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!

Finished with the bases

 

Three coats of paint on the bases.

Dark Brown layer - The Army Painter Warpaints Oak Brown

Light Brown - The Army Painter Warpaints Monster Brown

Dry Brush - Master Series Paint Bones Desert Sand 09432

Now I get to change my progress bars to 40%!!

Assembly and Basing of Trenchers

 Messy desk picture!  I assembled all of the Trencher theme force box and a few others that will follow the same color scheme.  Tomorrow, I will be base coating these guys.  Pictured - 

Trencher Infantry x10

Trencher Infantry Grenadiers x3

Trencher Officer and Sniper x2

Trencher Commandos x10

Trencher Commandos Scatter Guns x3

Rangers x6

Cannon Crew x4

Trencher Master Gunner x1

Patrol Dog x1

Commander Anson Hitch x1

Ladies Tournament

I got to play Warmachine this weekend.  My local game store hosted a Ladies Only Tournament.  I told the guys they could play if they wanted dress in drag but no one took me up on it!  We had 4 participate with one more lady ready if another person showed but she didn't want to force a bye.  We played round robin and this is how it turned out.

This was my 25 point Cygnar Darius list I used all day.  Darius like to run 'jacks and punch people in the face.  Left to right you see Ironclad, Ironclad, Hammersmith, Darius, Centurion.  There are 3 half jacks hiding behind the main line.

My first opponent played Hordes Circle.  Her warlock was Kromac, Champion of the Wurm seen here in the center with the green tokens.

We played primarily on my right hand side of the board and we drew the Throw Down scenario.  There was an identical control zone to my left not pictured.  I set up my Ironclad with Fortify, giving it an extra +2 ARM but also granting immunity to Knockdowns for any model base to base with it.  On the Hammer Smith, second from the left, I cast Refuge so that once it hit someone, it could make a full advance at the end of its activation.  I kept both of those on upkeep for the whole game.

Eventually, she ran her Knarlhorn Satyr, pictured in the upper left, over to the other control zone and gained a control point.  on my next turn a ran a half jack over to contest the zone and it was the only point scored for the game.  I couldn't get my big 'jacks to her quick enough to put the hurt on the warlock and she won by one control point.  Defeat by Scenario!

In my second game, I played against 'Gators with the Annihilation Scenario. I was able to use my Refuge spell to charge a solo, then full advance after the attack, straight into her warlock, Bloody Barnabas.  That gave my normal Speed 4 Hammersmith, Speed 11 (normal 4, + charge 3, + refuge full advance 4).  By the end of the run, Bloody Barnabas had 4 health left but I won based on points I had killed.  Win by Scenario!

This is a side shot of my final battle with Legion.  My Cygnar started from the left.  The large green circle in the center is the 12" control zone for the Mosh Pit Scenario.  If one person gets to 3 control points, they win, or win by assassination.  Her caster is Saeryn, Omen of Everblight, seen on the far right of the picture.  She was able to take out my Hammersmith before Darius could save him with his feat.  Assassination happened when the Ironclad at the bottom left of the screen was able to get around her (I think) Strider Deathstalker.  Win by Assassination!

My last opponent and I both finished 2-1 for a tie in the tournament but because I defeated her, they called it a win for me.  Woohoo!!!  Fun times and I felt like I ran my guys pretty well.  I also felt like my math was pretty good, figuring out to hit numbers relatively fast.

I was also able to pick up the Triumphant pieces for my heavy 'jack and the boardgames 7 Wonders Dual.

Video of Pinning a Warjack

With a tournament the next day, I decided to work on pinning my Cygnar Heavy 'Jack.  It is a plastic miniature but the glue didn't hold up to moving across state.  I also wanted to try making a video of the process.  Hope you enjoy it!

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!

Painting Again

Finally painting again. I have had 3 casters sitting around base coated forever. Now they are starting to shape up. Left to right is eCaine, pHaley, and Kara Sloan. A new game store opened near my house and it seems like a nice place. 10 min drive as opposed to a 45 min drive is nice too!

Happyness

It makes us happy...

A Beautiful eHaley

I just wanted to created a link over to Hamster Cage Studio.  This is his work and I think it is gorgeous! I will be refrencing his paint job when I get around to painting my own Haley.  Click here for lots more angles.

