237 dice is 100!

Where does one begin? This is my one hundredth (1ooth) blog post, a landmark. I thought about a fair bit and the first thing that came into my head was some kind of highlight show… not really enough of those over the past 100 entries. Listing achievements might make for a very short blog. I could also bore you with an overview of my gaming habits, but you don’t want to read my tear-stained words when I write about the moment Necrons got all this shiny new stuff just months after I sold mine.
But then it hit me. A 42 point Warmachine/Hordes event was held recently and I put my name down for it. The problem was, I didn’t know what to use for it. I did say I was going to give Retribution a rest while I got used to Skorne. My Gatormen force was mostly unassembled and my Trolls are require a couple of heavy warbeasts and a couple of units at least. So that was when the light bulb appeared above my head. I will start at the beginning!

In the beginning there was the word (maybe a few of them actually), and that word(s) was (were)… BURN YOU MOTHER%UCKING UNBELIEVERS, BURN!!!

It was time to go back to the very beginning of my WarmaHordes obsession and bring out High Exemplar Kreoss and the religious might of the Protectorate of Menoth. They were my first love when I was tempted away from GW games. Not being religious myself, it was great to immerse myself in their zeal and conviction. The idea of setting stuff on fire it didn’t believe in Menoth tickled me immensely. What I like most about them is that they get stronger when they suffer.

It was really quite refreshing, to field a full army of Exemplars at the recent event that was organised by our beloved Vish. It was held at Dark sphere which was also refreshing, and yet cosy at the same time. The really great thing about it was meeting and playing against a totally new crowd. We were supposed to play a total of five games but it didn’t quite work out that way so we only managed four.

I had been on a break from gaming during November due to me spending my time taking up the NaNoWriMo challenge which has now completed, but took time out on Sunday 20^th to get my game face on. As I have mentioned, it was a different venue with a different crowd which made it a really exciting even. I know that some of us Cross Gaming Club guys were mostly facing other CGC guys, but I seemed to be drawn against non-CGC guys in all four rounds. This made games a little more challenging as I didn’t know any of my opponent’s tricks. It was also nice coming up against a couple of new casters.

So to kick off the sort of write up, I’ll begin with Round 1 in the next post. And as this is the 100^th post, I’ll end it with a bang. ***SPOLIER ALERT*** I won the first game, thus ending a twenty game losing streak. ***SPOILER ENDS***

Occupied Llael - Round 3

This round saw me pitched against Carlos and his Cryx and Nat and his Menoth. I have a 50/50 record against Carlos and lost the only time I played Nat, so this was something I would be looking to remedy with my new ‘casters. Unfortunately, Carlos had to leave the campaign which left me with a free night. With all the crap that I caused between me and the missus, I thought I would at least try and make up for it by taking her out instead.

But the next week I was back at the club with some HOT (haha) Menoth on Menoth action. As usual I fielded the High Reclaimer and an infantry heavy list. Nat decided to bring pKreoss to face me. We both bought similar forces with some minor differences between the sides. Our game was pretty smooth as we obviously knew each others forces and what they could do, although at some points decisions were hard because of this. I keep saying that I should keep notes from the game and maybe take some pics as it would mean that I have some documentary evidence for you. But alas, I don’t. You’ll have to take my word that it was a great game. After much symmetrical manoeuvring, we both ended up in the middle of the table where Nat was the first one to feel brave enough for an assassination run. He came up a little short and nearly took out his frustration on my Crusader. This left the High Reclaimer to saunter over, loaded up with plenty of Focus from loyal souls, and stick it to Kreoss and kill him in two hits. A win here meant that I could take a couple of Nat territories for the campaign, which replaced the ones that were taken from me.

General impression and self (loathing) assessment.

The whole event was very good, very friendly and very relaxed. This was made even more so as there were only twelve players. I thought it was nice with all the banter and just hanging around other game tables while you were waiting for your opponent to come back from the loo or grabbing a cuppa. The venue itself is a great space and I can only imagine it when there are lots more games going on (especially from what I heard about the European Team Championships a couple of months back).

