardcore tournament. Just took a quick foto, they look better in real life (no really). If there is time i'll start on the squire and put him up on one of those bases.

Need a fluff answer?

2009-05-08T03:48:00.000-07:00

I for one am really glad that privateerpress invests so much time to help us out with our iron kingdoms background questions. Doug Seacat is one of PP's employees that has delivered many answers about the iron kingdoms. At the moment he is probably really busy with Retribution questions.

Bushman101 deserves the credits for this hilarious picture. Abusing Doug Seacats avatar is sure to attract some attention. Use it wisely because Doug Seacat has a limited amount of time.... :D.

Kraye finished

2009-05-05T13:44:00.001-07:00

Just finished Kraye. He is painted and based. I love the model but it was #@%#$ to paint it decent. Kraye is probably more suitable for an experienced painter. I am to tired to post any pictures now but I promise to provide some soon.

On another note I recieved my final missing models for a full unit of the Precursers (totallu forgot about them). Now, there is only Ol Rowdy and Thorn left and I am done with Cygnar......for the moment

....off to bed.....

Ohh this conversion by Wileyky is simply amazing:

link for more pictures:
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=179409

Hardcore painting progress

2009-05-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I bought way to many resin bases. I found a simple site that sells a decent variation of round bases suitable for warmachine. Evil mushroom games is pretty cheap and the service is good. The thing that made me really happy was the fact that paypal was supported. I don’t own a credit card (yet?) and except for http://www.misticnature.nl/ I haven’t heard of any Dutch resin base manufacturers (they support debit cards).

The bases: (pictures are examples from the site)

The site:
http://www.evilmushroomgames.com/
http://evilmushroomgames.blogspot.com/

I have been busy painting the bases up for Hardcore and have made some progress with Kraye. I’ll be showing some pictures this week for sure. The bases have become really beautiful.

Hardcore stress

2009-04-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have been having some stress about my upcoming hardcore tournament. I already made up my mind about taking kraye or nemo. with only 16 days to go kraye still has not been painted. Playing Kraye would make my life easier. I was planning to go mostly warjack with him. Thereby limiting my use of different models.

My list so far:

Kraye
Squire
Arlan Strangewayes
Hunter (4)
Defender (2)
Field Mekaniks (4)

Yes, thats 4 hunters. Combine that with guided fire and big things are going to die. I know the list is not optimal. I would have loved to put my Swordknight in there. Having 12 extra models to move in 7 minutes is just not possible for me. I wish I was at that skill level. Mage sight will help me deal with inivisibility/stealth etc, and Arlan is my toolbox for dealing with incorporeal and repairing stuff.

To make this list hardcore ready I need to finish 5 bases, paint up kraye+Squire+2 hunters. Thats alot for 16 days. I will have to sacrifice some hours of sleep....................

Armies of Imoren is no more

2009-04-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

Buhallin the creator of the Armies of Imoren (AoI) programme as announced that he will stop his work on AoI. He has not been playing for over two years but kept supporting the programme for the warmachine community. His interest in maintaining updates for AoI had been waning for a some time now. Mark II was however the final straw. The sheer amount of data entry needed to implement all the mark II stat changes was to much for him. Especially considering his lack of interest in the game it self.

I have used AoI extensively and am pretty sad that it wont be updated anymore. Buhallin has however promised to keep updating possible Mark I stuff though.

The place to thank Buhallin for his efforts:
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=178118

Mk II: Color cards by Sybermancer

2009-04-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

Sybermancer has dedicated a part of his site to all the cygnar stat cards for mk II. He has made a color version with pretty nice art. It is amazing what some people will do for the warmachine community. I will print these cards out as soon as possible to play Mk II in style. Its going to be LEGENDARY

The site:
http://firstarcana.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2:cygnarcards&catid=1:warmachine&Itemid=10

A taste of what Sybermancer has already made:

Cygnar vs. Legion 350pnts

2009-04-20T03:30:00.001-07:00

No, Mk II battle report just yet. Sunflowers and I were to lazy to test Mk II this weekend. We did however manage to do a classic Mangled Metal (Tooth and Claw) game against each other. We decided to keep it short and simple limiting our self’s to 350pnts.