Unwrapping the Cygnar Heavy 'Jack

I am a little behind the times but my budget just allowed me to get the Cygnar Heavy 'Jack.  I like the options of the different arms.  I have several Ironclads but I like the option of an extra Defender, along with the nifty new Cyclone.  Tilaurin on Lost Hemisphere gives a great how to and I will be referencing that post as I get this guy together!

Painting Notes for Cygnar Trenchers

These are the paints I used in painting my Cygnar Trencher unit.  I will eventually be painting a commando unit and I will want a similar effect.  Feel free to read along.  FA stands for Folk Art paints.

• Base coat black
• Overbrush base with FA Burnt Umber
• Drybrush model with FA Burnt Umber.  Avoid the chain mail and the gun barrel as possible
• Drybrush base and model with FA Honeycomb
• Drybrush base with FA Teddy Bear as needed.
• Block in the gun barrel and chain mail (and grenades if present) with black
• Drybrush the gun barrel with a 2:1 mix of FA Metallic Gunmetal Grey and FA Metallic Sequin Black
• Use the same mix of FA Metallic Gunmetal Grey and FA Metallic Sequin Black to paint the bracers, gun stock band, and details.
• Drybrush the chain mail with FA Metallic Gunmetal Grey
• Paint the shovel and the smoke grenades with FA Medium gray.  I am not entirely happy with this step, so feel free to find another level of shading on them.
• Block in the blue areas with FA Prussian Blue
• Dampen the shoulder pad with a wet brush, then highlight and blend with a mix of FA Cobalt Blue and FA Extender.
• Rank insignias were touched with a mix of FA Metallic Antique Gold and FA Metallic Sequin Black.
• Grenades were touched with FA Black Cherry, then tipped with FA Napthol Crimson
• Studs were tipped with FA Metallic Silver Sterling.
• The base was cleaned up with black around the ring.

I hate painting faces but I found a great tutorial for it.  Privateer Press' Escalation book uses the old MKI rules but the face painting tutorial makes it worth picking up.  Check out pages 120-121 whenever the need arises.  I also found that most Trenchers have no faces!  Woot!!!  They are covered up by a piece of cloth.  I only had to paint to faces of two officers and the Escalation guide was great.  It called for several basic colors like flesh, brown, and brown ink.  I used Delta Ceramcoat Dresden Flesh, FA Real Brown, and GW Citadel Brown Ink respectively.  When it called for red and brown mixed, I just used FA Black Cherry.

Spouses and Warmachine

I finally got my wife to play Warmachine with me... and she won!

Caine, taking it laying down!

The lay of the land.

Her group was based on the battle box and consisted of:

• Stryker
• Rienholdt
• Ironclad
• Charger
• Lancer
• 3 Stormsmith Storm Callers

Mine was 15 points of:

• pCaine
• Defender
• Charger
• 6 Long Gunners
• Gun Mage Cpt. Adept

I made the mistake of trying Caine's feat run while Stryker's +5 armor feat was in effect.  Note to self: when Stryker pops his feat, hunker down, get in position, and camp focus.  Stryker was able to break free from melee, throw Earthquake, and then shoot Caine while his face was in the dirt.  She needed 10 dmg for the kill and she got 11.

Next time we play, I will take out the storm callers.  She did not like how squishy they were and I killed them after they started disrupting my jacks.  I will probably give her a basic melee unit, like sword knights, next time.  Or I may just give her the Long Gunners, so we can continue to build on the current knowledge base.  Anyway, I had a blast and with the ice cream Sunday for incentive, she didn't mind kicking my ass.  Till next time =)

Spouses and Warmachine

I finally got my wife to play Warmachine with me... and she won!

Caine, taking it laying down!

The lay of the land.

Her group was based on the battle box and consisted of:

• Stryker
• Rienholdt
• Ironclad
• Charger
• Lancer
• 3 Stormsmith Storm Callers

Mine was 15 points of:

• pCaine
• Defender
• Charger
• 6 Long Gunners
• Gun Mage Cpt. Adept

I made the mistake of trying Caine's feat run while Stryker's +5 armor feat was in effect.  Note to self: when Stryker pops his feat, hunker down, get in position, and camp focus.  Stryker was able to break free from melee, throw Earthquake, and then shoot Caine while his face was in the dirt.  She needed 10 dmg for the kill and she got 11.