The journey up to Mansfield wasn’t that bad and got to my hotel ok. The hotel itself was tidy, if a little noisy and was within walking distance to The Eye of the Storm (it took just about twelve minutes and not the five minutes that Maelstrom stated in their tournament pack). The main thing was that they made good on their promise of “as much tea and coffee as you can drink”.
All in all it was a good time and I will go to another weekender.

Now for the self assessment.

My record stood at P6 W0 D2 L4. This placed me at the foot of the table and secured me the Wooden Spoon, although I missed out on 11th place by a mere 800 or so points. I cannot whinge about anything that happened to me over the weekend (apart from record numbers of Tough rolls being made) as I was my own worst enemy most of the time. Each overall performance might not have been anything to write home about, but there were few individual efforts that were praiseworthy. I’ll just review each model/unit briefly:

Errant Seneschal – Granted Hunter which came in useful occasionally but I didn’t really make the best of his abilities.
Vassal Mechanik – Was called into action three times (I think) to heal my ‘jacks before he was taken down nearly every game. Out of those three times, he past his skill check just once healing a solitary point. This happened to give the FoS back it’s movement.
Vassal – Did his job frequently mostly with Ancillary Attack, although the extra effort was frequently wasted.
Choir – Did what they do best and give their buffs, although in the later (especially the last game) I inexplicably started to activate them after the ‘jacks.
Errants with UA – Mostly performed well but fell victim to my deployment. I kept putting them straight in to the frontline, and therefore, into danger. I probably could have eased them into the fray on the extreme flank and kept them safer. I know I didn’t always have to put them Advance Deploy them so far forward.
Bastions – Took a lot of damage and kept standing a lot of the time, which is what they were designed to do. I failed to utilise them in capturing Control Points/Objectives and also forgot that their weapons are Blessed (this fact would have helped clear one side of the table in my game against Tom and his Khador). I mostly had them trailing behind the intrepid Zealots.
Zealots – had a lot of fun with these guys as always, whether they were dealing death to the enemy or themselves. Their highlight was dealing a lot of damage to eMadrak. Used these as a frontline unit to hopefully soften up the enemy for the Bastions.
Monolith Bearer – Was good for giving +4 ARM with Holy Monolith, but usually used Greater Destiny a turn too late.
Devout – Stayed very close to Kreoss and was never destroyed. Didn’t really stop Kreoss from being smooshed (there is only so much damage a Devout is allowed to take) as my positioning was not all that.
Vanquisher – Rained down fiery death which is good. I didn’t take advantage of the Thresher attack from it’s Blazing Star in combat. I mostly preferred to shoot rather that fight which is sad as the Vanq can be really durable.
Fire of Salvation – Kreoss’ eager puppy fully loaded with Focus can be a scary thing, ask Beast 09. Using a point of Focus to activate the Imprint giving boosted attack rolls and use to rest to boost damage rolls is utterly devastating. Alas, I was not aggressive enough with him. With Defenders Ward (making him DEF 12 ARM 21) and a choir singing the hymn of Shielding, he should have been the first (and last) thing that the enemy saw. I also forgot that the FoS’ weapons have Dispel, which could have been useful a few times.
Kreoss - was handy for Defenders Ward and Lamentation. Used Purification only once, but probably could have used it more. His positioning could and should have been a lot better, (the first couple of games he was too far away to allocate focus on the FoS).
Painting – I’m not really a painter which showed, but did enough to heave everything looking cohesive if not fully based and painted.

I really started to get fatigued and it showed in the last game. I forgot my synergies a lot of the time and could have helped myself a lot more. I still need to sit down and read everything properly and work things out.

