Arachnophobia...

So, mini report incoming. Kae vs. Master Necrotech Mortenebra

Mortenebra & Deryliss (Infernal Machines Tier 4)
Slayer x 4
Reaper x 2
Corrupter
Seether

Warwitch Siren x 2
Scrap Thrall x 9

Scenario was Outflank and Nigel (my Cryxian opponent of the day at Tanelorn WGC) won the roll off and chose to go first, from deployment:

Deployment was OK for me, had a building to anchor one flank and I started off on the right thought, keeping everyone nicely compact as the Cryx force brought few AOE's.

Unsurprisingly, Nigel raced everything he had forwards. With an extended deployment zone and AD'ing Scrap Thralls they were already more than half way across the board as the elves advanced. The Invictors picked off six Thralls and the myrmidons smacked another two and little could be done against the helljacks owing to having Stealth during the first round. Big mistake number one: Eiryss activated after the Halberdiers after a great deal of um-ing and ah-ing over whether or not to plink Spectral Steel off one of the Reapers (pro-tip... should've!). Kae feated forcing the Cryxians to back off a little, and they did so, while still maintaining a presence in both control zones, while one raced forward to tie up the Phoenix.

Managed to Backlash the running Slayer mid-combat and was left with four damage after the Phoenix, Artificer and a few of the Halberdiers smacked it, while the rest of the Halberdiers charged another Slayer and the second Reaper. Their reform move, though, was big mistake number two. They're not Sentinels (clearly!) and gain little from being base to base. Punishment duly followed when they were trampled next turn leaving only a small handful left alive, no thanks to Terminal Velocity. Mortenebra's battlegroup continued a leisurely advance, tying up the Invictors who, even with their Flank bonus barely managed to wreck the already damaged Corrupter. The less said about the Stormfall Archers' performance the better... :|

A sorry state indeed:

And that was basically it... Nigel won comfortably on scenario, but gaining only 19VP (all the Halberdiers, even if the Standard Bearer was still alive(!), the Artificer, half the Archers, Eiryss and the Thane) while I won 28 (I think... from two Slayers, one Corrupter and all the Thralls). My battlegroup was untouched though the Invictors were about to get swiped if the game continued further into Nigel's fourth turn, even if another trio of his helljacks were scraped and moderately beaten.

In fairness to myself, had I won the first turn, the integrity of my battleline would not have been so easily disrupted and with his Scrap Thralls a minimum of 3" away, and in prime position to be picked off by the Invictors, Myrmidons and even the Archers, setting up feat turn nicely. But, dreaming isn't always a good idea.

Anyway, once again, AD'ing seems to cause me more headaches than it should as Eiryss did little and achieved less. In general, attrition seems to be what I'm alright with, but boosting key-rolls passes me by (the Banshee missed both its shots on 6's to hit, rather infuriatingly). As for those that can't be boosted, well, here we go:

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper... and Stormfall Archers:

While most factions have a dedicated light artillery weapon team unit (or something equivalent), Retribution's Heavy Rifle Team is on the bad side of "meh" in terms of quality, and the prevailing consensus is that they have a home in a total of zero caster's lists (with the improbable exception of Ossyan, and even he includes them with great reluctance), thus, Retribution's real go-to artillery piece is the Stormfall Archer unit. Toting compound bows with superb range, they bring ranged flexibility to the table. If you know anything about Ravyn, then you don't need me to tell you this... so why did I take Stormfalls with Kae yesterday?

I did so before, in a rather strange 40pt game against, Iain, another journeyman level player at Tanelorn, and they performed admirably... taking down one Bonejack and knocking out a few Thralls here and there. But during the game against Mortenebra, with Kae... getting the Stormfalls to hit isn't that much of a problem, there are four of them and with a threat range of 21", at least a couple will hit what you point them at, but hitting reliably and when you really want/need them to is a problem. Kae does little, if anything for the Stormfall Archers, and my original idea of having them soften targets up for the other units to charge into became flawed as Nigel's game developed (hardly mine, for all I was involved in it). Or rather, it was flawed from the start. Granted, taking it against a helljack heavy list isn't the brightest idea, but carpet-bombing an area of low-ARM units makes them a great unit. Still, with a decidedly mediocre RAT, and no way of boosting it, their inclusion in a Kae list was problematic from the start as reliably hitting is necessary.

