Wednesday 16 June 2010

Yet another slippery slope.

Thanks to Grand Master Vish (and the Fury-ous Five?!? (sorry about that)), I am now going to start a Skorne force for Hordes. I have said in previous posts that I was probably going to do this towards the end of the year as the Forces of Hordes: Skorne will be available. I was going to divert my Menoth's Might budget that month and get the battle box and begin from there. But due to special circumstances, Vish left to go up north and got everyone a little surprise, my plans have been accelerated. Vish kindly left me a Razorworm to kick things off. I do love the look and the idea of her (I’ve decided she’s going to be called Mildred), but I’m just afraid that my paint job will ruin her somehow. One of the reasons I was a bit afraid of starting a Hordes force with loads of beasts was that my lack of patience in the painting department. No patience leads to rushed job. Rushed job leads to thick paint. Thick paint leads to crap looking models. I have never been able to blend colours or highlight properly, and I’m probably not going to start anytime soon. The only time where I have spent hours on one model was The Deceiver and that was with only two colours. I started him of with Red Gore and slowly added more and more Burnished Gold with each layer. I think he looks alright and fairly god-like.


But still, I’ll sit down tonight (as long as the wife hasn’t planned anything) and look through the play test rules for Skorne and see how it goes from there.



Thanks again Vish.

Monday 14 June 2010

I haven't had the energy to write about much this week (preparing for a charity run - which was a great event this year. I managed to get my wife to beat her personal best. I'm actually a little scared to try and beat mine from 10 years ago (I don't want to know how out of shape I have got, it's already going downhill) so I am happy to help my wife with (unwanted) encouragement), but I'll give it a go.
Tuesday at the club saw my Ratskins successfully complete an Exploration Action. they managaed to get rid of all the Zombies and Scavvies and save four Settlers.
My gaming new KR Multicase arrived the next day, but I waited to the weekend to move things around. Now my Necrons have their own Double Aluminimu case, but the two Monoliths will continue to travel separately. The new case now houses my entire Menoth force with plenty of space for expansion. Taking up a bit of that empty space for the time being is my Infinity (Combined Army and Yu Jing) minis along with my Malifaux (Outcasts) minis. I still do not know how I can tidy up all the boxes of Dark Angels that are cluttering the back of my wardrobe. I have a GW case that holds a basic force (a couple of squads each of Deathwing, tactical, devastators, assault, several characters, all three dreadnoughts and a couple of tanks). I'd like to put the remaining 75-80% of the force on some sort of shelving some day, but I'll have to annoy the wife a little more by keeping them in the back of the wardrobe.
Also I'm still waiting for this month's Maelstrom order, but I'm not really impatient about it as I'm going to take a couple trips soon to Florence (wife birthday) and Samadet (visit the in-laws). I have some time to figure out how the incoming Avatar of Menoth, Knights Exemplar unit, Paladin of the Wall and Errant UA are going to fit in with everything else. So this coming Tuesday will be a couple more games of Necromunda in lieu of playing in the big, mega, massive final game that is planned. I'm just gutted I'll miss it. When I come back though, I think I'll concentrate fully on Menoth (and by the time I get back it'll be time to order more Protectorate goodness) and start messing around with the themed lists (which calls for a second unit of Zealots...) as much as I can before Hordes MKII comes out and I get to have an excuse to start a Skorne force (I've already decided that they are going to be mostly green and gold).

Wednesday 2 June 2010

More Big Scary Black Things.

Here is another report that is a week late. Last Tuesday (25th May) I had a great game against A Bomb (Oli) and his Cryx. Once again, I have probably forgotten quite how things happened and exactly what Oli brought with him, so you won’t see a detailed account. I can certainly point out what I learned last week.

The game was set at 50 points so I took my solid 35 point Severius list and added a few things. Here, in full, is what I fielded:

pSeverius
Blessing of Vengeance, Crusader and Vanquisher
Reclaimer, Vassal, Exemplar Seneschal, Dartan Vilmon and Rhupert Carvolo
Choir (full strength), Zealots (full strength plus Monolith Bearer), Exemplar Errants (full strength) and Temple Flameguard (minimum strength).

This was a very tense game in which we both stretched each other’s forces out to the limit. My Errants got tied up on my left flank by a unit of Mechanithralls that kept coming back, while my Seneschal, accompanied by my Vanquisher and Vassal, kept an eye on the right flank (only for two turns or so before he got killed). My Temple Flameguard stuck to Severius, at the rear of my battle line, like glue with their Shield Wall action. The spearhead consisted of my extremely trusty Zealots, BoV and Crusader (with Reclaimer, Rhupert and Dartan in support).
I have to say that the Zealots did their job very well as usual despite the Monolith Bearer being taken out. Rhupert did step up and bolster their resolve with his songs. Dirge of Mists (+1 Def and Terror) and Heroic Call (Fearless and Tough) really helped with the loss. I realised that if the Monolith remained on the table, the Zealots would have been even more of a pain than they usually are. I will have to try and experiment with that combo a little more.
One mistake I made during the game was with the placement of the Seneschal and Dartan Vilmon. I realised that I should have placed Dartan on my right protecting the flank with his Impervious Wall. As soon as anything came within his charge range, he could have unleashed a MAT 9 4d6+15 hit. The Seneschal, as against Carlos previously, should have lurked behind my main force and gone ‘jack hunting. Dartan did go ‘jack hunting himself but his one hit wasn’t enough to destroy his opponent (the big scary deathjack thing (I probably should start remembering the names of things) that met my spearhead and pretty much took out the BoV and Crusader.
With my right flank left a little exposed, it was the perfect way for Oli come after Severius. Sadly I couldn’t hide behind my TFG Shield Wall and my greater Control Area, and the Old Man got smooshed.

It felt ok stepping up from 35 to 50 points (from 578 to 778 in old money), although it was a little bewildering at times. I’ve got the 35 sorted out so now hope to get the 50 nailed. But then this will be affected by this months purchases – Paladin of the Wall, Avatar of Menoth, Orin Midwinter (I’m interested to see how he would work for me), Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard Bearer and a unit of Nights Exemplar. I really need to sit down now and think about my massive addition to the force.