Trickster Dice for the Trickster God...

Oh, the joys of retrieving stuff from one's attic & other cupboards and storage facilities... ¬_¬

Anyway, after a Sunday morning (... yes I'm so on the ball, aren't I?) of rummaging around, I found these!

From the back: 'Quins the New; 'Quins the Old; and 'Quins the Even Older. -_-

Pity I don't have 'Quins the Ancient to round out my (still) unpainted collection. And *sigh* yes... I did buy two Solitaires for teh lulz... -__- Hell, I've ordered a(nother) Dark Elf Shadowblade to do a converted Great Harlequin... its absence from the codex: 'Quins being a source of mild disappointment for me... have I mentioned that already? Eh... never mind.

More importantly, however, is that I've acquired... moar daiss!!

Ten limited edition, Eldar Harlequin themed dice in an appropriately chequered tin...

Right... so far so relatively mundane as far as dice go, but there's a faint colour tint to them... blue for three on the left, green for three on the right and grey-ish for the lower four. Turn them around and it becomes more obvious:

Ooooo, shiny! -__-

Yes, I am one of they who are easily awed by six-sided objects that hold infinite promises of victory, ever to be disappointed, but who cares, 'cos they look pretty!

Uh... yeah... I think I'll be using them tomorrow for Mordheim of all things... which will be a relief for shaggy... according to him, these dice are cursed! Ironically, they were first used for WarMachine. Uh... *ahem*

Bye for now... *I know... must paint more* *ugh*

B.

Quin Fix

Right... uh...

Yeah...

Uh-huh...

Ehm... yes, well... I went and got the Codex: Harlequins... Troupe Master Edition 169/900... Dunno what on earth possessed me to get it, but I got it nonetheless, and that money is now lost to me. However, judging by today's events, I'm not too hard-up about it, considering delivery companies in the UK are getting increasingly questionable (Dark Sphere don't have their pre-orders even though today is the release date and GW had the SE stuff yesterday afternoon).

Still... even though 'Eavy Metal's quality doesn't look as good as it used to be (colours aren't as smooth as I remember them... in bygone years... *ahem*) there was quite a lot of good stuff in the TME codex: the codex in hardback with an different cover (Codex: Harlequins); the painting guide (also with a different cover) (The Warriors of the Laughing God); and all gameplay related tokens and cards (thirty-six tactical objective cards including the six Harlequin specific ones and twenty-one psychic power cards including the Harlequin specific Phantasmancy Discipline, the others being Telepathy & Daemonology (Sanctic), the latter of which I have little familiarity with) (The Gifts of Cegorach). The tactical objectives and psychic powers are all backed in plain black, but have a subtle shimmering of the characteristic Harlequin check. The objective markers are smoky grey/black plastic diamonds numbered one to six and with the Harlequin faction symbol on them. And to top it off... all the pages of the codex & painting guide are gilt edged... fancy! -_-

I spent a bit of today looking over the codex, and now that I know the army list in its entirety, the Harlequins can be summed up with a familiar phrase: glass sword. I'd say "glass cannon", but all their shooting is pretty short range. Veil of Tears would make long ranged shooting both troll-worthy (for the 'Quin player) and, perhaps appropriately, tear-inducing in the enemy player. 24" seems to be the magic distance in the army. I need to brush up on a lot of special rules and mechanisms, but from what I can tell, there are some downright dirty synergies to be had here. Such as the Mask of Secrets on a character (I'm thinking the Solitaire so it can bounce around like a drunk hippy) surrounded by a large bubble of Fear causing models. Yeah... CHARGE, hitting first on 3's... and in all likelihood going to be hit back on 5's. Rising Crescendo alone will be enough to have Tau, Marine and other shooty factions' players crying cheese... I wryly wonder to myself... they're Eldar... where's Battle Focus?! *ahem*