Occupied Llael - round 1

Before I forget, I had a game on Tuesday which thankfully broke up the monotony of painting. This was one of our campaign games at the club and I played Jon and his Cryx force. I’ve played against Jon twice before but sadly never beat him. I think in the first game, I stood up pretty well, whilst in the second my behind was handed to me on a plate. This time we would see how things went. I was using a lot of new stuff including warcaster. I took the following list:


High Reclaimer (new)
Devout
Castigator (new)
Zealots - full strength
Zealots – full strength
Monolith Bearer
Deliverers – minimum strength
Flameguard Cleansers – minimum strength (new)
Reclaimer
Covenant (new)

We picked out a scenario where (and here I forget the name) a player had to take one (or both) control points for two whole rounds. After setting up, Jon got the first tun, during which he piled forward and took control of one of the points with on of his (I seriously cannot remember the name of it ) light ‘jacks. The rest of his force made a general advance. Jon’s heavy ’jack took a shot some of my Zealots at killed a few (which generated some souls for the Reclaimer to pick up).

My turn saw my Cleansers try a flanking manoeuver on the same control point. They let loose with their flamers but couldn’t get around the ‘jacks high DEF of 15. I did realise after their activation that I should have mad a Combined Ranged Attack as the leader was in range (with four out of five grunts in range, they could have got +4 to their roll to hit). Everything else moved on including a Focus heavy Castigator which went straight for the heavy Cryx warjack. It laid down some damage but left itself open for some smackdown undead style. Both units of Zealots went forward to lay down some firery hell on the undead but didn’t cause much in the way of damage (again I didn’t think about the most efficient way of dealing damage as I forgot to get the Zealots the sing the Prayer of Fervor). They did howeve manage to contest Jon’s control point.

Jon needed to get rid of the Zealots that were bearing down on him. He arced a nasty spell (...) through his light ‘jack and took out the four Zealots that were contesting the control point. Game over. But first, he got his Mechanithralls to take down my Castigator with such ease that the Heavy ‘jack didn’t even get a chance to flex it’s mechanical muscles.

This game was over too quickly. I would have felt good in the next turn if the game went on. My Cleansers might have made a nuisance of themselves. I’m really glad that I was was in charge of two units of Zealots and not facing them. They also might have been a very useful Soul bank, either through dying in the name of Menoth or having the High Reclaimer popping one off here and there for Sacrificial Lamb. The Covenant would have proved useful with it’s high CMD and useful buffs, I will be looking forward to using it again in the future. The Deliverers were never in range to do anything useful, but it would have been a matter of time before they rained hell from the skies.

Overall, I was pleased with the list I picked, but do wish I let some Zealots move out in front of the Castigator. Having chacked the club forum, my next game in the campaign is against Marcus and his Khador. A win would be good in order to claim some new territory and not be left behind. Marcus is curruntly occupying a territory I had my eye on. I’ll have to see about taking it from him.

This week has seen a (at least I think so) massive effort made, by me, to paint the rest of my force. I have gotten most of it done, but can see myself doing some major painting in my hotel room tonight. Most of the army has been done.

Kreoss – painted and based
Vanquisher – painted and based
Fire of Salvation – currently only two colours
Devout – painted and based
Choir – painted and based
Errants, UA and Seneschal – painted
Zealots – painted and based
Monolith Bearer – mostly painted
Bastions – under coated

Whilst writing this list out, I have been hit by the realisation that I didn’t bring my static grass with me. I am so annoyed at my self. Anywho, as you can see I still have a bit of work tonight. Plus I have to make my control banners and to paint the arc markers on the bases. I’m just going to attempt tp just paint Menofixes on the bases (which I have liberated from models I haven’t een put together yet). I was originally going to paint Menofixes for the markers, but I can tell now that I will not have the patience. I will have to just shut my mind off and watch some WWE that I was saving for the train journey.

Final decision / Early setback.

