Some decent progress and a bit of a crappy set-back.

It’s quite incredible really. For most of this weekend I have sat down and painted and for the most part enjoyed it. I have finished off my Immortals and have now started on my Bronzeback and two Gladiators. I’m very pleased with how the Immortals turned out. They are nothing at all special, just Astronomican Grey, a bit of a wash and some wishy-washy gold. Good enough for me as I can’t really be arsed with highlighting (which might not help my cause at tourneys where there are marks for painting). The only thing I want to do to them at the moment is base them which I’m currently leaving to my wife. She wants a bit of a distraction from her museum work so I’m letting her base my Immortals, Ancestral Guardian and Swordsmen with UA. I’ll post some pics when she’s done this.

This has left me free to start work on my elephants. I’ve started thier skin with Graveyard Earth as opposed to some kind of grey. As usual you won’t see any sort of really fancy work on thier skin but I’ll try and make a bit more of an effort than usual. After these guys are done I want to work on Lord Arcanist Ossyan, Sylys Wyshnalyrr (if I can pick him up somewhere) and Aiyana and Holt. I want to have this lot done before the one day event over at Tanelorn next Sunday. I’m quite excited about using Ossyan as I really like his Chronomancer spell which will make his jacks a little more efficient. This might be the guy to freshen up my Retribution. Of all the models so far released from the Wrath book, I am only missing the Arkantric Force Generator. I think I will get one one day but will probably just wait for the new jacks to become available. Besides I’m having fun with Skorne right now.

Whilst buying Ossy and A+H, I accidently bought some other bits and pieces (going stupidly over budget). I bought me an Agonizer, a Void Spirit, One Basilisk Drake and one Basilisk Krea, Swamp Gobbos and maxed out both of my Gatormen units. Also I bought a new Warlock that I’m getting excited about (I won’t mention who he is yet). Not cheap and more than I might be willing to paint right now. Still that’s what this hobby does to you, doesn’t it? I'll go back and hit the paints.

Xerxis vs Thyra 06 Sep

How did it go last night? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s been a while since I’ve played Nat (the Iron Cross one day event the club held). Back then, I had forgotten much of my Menoth knowledge which meant that a lot of elves died that day. Last night I was pretty certain that I could handle what Nat put on the table, the only unknowns being Thyra (who looks like she has a very decent set of spells) and Nicia (a Daughter with Reach?). I think that the new Menoth bits from Wrath might just tempt me back before the year is out. A couple of the jacks look totally sweet. I’ll have to get myself a copy and have a read.

So, Nat fielded:

Thyra, Flame of Sorrow

* Templar

* Vanquisher

* Hierophant

Daughters of the Flame

Daughters of the Flame – this unit was proxyed by Choir models.

Exemplar Errants (max)

* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer

Knights Exemplar

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

Knight Exemplar Seneschal

Nicia, Tear of Vengeance – This model was proxyed by pFeora

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

Vassal Mechanik

Vassal of Menoth

Against:

Tyrant Xerxis

* Bronzeback Titan

* Titan Gladiator

* Aptimus Marketh

Cataphract Arcuarii (max)

Cataphract Cetrati (max)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

Praetorian Swordsmen (max)

* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew – this unit was proxyed by Malifaux Gremlins.

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer – this unit was proxyed by Wrongeye and Alten Ashley.

I won the roll off and let Nat go first. Nat set up quite wide with Daughters on both flanks and the Errant, Knights, jacks and others in the middle. I didn’t quite brick up but I did keep my swordsmen at the back of my line.

Turn 1 - I’ll start off by saying that Daughters running in the first turn damages any hope anyone may have. I also forgot they can move so quickly. It was safe to say that these ladies were going to outflank. The rest of Nat’s force advanced slowly with the Vanquisher cracking off a shot hoping for some good deviation. I put both Battle Plans available to me to good use to get my heavy troops to get further up the field ahead of my Swordsmen and beasts.