With Ravyn, they have feat to be completely and utterly devastating as Firestorm mitigates their inability to hit particularly well and four Brutal shots at most things has them bleeding from the ears. Rahn can use Force Hammer or Telekinesis to make life a little easier for them. Ossyan's Gravity Well makes their damage output close to obscene (even AOE damage under this feat can make heavy infantry worried) while Quicken lets them race into a prime firing position early on and aim the entire time. Issyria buffs them with feat as well, letting them Starstrike Stealth'd high-DEF units and smell the barbecue later, and even away from feat turn, Blinding Light makes things easier too. Even Garryth, who has little affinity for the Archers, could give them Apparition to increase their threat range and aiming potential. Both incarnations of Vyros are too much of a pair of elitists (Dawnguard or get lost!) to favour the Stormfalls. And that leaves Kae. Her spells can protect them from... well, other spells, and feat still leaves them vulnerable to straying blast damage, owing to their mediocre ARM. So in general, there's little there to help, except one combination: Arcantrik Bolt & Brutal'ing the stationary 'jack. But this is very situational. Strangely, I didn't use Arcantrik Bolt at all against Nigel, given how many juicy targets there were, but he successfully presented me with too many threats to deal with at the same time, I ended up following a familiar path (piecemeal commitment), and besides... Jump Start. Alternatively, in that game: Banshee's Momentum & more Brutal'ing. But the need to effectively deal with multiple threats is too great to have fifteen points (with another three in the Artificer, for support) absorbed in dealing with six or seven points.

Thus, I return to a basic 42(+7)pts (basically my list minus the Stormfall Archers and the House Shyeel Artificer). The balance of ranged & melee combat is fine, I think, as the units now have the right role and the battlegroup is dominated by two utility pieces.

For the remaining 8pts, the ideal would be elements that have high hitting power without the need for support. Though Kae is a support caster, making things easy (whether through spells or otherwise) is quite situational, so at the moment, I'm looking at high MAT/RAT stuff... Within the 42pts are elements that can either boost their own hitting reliability/damage output or it's already relatively good anyway. Everything is 6+ on the stat that counts and those with less than 8 can Combine, boost or get another bonus (i.e. Flank). As much as I'd like to bring the Mage Hunter Strike Force back, they can take advantage of Backlash but little else (yes, I know I'm wrong, and why I'm wrong is the reason I'm still a comparative noob at the game). So 8pts... the Destor Thane is tempting, but its utility might be a bit of a trap given its average stat weapon. My initial thoughts were Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen & Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios as hard-hitters for the alpha strike, but another gun wouldn't go amiss...

But for all this... I learn. Lesson to be taught: how to sell an element dearly in battle. That and learning how to use Eiryss, Angel of Retribution properly.

Or, alternatively... I could pack in this whole game and continue learning Godslayer! -__-

Woohoo! -.-

Bubi

Our girl Kae...

Random thoughts commencing...

So, I've been playing WarMachine for about six months with varying levels of success with my primary faction being the emo-racist-terrorist elves of Ios, militaristically given form within the Iron Kingdoms universe in the Retribution of Scyrah.

A relatively small faction, they have seven casters, one with an epic form, four light jacks (called myrmidons, a strange term given that it means 'ant-person', but it adds a certain alien character, and I find it delightfully quaint), six heavy jacks, three character heavy jacks, one colossal jack, one battle engine, ten units, one weapon attachment, five dedicated unit attachments, one character unit attachment, eight solos, four faction only character solos and two faction friendly mercenary solos (one of them also possessing both an epic and legendary version). And not forgetting the smallest roster of possible Mercenaries & Minions outside of the Convergence of Cyriss. Yeah, so... not much! *ahem*

Anyway, as with many Retribution, I started with Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper as my first caster... she was in the battlebox after all. Swept away by the fluff (my first purchase was the Forces of WarMachine book, oddly... or perhaps not) and her theme list, I had a difficult time adjusting to how Kae played. Yes, she is considered very fondly among the Retribution players' community, with many gamers ribbing each other declaring that "No! She is my girl, Kae!!" and indeed, I say the same.

She is, perhaps, the most subtly versatile caster among the WarMachine factions with very few devastating tricks, but a great deal of tricks nonetheless. To Retribution players, she is everyone's friend (so long as you've got pointy ears), with very few genuinely bad match-ups, particularly against WarMachine, and against Hordes, even though a couple of her spells (Arcantrik Bolt & Backlash) lose their value, she still brings a bit of irritation.