My list (CYGNAR):
nNemo
Stormclad
Centurion

Sunflowers (LEGION):
Rhyas
Angelius
Raek
Nephelim Soldier
Shredder

My battle plan was simple: keep Nemo far away from Angelius and surprise Sunflowers with an accelerated Centurion. Meanwhile upkeeping electrify on the Stormclad. No special tricks up my sleeve here cause lets face it Nemo is handicaped at 350pnts.
I was expecting Sunflowers to move up fast, setup Angelius for a casterkill and use here light Warbeast as roadblocks for my Warjacks. She did of course do almost exactly that with the small twist of armour piercing my Centurion for a total of 19 damage. Cortex damaged beyond repair, enter the useless Centurion. Simultaneously, with almost cat like grace Nephelim jumped on top of my Stormclad and rolled 6+6+5……no more shield arm for my stormclad…..ughh…

She did however leave Rhyas open for a charge by melee god Nemo. Keeping 7 focus he charged her with his walking stick. Doing enough damage to 1hit kill her. Ok, she already had some damage from a critical lightning strike from the stormclad but Nemo almost finished her. If it wasn’t for her transferring the damage at no cost to her reak. ARGGGHHHHH…..he managed to hit 2 times more but grandpa Nemo was out of luck. Next turn, enter Angelius

(Ahknas 0 – Sunflower inf.)

Painted: Stormclad

2009-04-19T04:47:00.001-07:00

Mark II made me finally paint-up the Stormclad. I am not a good painter but am proud of what I have accomplished in about 2 hours. Pretty basic painting here of course and my first costum-Ahknas-base........

I will probably be fielding the Stormclad with at least 1 unit of Stormblades. I still need to paint 4 of them. They are going to be awesome in markII and if I feel like it could even field them in my upcoming hardcore tournament.

DICE: buy the real stuff

2009-04-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

After seeing this 2 part interview with THE master dice craftsman Lou Zochi I took a good look at my own dice. I was shocked by what I saw. I have made a vow to buy some dice by that guy to compensate for my years of foolishness

Enjoy-->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-GB&v=bR2fxoNHIuU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxmkWrDbn34&feature=related

Mk II: Ok time for some fun stuff

2009-04-15T06:30:00.001-07:00

I dont like most Iron Kingdom fan art. The people that make them provide mostly subpar stuff that is amusing at best. Though, I can't pretend to be any beter than those pseudo artists. Today for the first time I really liked a comic/drawing set in the Iron Kingdoms. Made by Sponson, who has his/her own art thread on the pp forum:

http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=177416&pid=2628754&st=0&#entry2628754

I hope he/she keeps making stuff like this, because I really enjoy the style its made in and the jokes are not as bad as most comics.

just one of many -->

Mk II: reference cards

2009-04-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

I have not had the time yet to play a Mk II battle. I'm looking forward to some warjack action, but somehow there has not been a good time for it. If I am lucky my regular Everblight opponent will try a battle with menoth against me. She has no experience with warmachine but the basics are pretty easy to explain. I have a menoth battlebox for her to use. I won the battlebox in a ebay auction a few years ago and have never used it since.

So, I was looking around on the pp fora for some MkII battle tips and came across these helpfull files:

Haley in Color (thanks to Sybermancer!)

Reference cards (thanks to JohnnyHazzard)

Units sold only in max size?

2009-04-11T03:39:00.000-07:00

PPS_Biggie:

2) We are decreasing the number of SKU's stores need to stock. That means that in the future all units will be sold at max size so that stores don't need two slots per unit in order to service their player base.

I like the fact that I wont have to bother buying blisters to fill out units anymore. It will make starting a unit more expensive. But that's just something we will have to get used too. What does scare me is that the bastions have already been announced in this format. Does this mean that all units will become plastic? I know most of you don't care about the whole plastic vs. metal thing but it does bother me. I love my metal mini's, I just don't want to play with plastic toys. A total shift to plastic would bother me more than any changes mkII would make to warmachine. Now, I have heard that character will allways stay metal.......atleast thats a relieve.

MkII: maybe its not that bad?

2009-04-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

I had some time to read the new rules on my way back home after work. Being delayed a few hours gives you all the time to read and reread stuff. Oh, I so love public transport, a topic for another time.