Turn 2 - This turn saw the Daughters slow down a bit keeping me on my toes. The rest of the Menites saw no hurry in getting to my lines with the Errants getting some crossbow action (which failed) and the Vanquisher getting his lucky deviation this turn (there was no damage, but five of my Cetratii were set on fire). This fire claimed first blood in my maintenance phase as it just wouldn’t go out. The Cetratii got in a charge on the Errants and dispatched a few. The Arcuarii turned their attention to the Knights and Knights Senny in front of them. Three of the Knights fell but the Senny was made of sterner stuff and stayed behind his wall. I thought it would be a good idea for the Tyrant Commander to charge Nicia with his high MAT, but sadly he must have fumbled at the last second.

Turn 3 - The remaining Errants piled in and added minimal damage to Cetratii while the Templar finished half of the same unit. The Knights looked for revenge and claimed a couple of Skorne lives with their buffed P+S. The Daughters on both sides came a little closer. The TyCo and his Standard were bought down by the Daughters that surrounded them. The Vanquisher launched another shot this time into the remaining Arcuarii and set them both on fire. My Cetratii suffered as a result of the fire still burning them with a few points here and there. The Bronzeback charged the Knights and was more that a match for their buffed armour taking out three. A few more Errants died in the existing combat with my Cetratii. The Swordsmen (with Fury on them) decided it was action time. One of the charged the Daughters (one can only hope of hitting them) a couple got a charge on some errant Errants (hehe) and the Knight Seneschal. Failed to hit the Daughter, killed the Senny and then an Errant. This was all well and good going around and killing stuff, but I forgot that the Senny has a handy ability called Restoration. He jumps back up with one point if you kill any Menites in his command area, which is what I did with the Errant. I should have remembered this and did it the other way around. No doubt this would bite me on the bum next turn. Meanwhile my Gladiator charged the Daughters that had now made their way behind my line but only had the reach to kill one.

Turn 4 – A suitably beefed up Knight (now P+S 16!) put 11 points of damage on the Bronzeback which was fair enough as he probably wasn’t going to live much longer. The Knight Senny proceeded to kill another Swordsman while his fellow Senny failed to even damage another. The Vanquisher took another shot which killed Marketh and set fire to a Swordsman this time. The Daughters and Nicia to my left sailed through the two Skorne in front of them while the Daughters to my right danced past the Gladiator. Thankfully Xerxis had cast Inhospitable Ground the previous turn, meaning they couldn’t reach my warlock. The Bronzeback took down the final Knight while the Cetratii finished off the Errants while putting some damage on the Templar. The Swordsmen had a mixed turn with one failing to hit the Errant Senny and another putting a whopping TWO points of damage on the Vanquisher. The imminent threat of the Daughters behind my line took the attention of the Beast handlers (who had no chance of hitting anyway), the Gladiator (who was out of Xerxis’ control at the beginning of the turn so couldn’t be forced) and Xerxis himself who clubbed two of them to death.

Turn 5 – The Templar hit back and killed a Cetratii and the Vanquisher killed his attacker. The Errant Senny also killed his opponent. The left-most unit of Daughters decided to put the beat down on the Swamp Gobbers but failed to kill them both. The other unit of Daughters ganged up on Xerxis and took nearly half of his health. My turn was already looking desperate so the Beast handlers enraged both beasts who killed three Daughters and the Vanquisher between them. The Cetratii finished off the Errant Senny and put a few scratches on the Templar. Lastly Xerxis clubbed a couple more Daughters to death.

Turn 6 – With nothing else to do really except conclude the game, Nat ran everything he could at Xerxis (which was the remaining Daughters, Nicia and Thyra herself) and won the game.

Well that was fun. The streak goes on, 17 loses on the bounce.

What did I learn though? My current force has trouble with high DEF units/solo/casters. Even with about nearly half of the army with MAT 7 and above, taking on 12 Daughters, Nicia and Thyra with DEF 15+ is a very tricky prospect. Add the fact that I had no way to buff anything thing apart from Fury (which wouldn’t have mattered against the Menoth ladies).