And with No Quarter 54's release of the Force Wall tiered list, the potential grew even further bringing in a very restrictive list (at least at first sight) but one that played like no other in the game.

This tier, as earlier, I used for the Journeyman League. Seasoned WarMachine players will probably scream "WHY?!" because it is neither suited to beginners (though in my defence, I had a pretty good handle on the rules by then) nor is it a friendly list to play against, due to its roadblock nature. Tier 3 is quite a kick to the knee for many factions.

Moving on... my experience with Kae has been mixed, as with my whole WarMachine/Retribution experience, but I'll persevere as I was well aware of how steep a learning curve the game has, especially if one decides to dive in straight at 50pts (I didn't, thankfully, but my first few games at 50pts were eye-opening encounters). Having a regular sparring partner with Legion as his main faction hasn't helped, but having my arse handed to me on a plate more often than not has put certain aspects of the game into perspective.

Back on cases. Kae is a little tricky to use at first, not least because her feat is somewhat bewildering for new players, well, it was for me, since I learned in an environment of constant ASSASSINATION!! which Kae's feat is a little pointless for. Scenario play is where her feat shines as it facilitates the alpha strike or compels your opponent to run to engage. Trampling is possible but, with proper pre-feat placement, potentially a waste of initial attacks and severely limiting particularly for often FOC strapped WarMachine factions. Hordes, less so, though I can't say much more, since I haven't been on the receiving end of a trampling beast through my lines.

But given Kae's rather modest combat prowess (she needs regular boosts to hit pretty much every other caster in melee unlike both versions of Vyros and Garryth, and even Ravyn), she's a support caster in the main, but not a backline caster (such as Issyria) as her weapons bring some FOC/FURY manipulation shenanigans that can bring her close to the thick of battle. Nor is she mid-line like Rahn because she can get stuck in with a bit of support. Now... about those rather modest combat abilities, it explains why one of her best friends is the Banshee. Knockdown/slam? Thankee kindly. Send a medium-based model flying into the enemy caster, profit abound.

Obvious methods aside, I've found that Kae can work with almost (note: ALMOST) anything you field with her. Invictors with a Reach-weapon'd myrmidon is a great start. Anyone with a RNG 12"+ gun would be a good target for Phantom Hunter... or herself, for that matter, as it lets her ignore everything under the sun when choosing a target except elevation. And her feat allows her to deliver melee units, of which the Retribution's Houseguard Halberdiers and Dawnguard Sentinels are brilliant examples of, into combat brilliantly. The Thane's Desperate Pace and Vengeance mean that some bunch of unlucky bastards will get a lot of angry elven steel to the face pretty soon unless they think of something quick. A gunline isn't bad either, but better served by someone like Ossyan (his feat certainly promotes it) and Issyria (though she's good with melee oriented lists as well).

So, I've played Kae at the back, creeping forward as the games progress, feating in the second or third turn and letting her wade in shooting in support of her battlegroup and those units still alive from then. Combined arms seems to be her watch-phrase, a little more so than the other Retribution casters. There is a lot of anti-magic in her abilities and spell list, so a little shooty, a little fighty, some support and plenty of decisiveness is the way to go. She has plenty of synergies with much of what the faction has to offer, though unfortunately, she does little to outright strengthen anything. Her feat increases survivability (except against Legion, for the most part) and combinations with various elements make for very subtle tricks. A Gorgon, the Sentinels' Officer and her feat can spell the death of two heavies at the cost of the Gorgon, but at a potential benefit of four points to one, a good trade. A trio of Manticores and their Covering fire (an idea, if Elara decides to tag along, or just by Kae herself under Force Wall, given how Rahn is a massive FOC hog) with an Artificer or Battle Mages is pure battlefield control on a stick. Kae and Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander (or 3iryss to many) bring enough FOC/FURY games between them to see a lot of cutting or frenzying happen.

