Good news. The next battle report should have pics to illustrate my tabletop frustration. I bought myself (ourselves – the wife likes it too) a new camera. This is slightly better than the one we bought for our honeymoon but is just “really cute” (her words not mine – I would have said purely functional). It’s compact and light and would easily fit in my case alongside my light warjacks. I will be testing this out at Tanelorn Wargames Club this weekend as the y have a team event over two days.
As there haven’t been too many details, I will share what I know. There will be six teams of six representing all of the Warmachine factions. Each player will have three casters and each game will be 50 points each. As far as we know, we won’t have to submit a set list(s) for the weekend so we have to be flexible (this’ll mean bring my whole congregation). All in all, I’m just about set for six games taking the few positives from my Wooden Spoon at Maelstrom Games’ Scrap Metal II tourney. I think what will make this weekend slightly better would be the flexibility for each game. I like the sound of this approach as you can’t tell who you would be facing so you don’t know what to field. But then, there are still lots of casters, jacks and infantry I haven’t come up against yet so will probably end up taking a familiar list each time. Who knows…
Showing posts with label Scrap Metal II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scrap Metal II. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 23 August 2010
Scrap Metal game results.
The first game of the weekend was against Rob and his Seaforge Commission. I enjoyed seeing an all Dwarf army, even though it broke all my preconceptions concerning their slowness. The scenario for this game was Revelation, which involved capturing control banners on the halfway line on the field. I lost the dice off (the first of five failed rolls in all six games), I think Rob went for the Defenders role (his Seaforge could in fact extend their Deployment Zone, which put them closer to the Control banners). Rob took a fairly ‘jack heavy army with three Blasters (total nuisances) with a good choice in troops. All this led by Gorten Grundback. The game itself saw my Zealots rushing straight to the Dwarven front line only to wonderfully implode by having a few bombs scatter into their own ranks (they wouldn’t be fun to use if they didn’t do stupid things like this). The Errants ended up being shot to pieces right at the start, while the Bastions fared far better with their durability. Everything else got caught up in a wall of ‘jacks being very ably assisted by Lord Rockbottom and Thor Steinhammer trying to get at an extremely evasive Gorten. Rob looked to win by scenario (he cleared me away from both control banners), but went for caster kill to rack up a very high score.
Next up was Andy and his Circle. Here, again was a nicely painted set of warbeasts led by pKreuger. This time the scenario was Close Quarters which involved taking to Control Zones. My Errants had a good time taking on the Bloodtrackers before taking a Warp Wolf and a Pureblood close to their deaths. Kreuger stayed too far away to even think about damaging and his feat really hurt my hopes of moving forward to capture either of the control zones. The Bastions did their best to try and control one of the zones but Andy had scored the more control points than I did by that time.
In the last game on Saturday, I faced Dill and his Trollbloods led by eMadrak. A lot of the killing was being done by three Impalers and a unit of Troll champions which tore through my line with alarming speed. This scenario, Kill Box, turned out to be just a standard (but bloody – Menoth blood sadly) ‘caster kill. Zealots almost took the glory and went for ‘caster kill and dealt some damage, but Madrak was left standing with 8 points left. Kreoss was killed by Impalers.
Sunday’s first game I was pitted in a game of Capture the Flag. My opponent Tom took Khador led by eSorscha and a wonderfully posed Beast. Things were going well to start with, the Fire of Salvation (loaded up with four Focus) made straight for Beast in the third turn and turned it to junk. As the game wore on I found my situation getting a little more desperate. Fortunately for me, we ran out of time to play another turn and ended with a draw. If we had I surely would have lost the game by scenario.
Game 5 was against Craig and yet more Trollbloods led this time by pMadrak. Craig could have won in the first turn as I didn’t follow the scenario (Process of Elimination) properly. I hadn’t placed my Zealots in one of the Control Zones properly and were subsequently cleared from the Zone. As that would have meant that the game was over right there and then, Craig let the game go on. I wish he hadn’t as everything went wrong (including Craig making 7 consecutive tough rolls). My ‘jacks were taken down by a couple of Impalers and some Troll champions. The Errants ran away from Pygmies and during Madrak’s feat turn the Earthborn went to town on my entire force. Kreoss fell yet again to Impalers. I had scored my lowest total of battle points so far.
The final game of the weekend was against Dan and some more Mercenaries, this time from the Highborn Covenant. Without me paying attention to Dan pointing out what everything in hiss force was and what they do, I soon lost the plot. My Errants got tied up by chaff consisting of a unit of Press Gangers (who also happened to be very successful with their Tough rolls) and Zombies. The rest of the force were engaged by more Press Gangers and Pistol Mages. I started to get things totally wrong, and Dan very helpfully (and extremely kindly) stepped in and made some suggestions. Without these hints, I would have lost any ability to destroy Dan’s Objective Markers instead of drawing.