The new rules actually are not that bad. The main rules have been streamlined, I especially like the new line of sight rulings. At first I was the most upset about all the models with changed rules.
Now that I have calmed down a bit. I have realized that its mostly an improvement. Yeah they sucked all the awesome out of the Swordknights but to be honest they were overpowered. Yeah they made Stormlances just mwehhh, but armor 20 cavalry with 8-10 hitpoints is way to much.
Some changes have come at a steep price but nothing seems really crap now. That is something Privateerpress can be proud of. As a cygnar player I can honestly say that no model is useless now. Though some models are less “cool” or play different roles.

Ohh and if your really feel that cygnar got screwed you should read the following thread:
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=176462
(That Haight guy sure brings some positive stuff to the forums)

Mk II: resistance is futile

2009-04-07T00:18:00.001-07:00

The Mk II rules have been presented to the warmachine community. All faction have been hit with big changes. I haven't had time to really absorb all the changes yet. Somehow I think that it will overall be somewhat dissapointing. Maybe its just me not wanting warmachine to change.....we will see..

for now:

(just kidding)

Topic on MKII on the Cygnar forum
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=176036

Topic on MKII on the Menoth forum
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=176122

Topic on MKII on the Cryx forum
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=176187

Topic on MKII on the Mercenary forum
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=176000

Preparing for Hardcore

2009-04-06T02:23:00.000-07:00

Preparing for hardcore is a pain. I’m really busy but the idea of testing my skills against better players is tempting. I have decided to test if Kraye is suitable for my playing style. Hardcore will probably leave me desperate for more time, during each turn. In ordered to minimise that problem I have formulated a set of guidelines for me to follow:

1. Fewer models = fewer activations = less rules = faster turns
2. Familiar models = less thinking = faster turns

I already broke guideline 2 by selecting Kraye. But lets pretend that Kraye is “special”. When I first heard about Kraye I thought he’d be the ultimate cavalry caster. Unfortunately Kraye has nothing to offer cavalry. He is a lightwarjack caster with some melee love coming from his feat.

So first off, is choosing some nice lightwarjacks. Cygnar has the following light warjacks to offer:

- Grenadier
- Lancer/thorn
- Charger
- Sentinel
- Hunter

The grenadier is a really nice warjack. Will profit for guided fire (extra die on range attacks). But it shines best when used with trenchers for the extra attacks. Non of my trenchers are painted. I wont be able to paint 12 trencher up before 16th of may. So, that means no grenadier.

The Lancer/thorn, provides me with an arcnode and can kill cortexes for me. It will not profit from guided fire however and Kraye has no real use for an arcnode. Kraye is highly mobile and spamming arcane barrage is not my style. No, lancer.

The charger is better known as the focus hog. Normally it needs at least 3 focus to function adequately. Guided fire will solve part of that problem but it will still need at least 2 focus each turn to be effective. The charger will let me kill solo’s and unit leaders. Its a maybe.

The sentinel has always been detested by most cygnar players. We hate our pow 10 syndrome. Strafe is ok, automatic fire is ok, profiting from guided fire just simply rocks. For shear coolness ill probably take 1. Seeing the look on my opponents face when I strafe kill his caster would be awesome.

The hunter…hmmm….the hunter. When it came out I bought 2. Now I own 5 of them (damn you Ebay). Armour piercing kicks ass, hardcore will provide a lot of targets and with guided fire they will need only 1 focus. Definite YES!

Next game night I’ll play a Kraye list with at least the Sentinel and the Hunter…..maybe 1 charger.

Warmachine Tech Demo

2009-04-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

Just found this video of the tech demo that wat made by Emergent for the GDC. Its a pity that its only 32 sec and just a demo. I would love to play a full version. But privateerpress has been really clear that its not a prelude to a game.