Learning as I've gone, a potential list I'm taking against Mortenebra (oh, she of crazy-spider-ladiness) is the following:

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper (+7)
Warcaster Attachment - Sylys Wyshnalyrr (2)
Heavy Myrmidon - Banshee (10)
Heavy Myrmidon - Phoenix (10)

Character Solo - Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3)
Solo - Arcanist (1)
Solo - House Shyeel Artificer (3)
Solo - Houseguard Thane (2)

Unit Attachment - Invictor Officer & Standard (2)
Unit - Dawnguard Invictors (10)
Unit Attachment - Halberdier Officer & Standard (2)
Unit - Houseguard Halberdiers (7)
Unit - Stormfall Archers (5)

Still in progress and I'm sure it's sillier than I give it credence for, but because of their low ARM, the Stormfall Archers will have the Artificer keep the company during feat turn so that they'll be protected from deviating AOEs while everything else in the list that'll be close enough to the front lines will be tough enough to weather it. The Halberdiers and Invictors form the front line, Eiryss and the Thane provide support where needed (though it'll be pretty obvious where) while the battlegroup and archers back everything up and act as reserve.

This is, perhaps, the greatest mistake I've made while playing WarMachine. On too many occasions, I've deployed in too wide a line and spread out even further in the first turn and inevitably missed vital models out from exploiting or gaining the protection of my feat. Even cavalry/dragoon solos have seen reduced efficiency because I have a habit of just "moving shit" in my first turn. And unlike Warhammer 40K, WarMachine does not really promote linear tactics since ranges and prevalence of melee (if someone isn't swinging an axe/sword/claw at someone by turn 3, someone must demand where balls have gone!) means getting in more than one round of concentrated fire is difficult at the best of times and ranged based feats need to be very destructive to work. That and the fact that WarMachine is played on a 4x4 table which narrows the field even further. Of course, a list without a ranged game runs a great deal of risks as some of the best weapons in the game are ranged ones, and often stuck on big ponderous buggers that are hard to kill. Thus, to Vegetius we return, and decide that strong reserves are more important than frontage. In the instance of the above list, the frontage, I advise myself, should consist of the two twelve man units and the two heavy myrmidons of the battlegroup, with a couple gaps to let my solos flit about. On one flank, the Halberdiers will hold the enemy up and hopefully take a few things down with them, while on the other, the Invictors will point and fire at what's before them. The battlegroup will take down targets of opportunity to make things easier for the front line units. The Archers, I believe, will be the unknown quantities, since they'll be playing just off the Halberdiers, given that they're less killy than the Dawnguard Sentinels.

*shrug* Ah well, we'll see where this goes.

Bubi

New purpose...

Sort of...

My free time these days comprises one of two activities... WarMachine/Hordes (whether it's playing, list-building, visiting the Privateer Press community or painting, quantity of time spent on each in that order) or anime.

And since I need to sort my head out... eh... some thoughts about my dice-rolling activities and viewing material might be forthcoming.

Of course... as a racist elf (seems to be a theme in the games I play, as already noted... some months ago now...) the talk will be only of the pointy-eared of Immoren/Caen.

As for anime... watching some series now, but most aren't that good. Silliness of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Denki-gai no Honya-san there hasn't been that much on.

Random thoughts will abound... as ever... and be posted here. And maybe I'll actually get around to writing up more of Imperator: Iberia, particularly the chapter pre-ambles between Laelius & Polybius, which still need a fair bit of mulling over. And weirdly, having trouble resolving the affair between Berenecia and Laelius (shock horror... spoilers!), before, during and after, all OK... but its end... uh... huh... -_-

*shrugs*

I'll think of something... eventually... ¬_¬

Bubi

Week 2... and the conclusion that the Journeyman scenario rules are rubbish!

Well... week 2 rolled along and yesterday, the good riot (no link to his latest blog entry... presumably because he's in too much of a rage to post anything about his... uh... 'game'... >_> ).

Anyway, yesterday and today, I got a couple 15pt games in.

So, without further ado:

Retribution of Scyrah (15pts)
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper (+7)
Manticore (8), Chimera (6) & Griffon (4)
Arcanist (1) & House Shyeel Artificer (3)

(Note - I could finally take advantage of Kae's Force Wall tier benefits... but as the games proved, I really couldn't... mainly because an extra FOC for the Myrmidons was a tad pointless in the main.)

Cygnar (15pts)
Commander Coleman Stryker (+6)
Ironclad (7), Charger (4) & Lancer (6)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2) & Squire (2)

Firstly: when will I ever see a Cygnar army WITHOUT a damned Squire?! Answer: yeah, probably never!

Anyway, DAMON and I rolled off and I won, opting to go first with the "Killing Fields" scenario... and woohoo, pics... -_-

Yeah, the objectives were bottle-caps because we (read: Lano) were cheapskates... anyway, first turn we both trundled forwards and second turn, I seized the objectives and popped feat (no charging me and Stealth for all my folks), and with the score on 3-0 we concluded... this is dumb.