I’ve made a final decision on the list (because I had to – I’ll explain) at last. Here it is:

Army: Kreoss' Scrap Metal.
Type: Skirmish (1 caster, 50pts)
Points: 50
High Exemplar Kreoss (*5pts)
* Devout (5pts)
* Fire of Salvation (9pts)
* Vanquisher (8pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Exemplar Errant Seneschal (2pts)
Vassal Mechanik (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

I’ve dumped the Knights Exemplar as they were the only unknowns in my force. I don’t think I could have taken them without having used them properly. So the Zealots have taken up the call and will provide some wonderful unpredictability. I think the list is fairly solid and can dish out a fair bit of hurt. This morning as I stepped out of the shower I had another thought about the list. There has been much thought given to whether I should take an Arc Node or not. I thought that I could drop the Devout and let the Bastion escort Kreoss, they have medium bases so they could block LOS and they have 40 damage boxes between the and would be hard to shift (especially with Defenders Ward upkept on them, giving them DEF 13 and Arm 18). But then it might slow things down when I want to lay the smack down.
Anyhow, it’s too late to change. Only this morning, while mindlessly stuffing envelopes, I re-read (re-skimmed) the tourney pack and I saw something that I missed. There was a paragraph that asked for all lists to be submitted before 13th August. Today being the 17th, I realised that I am late. Players submitting their lists late, as stated in the pack, will be hit by a penalty. Before turning up I am at a -5000 point disadvantage, which with Maelstrom Games’ Five Thousand Point system will hurt very much.
Also reading the pack I saw that, if my last few nights of painting go well, I could score well in the painting section. I won’t get the maximum I hope to get points for them being Painted and Based (3000 pts), Fully painted (600 pts) and for Cohesiveness (400 pts). I’ll never score extra points for them being Detailed (+ 400 pts) or even them being classed as Wow! (+600 pts).

I will hoping to take my camera with me to take pics, and should have time on the train back to London to write things up.

Battle report catch up.

I have been a bit lazy recently. I owe you two battle reports.


The first against Marcus and his Khador was an interesting run-out for my 50 point Scrap-Metal II list. It has only had a very minor tweak dropping the Revenger for a Devout and reducing the size of the Choir.
The game itself was a huge challenge as at the start I left my prized Errants fairly vulnerable during set-up. They promptly got smooshed by Scrapjack (who I have a deep hatred for, I still have nightmares from the first time I faced it) who just gained attack after attack after attack. The rest of the force did ok. Maybe I could/should have used my Vanquisher more aggressively. More pot-shots into enemy lines is always good plus it could have controlled one side of the table a lot better. Marcus’ Kayazy Assassins with Underboss proved to be a difficult obstacle and made a bee-line straight to Kreoss. Kreoss was then forced (no pun intended) to choose between overboosting his own power field or buying and boosting extra attacks to get himself out of the predicament he found himself in. In the end, buying extra attacks worked in getting rid of the Assassins, but then the door was left open for … (I’ve totally forgotten who or what) to put Kreoss down. Discussing the game afterwards with Marcus, I could have used my set-up a whole lot better to force Marcus into changing his battle plan. As it was, he was able to get his force to concentrate on destroying parts of my army before moving in for the kill.

The week after was a game against Rob and his Cryx (Rob was playing only his third game with his Cryx force). I used the same 50 point Kreoss list. After Advance Deploying my Errants, I let them bomb forward straight towards the enemy. They succeeded in pulling one of Rob’s units to one side and occupy them. They pretty much wiped each other out while the Errant Officer remained standing. While remaining where he was in a forest, he also pulled out another unit. The Vanquisher did most of the work for the force. It successfully shot with it’s Flame Belcher every turn suitably aided by a Vassal (Ancillary Attack) and a Choir (Prayer of Battle). This left the rest of the army to trundle forward. The FoS pushed forward but then got sidetracked by a light Cryx warjack, while my Bastions provided an immobile shield for Kreoss (they were unable to advance too far as they kept getting knocked down). The Knights, Knights Senny and the Bastions didn’t cause a single point of damage between them which was really disappointing (but totally my fault as I was so undecided as to how use them effectively). In the end it was the Vanquisher/Vassal/Choir team that got me the win. After putting a large hole in one unit then boxing one of Rob’s heavy ‘jacks, the team turned their attention to the enemy caster pDenny. Now she was hiding behind the second heavy ‘jack, plus I couldn’t target her as she had Stealth. So I just shot at the ‘jack. The vanquisher loaded up with Focus hit the ‘jack and because of it’s 4” AOE hit Denny. I boosted her damage roll to add to the Choirs’ Prayer of Battle and got a nice healthy 15. As she was still not dead, the Vassal used Ancillary Attack on the Vanq. The Vanq, once again, boosted the damage on Denny this time causing 13 points of damage. If the game had gone on a couple more turns, we both would have used our feats which would have been interesting. It would have been a case of who popped theirs first. I might have dreaded Rob getting his in first as mine would have been ruined, or at least less effective. But still the feat wasn’t needed, and I gained a slightly better idea about my Scrap Metal force.