Anyway, the 'Quins will certainly hit fast (yeah, very fast) and pretty damned hard, too... Furious Charge combined with the sheer number of attacks a single Troupe would bring (on the charge, a minimum unit has no fewer than twenty-one attacks) will clear out most infantry. Points vs. points, I don't think there's any non-vehicle non-monstrous creature unit in the game that would be able to go toe to toe against the Harlequins when they've been charged by them, especially when the special weapons come in. Outside of close combat, though, the 'Quins are appropriately quite vulnerable with the thin protection of the Starweaver or the Shadowseer's powers (most notable the Veil and Dance of Shadows) to help keep them relatively unscathed until they get to bury various weapons in their hecklers' innards (hey, a thespian is permitted a reaction!).

The question is therefore, now, how to go about building a list to reduce the Troupe's general flaw in that a 5+ Inv save is usually not enough to see them through an encounter? At first blush, there's either the mechanised route (Starweavers galore); or the Shadowseer route (attach a Shadowseer to each max Troupe and cast the Veil every turn). That said, the Shadowseer is pretty spunky herself, striking at I7 S6 on the charge, wounding on 2's, with 5 attacks. And if she has Fog of Dreams up, whoever she's fighting against will be flailing impotently, so she likely won't need that 5+ Inv of hers.

The other major weakness I observe is that the Quins have no real way of dealing with Flyers or heavy armour. No Skyfire and an insufficient shot count means flyers are able to dart in and hit them, while there's only a smattering of Fusion Pistols and Haywire Cannons to deal with vehicles. We'll see where this leads.

Here for your entertainment... -__-

B.

First Night at the Creative Biscuit

Riot of riotville let the gang know about a quaint little crafts-cafe in South Woodford where the proprietor is a WarMachine player with a hankering to get back into the game. Tim, genial chap though he is, clearly didn't realise what he was getting himself into, letting the rambunctious (as the evening proved) Nomads crash by.

It was a pretty good turn-out: Jeez-George; Macca; riot; shaggy; mr2key; jiri; DAMON; Neil; Russ; and of course our generous host, Tim. Lano, though, couldn't make it, which was a pity as he was the only gaming regular not present.

Ah well... on to dice-rolling. jiri & DAMON set up a small game of Warhammer Fantasy on one table, Macca and riot had a loud and jolly(!) time playing another Mordheim campaign game, Jeez-George and Russ floated from table to table while Tim, mr2key, shaggy and myself had a couple small games of WarMachine.

So, representing the Motherland!

Tim with Strakhov:

And shaggy with pVlad:

Representing the drunk Trolls, mr2key with... actually, I can't remember which caster he's got... I just get flashbacks of pFeora surrounded by flames... *ahem*:

And of course... my lot:

mr2key and shaggy had a quick 15pt game, while Tim and I went for 25pts (as he already had a list sorted). It being a very long time since he had had a game, we took it easy and introduced him to the various tricks and shenanigans (shaggy's favourite word... for pretty much everything I play!) that Retribution has (considering he had never faced them before). He was naturally a tad rusty, but knew his way around the elements of his force. I was, unfortunately for him, though, a tad slam-happy! Force Hammer and the Banshee's Momentum knocked things about and in turn 3, I noticed an opportunity and we went through my assassination run. We chatted for a few minutes while mr2key (who forgot about his Trollkin Champs having 8 hitboxes each!) was gradually cleaned up by shaggy who is now thoroughly addicted to Signs & Portents and the WGDS's mass of sprays! Strakhov is a new caster as far as my experience against goes, and though I know his feat (probably better to play Rahn rather than Kaelyssa given that her feat makes it impossible for him to do likewise) and immunities, I knew little else. A few neat spells makes him a curious Khador caster, the notoriously ponderous faction... and in Tim's case, a nicely painted army, too!

There was then (just) enough time for me and mr2key to play 15pts (almost all of which was painted! w00t!):

pFeora
Vanquisher
max. Exemplar Cinerators
Nicia, Tear of Vengeance
and a Vassal of Menoth (wrong model, though, I think he used a Choir leader... well, some dude with a cross on a stick... either way, AKA 'the boobs', as one model he's used on previous occasions is basically a nekkid woman in the wrong scale made by Reaper! Heh!)

vs.