All he could do was run onto the objectives to contest, to which I'd respond by shoving him off with Push power attacks (with back up from the Beat Back'ing Artificer just in case). I basically couldn't lose. A bit of discussion among me, DAMON, Lano & riot later and... Steamroller rules (scoring commences on the second player's second turn and first player has a truncated deployment zone).

On the restart, DAMON went first and ran his guys up. I was a little more cautious and advanced up, feated so it was sure to be a contest for the objectives rather than a plain smash-fest.

He shrugged... and counter-feated (a ma-HOO-sive ARM bonus to everyone) and got two of the objectives (blue & red), meanwhile prodding my Arc Node with his Arc Node. (0-0) With nothing much I could do about Stryker's feat, I sent the Manticore over to deal with the Charger... only to see it fail in his attempt to double-handed throw the Cygnar light away. The Chimera ran interference on the Lancer before the Artificer charged up and batted both the Lancer and the Ironclad away from the objective. The latter could have proved to be disastrous. The Griffon, meanwhile, unobtrusively strolled up to the white objective. (2-0)

The Manticore was now horribly exposed and the Ironclad obliged by charging in... before really fluffing his lines and failing to do much damage except to partially deplete the Myrmidon's Arcantrik Field. DAMON was suitably grinding his teeth. The Charger took a swing, but didn't achieve much. The Dice Gods would not favour the Cygnaran, unfortunately, because the Lancer took a stab at the Artificer (he of rubbish DEF in melee) and dealt two damage... >_> Stryker made things worse by charging up and missing everything in sight. (2-1) In response, the Chimera quickly extricated itself, raising its head for Kae to channel and pop an Arcantrik Bolt at the Ironclad (in the back, rather helpfully), before she sought cover in the small forest. With the now frozen Ironclad leering at him, the Manticore (with a helping hand from the Arcanist), totalled the Cygnaran heavy with three attacks (at dice + 2 damage), before swiping a chunk off of the Charger. The Griffon spied Strangewayes, charged and smacked the engineer off the field. The turn ended with the Chimera stepping up behind the Lancer and slapping it upside the head. (2-1)

The Charger still couldn't do much except take rather ineffectual swings at the Manticore, so Stryker could only sigh and grumble that he had to do everything himself. The Lancer finally managed to bat the Artificer aside... with his shield of all things, and my decision to spread Kae's battlegroup to score control points quickly with only the Artificer as cover was about to bite me, as Stryker had a clean run, which he duly took. But if the dice gods didn't like DAMON before... they really didn't like him now. A boosted attack missed... OK, buy another attack, boost to hit... HIT... boost to damage... 7. Not bad... buy another attack, boost to hit... uh... yeah... with one FOC left (the Squire had been cut for the last time, too), a nine on 2D6 was a bit discouraging... (2-2) Unable to dent Stryker's ARM with mediocre MAT and a relatively low PS weapon, Kae camped, hoping to get more CP, which she duly did, the Griffon walking back onto the white one and the Manticore finally managing to throw the Charger away from the red one. With that, I ended the turn with Kae sitting on ARM 21 and 9 hit boxes. I really should've lost by assassination already, but perhaps Jedi hand-waving the dice really does work! =P (4-2)

With 6 FOC again, Stryker huffed, raised Quicksilver Mk I and (tried to) whale away at Kae. Attack 1: boosted... miss... Attack 2: boosted... HIT! ... boosted damage... 4! Attack 2: boosted... miss... uh... yeah... (again). DAMON looked ready to raise his hands to the heavens and drop to his knees and convert to atheism (shut up, we're wargamers, we worship Dice Gods!). Unable to do much more, the Charger having stood up and missed its attack on the Arcanist and the Lancer continuing to make little impression on the Chimera, the Cygnar turn ended. (4-2) The Arcanist ended the game, strolling up to the blue objective and securing the 3pts necessary to win... with Kaelyssa ending with just 5 damage left and, once again as against Magnus, far from amused... -_-

Final score 7-2 to the elven terrorists.

Got real lucky, or rather, bad luck afflicted my opponent as I was a little too ambitious with the distribution of my battlegroup and should have been beaten for severely restricting my caster's ability to manoeuvre.