Ahknas goes Hardcore

2009-04-03T00:18:00.000-07:00

It has finally happened. I must have gone temporally insane. I have entered myself in a Warmachine hardcore tournament. Yes, that’s 1 list, 750pnts, 7 minute turns, fully painted and based armies. I tend to be a slow player so hardcore will be a big challenge for me. I also need to probably paint and base at least 5 miniatures before the 16th of May, depending on the list I take.
I have decided that taking lots of big things and limiting my models will allow me to keep to the 7 minute limit. Also I need to be really familiar with the models. First, I’ll have to decide what caster I am taking. My preference goes to the following characters:

Ecaine
Kraye
Darius
Nemo

I like Epic Caine but I tend to play with him low on Warjacks. I would probably take lots of cavalry and focus only on assassination. With thorn, Black 13, aiyana&holt and epic Eiyriss as his backup. But the idea of having lots of solo’s with a huge amount of special abilities seems counterproductive in Hardcore.
Kraye and Darius are Cygnars primary jackcasters. I have seen Darius in action and he can be brutal. He is more oriented on melee jacks than Kraye and a lot tougher. But somehow I don’t see him work well against pure assassination armies. Also, most of my opponent know all his tricks by now. Kraye on the other hand is a fairly new caster. That takes light ranged warjacks to a whole other level. He will also give me an excuse to strip my Thunderhead and paint him up in my current paint scheme.
Then there is Nemo. I like this crazy old scientist. With his overload and 11 focus shaningans. It’s a pitty he lacks a good punch against hordes. And unfortunately I am expecting some experience hordes players. His chainlightning spam wont be as effective in hardcore. Hardcore has less squishier warrior models and more sturdy multiple hitpoint stuff.

Hmmm… tough choices. I have played Nemo extensively the past few weeks. So, maybe its time to give Kraye a go. Darius and epic Caine are definitely not my first choices. Ill leave them on the bench for now.

Ahknas goes hardcore…..

Amazing resin bases

2009-04-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for some out of the ordinary resin bases to use for my jacks/cavalry. I stumbled accross this Polish (?) site: http://www.sciborminiatures.com/

They have amazing bases with lots of detail. The 50mm round bases are somewhat expensive. I'll probably buy some for the character warjacks (thunderhead and maybe Ol' Rowdy). For now I'm just trying to constrain myself from going overboard.

Example pictures:

I was however somewhat disapointed at the lack of 30mm round bases but that seems to be a widespread problem. At microarts most round bases are also 25mm and therefore unsuitable for warmachine.

Cygnar vs Legion 750pnt

2009-03-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

I was a bit grumpy about the fact that my digital camera totally failed at getting any decent pictures of my Swordknights. So, Sunflowers decided to cheer me up by suggesting a 750pnts battle. She has most of her stuff painted and ready for action. I actually fear her Legion horde and feel almost powerless against Angelius and the rest of her eyeless monstrosities. Instead of my usual answer of Stormlances, longgunners and more ranged I decided to go heavy on the metal. The Centurion, Ironclad, defender and a lancer were my choice to assault that unnatural blight.

My list:

Nemo + Squire
Aiyana&holt + Arlan strangewayes + Journeyman
Ironclad + Centurion + Defender + Lancer
Swordknights (10) & UA + Field Mechaniks (4)

I felt fairly confident with this list. I fully admit that Nemo will have a useless feat and some spells will be pointless too. The solos are not only very useful tools they also give Nemo access to 10 focus a turn. My recent experience with the Swordknights UA have made me realize that these guys are pure evil against Warjacks and Beasts.

Sunflowers list:

Thagrosh
Shredders (2) + Nephilim + Carnivean + Angelius
Legionnaires (8) + warmongers (5)
Warmonger chief + sheppard + forsaken

Fully painted of course (…..damn her painting skillz). Thagrosh has an annoying feat. Bringing back a warbeast is just mean. Bringing back Angelius is just pure evil. I am not particularly scared of the legionnaires, they seem perfect target for my chainlightnings. The warmongers are a brutal unit. Hard to kill and hard hitting. The rest…….hmmm……

The Battle itself:

Highlights:

+ Swordknights killing Angelius, Carnivean and a Nephilim Soldier in 1 turn
+ Having Arlan and field mechaniks repairing my jacks all game long
+ Seeing the destructive power of 5 focus on 1 jack
+ field mechaniks, having def 15 is awesome

Shitty moments:

- Killing Angelius and seeing it respawn due to Thagroshs feat
- Seeing my Swordknights murdered one after another in a single turn
- Only killing 1 legonaire with a chainlightning of 5
- Losing my lancer turn 2
- Realizing after I moved Nemo that Angelius was in range and that angelius could attack without suffering freestrikes

End result:

SUNFLOWERS WON!

