200 Pt Warmachine Hordes Game

My friend J and I have been playing through the Oblivion campaign for WarmaHordes.  He is the Guardian and I am the Corruptor.  We both won some and lost some and yesterday we started out Gateway to Oblivion game.  Throughout the campaign, you build from a 10pt skirmish group up to the final game with 2 casters and 100pts.  As we were building our lists, we decided to up the last game to 200pts and 2 casters.  Here is my list from conflict chamber:

https://conflictchamber.com

and here is J's list:

and Malvin & Mayhem for 17pts

We played on https://wartable.online  It is a great free program that makes long distance games possible.  It has also allowed us to try out models and even whole factions we don't have the models for.

This was our pre-game setup, though I had forgotten to put out the Storm from the North Snow rings yet.  J won the roll and chose to go first.  I chose the top table edge.

Initial deployment

End of Turn 1

At the end of Turn 1, I had Borka2 pop his feat which gives everyone in his control area Stealth.  Both Krielstones were giving +1SPD and +2 ARM.

After the top of Turn 2 - Notice the missing Glacier King?

 J had a great Turn 2.  He jammed up the Mountain King on the left and got him down to 15 boxes.  The Vulcan power attacked the Earth Born Dire Troll and Threw him into the portal, causing instant death.  On the right, the Glacier King is just gone!  It took a couple of shots from the Railless Interceptors and he was  finished off by the failed experiments.  I also lost Madrak0 who was controlling 2 war beasts.  It was late in the evening and we decided to reconvene the following night for the second half of turn 2.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to kill his two casters.  Neither of them had popped their feat and Bennet1 has a DEF of 17.  My Trolls are not known for their accuracy and if you miss her once, she gets to reposition 2" away ignoring free strikes.  After a lot of thought, I decided I would not be able to kill either of his casters on turn 2.  Instead, I focused on taking out targets I could get to, opening a lane for the Mountain King, and popping Kolgrima's feat.

The Pig Lookouts worked really well.  They Ambushed in from the table edge, moved 6", Marked the Dragon's Breath Rockets and shot them in the back arc.  They hit on 3+ and killed on 4+.  I did that on both sides of the board.  I also Ambushed in the Polar Bears and Bumbles.  They did a little damage but it was more about clearing out what they could.  They really need to hit from the back and get the Gang bonus to ensure they hit.  

The Long Riders were able to get out of the way and the Mountain King snacked on the whelps to regain 16 pts of health.  He was then able to maneuver up to the Vulcan and unload.

Kolgrima moved as deep as she could and popped her feat, sending out a pulse that takes away flight, eyeless sight, and pathfinder.  It also prevents enemies caught in it from shooting for 1 round.  Finally, she pushes enemies 2" away from her.  I wasn't able to push anyone into the portal (instant death) and Push does not create free strikes but it was nice to control the board a little bit.  J's army is very shooty and he placed "Neutered" yellow markers on his shooters that wouldn't be able to range attack next turn.  Kolgrima cast Vanish, moved B2B with the two war beats that had gone wild and claimed them for her battle group.  She also drew back some fury from the stone in case J made an assassination run.  Finally, the Dire Troll Brawler was able to pound on one of the Railless and remove it.

End of Turn 2

J started Turn 3 without most of his ranged attacks.  The Rocketmen took out some bears, Gubbin missed taking out the right Pygs, and Aurum Ominus Alice Marc transformed into a Bear and took out the right side bears threatening caster Lukas.  It was a tough round and he was really denied a lot of his actions.

After Top of Turn 3

Facing another full round of Trolls, and some bad luck with the dice, J called it.  It's probably a  good thing.  When games stop being fun, it's time to stop playing.  All in all, it was a win due to attrition.  Trolls are Tough, have healing options, and Kolgrima's feat was really a sucker punch to the gut.  

It was really cool playing such a large game.  I planned out my first turn of activation a day in advance to get the best use of all the abilities.  I didn't know what the map would look like but the portal and the cultists were set by the scenario.  I also really benefited from the day to think about my Turn 2.  Normally I would have jumped at his casters but after running the numbers, I just couldn't make it happen.  I did not feel good starting my second turn but it was nice at the end to see how the board had shifted.

I don't think I want to play another game this big anytime soon.  It was a lot of thought and energy.  It was also tough staying engaged when the other player's turn takes an hour+ and you are just getting hammered on.  It turns out I like small games, although I do like playing with the big gargantuans too!

Game Store Copy of Hordes Battle Box

Hordes Battle Box Assembled

A while back, I had the opportunity to put together my local game store's copy of the Hordes Battle Box. It gave me chance to put hands on the plastic Trollbloods and I was pretty excited.

Trollblood Fenblades, predominantly made of 2 pieces.

Arms glued in place. Used the box to line up which body went with which arms.

The light war beasts had a lot more parts to them but seemed to have good posts and sockets for connection and glue surface.

Done with Trolls

The trolls went together like a dream. Then snapped together with little fussing. The only things I pinned were the arrows on the back of the spear chucker and the spiky ball on the end of the basher's chain.

Then I got to the Skorne.