In the next game, played just this afternoon, I did most things right and played the only tactics that Kae could use against Hordes. Pick a sensible target, slap it silly, rinse and repeat, letting her nick Fury and mess with my opponent's fury management. Most of Kae's spells/abilities are good only against WarMachine, or magic heavy armies and Farrow... are neither. But still, the pigs are fun and very silly.

So:


Farrow (Thornfall Alliance) (15pts)
Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction the Third, Esquire (+6)
War Hog (8), Gun Boar (Iron Pig) (5) & Gun Boar (Bang!) (5)
Razorback Crew (the Pig-a-Pault) (3)

Yes... I know, it's a silly (yet awesome) name, and I will insist on using it in its entirety, 'cos the Farrow are nothing if not hilarious.

Anyway, Lano and I chose to dispense with the scenario rules and went balls in (something he accuses me of never doing... which is true, more often than not... *ahem*) and went for a plain caster/lock kill mission. Throughout the game, only one mistake was committed... and it wasn't by me! -_-

Unfortunately, I neglected to take photos... except for deployment and how things ended up... uh-duh! ¬_¬

I won the roll-off and chose to go first, while Lano shielded his War Hog, weirdly and Advanced Deployed his Pig-a-Pault (Thornfall Alliance thing, apparently... *shrug*).

The Myrmidons started things off and half-ran up the board, Kae channeled Arcantrik Bolt and picked off the grunt of the artillery crew. The Artificer floated up, set Force Wall and that was my turn 1. The big pigs ran up in response with Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction the Third, Esquire casting Batten Down the Hatches (ARM bonus with a DEF penalty) and Mobility (SPD buff) to get his battlegroup going. For the hell of it, the Pig-a-Pault slung a burning projectile at the Chimera... and somehow hit it, removing all of its Arcantrik Field.

In turn 2, I looked beadily about and went for it. Firstly, Kae nicked as much FUR as she could from the pigs, before the Griffon Fleeted and charged Bang! damaging the Gun Boar a bit. Then, a FOC'd up(!) Manticore charged in (too far to stroll in like he wanted to) and trashed Bang! before looking over his shoulder and backhanding Iron Pig one. The Chimera rounded off the elven battlegroup activations by chopping at Iron Pig, only to mess up and miss on a double 1. The Artificer kept back milling around, throwing up Force Wall again with a dumb expression. Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction the Third, Esquire looked back and snorted, cut himself for two, popped his feat (additional dice damage for all pigs!) and charged in, clonked the Manticore with his unpretentiously named cleaver "Hand of God" and swung at the Griffon too. Unsure about what Kae would do next turn, he Quagmire'd his War Hog and sat on two fury. It turned out to be completely unnecessary as the War Hog took two swings at the Manticore and wrecked it, but was too far to take a bash at the Griffon... his own warlock was in the way! The Iron Pig rounded things off by essentially putting the Chimera out of commission.

It was currently advantage Farrow as one Retribution heavy was mashed, and both the lights were nearing that stage. Still, a slight boost from the Arcanist allowed the Griffon to angle round and the light Myrmidon just made the attack roll to Head Butt Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction the Third, Esquire (transferring damage to the War Hog with one of his two remaining FUR)... and with a knocked down enemy 'lock, Kaelyssa went on her ranged assassination run... only without the running. Standing and not needing to aim, she nicked Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction the Third, Esquire's remaining fury and dealt a moderate amount of damage, even with a boost. The second shot failed to damage and needing to deal 8 damage with the last shot with a POW 10 weapon (yeah, you use it to nick FUR/FOC, not kill people) against ARM 17:

Woohoo, 4-5-6! That's a dead Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction the Third, Esquire and my quickest game with caster kill, I think. The Artificer was thus left still floating about with a dumb expression (could've charged the pig-lock just in case).

Thus sits me... on 23 Journeyman League points. Not bad going.

Now for the revenge of Batman & Robin... oh wait, sorry... Rorsh & Brine! =P 25pts ahoy.

Bubi

Journeyman League Kicks Off

Well...Week 1 and battlebox games abound...

First game was against mr2key and his Convergence... and perhaps irksomely, I knew just as much as he did about them... ¬_¬

Anyway, no pics... I was foolish enough not to take any. Eh... quick report, incoming...