To be fair she always kicks my ass and this time wasn’t different. I have to applaud her for her aggressive playing style moving up in my face within 1-2 turns and giving me no choice but to play defensively. She won the toss, started by creating two flanks, 1 with the Legionnaires the other with the warmongers. I made the mistake of putting Aiyana and Holt on the warmonger flank. After that she just moved up with such incredible speed that it totally took me by surprise. I still have to come up with a decent answer to Angelius though.

NEXT TIME, SUNFLOWERS, NEXT TIME,……

Other pictures:

Warmachine on your Computer?

2009-03-29T03:31:00.001-07:00

This Picture was posted on the PP forum. It seems to point to a new Warmachine mangled metal game. There has not been any official word about the game however. I think its a fake, but stranger things have happened.......

In the bottom of the picture several 'game' companies have been depicted. Making it seem like it could be a demo. Have fun fantasying about a computer game. As soon as I know more I'll post it here.

The thread on the PP forum:
http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=175191

The companies depicted on the picture:
http://www.shadowsindarkness.com/
http://www.emergent.net/
http://www.audiokinetic.com/
https://www.scaleform.com/

UPDATE 1 -->
Some new pictures from the scaleform website:

Check this site for more info:
https://www.scaleform.com/products/video

UPDATE 2-->
Just when I almost thought the game was real, the dream got shattered by PPS_Kevin. It turns out to be a tech demo. Hopefully we might be able to play with this demo in the near future. Even if its just to feel what a 'real' game might be like.

PPS_Kevin:

The screenshot taken at GDC is of a technical demo created by Emergent to showcase their latest middleware product release and features the WARMACHINE intellectual property. While this is not an *actual* game, it is about five minutes of fun demonstrating what warjacks might look like in a video game environment. We have a fantastic article coming in next month's No Quarter that will tell you all about Emergent's efforts and how they brought a little piece of WARMACHINE to life on the computer.

The Table of Shame

2009-03-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got my hands on the photo studio I ordered. The set-up is nice but I am having a lot of difficulty getting clear pictures out of my digital camera. After an hour of trying every little trick I know, I just gave up. Maybe tomorrow will bring me better luck....

So I decided to show you all my unpainted lot of miniatures. It's not that I haven't painted any stuff (probably 2k+ points painted already), its just that I haven't gotten my self excited enough to paint this stuff. These miniatures still need to be painted, striped or both and are mostly leftovers of various eBay buys. Hopefully the shame of all this wasted money will bring me to painting some more stuff in the next few weeks.

June Releases

2009-03-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

June will bring us 3 new miniatures by Privateerpress. Bastions being the last of Legends to finally arrive at your local game store. The Netherlands will probably lag a month behind the rest of the world. Although I actually don’t mind this time. As I am a bit anxious about the release of the first plastic miniatures (bastions) by privateer. Warhammer players have assured me that plastic is going to bring only positive things to this game. Nonetheless it seems that the days of heavy metal painted for war are about to end.

June releases:
Protectorate of Menoth Exemplar Bastions(5)
Trollblood Horthol Long Rider Champion(2)
Circle Orboros Megalith

Examplar Bastions (1st plastic unit):

Horthol long rider (dragoon):

Megalith (character warbeast):

Megalith’s eyes glow with something greater than the will of its master, something akin to self-awareness. This stone goliath sometimes wanders where it believes itself most needed, extending its immense restorative power to nearby woldwardens, allowing them to advance together as a crushing wall while shrugging off enemy attacks.

iBodger on iPhone

2009-03-23T03:35:00.000-07:00

I thoroughly enjoy fiddling around with army lists. Trying out odd combinations or refining my latest 500 point list. At home I prefer to use Armies of Imoren (AoI). This small java based application is always up to date. Very easy in use and allows you to print out armies with the correct amount of damage boxes. Unfortunately this application needs to be downloaded and installed on computers. Making it unsuitable for work (Only during breaks of course ;) ) and when your at friends. But thankfully someone anticipated that problem and made an Online army builder. It isn’t updated as often as AoI but functional nonetheless.

