Intoducing, the tag team champions of Immoren!

Dozer and Smigg!!

I finally finished this bad boy up and man does it feel good. I really feel like I leveled up in terms of painting. Every little detail on this guy was a challenge. I did more shading, blending and highlighting than I've ever done before and I'm very happy with the results. Usually this is where I give you a run down of what the model can do, but with MK III coming in just a couple of months, there's not really any point. I have no idea what he's going to be able to do in the new edition. Don't really care either. He's one of the reasons I started this faction and a badass, highly detailed model. I never painted anything in 40k that even comes close to the detail on him. Anyway, here are the pretties.

Going to kinda take a break from painting for a little while and recoup my energy since I have like 40 some models to paint and have no idea what they're going to be like in June. I am still currently playing though and have a couple of batreps to post when I find the time.

MK III Musings

Ok. So Privateer Press have announced their new system for Warmachine/Hordes called MK III. What do we know? Well, We know that the core rules will be released for free on June 12th with the books being released on June 29th. We know that they have "rebalanced" all of the units and jacks in the game. There are going to be new battleboxes for each faction except Minions, Mercenaries, and Convergence (insert sad face here). New faction decks also for every faction, since you'll need a shiny new set of cards to go with the shiny new rule set. We also have a couple of the updated rules for the new system.

First up, what they are calling "Power Up" basically all 'Jacks in the game with a functioning cortex (so no convergence or cephalax monstrosities, more on that later) will get a free focus for being in their casters control area. This is kinda big. Now you don't have to choose between running your 'jacks first turn or casting those upkeeps on first turn. Warcasters have much more flexibility than before. This was done in an attempt to balance the game against Hordes since Hordes has a pretty large advantage in the early stages of the game when compared to Warmachine.

Now, I mentioned that Convergence and Cephalax do not benefit from Power Up. That's because they get their own rules. Convergence has always had induction. Power Up + induction would have been broken as hell. Instead, they removed the restriction on induction so you can now induct up to three focus from one 'jack to another. This is amazing.........as it stands right now. We don't know what (if anything) they've done to re-balance the 'jacks and units in the army. So yeah, right now the Corollary is able to hand out 6 focus a turn, but we have no idea if that's going to be true in the new edition. Until that new card is in my hand, I won't know.  Cephalax on the other hand, now power their Monstrosities through damage. They get one focus (up to the usual three) when they take damage. This focus stays on them until they use it. It doesn't go away at the end of the turn. I haven't played against these guys and only know one player locally who plays them, but this sounds like it could work really well for them.

The second major rule is something called "Spirit Bond" This is a Hordes specific rule that was put in to balance out them in the late game where Warmachine has the advantage. This rule lets you gain one additional fury from each of your dead, destroyed, or removed from play Warbeasts. Like I said, this is meant to shore up the Hordes late game since once they start losing beasts, it gets harder and harder to get work done as your Warlock has less to pull fury from. I don't think it'll alleviate all the fury you need late in game, but it will help.

The third major rule is the one I dislike the most. Premeasuring has come to Warmahordes. Yes, you may now pre-measure anything on the table. I think it takes a major skill out of the game. The ability to judge distances is key and without it, you either play more conservative or you end up failing charges or that shot you lined up misses by just a hair. It's a skill I lack completely. So why am I complaining about something that's going to make my life easier? I think it makes the whole game much easier and I'm not sure I'm happy with that. Like everything else though, it remains to be seen. There is the limiting factor of the timed turns that will make it hard to pre-measure a lot of things and still be able to move and attack. We'll just have to wait and see how it will fully impact the game and I may change my opinion on it over time.

That's about all we know for sure. Like usual though, the internet is exploding with pointless speculation and rumor mongering. There's no point in it. I've watched it happen with 40k countless times and it's beyond pointless.

So where does this all leave me? Well, I'm going to continue to play MK II until the new rule set comes out. I'm not, however, going to be buying any new models until MK III releases and we see how things are going to shake out. There's no use purchasing something only to have it not be that good in the new system.