Retribution of Scyrah (11pts)
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper (+7)
Manticore (8), Chimera (6) & Griffon (4)

Convergence of Cyriss (10pts)
Syntherion, Forgemaster (+6)
Cipher (9), Galvanizer (3) & Mitigator (4)

The Vectors started proceedings by legging up as far as they could... which was just far enough for the Mitigator to take a POW12 shot in the face from my Manticore... and then another one from Kaelyssa and an Arcantrik Bolt.

Slight repairs saved it for another turn while the Cipher shook the ground a little in front of the line of Myrmidons. But since dispositions had not changed much, the Manticore finished the Mitigator off which his next couple of shots, helped out by another Arcantrik Bolt and the Griffon maintaining a flanking position.

With nothing for it the Cipher (with Hot Shot cast on it) walked up and took a shot, but to no avail, whereupon it was rendered stationary by yet another Arcantrik Bolt (Kae got a lot of mileage out of this spell yesterday evening) before being attacked by a souped up Manticore (spent 1 FOC to boost its strength). Four determined PS18 attacks later and the Cipher was no more.

The Galvanizer hurriedly rushed across to protect its caster, but even with Reconstruct, it was first disabled by a charging Manticore, before its repaired form was struck by the Griffon from the flank.

And since it was the Mangled Metal scenario... the Elves of Ios win the day. Maybe I should turn up with painted miniatures more often!

After a bit of refreshment, on to my second game, against our generous host, riot of riotville. Honestly, he's probably got the better report, but I feel honour bound to defend my... well, honour, since my memorisation of my battlegroup's cards was considered quite suspect! -_-

Anyway, game 2, let's go:

Mercenaries (Four Star Syndicate) (11pts)
Magnus, the Traitor (+6)
Mangler (8), Renegade (5) & Talon (4)
(Note - Renegade normally costs 6, but costed as five due to the "Most Wanted" Tier 1 benefit)

Let me just say now that I was indeed quite scared of the Renegade's Obliterator shot (it's once per game shot be damned!). Still, I determined to be aggressive (unlike how I usually play with Kae) though once again, I was going second.

Both of us deployed in line and riot's jacks pondered forward, the key spellcaster action being Tempered Armour on the Talon (lots of battle damage painted onto this chap, and that would soon be demonstrated), letting it sit on ARM 20. The Myrmidons ran forward in response, the Chimera seeking the cover of a rocky outcropping. Kae popped Rift through her Arc Node, seeing it splat between the two forces and prevent Magnus' jacks from effectively closing the distance.

Thus, he shambled forward some more, now with Iron Aggression on the Mangler... which could've been nasty were it not for Kaelyssa's feat, which she promptly popped in prime charging position. But not before making the Talon stationary with her second Arcantrik Bolt of the turn.

However, riot knows Magnus' tricks and popped it straight back, running his jacks right into the thick of it amongst the Myrmidons. Apparition was a godsend and the Chimera phased back, letting Kae successfully Arcantrik Bolt both the Talon and the Renegade (cast that spell seven times so far! ... out of eight spells cast overall!). The Chimera then took a whack to tie up the Talon for next turn, while the Manticore angled around and took a few swipes at the Mangler, though its Blade Fists seemed like Pillow Fists for those hits, even at PS 18, until it smacked the Renegade, crippling its right arm. The Griffon rounded off post-feat-turn by moseying around and taking a jab at the Mangler, doing not much of anything else.

The fatal error of that last Retribution turn was having the Manticore turn his back on Magnus, who took full advantage and took off more than half of the Myrmidon's hitboxes by himself, before the coup de grace was delivered by the Mangler, who shrugged its shoulders and casually chucked the Manticore at the Griffon, destroying the heavy and knocking the light down. One thing that I noticed was that neither of the Mercenary lights had shaken Stationary, so Kae and her Griffon could still dance around the Renegade. Which the Griffon duly did, nipping outside of the jack's melee range, popping up beside Magnus and head butting him. Knocked down caster only six inches away meant only one thing for me: assassination time. Advancing around the Renegade and settling just between the Mangler and Magnus, she unnecessarily nicked a point of FOC off the Mangler (unspent from the Manticore trashing) and struck away at the downed caster. Three boosted damage rolls against an FOC free Merc dealt almost enough damage... the key word there being "almost".