Kaelyssa (PLEASE let that be pKaelyssa with the coming of Reckoning... even though rumours are it'll be eRahn we'll get... *sigh*)
Banshee
Fane Knight Skeryth
Narn
Arcanist
House Shyeel Artificer

Well, the gist of it was that we ran at each other, the Vassal kept doing Ancillary Attack on the Vanquisher and the Banshee was set on fire, but it went out pretty quick. And depleting focus (two boosted attempts of Arc' Bolts against Nicia... both missed)... the Banshee, though, moved to within Stealth range and flying off she went. -_-

The next time he tried it, though, he set his own Cinerators on fire! Turn 2, I feated, and he ran to engage.

The Banshee proceeded to fluff his lines and hit twice out of five attacks with fives to hit! Uh-doi!! *ugh* Thankfully, their return hits (they oddly don't have Reach... even though I compared their swords to the Sentinels' Great Swords... which proved to be much shorter... yet gave my chaps Reach... uh-wha?!) didn't do much either. In the meantime, Feora was off blasting Narn in the face, which seemed rather petty tit-for-tat... my acrobat for yours!

Feora turned away from that and feated herself just as the Banshee and the Pain Knight continued clobbering the Cinerators. Enliven put on the Vanquisher turned out to be pointless as Kae Arc'Bolted it letting the Pain Knight poke it a couple times for good measure. However, she was starting to get a bit crispy...!

Yeah, the fire went out on the Banshee... even though it needed the help least! *sigh* Anyway, after Kae was primely placed needing to help the Knight out, Feora legged it in to pour some more fiery hate on her. Her first flamethrower hit took Kae down to 6... the second... down to 5! But that's the end of the good news for me, she remained on fire and I rolled an 11 for damage... more lemons!!

LAWL!!

And that was literally the last roll of the dice for the evening! Thankee Tim, hope to see you again soon, thankee riot for setting the whole thing up, thankee mr2key for the ride home, thankee shaggy... actually, I'm not thanking you! =P

B.

A Butcher's Mortality...

Sunday just gone, after fawning over my new acquisitions... and wasting more money on some more of the space-clowns *ahem*... off to Tanelorn I went.

First game was Godslayer... and even though it was supposed to be battlebox with 160pts... Nigel wiped the floor with my Halodynes (using wave 2 Troglodytes, who are among the beardiest bunch of bastards going as far as I can tell... ¬_¬ ). Still, it was more to learn the rules than anything else, and three idiots (myself, Nigel and nepalese_ninja) were all sitting there like lemons at several points looking up rules about charges etc. all with our own copies of the rulebook. -_- As I say... learning the rules... sort of.

Anyway, main event of my afternoon was playing WarMachine against major_winters (Nick), who I'd never played before, and is the club's Menoth player, who would play Thyra more if she weren't so shit (his words not mine! Even if I agree...!). Oddly, though, he had these guys...

... instead. *shrug* OK, shaggy plays these hard bastards, so what's the worst that could happen... well... they were led by none other than...

... this ridiculous asshole wearing a cauldron on his belly. Yeah, Butcher3... toting 2 Kodiaks, Beast09 (another first for me... and major_winters as well, as it happened), Doom Reavers, Iron Fang Pikemen, Greylord Ternion a few other bits and pieces... and a puppy. Yeah, Butcher3, who already has two two-headed canines... decides to bring a puppy as well... 'cos why not and 1pt to burn... *sigh*