Self assessment will follow as soon as I have got over how lame I was.
Next up was Andy and his Circle. Here, again was a nicely painted set of warbeasts led by pKreuger. This time the scenario was Close Quarters which involved taking to Control Zones. My Errants had a good time taking on the Bloodtrackers before taking a Warp Wolf and a Pureblood close to their deaths. Kreuger stayed too far away to even think about damaging and his feat really hurt my hopes of moving forward to capture either of the control zones. The Bastions did their best to try and control one of the zones but Andy had scored the more control points than I did by that time.
In the last game on Saturday, I faced Dill and his Trollbloods led by eMadrak. A lot of the killing was being done by three Impalers and a unit of Troll champions which tore through my line with alarming speed. This scenario, Kill Box, turned out to be just a standard (but bloody – Menoth blood sadly) ‘caster kill. Zealots almost took the glory and went for ‘caster kill and dealt some damage, but Madrak was left standing with 8 points left. Kreoss was killed by Impalers.
Sunday’s first game I was pitted in a game of Capture the Flag. My opponent Tom took Khador led by eSorscha and a wonderfully posed Beast. Things were going well to start with, the Fire of Salvation (loaded up with four Focus) made straight for Beast in the third turn and turned it to junk. As the game wore on I found my situation getting a little more desperate. Fortunately for me, we ran out of time to play another turn and ended with a draw. If we had I surely would have lost the game by scenario.
Game 5 was against Craig and yet more Trollbloods led this time by pMadrak. Craig could have won in the first turn as I didn’t follow the scenario (Process of Elimination) properly. I hadn’t placed my Zealots in one of the Control Zones properly and were subsequently cleared from the Zone. As that would have meant that the game was over right there and then, Craig let the game go on. I wish he hadn’t as everything went wrong (including Craig making 7 consecutive tough rolls). My ‘jacks were taken down by a couple of Impalers and some Troll champions. The Errants ran away from Pygmies and during Madrak’s feat turn the Earthborn went to town on my entire force. Kreoss fell yet again to Impalers. I had scored my lowest total of battle points so far.
The final game of the weekend was against Dan and some more Mercenaries, this time from the Highborn Covenant. Without me paying attention to Dan pointing out what everything in hiss force was and what they do, I soon lost the plot. My Errants got tied up by chaff consisting of a unit of Press Gangers (who also happened to be very successful with their Tough rolls) and Zombies. The rest of the force were engaged by more Press Gangers and Pistol Mages. I started to get things totally wrong, and Dan very helpfully (and extremely kindly) stepped in and made some suggestions. Without these hints, I would have lost any ability to destroy Dan’s Objective Markers instead of drawing.
Self assessment will follow as soon as I have got over how lame I was.
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Maelstrom oppoonents.
I checked the Maelstrom forum earlier today and found the details for my first game. I will be playing against a Mercenary force from the Seaforge Comission. Also had a brief look at the other 10 (yes only 10 others) players and what they are taking. There will be two other two other Menoth players (taking pSeverius and e Severius) amongst others. I hope I don’t have to come up against them.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 12 August 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Something different for the weekend.
This weekend I went to see my friend Dan down near Brighton. I don’t remember the last time we had a battle together, but I was assured that it was a long time ago (six months). We sat our other halves down in front of a film and got on with organising a small skirmish. I had brought my Necrons along with me this time (it had been a while) while Dan had sifted through various boxes and put together a force of Chaos Space Marines. We set the limit at 1500 points, in which I got to take the following:
“Lefty” the Necron Lord with Resurrection Orb, Veil of Darkness and Warscythe.
10 Immortals.
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
11 Warriors
5 Destroyers
3 Heavy Destroyers.
Dan wasn’t sure about whether his Codex was up-to-date (plus I haven’t played 40k in a while and have been concentrating on WM), so he picked a list from the newest looking book and picked the following (I am not sure of the particulars as this was just an extremely relaxed friendly):
Chaos Lord
Sorcerer
Champion
1 unit of Thousand Sons Marines
1 unit of Plague Marines
1 unit of regular Chaos Marines
1 unit of Raptors
3 Obliterators
The game was played rather tentatively as we were playing on a 3’x5’ table.
Dan won the roll-off and gave me the first turn, and I wasted no time in drawing a bead on the Obliterators. The Heavy Destroyers shot first with causing three wounding hits which went unsaved. The first turn also saw a rather foolish move on my part, which involved “Lefty” use his Veil of Darkness to transport himself and his Immortals behind the chaos lines and wreak some havoc there. When they appeared from nowhere they opened fire with their Gauss Blasters, but only managed to kill one of the regular CSM. This proved to leave them awfully vulnerable during Dan’s first turn where everything except of the Chaos Lord, Raptors and Obliterators turned to face the undead rust buckets and opened fire with everything they had. I do not need to point out how much of a stupid mistake it was to do this. Nor do I need to present the outcome of such a mistake. So with a third of my points cost down the drain, I set about making a killbox with my Warriors and Destroyers.