An edge of your seat battle (no word of a lie guv)!

Once again, I am writing things a bit later than usual as Real Life has reared its ugly head and seconded me into doing actual responsible stuff. With danger averted, I hope to inform you of the great and wonderful game I played on Tuesday 13th against a guy called Ravage (Mark) and his Khador force. Even though this was such a monumental game, I will, in all likelihood, forget some of the details.

We agreed on playing a 35 point game in which I would be using new models.
I had dusted off pKreoss (whom I am hoping to spearhead my Scrap Metal II force (more on the subject in another post)) and decided to field a carefully proxyed Fire of Salvation (I used a Crusader) and a unit of Exemplar Bastions (I used a unit of Deathwing terminators). The full list is as follows:
High Exemplar Kreoss (*5pts)
* Revenger (6pts)
* Fire of Salvation (9pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Knight Exemplar Seneschal (3pts)
Vassal Mechanik (1pts)

While Mark took:
The Butcher of Khardov (*6pts)
* Berserker (6pts)
* Kodiak (8pts)
Assault Kommandos (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Greylord Escort (2pts)
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
Fenris (5pts)

I think I lost the roll to set up so I started with placing my Bastions as far forward as they could go (they would need a bit of a head start with their low movement) on my left. On their right stood both ‘jacks backed up by the Choir with Kreoss behind them. The Senny sat back behind the Bastions waiting for his moment.
Mark put his ‘jacks directly facing my Bastions with the Butcher and Shocktroopers behind them. The Assault Kommandos set up in the centre of battle line, while Fenris started off right at the back of the field.
Next up was the Advance Deployments. I placed my Errants and UA behind some woods in left-field with Mark placing his Reavers and Greylord more or less opposite them.