Recently an ingenious guy made iBodger. The army builder for on the go. If you own a iPhone and play Warmachine/Hordes you should download this FREE application. As for me after seeing this program in action on my sister-in-law’s iPhone I have been dreaming of getting an iPhone. Even though I hate the looks, get easily tired of Apples OS and know that the iPhone is way out of my price range….but I can dream though

Armies of Imoren:
http://armies-immoren.dyndns.org/warmachine/ArmiesofImmoren/index.html

Army Builder (online):
http://www.engineeringcalculator.net/ArmyBuilder.html

iBodger (iPhone):
http://ibodger.com/

Photo Studio

2009-03-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have been having alot of dificulties getting decent pictures of my miniatures. Recently, I saw Deacis use a photostudio set-up. Seeing the good result he has been getting from this nice little box made me buy one to. So, hopefully I'll be able to show off some of my stuff soon. Shipping will take 2 days maximum according to the site. My Swordknight will be the first to test the photo studio

Holt vs Holt

2009-03-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

Holt has this amazing ability called quick draw. In short it enables him to shoot back at someone targeting him with a range attack. If he hits the enemies ranged attack is prevented. But what if Holt runs into another Holt. With all the Aiyana/holt love going around this isn't even a hypothetical situation. A holt could quickdraw a shot created by quicdraw. Tadada...the quickdraw loop....the fabric of space and time could even tearup.

The guys at privateerpress finally gave us the answer ->

Holt On Holt, is there a money shot at all?

Poeticruse:

Quick Draw, Pre-emptive fire, or any similar counter attack cannot be made while the model with the ability is still resolving an attack. This ruling prevents infinite unresolvable loops due to reactive abilities.

Circle vs. Cygnar

2009-03-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

Totally excited by all the new stuff in Metamorphosis, Kirdamo and I decided to pitch Circle against Cygnar. Having looked at all the new warcasters for Circle, Mohsar the desertwalker was an obvious choice.

Kirdamo's list was-->

Circle, 500pnt:

- Mohsar the desert walker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Shadowhorn satyr
- Warpwolf
- Woldwyrd
- Tharn Bloodweavers
- Swamp Gobber fellow crew

Old man Mohsar had to face Cygnars crazy scientist Nemo. With similar stats (def/arm) and also high on focus I was hoping for a classic battle of wits.

My list:

- Nemo
- Squire
- Lancer
- Centurion
- Swordknights (9) + UA
- Arlan strangewayes
- Journeyman Warcaster
- Aiyana + Holt

Aiyana, Arlan and the Journeyman were there to supply Nemo with 3 power tokens each turn. Giving him 10 focus atleast and with the squire 11. Lancer was my chainlightning delivery system. The centurion was supose to be my damage sponge and hopefully also give the swordknight their flank bonus.

the battle:

+ Having the swordknights kill the Woldwyrd and Warpwolf in 1 turn. 10+4d6 damage is brutal.
+ Getting a critical with my centurion while hitting the Gnarlhorn. With his 4 focus left (thank you Nemo) he made sure the Gnarlhorn was dead.
+3 chainlightnings in 1 turn killed all the bloodweavers before they could do anything.

- Having my lancer thrown of the board by the Gnarlhorn
- Having my Centurion do nothing for 3 turns because he's being juggled around by the gnarlhorn and shadowhorn
- Being denied a charges due to strategic casting of Pilars of Salt. 3 inch obstacles.....
- Realising that the Shadowhorn could have killed Nemo had Kirdamo remembered to use bouning leap

In the end Cygnar was triumphant. The Swordknights finished Mohsar off with some nasty charges. His low defense and Armor not really helping. Looking back at the game I won only because Kirdamo was still learning how to us the new Metamorphosis models. I'll have a hard time winning next time.

Metamorphosis!

2009-03-19T01:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally recieved the new hordes book Metamorphosis. At first glance it seems as if legion players have hit the jackpot. With an amazing epic Thagrosh and insane 3 headed character warbeast. As soon as I have read more I'll be sure to post my conclusions as to the implications of Metamorphosis to the Kingdom of Cygnar. For now I am just in awe about all the new evil toys hordes players will be able to use.