Don't Make Me Angry

Finished up the Dire Troll Mauler for my army. I imagine him kind like the Troll version of the Hulk. He's pretty strong already, but add in his Rage animus which give +3 Str and the fact that he has 5 fury, and he becomes a real monster. He has real value in just about any list. Hell, I even have him in one of my Gunnbjorn lists. Being able to pass around rage to other beasts gives him lots of synergy with just about everything. I mean, come on, who doesn't want to punch harder.

I built him from the newer plastic/resin kit and magnetized him so that I can use it as a bomber (or a blitzer if it ever comes to that) as well. It wasn't terribly hard to do, as most of the magnets went in with no trimming of the joints. Just glue down and done. The back piece was the hardest to figure out. In the end though, I figured out a way to position the front part of the torso a little further forward and now the back pieces slide in and out easily and stay put without anything holding them down.

I'm not sure what happened with his paint, but it turned out sort of undead-ish looking. The grey highlight layer didn't wash like it usually does. Really happy with the leather and the rust though. Also, I'm playing around with the LightRoom app and it's having a huge impact on my pics. Here's a before and after of my Gunnbjorn I took a couple weeks ago.

Before (with minor iOS editing)

After LightRoom editing

As you can tell, it brought the colors back to more true and took out a lot of the washout caused by the lighting. I'd highly recommend it.

Tourney number 3 and painting problems

Pretty quick turnaround on this tourney. Just 2 weeks after the last one, the Gopher hosted a casual, off-schedule tourney. The format was 35 points, single list, and it had to be a current ADR caster so you got to bring 20 points of specialists. Since Gunnbjorn is now on the ADR, I thought it was the perfect time to bust out my trolls to the tourney scene. Here was my list:

Gunnbjorn
Dire Troll Mauler
Slag Troll
Storm Troll
Runebearer
Pyg Burrowers (max)
Croak Raiders (max)
Northkin Fire Eaters

Specialists
Storm troll
Kriel Stone bearer and Stone Scribes
Dire Troll Bomber

There were 8 people and we were going to do three rounds. First round I hit the same guy I started with last time and the reigning store champ. He brought a Ret assassination list and used it like a scalpel. I went down at the top of turn 3. I'm not sure I'll ever beat this guy. I could have subbed in the Storm troll for the slag and the bomber for the mauler, but honestly, I'm not sure it would have made much difference.

Game 2 was against a new Khador player. He brought Sorscha to the party with Beast-09, a Devastator, some winterguard, Kovnik Joe, and some snipers. Not sure what his plan was, but I had him from the first turn. I took first turn, and ran everything up and sent the dygmies under ground. He moved his stuff up and put up some defensive things. I put snipe on the croaks and laid waste to half the winter guard and moved the fire eaters up behind his lines and took out his mortar and Joe. The dygmies pop up and charge both his jacks and surround both their bases. I didn't have any hope to damage them, just wanted to tie them up. Runebearer put snipe on the storm troll and I electrocuted his snipers off the board. His turn 2 he tried to free himself of the dygmies by spraying them with the winter guard, that only took out one. Next his Devastator trampled over them and his dice failed him amazingly and he only took out two. Beast had to go next and was able to clear his own base, but basically wasted his turn doing it. 20 points of 'jacks to kill 6pts of Digmys, I'll take that. Lastly he moved Sorscha up (into what would become a terrible position) and feated which froze most everyone in their tracks. I say most since the fire eaters that he ignored were immune to cold. Top of three, I move my fire eaters around and put a few wounds (less than I'd like) on Sorscha, Gunny activates, places snipe on the slag troll (the croak raiders were all frozen) and guided fire. He lit Sorscha up with a bazooka shot and then the slag troll finished her off. I don't blame my opponent for moving her like he did, he had no way of knowing the fire eaters were immune (he didn't ask and I didn't tell) he was simply making the best move he thought he had. Honestly though, the digmys tying up both his jacks for a turn made a huge difference.