First turn saw a general advance with not much happening for either side. Kreoss cast both of his upkeep spells, Lamentation and Defenders Ward on the Bastions (taking them up to DEF 13 and ARM 18). Mark did the same and cast his upkeeps.
Turn two saw a bit of contact between the two sides. My Errants popped out of their cover and charged the Reavers killing four of them. Kreoss cast Cleansing Fire via the Revengers’ Arc Node causing a few points of damage on one of the Shocktroopers and setting him on fire. Mark opened fire in retaliation with his Kommandos. They put a few points of damage on the Fire of Salvation. The Greylord inflicted a whole world of pain on the Errants taking advantage of their crowding and cast Frostbite. This killed a grand total of 8 Errants leaving the Officer and Standard Bearer along with the leader and one grunt. The Berserker charged into the Bastions causing a bit of damage which was spread around as a result of their Sanguine Bond. The Kodiak skirted around the woods to my extreme left.
Turn three saw Kreoss edge forward thus putting the Butcher within his control range, subjecting him to Lamentation (Butcher would have to pay double for spells and upkeeps – which came in quite useful). The Bastions didn’t quite get the hang of hitting the enemy ‘jack with only two out of five causing damage. The FoS broke cover and ran towards the Shocktroopers using it’s Holy Fervor (American spelling) Imprint (spend Focus point to gain boosted melee attack rolls). Didn’t cause as much damage as I’d hope but he tied up the Butcher’s bodyguard. The remaining Errants finished off the Doom Reavers leaving only the Greylord. Mark’s turn saw the Kodiak charge the Bastions causing a little damage. The Berserker didn’t do much better either. Mark’s Kommandos laid down more fire, this time aiming at the Revenger. Luck wasn’t really showing her face this turn as the Greylord tried to duke it out with an Errant and failing. Last of all Fenris activated and raced toward the back of my line causing some concern for Kreoss.
Turn four saw the end of the Greylord leaving the Errants free to venture towards the Kommandos. The FoS went to work on putting the Shocktroopers down for good as he was loaded up with Focus. The Senny finally came out of hiding and launched himself at the Kodiak. His pulled of all three attacks (two initial plus a Smite chain attack). This took the Kodiak to within an inch of its life and knocked it down. This in turn reminded me about Kreoss’s feat. I popped the feat which made the Berserker go down quicker. I maybe should have popped the feat at the start of the turn but I’ll beat myself up over that later. Things looked fairly decent for me.
Mark kept at though as the Kodiak stood up and smooshed the Senny, who never recovered because no friendly model died near him in order to trigger off Restoration. Mark had popped his feat at the start of the turn but still couldn’t cast multiple spells as I was upkeeping Lamentation. The Kommandos started shooting at the oncoming Errants but sadly did not do anything fatal. The Fenris drew ever closer to the back of my line while drawing a bead on Kreoss.
Turn five saw me pull back Kreoss and the Revenger just enough to still let the Butcher feel the effects of Lamentation. The Errants went to engage the Kommandos killing just one as all bar one was in charge range. The FoS finished off the last remaining Shocktrooper, while the Bastions saw off the threat of the Kodiak. Mark positioned the Fenris for an assassination run.
Turn six saw the Bastions run toward the Butcher and fall short. The FoS engaged the Kommandos along with the remaining Errants. Kreoss ordered the Revenger to stand between him and Fenris. In Mark’s turn, he charged Fenris into Kreoss. But he had to go through the Revenger who got a free strike which didn’t quite do enough damage. Fenris used both of his attacks well and scored more than enough damage points to put Kreoss down.
Mark won by ‘caster kill in only his third game.

We both agreed that this was an extremely awesome game which did go right to the end. And, as usual, we both had a long list of things we forgot/did wrong. Mark wishes he used his Doom Reavers differently and maybe advanced his Kommandos more. As for me, where do I start?
The obvious one was right the end. I should have loaded the Revenger up with Focus and charged Fenris. That would have left Kreoss and the Bastions to take care of Butcher. Kreoss should not have pooped his feat mid-turn, the Senny might still have been alive to aim himself at the enemy ‘caster. The Errants did not use their Quick Work Tactic granted by the UA. After they killed some Doom Reavers in melee, they had a free shot with thier crossbows. This may have finished off the unit and/or the Greylord. The FoS could have ignored the Kommandos and went for Butcher. If I had done one or more of these things, the game might have ended differently.
But overall, I’m happy with how everything performed. Kreoss’s upkeeps kept the Butcher fairly quiet. The FoS showed, if used correctly, that it can be a melee beast. The Bastions were just as tough as I hoped, while the Senny and Revenger did their bit for Menoth. Special mention goes to the Exemplar Errants. With their new UA, they have now become my auto-include unit. It used to be that I would never enter a battlefield without some Zealots and Monolith Bearer (although I can see me taking them later with the likes of Vindictus running the show). The UA granting Pathfinder and giving the Quick Work tactic makes them a lot more fun to use. Also add the Errant Senny, who grants them Hunter, and you have a very nearly perfect unit.
This list was a smaller version of what I aim to take to Maelstrom Games’ Scrap Metal II event in August, so I was very encouraged with what I saw tonight. At first glance, I may change the Revenger (I didn’t put the Arc Node to full use) for a Devout (who’s abilities I got confused and thought belonged to the Revenger). I may also take eKreoss instead of pKreoss. These two changes frees up two points which can get me a very useful Vassal. I will see in my next game against Marcus and his Khador (!).