Anyway, I brought my usual tech with Kae. We had Close Quarters (I think) as the scenario, and I won the roll off, opting to go first. Up everything ran, though Eiryss2 had a pot shot (out of range) at the AD'ed Doom Reavers, while spellcasting of note was Phantom Hunter on the Banshee. Fine fine, the Khadorans ran back at me, the Doom Reavers tying up Eiryss in combat and seeing her run away. My turn 2 and Kae feated, Backlashed one of the Kodiaks, which promptly got pummelled by the Invictors, scratching the Butcher a bit. Eiryss rallied, but still had half a dozen Reavers leering at her. Nick's turn saw the 'Lashed Kodiak run away, the Pikemen shamble forward more while the Butcher himself ran helter skelter down the middle, popped Impending Doom and only managed to drag the unlucky Phoenix in and promptly saw it smacked to pieces. Granted, it needed Red Haze to accomplish it, but Nick's rolling was unfortunately... unfortunate (double one's to hit... next attack, triple ones to damage...) Left on one FOC, the ternion came up and dropped a few clouds to cover. No use... Banshee's boosted shot slammed the Butcher back into one of his Arguses killing it. Kae cycled Phantom Hunter to herself and nicked her opposite number's focus with a Runebolt shot, killed the second Argus with a double boosted Arcantrik Bolt (we rather belatedly realised it was engaged by the Halberdiers... and I forgot that Arcane Secrets expires on the first spell cast, doesn't matter what it is). The Invictors had been tied up by the fresh Kodiak, but enough were available for a grand CRA, and dealt the Butcher a fair shot to the face. Aiyana cast the Kiss and Holt finished the downed Khadoran with a buffed damage roll of nine.

So ends my first experience against Butcher3... and major_winters knowingly advised me that the next time we meet, he'll play something he knows... like eFeora!

...

Oh yeah, hey, mr2key, you like eFeora, too, dontcha?! =P

Anyway, here was the final position:

So... lesson of the day: sure I planned the assassination before Nick even cast Impending Doom, but damn, I royally buggered up the order of activation:

What I did: Banshee; Sylys; Kae; Invictors; Aiyana & Holt; (game over).

For maximum effect, I should've opened with the Banshee, as I actually did do, then have Aiyana cast the Kiss of Lyliss so that all subsequent damage is more effective (Holt's shots would never have that much impact by themselves, not against a caster with ARM like the Butcher's). Off of Arcane Secrets, the first spell cast had to be offensive... so the first target had to be the Argus (being a medium base with just small bases in the way, LOS not a problem), then cycle Phantom Hunter and plink off the Butcher's focus. Thankfully, back-up in the form of a pair (maybe 3 including the UA) of Halberdiers could've finished the Butcher off in a pinch (pop mini-feat, auto-hit with pretty high PS, it was kinda hard not to slice/dice him).

As for Nick... bring a Bokur... -_-

Until next time... and after more 'Quin painting...

B.

The Library's doors open again... pity your face gets shredded the next turn...!

Right... well... today's the day... or rather yesterday was, but this release is certainly less than 24hrs old, and I present:

Yah... the brand spanking new Eldar Harlequin's Solitaire with his (should be her!! SHOULD BE HER!!) cornucopia of special (silly) rules...

I got this sucker at about 3:30pm yesterday... started constructing at 5:30pm... and had seven layers of paint down by 6:30pm... yeah, I did something really strange... primed in metal, 'cos I was feeling... well, weird, though I guess that's nothing new. And here's another pic with an eighth layer of paint and better light...

Anyway, the model is great, easy to put together and mould lines were few and straightforward to get rid of. Only the sprue clumps for the Harlequin's Kiss were annoying, but eh... I'm crap at this sort of thing so I wasn't too fussed. For the model itself, top notch, dynamic pose (well duh) and a fluffy complement of kit/gear.

However, while I'm (by and large) psyked for the 'Quins release in general, my criticisms for the Solitaire in particular would be that I'm disappointed it's not a female, as most of the fluff I'm familiar with (thanks Gav Thorpe... ¬_¬ ) paints the Solitaire as a female. But eh... I'll live... hopefully not much else will, especially those bearing the Mark of Slaanesh (that includes you, too, shaggy, if you're reading this!), but the horns?! o.O Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... Also, that weird shimmery diamond thingy that sticks onto the back of his coat, I kinda get what they were trying to do there, but it would've worked better if it extended to the entire hem. *shrug*

So, all in all... great model... but not a great Solitaire model.