Second turn saw a complete on Obliterator fall and not much else. Dan charged his Raptors into one unit of Warriors and not much else.
The rest of the game saw us both edging towards each other until we were both in firing range. The close combat was indeed that – close, with neither side gaining an advantage (this actually stayed like this up until the penultimate turn).
The Obliterators fell in the third turn, while we both executed rather poor displays of long range shooting. The Raptors wore down the Necrons bit by bit, but eventually needed help from the Plague Marines and Chaos Lord.
The Thousand Sons and regular CSM all succumbed to my deadly Gauss weaponry Leaving the Sorcerer and Champion alone. I lost a fair number of Necrons who eventually got engaged en masse by the traitor marines (my Dark Angel heart was screaming) as soon as the Raptors and Plague Marines were free of their opponents. The Necrons saw the futility in sticking around so Phased Out.
This was a fun little game to play but I was hoping that the Raptors finished off their unit of Warriors in Dan’s turn meaning I would be in position to open fire on him right away. As it was the combat was finished in my turn, leaving Dan to charge me without obstacle. The badly thought out move of teleporting directly into enemy territory could have gone a lot better if I hadn’t presented my self to more than on unit. Jumping back and forth over the table would have provided a much needed distraction.
Still it was fun to give my Necrons a little run around, but it made me sad for my Dark Angels. They haven’t been let out of their box for even longer. They may not actually see the light of day unless GW releases a new Codex. But ultimately, they won’t see any action for the foreseeable future as I’m very much into Warmachine currently with the upcoming club campaign and the Scrap Metal II tourney I’ll be attending.
One day it may be different.
“Lefty” the Necron Lord with Resurrection Orb, Veil of Darkness and Warscythe.
10 Immortals.
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
11 Warriors
5 Destroyers
3 Heavy Destroyers.
Dan wasn’t sure about whether his Codex was up-to-date (plus I haven’t played 40k in a while and have been concentrating on WM), so he picked a list from the newest looking book and picked the following (I am not sure of the particulars as this was just an extremely relaxed friendly):
Chaos Lord
Sorcerer
Champion
1 unit of Thousand Sons Marines
1 unit of Plague Marines
1 unit of regular Chaos Marines
1 unit of Raptors
3 Obliterators
The game was played rather tentatively as we were playing on a 3’x5’ table.
Dan won the roll-off and gave me the first turn, and I wasted no time in drawing a bead on the Obliterators. The Heavy Destroyers shot first with causing three wounding hits which went unsaved. The first turn also saw a rather foolish move on my part, which involved “Lefty” use his Veil of Darkness to transport himself and his Immortals behind the chaos lines and wreak some havoc there. When they appeared from nowhere they opened fire with their Gauss Blasters, but only managed to kill one of the regular CSM. This proved to leave them awfully vulnerable during Dan’s first turn where everything except of the Chaos Lord, Raptors and Obliterators turned to face the undead rust buckets and opened fire with everything they had. I do not need to point out how much of a stupid mistake it was to do this. Nor do I need to present the outcome of such a mistake. So with a third of my points cost down the drain, I set about making a killbox with my Warriors and Destroyers.
Second turn saw a complete on Obliterator fall and not much else. Dan charged his Raptors into one unit of Warriors and not much else.
The rest of the game saw us both edging towards each other until we were both in firing range. The close combat was indeed that – close, with neither side gaining an advantage (this actually stayed like this up until the penultimate turn).
The Obliterators fell in the third turn, while we both executed rather poor displays of long range shooting. The Raptors wore down the Necrons bit by bit, but eventually needed help from the Plague Marines and Chaos Lord.
The Thousand Sons and regular CSM all succumbed to my deadly Gauss weaponry Leaving the Sorcerer and Champion alone. I lost a fair number of Necrons who eventually got engaged en masse by the traitor marines (my Dark Angel heart was screaming) as soon as the Raptors and Plague Marines were free of their opponents. The Necrons saw the futility in sticking around so Phased Out.
This was a fun little game to play but I was hoping that the Raptors finished off their unit of Warriors in Dan’s turn meaning I would be in position to open fire on him right away. As it was the combat was finished in my turn, leaving Dan to charge me without obstacle. The badly thought out move of teleporting directly into enemy territory could have gone a lot better if I hadn’t presented my self to more than on unit. Jumping back and forth over the table would have provided a much needed distraction.
Still it was fun to give my Necrons a little run around, but it made me sad for my Dark Angels. They haven’t been let out of their box for even longer. They may not actually see the light of day unless GW releases a new Codex. But ultimately, they won’t see any action for the foreseeable future as I’m very much into Warmachine currently with the upcoming club campaign and the Scrap Metal II tourney I’ll be attending.
One day it may be different.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
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 (!).
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 (!).
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