Game 3 was against yet another Khador player, though with an entirely different list. He had Vlad1, the Great bears unit and 7 Berserkers. Holy shit that's a lot of jacks. This game actually played out a lot better than I thought it would. It ended up being a grind and had it not been for a couple of bad fire rolls on my part, Vlad would have died before the beserker took Gunny's head off. In the end, I took out 4 of the 7 and had the other 3 hurt badly.

So, I finished the day 1-2 and I'll take that. No prize for best painted this time since half of my stuff still isn't done.

That leads me to my next little issue. I've put myself in a position I swore I'd never do again. I went and bought my entire army without painting it. Now I'm suffering from major painting ADD and nothing is getting finished. Especially when I look at my transports and see all those primed and unpainted models. It's just a bit overwhelming. Nothing to do but barrel through it I guess, it's just going to be a while. Going to tackle the beasts first (in fact I've already got the mauler done and the bomber isn't far behind) then move on to the more tedious units and all 20 friggin croak raiders.  

Tourney number 2

Played in my second steamroller event this past weekend. It was 50 points and there was bonuses for being fully painted so I took my Convergence since it's painted and I still don't have all my trolls anyway. I also have no earthly clue how to play either troll list on the clock, gotta get more practice for that. It was a two list event and here's what I took:

Syntherion
Assimilator
Cipher
Corollary
Diffuser
Galvanizer
Prime Axiom
Reflex Servitors
Optifex Directive
TEP
ADO

Pretty heavy list designed to break armor. I usually play it into other 'jack heavy lists.

My other list was:
Lucant
Corollary
Inverter x2
Max Reciprocators
Max Obstructors
Enigma Foundry x2
Optifex Directive
Reflex Servitors
Attunement Servitors

My main scenario list. Designed to run into zones, sit there and hold the rest of the game.

My first game was against the best player at the store. He was playing a skorne list with a mix of Nhilators and Immortals with Molik Kharn and another big non-elephant elephant. This was the three flags scenario so that took my synth list out of the running right there as he is terrible at that one. Played Lucant, and did reasonably well. He ended up winning on scenario because I was all jammed up in the middle and he was able to take the right side flag and I had nothing to challenge it with. Good game that probably wasn't as close as it felt for me.

Second game was against trolls. He was taking a pGrissel list with warders, champions, a blitzer, mauler, pyre and Impaler. Also he had the pig solo Maximus. Seeing as how it was likely to be an attrition game for both sides I picked Lucant again. Not a lot happened. I stuck into the zone, he stuck into the zone, neither one of us could clear the other and we ran down the round timer. It went to the third tiebreak before he was declared the winner.

We only played the two rounds due to there not being enough players. So, finished 0-2. I did however walk away with some store credit for being fully painted, so it wasn't a total loss.  

When All Else Fails, Get a Bigger Gun

Here's my take on Captain Gunnbjorn. He has to be one of the least loved and under-represented casters for our faction. Why? Well because he doesn't have a stupid overpowered theme list or any particular synergy with troll melee troops. That and his feat is somewhat on the weak side. So why do I take him? Well, for one he looks bad ass. Two, when people don't see something, they usually don't know how to counter it. He can use that to his advantage....some, a good player will know what his limitations are and push them. I think he works just fine. His ability to give out snipe to some pretty hearty ranged units (croak raiders) and his spell guided fire which gives boosted attack and damage rolls to his battle group, makes him straight deadly in a fire fight. His feat, like I mentioned, is not really the greatest in the world compared to the others. It's not bad either, just has to be used defensively. It gives friendly faction models cover, immunity to knockdown and blast damage. Used correctly and your guys will be +4 DEF and won't get knocked down if they have to make (and pass) a tough check.  He really does have a hard time cracking heavy armor though. If you're facing down a gargantuan or a colossal or hell, anything from Khador, it's going to be an uphill battle. Also, since he doesn't really have much in the way of melee, when you get closed in on, it's pretty much done. Proper positioning and good use of snipe should make short work of anything that can really hurt you before they can touch you.

