Do I want a change?

I have a bit of a dilemma going into round 4 of the clubs Slow Grow league. We can change warcaster/warlock and swap out 10 points of the force that we’ve all built up over the previous rounds. The latter was quite easy for me as I have taken out the Spitter and Feralgeist and changed it for my second Wrastler. That was an easy decision for me to make as I don’t think the Spitter has quite got what it takes. Ok the ranged attack is pretty good and can be devastating, but everything else about it is just meh. So the second Wrastler comes in for some more heavy hitting power. I’m hoping that I can use this change to be a bit more aggressive in my play style, and leave my conservative style behind (maybe).

Back to the tricky bit; the option to change caster/lock. There is no need to change, but I have all three of the Gatorman Warlocks available to me. They all have the same amount of warbeast points so do not affect the composition of my 35 point army at all, but they may affect the final 50 point list due to their Tiered options. So here’s what I’m thinking of at the moment;

 Bloody Barnabas: My starting Warlock. He comes from the Mikael Kreoss School of Feating and can be a tough nut to crack with the likes of Iron Flesh (on himself or a beast) and can mobilise his beasts with Warpath. I like him a lot. Already painted up, although has got a chip on his snout (Gators have snouts don’t they?). The Feat alone should be golden against high Def models.

 Calaban, The Grave Walker: I moved him in for the Fluff Week game (and managed a second game with him the week before). I really enjoyed his feat and the damage it can cause. I like the debuffs to opponents and the chance of turning them into Arc Nodes with his ranged attack. Definitely a lot of fun.

 Maelok, the Dreadbound: The unknown quantity for me as I have barely broke him out of the blister. Can make tough troops stupidly tough and bring them back. Revive is fast becoming my favourite spell with Mordikaar and the fact that Maelok has this, makes me really want to field him. Testament of Menoth as well, but that’s for another post. I think the challenge for Maelok would be to use Revive effectively as, unless he stuff is killed close to him, he is just not going to be able to gain as many additional fury like Mordi can. If he upkeeps Death Pact and Malediction, then he only has the chance to Revive one Gator.

In short, I’m excited about using all three. If I look at it practically, Barny and Calaban are fully painted, but Maelok needs work over this coming weekend. As Marcus (whom I played in my last game – he took Maelok) told me last time, Maelok is a bitch to paint. Which isn’t good news for me.  With regard to the Slow Grow League, the differences would show at the 50 point level where the Tiers all differ from each other; things like Barny’s cheaper warbeasts or Calaban’s Bone Grinders (which are painted). Maelok’s Tier list would only really begin to feel good when the Witch Doctor models are released in a couple of months’ time. One thing is for sure, I’ll be throwing Wrongeye and Snapjaw into the mix. I’ve wanted to use them for some time and would like to see them in action. I did think about Bog Trogs and the threat they pose, but I think they don’t quite have a place in any of these warlock’s 50 point lists.

Not an easy decision for me to make going into Round 4; my head and heart keep changing their minds. I may just end up rolling a dice.

Slow Grow round 3

Week 3 of our Slow Grow League was Fluff Week. Games were arranged so that we could replay as many of the stories from all of the PP books. I haven’t seen any of the other games, but the one I played against Marcus was the Minion fluff from the Domination release; Calaban (me) vs Maelok (Marcus).
Although the option to change warlock/warcaster doesn’t happen until Round 4, it decided that I should swap Bloody Barnabas for Calaban for the sake of Fluff week. This was good for me as I had wanted to try Calaban for some time, plus I already had him fully painted and ready to go. I was also happy as it meant I could see him in action before Round 4. So far I’ve played two games with him and think that there is a lot of potential there.
One other thing that I was looking forward to in this game was seeing Maelok in the flesh (or lack thereof), and I can say that I was impressed. He did the simple things which made Marcus’ force work really well. So without further ado, I took:

Calaban, the Gravewalker
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Ironback Spitter
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Croak Hunter
Feralgeist

to go against:

Maelok, the Dreadbound
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Blackhide Wrastler
Bog Trog Ambushers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Croak Hunter
Croak Hunter
Croak Hunter

For the game we used the Command and Control radial scenario from SR2012 and both set up at the front of our respective zones. I lost the roll-off and Marcus opted to go second.