What did I already know? I should have seen the fact that I would have forgotten something simple like the Knight Senny having Restoration. I didn’t use my beast effectively again.

Any saving graces? Inhospitable Ground and Nat forgetting that Daughters with Nicia have Vengeance. Without either/both of these the Daughters would have been on me far, far quicker. If we played to a time limit, I think I may have done enough to earn a draw. There was an almost equal amount of loses on each side. But as no-one was kicking us off the table we played until the end.

I don’t need to say it but this was another great and exciting game.

WIP - Praetorian Swordsmen

Another painting post?


Well, I’ve finished my Cetrati by pinning their weapon hands to their bodies (at least I hope I did – we will know when I pull them out of the case and throw them onto the tabletop tonight). I also pinned Xerxis various appendages while I was at it (again we’ll know if I got it right tonight). Next on the agenda – a maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen with UA. I’ve already seen from forums and other blogs that these guys have quite a bit of detail on them. They weren’t wrong.

 

These guys are testing my patience. When I started this unit, I had quite a bit of impetus after finishing Xerxis and 12 heavy troops. As I always say, I have very little patience for painting but I ploughed ahead as I set myself an extremely unrealistic goal of finishing them by the time I play my next game (I started at some point on Sunday afternoon and have a game against Nat and his Menoth tonight). All the same, I’m somewhat happy with the progress I’m making and will hope to have them tabletop ready by next Tuesday.

I will be keeping with the theme of green and gold with some red bits here and there (not red, gold and gree-ee-een), and dark blue/purple skin.

This is a scheme that I want to carry over to the next unit (maximum Immortals and Ancestral Guardian) but am not quite sure how to do so yet. I have base coated an Immortal (sorry, I forgot to take a pic) in Astronomican Grey. I am quite taken by this and prefer it to the PP studio’s black scheme. I had this colour in mind for a while and only confirmed my choice after searching the web for alternate schemes. I saw Immortals in jade, terracotta and a kind of sandstone which all looked really great. The big choice for me is whether I add green armour plates and gold trimming to these models. But that should really be a decision for when I finish my pesky Swordsmen.

Some stats (insert quote about stats being totally meaningless here)

I have (rather sadly) spent a large portion of my lunch break figuring out my success rate this year. If the idea of tabletop games being games and not life and death was not at the forefront of my mind, then I would be sickened by what I’ve just put myself through. As it is, these numbers would prompt a lot of people to use the phrase ‘Don’t give up your day job’. So here goes:

Since start of 2011:

P – 45 W – 4 D – 1 L – 40

Amazing, huh?

The next few facts are in no way self-criticism, but...

1) The draw (against Jaden) was looking like a defeat for me before we ran out of time.

2) One of the wins (against Bill) was a battle-box game where I wanted to get the hang of the Hordes mechanic.

3) Another of the wins (against Mark) might have been another loss if Mark had remembered to put all of his models on the table.

It looks like a really bad record, but my tournament only record is even worse. Attending both the UK Masters and ETC this year gave me a 0-12 score sheet. Yes, I need to try harder I suppose but it’s only a game. Anyway as our resident Warmahordes madman Vish put it, “0-12 is a record that people need to understand. It means you are literally Fearless, inured to injury pain and suffering. To be honest, that's pretty fucking hardcore if you ask me.”

I only went on this little fact finding mission to find out how long my current losing streak is. Here is the answer: 16 games. However if you apply fact number 3 the streak would stretch to 26 games. And if you wanted to go further, then apply fact number 1 to make it 27 games since I beat Marcus (legitimately).

Beat that!

Right...

Right. I’ve just eBayed the last (pretty much, there is just a few models left) of my Dark Angels, Imperial Guard, Necrons and Dwarfs (sorry GW). And now I’ve come to a couple of realisations.