I posted this the other day, but here's the list I'm building toward:
Captain Gunnbjorn
Runebearer
Dozer and Smigg
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler
Dhunian Knot
2x Max Croak Raiders
2x Feral Geist
2x Northkin Fire Eaters

It's just a straight up shoot the shit out of people list. The Fire Eaters are there to help with stealth, the geists are there since I had extra points and didn't know what else to put in there. They may come in handy every know and then, but I don't expect a lot of return out of them. The croaks are monsters under snipe and can easily take an armor 18 heavy with one unit of them. ARM 20, gets a little sketchy though.

Doing a little catching up.

It seems I've fallen behind on my "battle reports" if you can call them that. So, let's recap the last few weeks.

I had the opportunity to play a few small points games just to finish getting my feet wet. I played against Menoth twice and a mercs list once. I lost all three. This is just the latest in a long line of disappointing low point games. I seem to have no luck or skill in building lists suited for these matchups. I've said it before in other posts, and I'll mention it again, I just don't feel like the game is balanced at low point levels.

Last weeks game was a little more interesting, as my Gunnbjorn list made it's (proxied) debut.

Here's what I took
Captain Gunnbjorn
Rune Bearer
Dire Troll Bomber
Dozer and Smigg
Troll Impaler

Feral Geist x2
Max Croak Raiders x2
Dhunian Knot
Northkin Fire Eaters x2

His list: (as much as I can remember)
Goreshade 3
Defiler

Aiakos
Kraken

Darragh Wrathe
Scrap Thralls x3
Max Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
Max Soulhunters

That leaves 3 points unaccounted for, I just can't remember what it was.

I win the roll for first turn and take it. He puts his Kraken to the left of center. I deploy the knot, the beasts and gunny in the middle of my zone. He sets up the rest of his army with the Blackbanes going on the left, the soulhunters on the right and Goreshade directly in the middle. My advance deploy I put the fire eaters up in the center toward the zone and cover each flank with the croaks. My plan is to use the fire eaters to clear the zone in front, juggle snipe around on the croaks and use them to hurt his flanks. I have no real answer for the Kraken, I was just hoping to tie it up some.

My turn 1: I run everything but Gunny. He walks and puts snipe on the right side croaks, and puts a wall in front of the fire eaters for cover.

His turn 1: He moves up the Kraken and takes a pot shot at my fire eaters, misses, but still manages to take 3 points off the pyg buddy. Blackbanes run and spread out (explosivo makes my weapons magical AOE's and could put the hurt on them), Soul Hunters move up (and into a nice little line) and finally Goreshade himself moves up and into the zone casts occultation on the hunters and camps 4 focus.

This is where it gets interesting.
My turn 2: I see an opening to his caster and by all means I'm going to take it. First I move the fire eaters and try a trick they can do and light themselves on fire. They get +5 ARM against fire and boosted damage if they're on fire. So I have the pyg in the group do his charge move and use his assault ability to breathe fire on the other two guys. Roll to hit, hit. Roll for damage...... double 6's. Enough to kill him. Damn. And then I failed my tough roll. The other guy fared better and he managed to charge and assault the hunters and take out 3.Next, Gunny goes and casts snipe on the left flank croak raiders. The knot activates and casts puppet master on the croaks. Croaks, if you don't know already, have a two pronged way of attacking. One or more of them toss an oil gourd and gives the unit boosted damage rolls. If you throw the gourd, you can't use your flame darts however, and that makes perfect sense to me. Anyway. The gourd is 2 inches shorter range than the darts so one guy moves up, and hits dead on Goreshade. Now he's primed for damage. The next three shots I took were some of the hottest dice I've ever rolled. I threw a 15, a 15 and a 11 at dice -9. I used puppet master to reroll that last number as it wouldn't have been enough to kill him and get a 16. Goreshade dead, Troll victory!

So. Couple things about this game. I am not in anyway going to discount the amount of luck I had in that shooting round, or the mistake by my opponent to not hide his caster a little better. I'm really liking this list, but I still don't really know what it can do when the game gets down to the latter rounds. It's going to require some more testing, but it looks good so far. The Knot is an awesome support piece, and the Croaks under snipe are pretty heavy on the damage even on average dice. I didn't even get a chance to try Dozer or the Bomber but they look like a good pairing on paper.