At the beginning of turn 5... head in hands having left Magnus with one... one... ONE!! damage box left (I have a history of this... Sorscha was reduced to one hitbox by Kae's ranged assassination run before the elf was eviscerated by Frostfang), I could only hope that DEF 16 was enough protection... ARM 14 sure isn't! With full FOC, Magnus opened up first with his Mechanikal Arm, hoping for the knockdown... but missed a boosted attack (on MAT 7, he needed 9's, but rolled a 6). He got more luck from the Foecleaver's Powerful Attack, hitting and dealing 6 damage to Kae. Buying another attack and boosting it, he missed again, rolling 8. With his last purchased attack, he rolled a 6 yet again, leaving riot to rue his run of good luck that had just run dry. The Mangler took a swing, but could not hit the jinking elf, while the Renegade also tried, but was too far and swung at thin air. Not amused, Kae turned, took one boosted attack and boosted damage swipe at Magnus, leaving me with two wins from my first Journeyman League evening.

Woohoo!! =_=

And here's what my battlegroup looks like (just to prove I actually play this f***ing stupid game!):

And here's a bit of a fluffed up Artificer I painted today for week 2 (might redo his armour in purple or something, not sure the green works) and there's a half-painted Arcanist somewhere around: -_-

Anyway, until next time...

Bubi

Kaelyssa... and blue...

Well... painting away... slowly... very slowly... not helped by choosing a pattern to paint on the Manticore that is a royal pain in the arse to do... photos to come up when I can bothered to take them under a half-decent light (oh yeah, my desk light is rubbish to paint at, will have to move my butt over to the main room light). And I still can't decide what colours to highlight Kaelyssa with...

Meanwhile, good grief, there are a shedload of parts on the Vectors, might take a while... >_> ... and whoever said Syntherion looks like a Swiss Army knife was right... but he's a helluva lot more annoying to put together than one of those utility must-haves... -_- playing him will be a steep learning curve, too, by the looks of things.

*shrugs* Ah... more glue-nose awaits...

And Guardians of the Galaxy is a barrel of laughs (finally watched it... laying stress on the word 'finally'...).

Bubi

Of colour & messes...

Well... the Convergence of Cyriss stuff will remain in their boxes...

Actually, tell a lie, just the battlebox will remain so... the Clockwork Angels, Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex and Elimination Servitors have been assembled, but won't be primed/painted for a while yet.

Thus, onto the main project of the... god only knows how long: Retribution of Scyrah. Finally gotten around to starting painting Kaelyssa (plastic... metal on the way) and her battlegroup.

Problem: just cannot decide on a colour scheme, and my laziness which lead to not removing the mould lines might make them a tad unsightly. Still, blue, silver, purple and green (all dark shades)... somehow... -_-

Will post a pic when I think it won't be too horrendous... and vaguely complete... >.>

And here, I'm contemplating getting Circle of Orboros stuff... ¬_¬

...

...

And why isn't a decent version of Andrea Uderzo's artpiece of Kaelyssa anywhere online (unadulterated, that is...)?!

*sigh*

Anyway, my colour scheme... nothing like this one: -_-

*grumbles*

Bubi

Ah... indolence...

*looks at date of last post*

Welp... looks like time for a fresh-ish start...

Anyway... because of work, studies and new hobbies, writing has somewhat stalled (Iberia remains incomplete, though conceptually, everything's there... just need more time, something sorely lacking at present, but ho hum...). In its stead, though... perhaps something of similar creativity will come about...

Might as well... WarMachine!! -_-

Went and bought this the other day:

Along with a couple other bits and pieces... perhaps the most difficult faction in WMH to play, but we'll see where this goes... paint them up first since no-one at my club knows I've picked up a second faction... Still, got to shake the reputation I have as a reprobate elf player (Eldar, WH40K: check; Dark Elves, WHF: check; any Elves, BloodBowl (whenever I decide to cobble a team together): check; Retribution of Scyrah, WMH: yes, check; pretty much any elves in any WRPG: check, again...) so mad scientists it is...

And many would find that fitting. The Second Harmonic (the Nine Harmonics being Convergence's equivalent of the Commandments of Biblical origins) particularly tickles me: the only true language is Mathematics... -_-

I wonder if they copied Galileo there: Mathematics is the language with which God has written the Universe... I used to know that in Italian, too... oh, Donald in Mathmagicland... knew I remembered it from somewhere...

Hope to get this up and running on a semi-regular basis... and who knows, I might actually get round to painting miniatures at some point... ¬_¬ Well, more than the half done Werner Klocke stuff I did for riot's Killing 3000 skirmish game... -_-

Bubi