First and foremost, I’ve pretty much recouped all that I furiously splurged on minis since I was made redundant from my last job four years ago. The money I received back then made me quite silly and made me quite addicted to eBay. This means that I have finally paid of the loan I took out to cover my credit card which makes the wife pleased. Have I learnt my lesson? Mostly yes. I still buy bits every month, but no more than my agreed budget. For September, I’m not going to buy anything except for a few pots of paint as I want to concentrate on my Xerxis force which has a few options that I can use. I hope I will only buy when I have tested these options.

Secondly, and this is really strange, I miss my Necrons (and to a certain extent, my Dark Angels). Just like the rest of the armies and forces I’ve ever collected, the Necron success rate was poor. But I liked their simplicity. Only the Necron Lord had any real weapon options. I even enjoyed the simple paint job I gave the majority of them – this was the main reason for buying them, I didn’t have to go over the top with them. When I bought my paints at lunchtime today, I was speaking with the chap at GW and he seems to think that Necrons will finally get some form of update later this year. If this is true, then I may regret getting rid of them.

Hopefully I will now remain a responsible gamer/collector (just a couple of months ago I did have a relapse and picked up a fantastic bargain of a Gator force for Hordes). I have learned that I can say no to new minis and games systems, but that’s not to say that I will not add to my Malifaux and Infinity armies (they are simply on the back burner).

August (for want of a better title).

August. Not a particularly good month gaming wise. Not for me anyway. I have played three games down at the club this month and it’s needless to say that they were all very good. So off the top of my head:

Game 1: Steve and his Legion

Possibly eThagrosh with a beast heavy list. Steve had some forest near his deployment zone and camped in there for the game inviting me to go to him. I didn’t really want to as my army would be picked off bit by bit, and being fairly slow I couldn’t make get to him quick enough. Once I did get close enough, a couple of heavy beasts (?) chewed through some Cetratii and smacked Xerxis hard in the face a few times.

Game 2: Steve (not the same one) and someone else’s Cryx.

Not the Skorne vs Skorne game we planned, but still a good one. Satyxis Raiders proved to be my downfall and dispatched my Arcuarii on one flank and a big scary jack did it’s business to my Cetratii on the other flank. I can’t quite remember how Xerxis fell (or I choose not to remember) but he did. Again. Still, I hope Steve steers clear of Cryx (although he did field a very good list).

Game 3: Jaden and his Skorne (last night).

Mirror match – Zaal vs my Xerxis. My conservative play saw my force get bogged down again. When I did try to outflank Jaden’s swordsmen with my Swordsmen he responded by casting Last Stand and leaving me with only four left in my unit I would have hoped to give a good response but couldn’t really as my UA had been chopped down, I therefore lost Side Step and any chance of doubling my opponents loses. In the same turn, Jaden used Marketh to cast Last Stand again (which was quite a good move) on his Nihilators. These started to break through my Arcuarii. I did make some positive moves with my first my Bronzeback and then my Gladiator when, in successive turns they slammed whichever model was standing in front of Zaal. The collateral damage from the Bronzeback’s slam caused eight points of damage while the same from the Gladiator only caused one point. Sadly for me neither of these beasts had the means to cause any more damage (Bronzeback had no follow up, even with the Train Wreck animus, he didn’t have the range to hit anything else and the Gladiator was already running hot with fury). My last hope was for Xerxis to Combo Smite Zaal’s next meatshield (Jaden’s own Tyrant Commander) and hope that this would inflict the last six points of damage. For this to happen I needed two things.

Firstly, for my last two Cetratii to clear a path to the TyCo by killing a Swordsman and the TyCo’s Standard.
Secondly, I really needed Jaden to forget that Zaal had one point of fury to transfer the damage.
Sadly, due to the law of the sod, the first point was only half met and the second would never had happened.

All in all, three great games with a lot to learn. I am really happy with Marketh’s usefulness, although Jaden used his Marketh to greater effect. I should use also put Xerxis’ and TyCo’s Battle Plans to better use and get both units of Cataphracts up the table quicker. I should also keep the Swordsmen back as they can be quite vulnerable.
The month has been good for painting however (see last post). At the weekend I managed to finish off my Cetratii, although I am going to try to figure out how to effectively pin their weapon arms.