Turn 1:

I chose to run the Spitter and Calaban towards the nearest flag leaving the rest of the force to attempt to hold the control zone in the centre of the board. Calaban had cast Carnivore on the first GMP and threw down a couple of Spiny Growths on the Wrastler and one gator.

Marcus ran his force forwards as well and reached the edge of the control zone in a very neat wall of gatory and frog-like meanness. Maelok had cast Death Pact on his GMP and Malediction.

Turn 2:

I knew I wouldn’t be able to engage the enemy so I ran most of my Gators into the control zone. Not a very good move as I found out later. The Croak hung back a little and moved behind the Gators looking for an opportunity in the next turn to take advantage of his Gang ability. The Wrastler moved up in support while Calaban claimed his flag with the Spitter a short distance away from him.

Maelok upkept his spells and shifted forward. Marcus got his GMP to charge mine and took out my front three and his supporting knot of frogs (I looked up the collective noun (or  ‘term of venery’ (from medieval times) if you want to be fancy) and while not a good noun it’s far better than having a knob of toads) pitched in and killed another. Marcus’ Wrastlers stood by and watched. It was no surprise that the Bog Trogs made an appearance to my left just inches away from my table edge. They ran towards Calaban and his flag and looked to be a thorn in my side which I quite expected.

Turn 3:

Surrounded, it was time for a big action turn. First of all, The Spitter walked back slightly to cover Calaban and spat at a clump of Bog Trogs killing two and sticking corrosion on another. That was fine. But then I activated Calaban and popped my feat. He moved and unsuccessfully cast Bone Shaker a couple of times. Then the remaining Gators from both Posses charged their opposite numbers. Due to Marcus’ GMP having a stupidly high armour value, only a handful of wounds were dished out. In turned out that my Croak Hunter was the only thing to actually kill something, and boy did he do it well. Using Gang to get the hit, I rolled for damage and from 4d6 (charge and poison weapon) I got three 6’s and a 4. The Wrastler couldn’t do anything to his opposing Wrastler as one of Marcus’ Gators was blocking its charge lane. This was really bad as my Wrastler didn’t have enough movement to engage.

It was Marcus’ turn to feat which is quite horrible (I now want to have a Maelok of my own, him and the Testament of Menoth). Needless to say that his army went through mine with some ease leaving me with only one Gatorman and totalling my Wrastler. There wasn’t much else for Marcus to do so he ran his Bog Trogs (who were down to three as one had succumbed to Corrosion) even closer to Calaban.

I must have deleted the pic for Marcus’s Turn 3 so I’ll include a fun conga-type-thing pic.

Turn 4:

With not a lot to do with not a lot of my army left, I took out what I could. The lone Gatorman finished off the remaining Croaks as he was never going to scratch Marcus’s Gators. The Feralgeist controlled Wrastler picked himself up and round on his killer causing a massive… 1 wound from his attacks. Calaban’s mastery of magic failed him repeatedly. The Snapper went to occupy the other Wrastler but causing no damage of two attacks. This only served to block charge lanes to Calaban. All that was left to do was finish the turn with some fun and threw one Bog Trog into another killing them both.

Marcus ended the game in style by Reviving three Gators, which then charged Calaban. One of them got had to go past the Snapper and take a free strike and subsequently got eaten. Marcus was thankful that he had chosen the Cold Blood prayer for them as he had missed with all four of his initial attacks. But unfortunately, he got all of the re-rolls and cut my warlock down in four hits.

A disappointing game for me made better by the Fluff aspect of it. Not having the first turn is one thing, but to play into Marcus’s hands in the second turn was quite silly. I think I should have noticed that when Marcus hadn’t made out to capture a flag, I should have just concentrated on the bloodbath in the middle. As it was I placed a bit too much confidence in two GMP’s, a very effective Croak Hunter and a Wrastler. The idea had been to let them handle things while Calaban, protected a little by his Spitter, made sure that I had the flag so I could start scoring points. Marcus played very well making sure I stayed stretched with the Bog Trogs creeping up behind me and the Knot of Croak Hunters causing a distraction. Three of them together can really make you think about what you need to prioritise. Having said this, Marcus could have easily gone for the scenario if he wanted. I think Marcus really controlled the game to the extent that his second Wrastler really didn’t need to do anything at all as I focused a little too much on the super-hard GMP and Croaks.

