Wednesday, 18 May 2011

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 No! No!


Please, have mercy!!!


Don't do it please!! Don't hurt me!
So that's what my spleen looks l...


Thursday, 12 May 2011

Recap of recent weeks (spending and preparation).

I fear that I may have overspent this month (three times what I allow myself each month) in preparation for upcoming tourneys that I’ll be going to. Originally, I got myself a unit of Houseguard Halberdiers and UA. But then, after a game with Marcin in which I used Rahn, I decided I really wanted a second unit of Battle Mages and a second Magister. I failed with the Battle Mages but managed to buy a Heavy Myrmidon (which will now be my Discordia), an Artificier, a Heavy Rifle team and Dahlia Hallyr and Skarrath. The next day I bought myself a second unit of Stormfall Archers. Whoops.

Despite the hole in my pocket and a little bit of guilt, I’m quite pleased with my purchases.

First off, I would like to praise my Halberdiers. In my last two games (a loss against Marcin and a win against Marcus), they have done their job very well. Against Marcin they held the front line for a couple of turns which would be long enough to get everything else into play. The fact that they can push themselves 9” forward every turn with Reform is very useful. But the thing I like best about them (and RifleElves – they are not men after all) is that they do not block LOS to friendly models. Against Marcus, I had a minimum unit + UA sat in front of my Invictors. The Invictors could just sit back and shoot from a distance (I had Ravyn cast snipe on them plus they had their little Extended Fire mini feat).
Discordia is a very useful heavy. With a high powered spray and an imprint that shares it’s Force Field with nearby models, it has certainly made itself useful in both support and offensive roles.
Artificier looks to be a very nice solo, but I have yet to use him in an offensive manner. Like the Discordia, he can also share a Force Field with nearby models, which would come in handy. In my game against Marcus, he sat behind the Halberdiers and Invictors buffing their Shield Wall and Defensive Line respectively. I can now have some very hard wearing troops.
I didn’t really get to use my Heavy Rifle team against Marcus through a combination of moving for a couple of turns and Zerkova’s nasty feat. So I’ll have to wait a bit longer to really see what they can do.
I know what Archers can do and now that I can provide them with some extra durability with an Artificier, I will definitely be thinking about making use of both units (most likely under Ravyn obviously).
Dahlia and Skarrath. I have longed to get these models. A chick with a huge snake that can deny enemy orders can only be a good thing. If I don’t get to use these with Retribution, I can add them to my Trollblood force.
Add to this, Fane Knight Skerryth, who looks to be a hard hitting solo. He personally dispatched a handful of Marcus’ Khadorans (Righteous Fury rocks!).
I feel my force is now quite flexible, although I feel a unit of Destors and a couple of Destor Thanes would complete the family. The one thing I’m still undecided about is the battle engine, and how they would fit in down at the club.

As I’ve mentioned in this post, I’ve had a couple of good warm up games for the UK Masters and ETC. The first was a loss against Marcin’s Circle. My Phoenix and Discordia had good games. The Phoenix made good use of it’s Halo Cannon annoying the heck out of a unit of Ravagers by setting them on fire (there were some good dice (including a couple of double sixes) when facing them). Rahn helped out when Phoenix got engaged by pushing the out of the way using Force Hammer. The RifleElves shot lots of things from behind the Halberdiers. The Halberdiers in turn provided some good cover for the rest of the force with the help of Rahn’s Polarity Shield. I can’t quite remember how Rahn got his face smashed, the pics must still be on my camera.
That was followed by a win over Marcus and Zerkova. My Mage Hunter Strike Force led the flanking manoeuvre but became a bit cagey when engaged by some Doom Reavers. My Fane Knight Skerryth saved the skin of pEiryss a couple of times as she followed the MHSF. A full unit of Invictors and UA sat behind a minimum unit of Halberdiers and UA with Snipe cast on them. Discordia caused some trouble early, by standing behind a hedge (which would save him from getting smashed by some Khadorian jacks. His Sonic Pulse Cannon (an incredible high powered 10”spray) took out most of a heavy weapons team, War Dog and took Zerkova down to half her damage. Ravyn feated in the second turn affecting nearly all of my force (only missed six of my MHSF!!! – which I needed), and they grabbed the chance with both hands. Most of the Doom Reavers fell to Phantom Seeking crossbow fire. The Invictors came up trumps with a couple of CRA’s targeting some Shocktroopers/MOW’s (I can’t remember). Everything was looking ok even though Zerkova feated. Not being able to charge or give orders, wasn’t that good. But that didn’t stop Skerryth and a few Halberdiers dishing out some damage (it was here that Drakhun fell under the Fane Knights challenge).
There was a scare when Marcus’ Kayazys walked through my line with the Underboss’ mini-feat. The Underboss himself couldn’t get through to Ravyn, but two of his men did. Fortunately, they didn’t have enough in the locker to finish her off. We called the game in my fourth turn as Zerkova had Discordia, some Invictors, Eiryss and a full strength MHSF +UA looking at her.

A couple of good games against good players, both of whom I hope will be raising hell at ETC when we all go in July.