These guys were each made up of made of 6 pieces minimum. The head, each arm, and each shoulder pauldron were separate and did not have strong attachment points. 

How is this a good beginner box???

Here they are. The warbeasts are pinned, the war caster in the front left is pinned, all the fiddly bits are glued. I left off the distinctive back flags as there was not a good way to attach them and have them stay attached durning rough handling. If they were mine, I would have fashioned something with green stuff but these guys are staying unpainted.

Overall, I think this is a lousy beginner box.  If this was a first time modeler trying to put stuff together, I would have thrown the box against the wall.  Maybe if they just printed on the outside of the box, "Hey! Yeah you! Have you tried other miniature games? Do you have a moderate level of skill and patience? Come try our game!"  I love the Warmachine/Hordes universe, game system and mechanics.  However, they have a lot to learn about boxes meant to draw people into the game.

If you are still interested, click on the link below and purchase the game.  I get a small percentage through the link. However, I am not sponsored by this or any other game.

New minis and new paint

I broke down and bought new minis today. The first is the Cygnar Character Heavy 'jack Ol'Rowdy. He fills in several of Stryker's theme lists and is pretty cool all on his own. He can charge without paying focus and he can counter charge if someone gets too close. He is a all metal 'jack and I foresee pinning in my future. 

 

The next mini I got was the Trollbloods plastic kit that can build a Blitzer, Bomber, or Mauler. Or,with good magnets the Blitzer and Bomber! I already have one of the old metal Maulers and I thought the painting would suffer if I tried to magnetize the back piece. 

I also purchased 2starter kits of the P3 paints. Until now, I have mostly been using craft paints. They had lots of pigment and didn't cost an arm and a leg for an ounce. I also have used old citadel paint and was not a big fan. The only ones I really like we're the old citadel washes. Now... I may never paint with anything else! I know I am late to the party but these flow off the brush, cover well and naturally shade into the other colors. I'm a happy girl!

Trollbloods on Adobe Illustrator

I wanted a new background for my desktop and I couldn't find a Trollbloods one that I liked.  So I downloaded Adobe Illustrator and made one.  It took a while but I am pretty happy with it!

New Favorite Site

One of my friends recently pointed me towards Bartertown.  It is a great place where people can trade their miniatures to new homes.  Speaking of new homes, some Trollbloods are making their way to mine!  I picked up a great deal on:

• pMadrak
• 2 Axers
• 6 Impalers
• Winter Troll

All but one of the Impalers are well painted and are ready to hit the board.  I will post pics as soon as I get them in the mail. 

I Kicked Butt!

So, in my last post, I wrote about how my Cygnar warcaster Haley got eaten by a Earthborn Dire Troll (picture below).  I played a great game, aggressive and threatening his warlock.  I lost but I was really happy with the game and it wouldn't have taken much for it to go my way.

Well, as I was writing my post, I wanted to include my opponents Trollblood's list.  I started piecing it together from what I remembered but I couldn't get it to equal 35pts.  I messaged him and asked for his list so I could read up on the mini's.  This is what I got back.

@9:30pm, he wrote:
pMadrak
Earthborn Dire Troll
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Axer
5 Long Riders
Horthol
6 Pygmy Burrowers
Fell Caller Hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
I believe that was the whole list.

@10:30pm, he wrote:
HOLY &#!+! WE PLAYED A 35 POINT GAME! I played 50 points against you, I am so sorry. I'm gonna let [the Press Ganger] know and give you the win for that night and fix our cards. I am so sorry. It was still a good game, but you totally should have won.  I think it was because I had just played a 50 point game, and I just f@#$ up. I'm sorry, I hope we can play a real game again sometime.

I think it clicked when he was sending the info to our Press Ganger.  Either way, I feel really good about the game!  It was a really fun game and I liked the way I played.  Now I know he had a 15pt advantage and I was still doing good.  I don't know if I would have won with equal points but I can't wait to give it a try =)

League Game

So I got to play a league game last night.  My LGS is hosting Privateer Press's Shattered Grounds League.  We are currently in the Blasted Heath movement of the campaign.  (You can check out the map here)  I missed the Nightfall part with the move but I am excited about the league.  Apparently, the campaign last year determined the release schedule for the new codex books.  Not sure what this year will bring but I like the real world application.

I played my Cygnar against Trollbloods last night.  I felt really good about the way I played.  I was aggressive in my style and his warlock was in danger beginning in turn 2.  I believe he killed Haley in turn 4 but there were some great moments.  My Hunter was able to advance deploy on an impassible cliff and snipe at people (including the Madrack, his warlock) all game long.  Two full units of Long Gunners with Officer attachments were shooting anywhere from 26-78 shots each turn.  Many of these were combined into single shots for more dmg.  they were able to clear lines of sight and allow others to target Madrack.  My sword knights distracted his Long Riders for a turn and kept them wrapped up in combat for another turn.  Much to our surprise, they were also attacked by his Dire Troll Bomber (right) who failed a Threshold check.  Finally, his Earthborn Dire Troll trampled its way through my lines and ate Haley!

Great game and new people to play against.  What a great evening!