Next time we play, I will take out the storm callers.  She did not like how squishy they were and I killed them after they started disrupting my jacks.  I will probably give her a basic melee unit, like sword knights, next time.  Or I may just give her the Long Gunners, so we can continue to build on the current knowledge base.  Anyway, I had a blast and with the ice cream Sunday for incentive, she didn't mind kicking my ass.  Till next time =)

Sick Time = Painting Time

I stayed home from work today with a head cold.  I have been able to paint some and this is what I got done.  These three bodgers will round out my Field Mechaniks unit.  I love these little models.  They are some of my favorites in the Cygnar line.  The only complaint is that there are only two poses. Oh well.

The Cygnar Army as it Stands

The blue stuff is done. The grey stuff is assembled and primed. The clear stuff has a long way to go.  For those new to WarmaHordes, US is the unit strength or the number of minis in a unit.  FA is the number of those units you can have on the field.  US 6-10, FA 2 would mean you could have a maximum of 20 of those models on the field in a single warcaster army.

I Hate Epic Caine

Epic Caine and Epic Stryker might be great if you like to super-pose your miniatures.  I prefer for the pieces to fit.  Do you see that right leg?  Even in the stock photo, it is a little askew and the foot does not lay flush with the base.  Below is what the mini looks like with the arms glued on.  When trying to position that leg, Caine ends up with a club foot, bow legged, knock-kneed, or a combination there of.  Grrr...

I finally just super glued it and hoped for the best.  I am fairly certain I should have pinned it but I just did not want to screw around with it anymore.  Caine is the one on the lower right.  Next to him is a one armed Epic Stryker.  He is almost as bad.  There are also 2 last rangers, Classic Haley, and a DnD fig getting their bases.  The only one finding this process relaxing is the bear in the hot tub.

The Next Battle Engine

While letting the glue dry, I noticed a close resemblance to Cygnar's Storm Strider...

Cygnar's next battle engine!  What do you think?

Here is the Firefly with fully magnetized arms.

Cygnar Firefly

Click on the pics for larger versions.

Back Story:  We have moved into our new house and I have finally unpacked enough boxes that I don't feel guilty when I walk by my hobby room.  To celebrate, I went to the local craft store, picked up a few new paints, a nice pack of brushes on for half off, and headed home.

I spent the first couple of hours digging out mini's and organizing my area.  It is still small but I think it will work.  I dug out all my Cygnar mini's that still need paint and lined them up.  Then I got intimidated and nearly packed them all back up.  I decided that what I really wanted to paint was a warjack and then I realized that I have them all painted!  So I went to the game store and purchased a Firefly.

Firefly:  This is the first Privateer Press plastic model I have gotten and I have to say I like it.  I was surprised by the number of pieces, especially in the right arm with the spear.  If you want to pose this guy, the right arm will be heaven.  I checked online and found Guts N Gears video of how to put it together (here).  I like these guys podcasts and the video was incredibly helpful.  They mention the amount of flash on their model and mine was similar.  The mold lines were very clean but the place where each piece was connected to the pour had to be cleaned and it was little tricky around some studs and other details.

I really liked how 95% of the pieces fit together.  The legs and back furnace didn't even have to be glued, though I did.  The arms each fit together really well and could have been glued without any pinning.  If you have built the metal warjacks before, you can understand my joy.  Of course, I couldn't just glue it.  I wanted to be able to swap arms.  Sometimes, you just need an extra Lancer, or you can pull an arm off when it experiences combat damage.  And I wanted to play with my magnets!


I started by tracing one of the magnets with a mechanical pencil.  I then used my Dremel tools to hollow it out.  It took a while to get used to how the tip of the Dremel removed material but it really was the best tool for the job.  Once I got the circle the right size, I was able to remove more material deeper without changing the size of the circle.  I was aiming to get the magnet flush with the plastic.

I am very glad I started with drilling out the body.  It is much easier than the arms.  The arm sockets happen to be about a hair bigger than the 0.250" diameter (6.4mm) and 0.063" thick (1.6mm) rare earth magnets that I have on hand.  I basically removed everything out to the studs and as deep as I could without busting through.  I could literally see daylight through the bottom of the piece when I was done drilling!

Note for others:  You can do it the same way I did.  It obviously works.  But, you could save yourself some grief and either get smaller magnets or or just cut off the arm piece with the studs and glue straight on the hydraulics.  A smaller magnet would work because the pieces are plastic and they are holding virtually no weight.  Cutting off the studded collar would work, though you lose detail and there is less material to glue to.

The rest is still a work in progress.  More pics will be coming soon.