More progress to follow... in less than a week, hopefully... -.-

B

How to do half the job...

LittleLano invited me over to his place for a game on Friday, and since I wouldn't have a chance to play this weekend, I thought... yeah, why not.

I had Kae, as usual, but thought that the usual list I fielded for her was getting rather worn. In my case, though was Issyria, a caster I had very little experience with, other than a ridiculous assassination of pDeneghra (six MHSF clustered about her in turn 6 needing 9's to hit because I neglected to cast Blinding Light with a Chimera lately with a Machine Wraith in it... silly story), and being the caster I played my first timed game with. I had the models for her tier list (aside from a Banshee proxying as a Phoenix) and went with double Phoenix, Silly Willy, 2 Arcanists, Houseguard Thane and max Invictors/Sentinels/Halberdiers all with UA's.

Lano's love affair with Kallus continued and he fielded a Carnivean, Spawning Vessel, Succubus, Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew, 2 max Ogrun Warspears with UA's, max Legionnaires with Capt Farilor and a Gatorman Posse.

For my part, this was best described as a missed opportunity, while Lano cursed his dice on numerous occasions but managed to outlast me, anyway. I conceded that I had deployed incorrectly (wide-frontage... made mention of it ages ago, but since this was a casual game, I couldn't be bothered to change things). Anyway, we tried out SR2015, rolled Destruction and I took first turn. So... RUN!

And his first turn mirrored mine, the Gatormen praying Dirge of Mists. Second turn... Issyria popped feat and Crusader's Call. Lano underestimated the Halberdiers' threat range with Thane in tow with Crusader's Call, and was promptly wrecked, even though the Legionnaires had popped mini-feat (ARM buff).

Regarde!

Yeah, his dead pile is up in the corner, and an irksome number of medium bases was among it. All his units were down by half at least. However, it only went downhill from there for me as I hadn't really planned much at all except a grind fest, despite knowing Issyria doesn't play attrition well. Yah, clever me... *ugh* Anyway, he counter-feated, knowing it was a bit late, tied up the Invictors in combat with the remaining Ogruns on the right and slowly ground down the rest of the elven army. His Carnivean managed to wreck Phoenix number one, but was counterattacked by Phoenix number two. Given his better combat units and more intelligent of distributing resources, the Invictors were useless, the Sentinels were overwhelmed and the Halberdiers lost their hitting power considering the proximity of much of his army around the control zone. The one bright point being destroying his objective:

The game was decided when a spawned Stinger sprayed the remaining Arcanist, leaving the Phoenix to be Combo-Struck by one of the feat-Incubi, leaving Issyria with little to be able to deal any sort of killing blow against Kallus.

Ah well... understandably, I was a tad disappointed, since Issyria's feat turn did a number on Kallus' force, but a post-mortem drew a few lessons/conclusions. One, the Invictors were in too easy a position to be occupied and should have been closer to the Phoenixes to take potential advantage of Flank (the original idea that I couldn't be bothered to revert to was to line the Halberdiers up in front of the Invictors to screen them without hindering their effectiveness, thanks to Ranked Attacks). Two, that wall was a trap, as I had intended to have Issyria hide behind it for as long as possible, but it meant that at least two elements of my army would always be out of position. Three, one of the Phoenixes should've been held back a little as a reserve heavy hitter. Four, don't be afraid of Free Strikes if it means the loss of only a small part of a unit (only three of the ten remaining Invictors after the Ogruns' initial charge were engaged, and had I been willing to lose them, the remaining seven would be able to CRA the three Ogruns and hopefully kill two of them, the subsequent combat would be more than enough to wipe out the unit, leaving six Invictors to support the dwindling centre). Five... fear the Spawning Vessel! Seriously, that thing did more than 10pts worth of work this battle!

-_-