Warmachine double-header 15/09/09 - part 2

After the carnage of the first game, I don't think I actually wanted (or needed) a second game. Vish (who was offering a few tips in the first game) offered to have a friendly battle and run through the finer points of the game. We agreed that we'd play a 500 point game and he would be using his Khador. Vish and I made new lists on the spot while Vish explained a bit about selection to me. So I took a trimmed down list from the previous game, leaving out the deliverers and a couple of  'jacks this time.
Vish gave me more tips about deployment and movement, and went through different synergies I could try. There were a few things that I will keep looking to use. For example, (and I'm probably not going to help myself here by giving away some of my plans) the use of Wracks as explosives. I managed to get Severius to aim Ashes to Ashes at a Wrack. The Wrack duly exploded with a POW 15 balst with 5" AOE. This managed to soften up Vish's Demolition Corps first before Ashes to Ashes kicked in and gave an additional POW 12 hit to each member. This took down three out of five of the unit which I thought was quite effective! There are others (like last game where I cast Death Sentence on Den's Titan Canoneer and hit it with my Deliverers) that I'm trying to work on over the next few weeks. I'm aware that the timing of some of these combinations may be few and far in between, but I'll need to work out how to make it happen. Using the more or less the same lists week in, week out I should be able to do this.
Back to the game, I properly learnt the value of a Monlith Bearer. What he can add to the Zealots is just awesome. From what I've learnt from the PP forums and Battle College, Mr M. Bearer is being toned down a little under MKII rules but will still be able to make the Zealots a harder hitting unit.

The game still ended with me on the losing end again, but I suppose you learn more through losing than winning. If thats the case, why don't I win sometimes?

Warmachine double-header 15/09/09 - part 1

I had signed myself up for two games of Wamachine/Hordes in one night. This was a night were I massively overstepped my Warmachine mark. As a relative newbie to the game, I made the mistake of jumping from 350 point games to a 750 point game! I didn't even graduate from playing 500 pointers. The difference was huge, I had to control more models than I was prepared for.

I took up a challenge from a Skorne player called Den. Den brought with him a wonderfully painted force, with a great blue and gold theme throughout. His force was led by the Lord Assassin Makeda who creeps me out a little, crouching with his fans. The rest of the force consisted of:

Warbeasts: A Titan Cannoneer, a Titan Gladiator, a Basilisk Krea and a Cyclops Savavge.
Units: 5 Paingivers and two units of 9 Praetorian Swordsmen.
Solos: An Ancestral Guardian, two Extoller Soulwards, one Void Spirit and Orin Midwinter.

Against this I fielded a force led by Severius and his Hierophant attachment. He was accompanied by:
Warjacks: A Crusader, a Revenger, a Repenter and a Devout.
Solos: Exemplar Seneschal, Reclaimer, a Vassal and three Wracks.
Units: A full-strength Choir,9 x Deliverers, 7 x Exemplar Errants and 10 x Holy Zealots with Monolith Bearer attachment.

The game was massively overwhelming for me so I wish I had taken pics in order to record the game better. The game started off sluggishly partly beacuase I just couldn't figure out in which order to do things, but then warmed up when I started dying. A lot of things went wrong for me as most of these units and solo's were making their debuts.
There was just a bit too much going on to actually write a proper report here, so I'll just list my high and low points.

LOW:

• I didn't use my Hierophant as I should have. All he did was take three points of damage from Severius.
• The Exemplar Seneschal was totally not effective and therefore deserved to one of the ones to die first.
• My Revenger with Arc Node died quickly. As did my Reclaimer.
• I didn't use my Wracks enough.
• I deployed in a way that I was sometimes blocking my own troops.

HIGH:

• A Severius 'Death Sentence'/Deliverers combo took out the Titan Cannoneer.
• The Zealots proved to be quite a tough screen for some time (I love giving them Holy Vigil and then when they get close enough, pulling off Greater Destiny).
• The Exemplars Errant were effective at range.

Makeda was never in danger as firstly he was sat behind a unit of Paetorians, and then able to teleport himself close to Severius and kill him. I thought maybe Severius might have been safe enough as can't be targeted by spells and he had a Devout in tow blocking ranged attacks.

But still, it was an enjoyable game. I really hope that Den wasn't put off by my mistake to play such a big game.

Protectorate additions.

Back in June, I didn't think I would really get into Warmachine. But when I got the Protectorate of Menoth battlebox, I don't really need to explain how it went...

Now nearly three months down the line, I have amassed a sizeable force already. The idea was to purchase at least one unit per month. This would be difficult to do as I am trying to make my 40k Necron army the same size as my Dark Angel force, just another 7000 points or so to go! But, I have been severly hit by the Privateer Press bug! So much that I have given up on expanding my metal minions (well they do weigh in at 4793 points) for the time being. I will come back to them at some point next year, unless I'm unable to resist the Monsterpocalypse bug!


My current force is as follows:

'Casters: PSeverius, PKreoss and PFeora. Plus Hierophant 'caster attachment.

'Jacks: one each of the following, Crusader, Repenter, Revenger and Devout.

Solos: Reclaimer, Vassal, Exemplar Seneschal and Wracks (x 3)

Units: Choir (full strength), Deliverers (full strength), Zealots (full strength) with Monolith Bearer unit attachment, Exemplar Errants (full strength) and Temple Flameguard (x 8).

Next on my list would be to make Flameguard full strentgh and add their unit attachment. I would also like to add a full unit of Exemplar Vengers. As for more Warjacks, I've got my eye on a Blessing of Menoth and another Revenger. Eventually, as with my Necrons, I would like at least one of every unit. This would then enable me to look into the possibilty of collecting a Hordes force (looking at Skorne, but who knows?).

The sad thing for me about collecting more models, is the painting aspect thingy. I really hate painting! I can never gather the patience to do it and when I do, I remember that my technique is really poor. This really annoys me as my wife, who is quite ticked off with the amount of space taken up by all of these models, gave me a recommendation/compromise/rule that I should only buy new models when I've finished painting everything else. If I had to guess how much more I have to paint before this can happen, it would probably be something silly like 15/16ths of my entire collection. I probably wouldn't be able to buy anything until after the next two World Cups. This might call for a lengthy absence from work and getting rid of my PC!