A Reasoned Response to my Movement Tray

The other day, I posted picks of the movement tray I am creating for my units of Long Gunners.  Von, from Game Over and A Year of Frugal Gaming left a great comment I wanted to share (Von, I hope you don't mind me quoting you here):

Von said... Cool tray, no doubt about that, but I think there's a reason Warmachine players don't use them, and a consequence for you that you might not have thought about.

The sheer openness of Warmachine Mark II's formation rules open up a lot of tactical options (with lines of sight/fire, casualty removal, counter-attacks and so on), especially for high priority units with different actions and attacks available to them (like Trenchers and Long Gunners).

I worry that you're locking yourself into one rather limited formation, and thus locking yourself out of those options. I also worry about terrain, particularly buildings, although I assume you'll just abandon the tray there.

Of course, strength of play may not be as big a priority for you. This'll certainly speed up your play, and if you did a battlegroup and solos one as well, they'd be nice display/transport utilities. 

I hadn't really thought about how the tray would lock me in.  Recently, I have played several games with pHaley where I line up two full units of Long Gunners, 24 mini's, and shoot holes in the oncoming hordes.  I thought it was a pain in the butt when I had to move them all up the first turn, thus the idea a tray was formed.  I think I also just wanted to play with power tools =)

I like the imposed spacing so I don't get all my guys killed in one round of Khador AOE's.  I also think I can leave the tray when needs be.  I knew going into it that it would probably only help for turns 1 & 2.  However, once they are in the tray, my tendency will be to leave them in that formation simply because I am too lazy to want to move them all.  I pretty sure I would pull them off it when I needed to but it would have to be a conscious decision.

Another thing for me to consider is that the Long Gunners are at their best when they don't move.  If they stand still, they get a +2 aiming bonus on either 1)their first of two shots at 12" each or 2) on a 24" shot.  They also have the combined range attack ability.  I might just start leaving them in their deployment zone starting positions.  They won't get a shot the first turn but they have longer to shoot at the enemy.  I guess it still depends on the scenario.

Anyway, Von, thank you for the comment.  It has really given me a lot to think about.  I still plan on finishing the tray and trying it out a couple of times.  There is nothing like experience to show me if I made a movement tray or an interesting display board!

Thanks for reading!

Long Gunners and a Movement Tray

I have been working on my Long Gunners again. I last posted pics of them here.  They now have most of their highlights done and I am trying to get the cloth to come out.  The banner is the last thing to do.  It has intimidated me for a while but I am almost ready to give it a go.  Here are some recent pics of the progress.

I blocked in the major colors and the first hint of highlight.  There are actually two different units here, distinguished by the color of their skirt.

Here is a close up of two of them, pretty close to done.

On a different note, I have been playing around with the idea of creating a movement tray for them.  Warmachine does not typically have movement trays but I am getting used to fielding two full units at 10+2 officers.  With 24 mini's, I decided to take the plunge.

I went to my local craft store and purchased 1/8 x 4 x 24 piece of Basswood.  It was $2.99, not bad for a movement tray.  After WAY too long trying to figure out the best arrangement and the spacing to put in between the little guys, I drew out my circles on the board and started cutting.

I had purchased a Dremel Multipurpose Cutting Kit #565 but I had never used it before.

Turns out, it works great but it is very loud!  I was afraid my apartment neighbors would call the office on me!  I was out on the patio, which was good because of all the sawdust, but it was very loud.  I used the kit to create the holes in the middle, then I finished them out with a sanding band.  The sanding band was much quieter and was easier to control when I got next to my pencil lines.

You might notice all the pencil lines where I thought the holes would go.  Like I said, it took me a while.

This is what they look like in their new movement tray.  Notice the second board underneath.

I know it is hard to tell from this picture but the 3" blast template can only hit one mini when it is centered on a guy.  I lose about 2" on my back rank's range but I don't get killed with bombards either.  I also hope this will keep some of them out of charge range when it comes to that.

I considered making the tray magnetic but I already have the washers on the bases of the Long Gunners and I decided not to mess with it.  Maybe next time.

The smartest thing I did was use the board as a template for my next movement tray.  I certainly don't want to try all the crazy math and measurements I did on this one.

The dumbest thing I did?  Well, I started putting a unit in the tray to take a picture for the blog and realized I only cut 10 holes.  With the Officer Attachment, I am 2 short!  Dang it!  I will still use it, as I can always put two of the guys to the side or in a back rank.  Still, I am happy with my first attempt.

Thanks for reading!