The game showed me that I am finding it hard to find the place in-between conservative play and ‘no fear, no doubt, all-in, balls out’ play. In this game I really wanted to take the game to Marcus but found I was in no position to from turn two onwards. It was at that point that I should have been a bit more conservative. But hey, I learnt what my warlock cannot do and I now know a little more about what Maelok can do so it’s all good. Hopefully in the next round of our Slow Grow league will go my way.

2012 begins here

Here is the first post of the year, it seems so long since my last entry. Since then I there have been a handful of games namely those at the 42 point Vanguard event last November (which I briefly mentioned the previous post, the first game of which I broke my major streak) and a fantastic Domination release event held over at Tanelorn. I want to catch up with myself but I’m finding it slightly difficult as I have been fairly sick of writing recently trying to finish off the first draft of my novel. Nevertheless, I will push on and try and crank out some crap for you lot to read.


From late November, through the holiday period, and up to now I haven’t done much in the way of gaming. Instead I have made up for that by getting quite a bit of painting. It has been said often enough on this blog that painting is not my favourite part of the hobby, but I have made a lot of my minis presentable and tabletop ready. I was mostly spurred on by the Tanelorn Domination event and trying to earn at least a point for fielding a fully painted Skorne army. I finished off a lot of stuff, my Nihilators, Mordiakaar, a few Cyclops Savages, both Basilisks (Krea and Drake) and a lot more. In the end I failed because I neglected to finish off an Agonizer and my Cyclops Shaman. But I proved to myself that I can gather the motivation and momentum to sit down and paint. It got to the point that I was more than happy to suffer some badgering from the wife to tidy up all my minis. I did so and ended up doing an audit of with models/units need work and how much. As a result, I have now compressed my five factions and other bits into a reasonably tidy section of the bedroom and have a spreadsheet (how sad) of work to be done. Looking at the results, my Retribution force is over 85% completed while my Trolls are a little under 5% done (understandable really as their composition is no ready for action).

The work carried on after that was done. Down at the crossgamingclub.com/forum, the New Year is bringing quite a bit of change as we are starting up a Privateer Press Slow Grow league. Two dozen players getting to grips with new casters, new factions or are actually taking the plunge and starting a new games system. For this campaign, I have chosen a new faction. I had been (and still am) very tempted to start a Witch Coven led Cryx force, but common sense prevailed as I already have a fairly decent Minions force with blood Barnabas and Calaban the Grave Walker at it's head which hasn’t been used yet. I have been taking the time to get this lot mostly done

My 15 (14) point force for Slow Grow Round 1



as every round in the league carries a point for fielding a fully painted force. There has been a slight hold up as some of my minis are at a friend’s place. This was a foolish attempt at getting him back into the hobby. I thought that if he could paint a Wrastler as well as he painted his Eldar Avatar and a Gatorman Posse as well as he painted his Striking Scorpions and Warp Spiders, then he might just come back. But he has hardly touched them since I gave left them in his care. I’ll be taking them back at the weekend so I can get to work on them.

The main point is that with something to aim for with tournaments (I forced myself to paint my Retribution for the UK Masters and ETC), one day events (as I said above, I’ve painted a fair bit chunk of my Skorne for Tanelorn) and Leagues, I am enjoying painting a little more than I have done before. I am currently on schedule to finish the models needed for round two and have even made a start on the stuff for round three. My paintbrushes have never known such productivity. Even my Malifaux Outcasts crew (over halfway done) and Combined Army Infinity force (7 out of 8 models done, but all need basing) have been honoured by the presence of a lick of paint.

As it stands I have kicked off the New Year with a new outlook on painting and hope that it continues throughout the year. Now onto winning some games. ***SPOLIER ALERT*** It’s not going to happen in the next post. ***END OF SPOILER***